Racking from a Conical?

[RonRock]

I was wondering if I could rack my beer from my conical with CO2 pressure into the keg "Out" post. I would purge the keg with CO2 first, probably have to remove the lid to watch the liquid level. Would be better if I could leave the lid on, but that would fill the keg completely.

Anybody rack this way? Maybe everybody does and I'm doing it wrong with my hose into the keg. Sounds funny, but at least I didn't say "My long hose into the keg"

Oh my conicals are Blichmann. They can be pressurized to a couple pounds easy through the blowoff tube.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

One thing to note - if your going to do this, you might want to have a HEPA filter on that blowoff tube and take it out of the blowoff It will create a vacuum in there.

I'm no expert on this, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.

 

[shelly_belly]

I push mine from a carboy into a keg through the beverage out side. I leave the top on and put a picnic tap on the gas side and set it in a small bucket. When beer flows out the picnic tap I know it's full. Then I usually pull a pint out just to make sure I have some headspace, and force carb it in a soda bottle and sample.

 

[RonRock]

If this would work I will use a clean and sanitized stopper and length of hose to my CO2 regulator. A filter may still be a good idea.

I guess my biggest concern is the size of the dip tube. I keg in corney's. And the I.D. of the tube is 1/4" or so. Not sure if that will be too restricted for a good rate of flow. When I rack with the hose I use 1/2" and it flows well. I just don't like the open keg, and the hose in the beer.

I figure if it is a good way to rack, then someone here will have done it. If not I can try it with water to see what happens.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

what your need is a Spunding Valve on the receiving corny.

When I do this, I purge the corny to about 5psi, then do a pressurized transfer - try to match the rates of CO2 into the fermenter and the spunding valve.

Fill via the "Out" port to reduce foaming.

Since I've been doing 10g batches lately, I have a Y between two cornies that fill them both (and on the spunding side too).

EDIT : https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/conical-keg-illustrated-75794/#post794717

 

[Bokonon]

I put kegs on a scale and fill by weight so I don't need to open them to visually check the level.

You can pull the pressure relief valve every once in a while, or get a spunding valve or just simply a needle valve and open it a crack (which is what I do)

 

[Bobby_M]

The dip tube is the real flow constrictor but I'm generally in no big hurry. If you've got your racking arm turned to the right spot, you'd just want to run it until it stops so you can walk away for a bit. I actually have a liquid QD that has a 3/8" hose barb on it, but due to the dip tube, I doubt it's doing anything for me.

Is the question related to not having enough gravity? I don't know which conical you have but many of them cannot be pressurized more than 1psi or so.

 

[Bobby_M]

One thing to note - if your going to do this, you might want to have a HEPA filter on that blowoff tube and take it out of the blowoff It will create a vacuum in there.

I'm no expert on this, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.

The other way to go is to put a jumper between the top of the conical to the receiving corny gas QD so while beer is displacing the CO2 in the corny, it's going back into the conical. Closed system.

 

[RonRock]

Nice find Larry. Exactly what I have in mind.

A couple of reasons I'm thinking of this. I like the idea of a closed system on the cold side. And I never did like the idea of the hose sticking in my beer.