Going from ale pail to keg

[wildwest450]

This is the first time i've used a plastic fermenting bucket, it also has a spigot. I was going to let it sit two weeks then transfer to a keg for aging. How nasty does the spigot get sitting around for 2 weeks? It was thoroughly cleaned before filling and i've been squirting starsan in the spigot every couple of days, is it ok to rack from there or should I use ye old racking cane? I could also transfer after a week, it's gone from 1.064 to 1.014 in 4 days.

 

[homebrewer_99]

What you basically did was ferment in a bottling bucket.

Since you don't know how much trub is in the bottom...it could be above your spigot line...then I recommend you use a racking cane/tube to rack to the keg.

Additionally, pick up a primary bucket...

 

[wildwest450]

What you basically did was ferment in a bottling bucket.

Since you don't know how much trub is in the bottom...it could be above your spigot line...then I recommend you use a racking cane/tube to rack to the keg.

Additionally, pick up a primary bucket...

Thanks, I never thought about the trub being above the spigot. I never intended to ferment in a plastic bucket, im a glass guy, just ran out of primary's

 

[malkore]

in your case, I'd just rack it by siphoning. i've seen some pails where the spigot is high enough to avoid the trub. i've seen some that looked like the factory screwed up when drilling the hole (way too low).

 

[wedge421]

Yah I know the feeling. I just ran out of primaries and had to revert to my bottling bucket. Oh well, just rack it with an autosiphon or something like that.

 

[Revvy]

In the future if you need to do this, I've heard of people sanitizing their spigot, then sanitizing a plastic baggie and a couple of rubberbands, and covering the the spigog with the plastic bag and rubber bands.

 

[mZnthebend]

I actually just took my first try at this and I liked how it worked out. I bought a little tailpiece from Williams Brewing that they advertise for keeping trub out of the spigot, in the primary. I took my primary bucket, added a hole higher than normal and added the invert tube on the inside of the spigot. After sanitizing, I rotated the spigot upwards, filled it with star san, and capped it with a short piece of kinked tubing. Last night I pulled off the cap, sprayed some fresh star san in the spigot, and drained the first runnings into a hydrometer test jar, and I was extremely surprised to see NO sediment. Drained the rest into the keg.

To date, it has been the easiest transfer I have ever done.