Remove spunding valve for cold crash?

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RickyBeers

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Can I remove my spundIT 2.0 when I go to cold crash? Does it matter? Or should I keep it on?
 
I always remove mine, and typically go ahead and hook it up to co2. Whether that's right or wrong, I have no idea. But it works for me.
 
I had planned to just remove the spunding valve so that I didn’t get any air suck back, then let it cold crash for a few days, hook up my picnic tap to see if I can try to taste it natural… then hit it with gelatin in the same keg (I have a floating dip tube for this), then hopefully after a few days of that it will be ready for pressure transfer to serving keg.

Just wanted to make sure I didn’t have to keep the spunding valve on for some reason. I guess if it’s done fermenting I shouldn’t have to worry about pressure build up, and if anything I think it loses pressure from the cold…
 
I usually just leave it on but I do add some C02 before cold crashing and remove blow off tube so I do not suck in any air or sanitizer with the negative pressure that occurs.
 
I usually just leave it on but I do add some C02 before cold crashing and remove blow off tube so I do not suck in any air or sanitizer with the negative pressure that occurs.

Does it make a difference that I plan to use gelatin after a few days of cold crashing?

Also I’m new to all of this, why do you have s spunding valve and a blow off tube? I thought you didn’t use blow off tube if you used spunding
 
Given that the beer / ferment should be above atmospheric, just take the spunding valve off. It's one less thing to leak. You can always check the pressure during cold crash and if it's getting to near 0 psi then inject some CO2 but there's no need to waste CO2.
If you are canny you can get the psi balanced during your ferment say 20 psi at 18 celsius ( off the top of my head for CO2 vols) and then whatever you crash it to it will be the correct pressure for that temp. It's physics. Just check on a carbonation calculator and you'll have no worries.
 
I misunderstood your use of the spunding valve. If your actually using the valve for spunding then correct no need for blow off (I attach my blow off tube to spunding valve initially and keep 3-5psi during fermentation -non spunding). If I want to spund then no need for blow off tube. I just set to the pressure I want toward the later stage of fermentation and let it build up CO2. Pressure will drop with cold crash as you said but you will still probably have some positive pressure in your fermenter (If you leave the spunding valve on you will know). I guess you could release the pressure to allow adding the gelatin if you have a way to do this without exposing to oxygen.
 
I misunderstood your use of the spunding valve. If your actually using the valve for spunding then correct no need for blow off (I attach my blow off tube to spunding valve initially and keep 3-5psi during fermentation -non spunding). If I want to spund then no need for blow off tube. I just set to the pressure I want toward the later stage of fermentation and let it build up CO2. Pressure will drop with cold crash as you said but you will still probably have some positive pressure in your fermenter (If you leave the spunding valve on you will know). I guess you could release the pressure to allow adding the gelatin if you have a way to do this without exposing to oxygen.


Thanks for the clarification, that is helpful. I plan to pressurize a water bottle with my gelatin mixture and a PET bottle lid hooked up to a gas to liquid patch line. I’ll ultimately have to make sure pressure is significantly less in fermenter than my water bottle so that the gelatin will get properly sucked into the liquid post connected to my floating dip tube.
 
What are you fermenting in?
I've not removed a spunding valve from any fermenters using one before chilling the batch down. I've also had Starsan solution between the spunding valve and outside air. Never had any suck-back. Then again, that's been with either the Blowtie or the TC spunding valve from SS Brew Tech. If your spunding valve isn't able to prevent suck-back, then remove it. IMO, any quality ones WILL prevent suck-back.
 
What are you fermenting in?
I've not removed a spunding valve from any fermenters using one before chilling the batch down. I've also had Starsan solution between the spunding valve and outside air. Never had any suck-back. Then again, that's been with either the Blowtie or the TC spunding valve from SS Brew Tech. If your spunding valve isn't able to prevent suck-back, then remove it. IMO, any quality ones WILL prevent suck-back.

I use a corny keg

That’s good to know, I’m sure the spundIT 2.0 is high enough quality, I should also review the paperwork that came with it I’m sure it has info on this now that I think about it…

My other consideration for removing the spunding was to be able to pressure ferment another vessel while that batch was conditioning. I currently only have one spunding valve but likely should invest in another. Just need to sneak it into the budget, wife is a little shocked at how expensive this hobby has become.
 
Before I switched to conical fermenters (yeah, NOT cheap) I was using two Blowtie units (both generations). I liked the newer generation better. Still have them right now but might get them to some new owners.

IMO, as long as the batch is completely done fermenting, you can remove it. At that point, you have a closed system so it won't matter. Also, corny kegs are rated for over 100psi, so you really don't have anything to worry about for pressure level buildup in the keg.

I've never used gelatin in any of my beers. Never needed to. I give them enough time for the yeast to settle and then either do a pressure/closed transfer, leaving the yeast behind (from the kegmenters) or dump the yeast before finishing/carbonating the batch (conical). For the conicals, I give the batch another 2+ days to settle once the CO2 is disconnected to settle again. Very clear beer is had by all.
 
Before I switched to conical fermenters (yeah, NOT cheap) I was using two Blowtie units (both generations). I liked the newer generation better. Still have them right now but might get them to some new owners.

IMO, as long as the batch is completely done fermenting, you can remove it. At that point, you have a closed system so it won't matter. Also, corny kegs are rated for over 100psi, so you really don't have anything to worry about for pressure level buildup in the keg.

I've never used gelatin in any of my beers. Never needed to. I give them enough time for the yeast to settle and then either do a pressure/closed transfer, leaving the yeast behind (from the kegmenters) or dump the yeast before finishing/carbonating the batch (conical). For the conicals, I give the batch another 2+ days to settle once the CO2 is disconnected to settle again. Very clear beer is had by all.
Before I switched to conical fermenters (yeah, NOT cheap) I was using two Blowtie units (both generations). I liked the newer generation better. Still have them right now but might get them to some new owners.

IMO, as long as the batch is completely done fermenting, you can remove it. At that point, you have a closed system so it won't matter. Also, corny kegs are rated for over 100psi, so you really don't have anything to worry about for pressure level buildup in the keg.

I've never used gelatin in any of my beers. Never needed to. I give them enough time for the yeast to settle and then either do a pressure/closed transfer, leaving the yeast behind (from the kegmenters) or dump the yeast before finishing/carbonating the batch (conical). For the conicals, I give the batch another 2+ days to settle once the CO2 is disconnected to settle again. Very clear beer is had by all.
Before I switched to conical fermenters (yeah, NOT cheap) I was using two Blowtie units (both generations). I liked the newer generation better. Still have them right now but might get them to some new owners.

IMO, as long as the batch is completely done fermenting, you can remove it. At that point, you have a closed system so it won't matter. Also, corny kegs are rated for over 100psi, so you really don't have anything to worry about for pressure level buildup in the keg.

I've never used gelatin in any of my beers. Never needed to. I give them enough time for the yeast to settle and then either do a pressure/closed transfer, leaving the yeast behind (from the kegmenters) or dump the yeast before finishing/carbonating the batch (conical). For the conicals, I give the batch another 2+ days to settle once the CO2 is disconnected to settle again. Very clear beer is had by all.

Interesting… not familiar with conicals but certainly look forward to that upgrade. I use whirlfloc at the end of the boil which may be enough for clearing, along with multiple days of cold crashing, but gelatin is just that little bit of piece of mind I guess.
 
I'm using a pair of Spike CF10 fermenters. I chill to about 45F a few days before I harvest the yeast. Then drop it to either 35F or 38F to carbonate. That runs for 3-5 days before the CO2 gets disconnected and it settles for another 2-4 days (depending on my schedule and such). Then I fill either a 2.5 or 3 gallon keg and put the rest into cans. Racking arm in the conical means I can control (to a degree) where it picks up the beer from (inside). I have been letting it sit horizontal in the conical until it starts sucking air, then I rotate it down fully. I leave .6 gallons of liquid (mix of some beer, trub and yeast) behind. I've simply sized my batches to make sure I get my target volume out of each batch. Since the fermenter is sized for 10 gallon batches, I'm good. I usually aim to get 6 gallons of finished beer into keg and can. I've increased the batch size a bit for the coming batches so that I can fill more cans of beer. That way I have more to send people home with. :D
 
Glitchy server today, so many double posts… anyway, thanks everyone for the help
 
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