Fermenting in corny kegs?

[japhroaig]

I was sitting out on my porch this morning after transferring a batch to a keg, and the thought occurred to me, "What about fermenting right in a cornelius keg?". The reason I thought this might be a good idea is that it could potentially be easier to remove trub and yeast, and I might not need to rack before transferring to the serving keg. Also, transferring could be done with CO2 instead of a siphon, reducing chances of oxidation and infection. Lastly, brewing in metal sounds a heck of a lot nicer than brewing in glass or plastic.

Anyone ever done this? With the trub clog the lines? Is there something I'm not thinking of here?

 

[suprchunk]

I haven't done it, but plenty of people on here have. And have posted a number of threads about it. I usually have all my kegs full so I don't have the space to try it.

 

[samc]

lots of us do it. i've graduated to a 15 gallon corny style keg for 10-11 gallon batches, no blow offs, cold crash before transfer using CO2 and the first ounce or two is usually yeasty and then clear sailing as I fill 2 5 gallon cornies for dry hop/conditioning and then serving.

if you use 5 gallon cornies you need to do smaller batches then 5 gallons or use the plastic stuff that people use to keep foam/blow off down.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Make sure you use Fermencap or some other foam control stuff...

 

[suprchunk]

Make sure you use Fermencap or some other foam control stuff...

Or a blowoff.

 

[japhroaig]

Exactly what I needed to know, thanks!

 

[kanzimonson]

I've never done this but I'm guessing you might have to reduce the volume of your batches to maybe 4 gallons. On top of that, to help with trub separation you might have to cut the dip tube in the keg so that it leaves an inch or so of space for trub collection.

After doing these two things, it seems like you'd only be left with 3.5gal of beer... personally I'll stick with the auto-siphon and a carboy.

 

[japhroaig]

According to some previous threads, as long as you use a blowoff you can easily get 5 gallons, since a standard corny to the top is 5.24 gallons. I am so doing this.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

According to some previous threads, as long as you use a blowoff you can easily get 5 gallons, since a standard corny to the top is 5.24 gallons. I am so doing this.

Actually if you try those foam control drops, there's almost zero kreusen. You can get 5gl without losing any to blow-off.

 

[mattd2]

I have got 2 batches in cornies for the first time but only got 3 and 2.5 gallons of ginger beer and apfelwein, I have not modified them in anyway. I am planning to naturally carb and then bottle from the keg using co2 to push but I was just cautioned that I could potentially plug my dip tube with trub when I go to force the first dreges of trub out before I get to the good stuff. If this happens my contigincy plan is to open it up and rack into another keg, seal it, wait and then try again.
I have just got a liquid QD with 3/16" tube going into a blow off jar and that seems to be working fine.
Good luck and hope all goes well and let us know what pitfall you enconter.
(My corny fermeter thread - Fermenting in standard 5gal cornies (3 gal batch)