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poll - how do you transfer your beer?

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how do you usually transfer your beer from fermenter to final package ( bottle or keg)

  • siphon out of the top of the bucket or carboy

    Votes: 20 22.0%
  • spigot at the base of the FV

    Votes: 38 41.8%
  • floating diptube

    Votes: 17 18.7%
  • other - please describe.

    Votes: 16 17.6%

  • Total voters
    91
I've a anvil fermenter and drain through hose into a kegs. Easy and quick. No splashing.
 
Floating dip tube through closed transfer to a keg purged by fermentation, same as @Bassman2003 and @homebeerbrewer. From a Fermzilla mostly for me. I could never get over the fact that at least some air would get trapped in the hose/spigot at that connection point. As soon as you open the spigot that air goes up, right through your beer. Not sure how much is in my mind but definitely noticed an improvement moving to this method.
I purge my transfer hose/tubing w/ co2 before starting transfer. Use co2 pressure to force beer from Fermzilla via floating dip tube. Works for me.
 
I have been doing oxygen free transfers for quite a while. I wouldn't do it any other way. I also use a scale to help monitor progress. I put the clean and sanitized keg in the fridge or kegerator the day before so its cold, I pre-crash the beer in the fermenter. Saves my kegerator from working to get it cold. I use low pressure co2 to push the beer out of my Fermzilla, I also put a gauge on the "out" post of the receiving keg so I know when to pull the PRV to get things moving again. Another thing I do is inject finings (gelatin and or Biofine Clear) mid-transfer oxygen free. I use a 500ml SmartWater bottle with a piece of EvaBarrier tubing on the stem of a carb cap long enough to reach the bottom. I purge the bottle with co2, then pressurize > the receiving keg, make sure you purge the jumper hose so you don't inject oxygen. Then viola. Afterwards I put the transfer hose back on and finish the transfer.
 

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I'll be honest, I use a conical because I save the yeast but I just attach a hose to the fermenter valve that reaches the bottom of the keg, I put a clean sanitized towel over the opening and just transfer open then in the keg do the pressure pull on gas several times when full, never had a problem
 
@moreb33rplz Curious on the same. Is there a difference between:

1. No yeast crash, dry hopping commando and never crashing/transferring

And

2. Crashing yeast, dry hopping, crash the hops, transfer

My hypothesis is that with #1, you will be drinking hop matter where #2 it would be none or less hop matter and potentially less astringency/bite.
I've been sipping a Neipa I brewed 6 weeks ago and for the first time did a closed transfer from fermenting keg to serving keg after I commando dry hopped 6 oz of nectaron for 6 days. I hate to say it but I think it tastes better than my beers that I didn't transfer and just let the dry hops sit in the beer for the duration of drinking the keg

Good side - beer is f&^#* awesome
Bad Side - the method that takes more effort is better, at least with this sample size of 1
 
I ferment mostly in 5 gallon PET carboys, and pressure transfer out of them into sanitized and purged corny kegs. I use one of those orange caps to apply CO2 to the carboy at 1psi, stainless racking cane to 3/8" vinyl tubing to a ball lock liquid disconnect, filling keg from the bottom-up.

On certain occasions I'll ferment in a corny keg and transfer out of them via a floating dip tube.
 
i stopped transferring at this point and just serve out of fermenter with floating diptube. when the level gets down to less then a half ill sometimes jump it to a minikeg to free up kegerator space and/or free up fermenters.
 
I don't transfer anymore. I am fermenting in the serving keg. clean (micro screened) wort goes in the keg with floating dip tube, yeast is pitched, it's fermented, then served from same keg.
 
My last fifty ish batches I fermented and serve from the same keg, no transfer. I am still surprised more people don't do this.

The two flaws I see are you can't really harvest the yeast and you have less options for dry hopping but worth it for my brewing. Sue me I think transferring beer is a pain and this method is as low oxygen as it gets
two flaws???

1. harvest yeast...yes you can. very easy. If you start with clean and clear (filtered, screened or settled) wort...meaning NO trub...then you will have a nice clean yeast cake after fermentation. A clean yeast harvest is done when you tap the first pint (standard dip tube), or you tap the last pint (floating dip tube). Option, dump fresh wort into "dirty" keg and re-ferment.

2. dry hopping. do it while yeast is active or at the beginning. Any oxygen introduced will be consumed by the active yeast and/or spunded out.
 
I bottle straight from the fermenter. One fermenter I have used a spigot, one is a glass carboy (so I use an auto siphon).
In either case, I use a bottling wand with a spring, so it holds the siphon perfectly.
I dose a simple syrup to each bottle with a medicine syringe to carbonate them.
I've gotten pretty good at placing the cap during the foam, but I don't have enough hands to clamp it down in that moment.
 
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