Force carbonating in fermentation keg

[Peksi]

Hi everyone,

We have a tasting setup with friends where we brew shared batches using a 20 liter keg as the fermentation vessel, and rack / divide the finalised product into everyone’s own small (think 5 liter) kegs which have 16 g CO2 regulators for serving.

We also have another 20 l keg and forced carb equipment, and planned on always transferring the fermented beer to that keg for force carbonation, before dividing the final product to small kegs. But now I’m wondering if there is any downside to just doing the forced carb directly in the fermentation keg on top of the yeast after fermentation has completed?

Any downside to this, will I mess up the yeast and have less clear beer? Any other suggestions to streamline the process and avoid doing keg transfers twice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jtvann]

You will not mess up the yeast and you'll be fine doing this. Very similar to what I do in a unitank. Couple things to keep in mind. You'll need a floating dip tube to rack clear beer off the top. You'll also need to be very careful about keeping constant pressure on your fermentation vessel. If you lower the pressure too much or suddenly, any CO2 in suspension in your yeast will form bubbles, kicking a very large yeast blob/raft/particles throughout your beer.

Short story, you can absolutely do what you're asking, you just have to know how and do it right without mistakes.

 

[yowzers]

You can do it without a floating diptube if you dry hop in a mesh bag or canister and you cut an inch off your diptube. I do it all the time with my IPA's. It's so easy I've gone to doing it with other beers and ciders. It does take a few pours to get to the clear beer after cold crashing. I probably wouldn't do it with something that was going to be in my keg for months like an Imperial stout.

 

[Peksi]

Thanks both, very useful! I will report results after having a couple of brews like this under the belt.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Alternatively, save bottled CO2 by letting fermentation activity do the carbonating. Buy a spunding valve (adjustable pressure release valve) and put it on the keg with some fermentation activity remaining (about 4 to 10 points of gravity works well).