Fermenting in the keg

[BrewerofBeers]

I took a leap and decided to ferment in a corny keg. I was able to purge the keg before and after the closed transfer. I used a blow off tube in the beginning but now I'm kind of letting natural carbonation build and using the PRV like a spunding valve. I'll eventually be able to fully spund properly to carbonate during fermentation, but I'll force carb this time. Without ever opening the fermenter or exposing to room oxygen, I'll be able to serve the beer directly from the keg. I imagine the first pint will be trub. I now have a second keg fermenting and I even dry hopped! So we'll see how it goes who knows maybe it will be great. I might have to hook up a floating dip tube.

Who else is doing this now? I know many have done this before me, but something still feels a little cavalier about it.

 

[Jack Arandir]

I have a keg with a floating dip tube that I use for splitting batches. It has been mostly successful, except for one batch that failed to ferment after a week. (I repitched 34/70 and it turned out excellent.) It can be harder to see what's happening without a bubbling air lock. I haven't yet mastered temperature control, but I'm working on a glycol tubing sheath to surround the keg. My recommendation is to rack the beer off the yeast into a serving keg once primary is done. Otherwise you'll get blasted by trub at random intervals when it sloughs off the walls.

Be careful using the PRV as a spunding valve. It's set to relieve around 100 psi, which is crazy high. Your yeast could be killed by pressure halfway through primary. A blow off tube works, or use a spunding valve. Good luck!

 

[BrewerofBeers]

Oh ya, fermentation was basically over before I removed the blow off tube and I was manually releasing pressure pretty often. No worries there, just learning how fast pressure builds.

I was considering getting another keg for a secondary. I imagined slowly forcing most of the trub out of the primary keg through the OUT port before doing a closed transfer to the purged secondary. I would think I can get rid of most of the trub while avoiding introducing oxygen. I know you can bend or cut the dip tube, but I'm not convinced it's going to solve the problem.

I'll try this first with a floating dip tube. It seems that yeast and trub presence is the biggest problem with dispensing from the fermenter (because the rest is pie and lots of upside). As a side note, I read another idea about placing the dry hops in the second keg so when you transfer on top of them you are dry hopping without oxygen introduction. But then you would instantly have hop trub and would need a tertiary.

 

[Beekeeper]

You can avoid those 'crazy high' pressures by changing out the PRV with one you prefer: 10#, 15#, 35#
PRV valves at TWELVETAP store

 

[odie]

Be careful using the PRV as a spunding valve. It's set to relieve around 100 psi, which is crazy high. Your yeast could be killed by pressure halfway through primary. A blow off tube works, or use a spunding valve. Good luck!

100 PSI will not kill yeast. But it will stop or severly limit yeast cell growth. So you will not get full propogation of your yeast pitch.

If the yeast grows enough before the PSI gets too high it might be ok.

As Beekeeper said...those low PSI PRV valves are great. I sometimes use them as spunding valves. Start with the 10# for spunding and then swap to 35# for the finish and carbonation. 35 is kinda in the range you want at fermentation temps to get the right volumes of CO2. You might have to bleed it a bit or bump it up when you tap the keg.

 

[Broken Crow]

Definitely buy a spunding valve. Those Kegland ones are a great and cheap starting point.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

I got a spunding valve for my next ones. Where can you get a 10 and 35 psi PRV if not on aliexpress? I would have a really hard time trusting those. The sellers really just don't care. There are some adjustable PRVs on the market but unfortunately I think the PRV thread is so unusual that a match doesn't exist.

As for the floating dip tube, I saw the subpar ones. Then there is the flotit design. But I was thinking of making my own.

 

[odie]

the cheap ali express PRVs and floating dip tubes work just fine. I've had no issues.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

After having two beers finish fermentation in the keg and then dispensing from the kegs, I have reviews and updates. The floating dip tube that I have is better than the factory dip tube, for my purposes, but now I know I need a secondary keg to give my beer it's best representation and presentation. My new idea is to simply use the floating dip tube to pull the beer from the primary into the secondary via closed pressure transfer. That should leave most of the trub behind and make a big difference in clarity and flavor.

What the cheapest place to get a good used keg?

 

[Broken Crow]

Just my 2-cents; Consider buying a new keg, the Kegland cornies are very reasonably priced and have not disappointed me at all in the last year or so I've been using them. Some might balk at this, but for me, they stand up just as well as an AEB (and I have 3 of those). I'm a little biased because I'm disabled and I must exercise very high quality standards because my ability is very limited, and of the first 4 used cornies I bought; 3 of them are in various states of needing attention to o-rings, correct poppets etc. Yeah I can do it, but with the relatively low price of a new Kegalnd corny, in the long run I get to focus on brewing and not that piece of equipment I'm brewing with.

 

[mac_1103]

What the cheapest place to get a good used keg?

That's a good question. Some people claim to have luck finding them on Craigslist, but I have not. At least not within a distance I would drive for a cheap keg. Probably depends on where you live. I just bought a couple on Ebay for ~$45 each with shipping. They should arrive in the next day or two. Seller claims that the o-rings are new and they hold pressure, but I guess we'll see.

Kegland cornies are very reasonably priced

One man's reasonably priced is another man's no freakin' way. Or perhaps another man's wife's no freakin' way.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

I think I know which one's your talking about. Delivered, the cheapest one I can find today is about $63 grand total. Craigslist is a good idea and it does take a unique situation to work out. Just two days ago I went on a mission to get an awesome used mini fridge to fit 2 kegs and the co2 tank. When I got it home I realized it a mini freezer! The breakeven is that it was free.

 

[mac_1103]

Yeah, it's pretty hit or miss. The ones I bought are sold out now. Shipping for the first keg was $28 but the second was only another $6. I forgot about the sales tax though, so I actually paid more like $48 each.

 

[bleme]

I think I know which one's your talking about. Delivered, the cheapest one I can find today is about $63 grand total. Craigslist is a good idea and it does take a unique situation to work out. Just two days ago I went on a mission to get an awesome used mini fridge to fit 2 kegs and the co2 tank. When I got it home I realized it a mini freezer! The breakeven is that it was free.

Plug it into an Inkbird, and it's a mini fridge again...

 

[BrewerofBeers]

Plug it into an Inkbird, and it's a mini fridge again...

Ok, good idea right there, basically an external thermostat thanks. But unfortunately I found out the shelves can't be removed because they are copper refrigerant/conductive tubing.

 

[bleme]

Ok, good idea right there, basically an external thermostat thanks. But unfortunately I found out the shelves can't be removed because they are copper refrigerant/conductive tubing.

That definitely puts a kink in the plan! The shelves on some of those can be bent up or down but it's tricky not to kink the lines.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

That definitely puts a kink in the plan! The shelves on some of those can be bent up or down but it's tricky not to kink the lines.

I didn't want to let it get me bent out of shape. I was thinking of maybe bending them to the side if I could determine it was safe. Your thoughts? You seem it safe?

 

[bleme]

I didn't want to let it get me bent out of shape. I was thinking of maybe bending them to the side if I could determine it was safe. Your thoughts? You seem it safe?

I've never done it myself, but I've seen some on the kegerator thread.
Success
Failure

 

[riceral]

What the cheapest place to get a good used keg?

Have you asked anyone in a local home-brew club?

 

[HopSing]

Just my 2-cents; Consider buying a new keg, the Kegland cornies are very reasonably priced and have not disappointed me at all in the last year or so I've been using them. S

+1 for purchasing new or at least from a reputable online provider. I've been burned by the eBay and Craigslist route before. On the flip side I'd like to think I'm more educated now as to what to look for. I too picked up a new Kegland keg and they work as advertised.

I've also been thinking about trying out fermenting in a keg. I picked up the spunding valve from Kegland for $18 delivered. Two questions - 1) how much do you get out of a 5 gallon keg after leaving some headspace room for the fermentation and the trub that falls out during fermentation. 2) Transferring to another keg after fermentation will double CO2 consumption or are there other alternatives, e.g. using a recently kicked keg that is full of CO2 at serving pressure to make the transfer.

~HopSing.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

Shout out for our LHBS, Brew Hut…. Random sales @ $30 for used ball lock kegs. I may have too many now.

 

[bleme]

2) Transferring to another keg after fermentation will double CO2 consumption or are there other alternatives, e.g. using a recently kicked keg that is full of CO2 at serving pressure to make the transfer.

Link your fermentation keg to an empty keg and put the spunding valve on the empty keg. Fermentation gas will purge the empty keg for you by the time you are ready to transfer.