First attempt at spunding, help!!

[BongoYodeler]

OK so, I'm fermenting an Irish Red Ale that I've brewed several times and love it. I thought this would be a good beer to test out my new Blow-Tie spunding valve since it's a beer I've quite familiar with. Fermenting 4.5 gallons in a 5 gallon corny keg. Connected to the serving keg with a blowoff into some StarSan to start, until blowoff activity. About 6-8 hours after pitching the WLP001 yeast the blowoff was bubbling at about 2 per second. I opened fermenting keg and saw a nice krausen layer forming and added about 8 drops of Fermcap S (which knocked it right down), and closed the lid. I then put the blowtie, set to 10psi on the serving keg. Just walked by and noticed krausen flowing into the serving keg. I thought about trying to add more Fermcap but a slight lift of the prv and decided against it. Anything I can do, or just let it ride?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

just let it ride or raise the pressure to 15 or higher

 

[BongoYodeler]

Thanks. I just let it ride overnight since I didn't dare open the lid to add more Fermcap anyway. Seems to have calmed down quite a bit since last night. It's gone from 1.058 to 1.024 so far. I'm expecting, or at least hoping , it to finish around 1.012.

 

[Off Balance Brewing]

For ales I'd wait next time. I sound after day 3 usually. Unless you want to suppress more of the ale esters. I only pressure lagers from day 1.

 

[BongoYodeler]

For ales I'd wait next time. I sound after day 3 usually. Unless you want to suppress more of the ale esters. I only pressure lagers from day 1.

Thanks. I did understand that's the prevailing thought before I started. As I said, considering this is my first attempt at spunding, I wanted to try it more as a test on a beer I'm familiar with so I know what to expect when I ferment a lager, which I've never done before. At any rate, if this had happened when spunding a lager I would have asked the same question - What does one do if the krausen starts blowing into the serving keg? @Dr_Jeff suggested setting the spunding valve to 15psi, which I thought about doing but decided against it. I've read that setting it too high can be detrimental to yeast heath.

 

[AlexKay]

I'm spunding this week for the first time as well. My IPA is fermenting, and I'd like to let the yeast mostly do its thing before I poison it with CO2(aq). I was thinking I'd shoot for ~60% attenuation before attaching the spunding valve. I'm concerned because while it's at 10% now, it may be nearly done by tomorrow morning, if my Tilt readings are right.

And then I hope for 20 psi. Anyone have any tricks for setting the right pressure on the valve before attaching it to the keg?

 

[BongoYodeler]

I'm spunding this week for the first time as well. My IPA is fermenting, and I'd like to let the yeast mostly do its thing before I poison it with CO2(aq). I was thinking I'd shoot for ~60% attenuation before attaching the spunding valve. I'm concerned because while it's at 10% now, it may be nearly done by tomorrow morning, if my Tilt readings are right.

And then I hope for 20 psi. Anyone have any tricks for setting the right pressure on the valve before attaching it to the keg?

I'm not sure what the best way to do it is, but I just stuck it on a keg in my keezer. It's set at 12psi. I had to monkey around a bit but I eventually got it set.

 

[AlexKay]

I'm not sure what the best way to do it is, but I just stuck it on a keg in my keezer. It's set at 12psi. I had to monkey around a bit but I eventually got it set.

Did that work? I’d guess that keezer temperature would make the yeast go dormant, so no more CO2 gets made.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Did that work? I’d guess that keezer temperature would make the yeast go dormant, so no more CO2 gets made.

Maybe I didn't explain it properly. I removed the gas QD from a keg in my keezer and put the spunding valve in its place. I then quickly adjusted the valve until I stopped it from bleeding CO2. I then put the QD back on and re-pressurized the keg. Repeated a couple times until I was reasonably sure the spunding valve was set at 10psi, which is where I wanted to keep it as it finished fermenting. It's easy to tweak it if necessary once it's in place on the fermenter, or in my case on the serving keg which is being purged by fermentation CO2.

 

[MajorJC]

What does one do if the krausen starts blowing into the serving keg?

I probably would daisy chain a third keg onto the series. The second keg would become a krausen catcher and the third keg would be getting purged while fermentation is strong. When ready to transfer, remove the krausen catcher from the chain and go from there. This krausen catcher keg can be a smaller keg if it is planned for ahead of time.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I probably would daisy chain a third keg onto the series. The second keg would become a krausen catcher and the third keg would be getting purged while fermentation is strong. When ready to transfer, remove the krausen catcher from the chain and go from there. This krausen catcher keg can be a smaller keg if it is planned for ahead of time.

Thanks. I kind of did that with my previous beer. But in that case the "krausen catcher" keg was my dry hop keg. . Luckily in that case no krausen made it to the DH keg. Since this beer, an Irish Red Ale, doesn't have a dry hop I went with just the two kegs. But you may be on to something. I have this I can use. Maybe just one Mason jar between the fermenting and serving keg. Something to think about anyway.

 

[MajorJC]

I have this I can use.

Yep, I have one of those too.

 

[odie]

Am I looking at the picture right? Looks like the fermenting keg should be pumping all the beer into the second keg. well, that second keg would need some pressure relief first to get the beer moving.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Am I looking at the picture right? Looks like the fermenting keg should be pumping all the beer into the second keg. well, that second keg would need some pressure relief first to get the beer moving.

Yes, I agree and it's what I'll do when I transfer. I'm going to cold crash the fermenting keg later today or tomorrow. I hope to transfer it to the serving keg a couple days later by placing the fermentation keg atop my keezer and the serving keg on the floor.