Ferment and serve all in one vessel?

[htims05]

Anyone ever tried this....

Ferment in the corny with a spunding valve (thinking fill about 4.5 gallons), keep a floating dip tube in it during fermentation and then when it’s done just hook the keg up to the kegerator.

No racking or ever opening the keg?

Does fermenting under pressure reduce the height of the krausen? My only concern is the krausen clogs the spunding valve. Hence only filling it to 4.5 gallons.

 

[BeerFst]

Yes it works. I use fermcap to reduce, but i also start the ferment with a blow off. I havent spunded in a while (picked up a free ferm fridge on side of road and it doesnt fit my existing spund), but when i did i would cap it after a few days. This also helps blow out any O2 remaining from when you transferred from your BK.

If i want to dry hop i just let it go to completion, toss hops into purged keg, vent a few times, and transfer over. I no longer do the active ferm dry hops for my NEIPA, dont find it necessary. I leave the dry hop in the serving keg wthout issues (using CBDS or janish filter).

If I'm adding other adjuncts, like coffee or cocoa nibs, i just pop open the lid of the main vessel after ferm, with gas flowing at ~2psi, and just act quickly. gotta get the beer off these adjuncts though after a bit (1 day coffee, 3 days cocoa)

 

[Carolina_Matt]

There are a few threads about this. I've done it since August or so, and I don't plan on going back. The one downside is that it's more difficult to dry hop - but I just avoid dry hopping, and use a hopstand instead.

I fill it up close to the top - right around 5 gallons, just before the top starts to curve. I add 10 drops of fermcap, and hook up a blowoff tube. I typically get some blow-off for the first two days or so. By the third day (or whenever the bubbling dies down to about once per second), I put on the gas post and hook up the spunding valve. When it's ready, I put it into the kegerator and pull a pint the next day.

There have been a few times (such as my most recent batch, which is fermenting right now) where the spunding valve didn't move. If it doesn't move within a few hours, re-seat the lid to make sure it's not leaking.

 

[htims05]

This is good info....I hadn't read about fermcap before. So your saying I can still do a full 5 gallons, just don't seal it up tight with the spunding from the beginning? I was thinking of a long-tubed spunding....so that if any does get into the tube it's not up into the gauge or valves.