Forgot to put in floating dip tube in pressurized fermentation (Fermzilla) recommendations to minimize O2 transfer?

[Tense]

As the title says, I have a beer that has finished fermenting (under pressure) and I cold crashed it. Right now its sitting at 8psi after temp drop to 30f. I forgot to put in the dip tube so I am trying to figure out the best way to transfer to a keg while minimizing O2 as I usually do a closed transfer with a CO2 filled keg.

I have an active liquid pump I use for wine... was thinking of purging the keg, and un screwing one of the ball caps, sticking the pump line in there and wrapping it with plastic wrap, then adding 2-3psi of CO2 on the other ball valve and pulling all the beer into the keg. But, will it fill?

I could also, just unscrew the lid, attach the dip tube and drop it back in... but, I feel the top being open would add more O2 than the other method.

Any recos would be appreciated.

 

[hotbeer]

I can't really say what will and won't work since you pressure fermented this. But this is my consideration for any normal ferments that aren't pressure ferments...

If it's just a pale ale or IPA that you didn't dry hop, I wouldn't get overly worried. Unless you aren't going to be drinking this batch dry in a couple months.

Just drop in the tube at bottling or kegging time. I'm assuming this is the Fermzilla that isn't the conical or have a valve on the bottom that you could bottle/keg the bottom after dumping the trub/yeast.

 

[mac_1103]

I think this should work:

Set up the pump with an open in line and a liquid QD on the out line and run some starsan through it. Then vent the pressure on the Fermzilla and pull the liquid post off. Snake the in line of the pump through the hole, seal it up the best you can, and put the out line QD on the liquid post of the purged and vented keg. Connect a purged jumper line to the gas posts on both the keg and the Fermzilla. It should fill just fine as long as your pump is strong enough to handle the lift from the bottom of the Fermzilla to a few inches above the top. Put the keg on the floor and elevate the fermenter as much as possible.

But... you might have a problem with foam because the pump is going to agitate your partially carbonated beer.

 

[hotbeer]

But... you might have a problem with foam because the pump is going to agitate your partially carbonated beer.

I thought 8 psi would be about 2.5 vols or more at 30F.

So I'd consider it fully carbonated. Though I do like 3.0 vols or more in my pale ales and light tasting IPA's.

 

[day_trippr]

Good memory!

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

I thought 8 psi would be about 2.5 vols or more at 30F.

Yeah, I missed the 30F part.

 

[hotbeer]

There was a thread somewhat recently that was dealing with pressure fermenting and how much CO2 was in the beer at what temp. I remembered that.

Then I peeked at a chart real quick!



Still I wasn't quite sure.

 

[Idaho Buzz]

Maybe I’m missing something, but if I understand the situation correctly…

Purge the receiving, pressurize it to about a lb less using a spundging valve, connect the 2 kegs and turn the one without a dipstick upside down. Should flow until the pressure is equal.

Then add CO2 to the keg you are emptying - if you have a one way gas valve great you may be able to leave the keg inverted, if not likely have to stop periodically and invert the keg to add pressure with the receiving keg disconnected.

Probably a bit of a pain to do, but it would remain a closed system and the O2 risk limited to how completely the new keg is purged.

Good luck!

 

[mac_1103]

turn the one without a dipstick upside down

Won't that transfer all of the trub/yeast cake to the receiving keg?

 

[Idaho Buzz]

quite possibly, may need to put a filter between the kegs to limit or reduce that. I've been looking at the Bouncer Inline Beer filter for this type of use.

 

[mac_1103]

I doubt that a bouncer could handle the entire yeast cake from a 5 gallon batch.

 

[HVCBrewing]

I had something similar. I slowly (over several hours) released the pressure from the fermenter. The slow release of pressure will minimize the agitation to the beer and should leave most of the settled debris undisturbed. This doesn't release all the CO2 from the beer. Some of the CO2 should remain in suspension in the beer. Once it stopped audibly hissing when the PRV valve was pulled, I opened the fermenter and added the floating dip tube and re-closed the keg. Then purged the fermenter with CO2. Let it sit for several hours and pressure transferred to the serving keg.

 

[HM-2]

What kind of Fermzilla do you have? If you've got the collection jar, you could release CO2 pressure via the PRV then hook up a CO2 tank to one of the ports on the collection jar. That way you can run ~2PSI of positive pressure through the beer whilst you fiddle with the lid.