Set and forget it?

[whovous]

My question concerns a slightly different way to cold-crash, but I would also welcome comments on my somewhat irregular process, so I will set that forth as well.

We divide our time between our house and a cabin, with most of our time since COVID spent in the cabin. The brewing equipment is in the house, and it won't transfer well to the cabin. This has led me to do a lot less brewing since COVID. I am trying to develop a process that lets me be around the brewing equipment as little time as possible, and still produces drinkable beer. I am completing steps when the time is available rather than at what might be more logical times.

I brewed a "modern" WCIPA last Saturday. It turned out to be a double (OG of 1.074) that I probably should have diluted to a single, but didn't. I pitched the yeast into a keg with a floating dip tube on Saturday afternoon with a Spundit set at 4PSI. Fermentation temp was 66F. I had to leave on Monday, so I opened the keg that morning and added a dryhop in a screened tube. I wanted to turn the Spundit up to 14PSI and was not sure of how else to set it, so I added CO2 from a cannister and used that to check my Spundit setting and left the house. When I returned on Friday the Fermonitor on the Spundit showed a bubble every six seconds or so. PSI was 14 as hoped. My projected FG was 1.010. Actual gravity measured 1.007 even after degassing the sample, so I decided to declare fermentation complete and to cold crash at 35F and leave the Spundit in place for now. Roughly 24 hours went by, and the Spundit shows my current pressure at 12PSI @35F. My limited understanding of temperature and pressure makes me think this is a bit odd, but I don't know what if anything I should do with this information.

I have to leave again tomorrow morning and with the exception of a few hours I will be gone for 12 days. I want the beer to be ready to drink when I get back. I want the serving temp to be 42F, so I plan to turn the temp up to 42F tomorrow even if the cold crash is not complete. My hope is that 42F will be "cold enough" given the extra time at that temp. I think I want the serving pressure to be 12PSI. The Spundit showed 14PSI (the set level) at 66F, and it seems to me that should translate to something quite a bit lower than 12PSI at 35F. So, while I would like to be able to fully pressurize my beer through fermentation, I don't trust that I am really there. Thus, I plan to put the fermentation keg on a CO2 cannister set at 12PSI. It shouldn't make much difference if it is already at 12PSI, and it should protect me against winding up with highly under-carbed beer when I return in twelve days.

Does this thought process (42F & 12PSI for 12 days) make sense, or should I do things differently? What should I have done differently earlier in the process, given my time limitations?

 

[kevin58]

Set it and forget it is the only method of carbonation that I use. I set mine at 40° at 10-12 PSI for 10 to 14 days. Its darn near foolproof.

 

[redrocker652002]

I premise this by saying that I have never used a spunding valve nor have I fermented in a keg (I want to give it a try though one of these days). I usually transfer my beer from the fermenting bucket to my keg using a closed setup and gravity. Once the keg is full, or should I say the bucket is somewhat empty, I put the keg in the kegerator and set it to about 40 or so (sometimes it is 37 to 38, but never over 41 or 42). Turn on my CO2, set that to about 14 and let it go. I usually sample about a week in, but find the 10 days is when it seems to be fully carbed up. Most of what I do is Ale's so sometimes I will start at 12 just in case and dial it up to 14 if needed. Either way, I have watched videos where guys roll the keg and set the pressure super high to try and get it carbed up quick. I just am not comfortable doing that. With all that said, I would set the kegerator at 40, set your PSI at about 14 and go. It should be ready and drinkable upon your return. Now, I premise all that with the disclaimer that I am in now way an expert, so take it for what it is worth, and that aint much. LOL. Rock On!!!!!!!

 

[whovous]

Thanks all. With the benefit of hindsight and your replies, I don't think this one was really worth worrying about.

 

[doug293cz]

My question concerns a slightly different way to cold-crash, but I would also welcome comments on my somewhat irregular process, so I will set that forth as well.

We divide our time between our house and a cabin, with most of our time since COVID spent in the cabin. The brewing equipment is in the house, and it won't transfer well to the cabin. This has led me to do a lot less brewing since COVID. I am trying to develop a process that lets me be around the brewing equipment as little time as possible, and still produces drinkable beer. I am completing steps when the time is available rather than at what might be more logical times.

I brewed a "modern" WCIPA last Saturday. It turned out to be a double (OG of 1.074) that I probably should have diluted to a single, but didn't. I pitched the yeast into a keg with a floating dip tube on Saturday afternoon with a Spundit set at 4PSI. Fermentation temp was 66F. I had to leave on Monday, so I opened the keg that morning and added a dryhop in a screened tube. I wanted to turn the Spundit up to 14PSI and was not sure of how else to set it, so I added CO2 from a cannister and used that to check my Spundit setting and left the house. When I returned on Friday the Fermonitor on the Spundit showed a bubble every six seconds or so. PSI was 14 as hoped. My projected FG was 1.010. Actual gravity measured 1.007 even after degassing the sample, so I decided to declare fermentation complete and to cold crash at 35F and leave the Spundit in place for now. Roughly 24 hours went by, and the Spundit shows my current pressure at 12PSI @35F. My limited understanding of temperature and pressure makes me think this is a bit odd, but I don't know what if anything I should do with this information.

I have to leave again tomorrow morning and with the exception of a few hours I will be gone for 12 days. I want the beer to be ready to drink when I get back. I want the serving temp to be 42F, so I plan to turn the temp up to 42F tomorrow even if the cold crash is not complete. My hope is that 42F will be "cold enough" given the extra time at that temp. I think I want the serving pressure to be 12PSI. The Spundit showed 14PSI (the set level) at 66F, and it seems to me that should translate to something quite a bit lower than 12PSI at 35F. So, while I would like to be able to fully pressurize my beer through fermentation, I don't trust that I am really there. Thus, I plan to put the fermentation keg on a CO2 cannister set at 12PSI. It shouldn't make much difference if it is already at 12PSI, and it should protect me against winding up with highly under-carbed beer when I return in twelve days.

Does this thought process (42F & 12PSI for 12 days) make sense, or should I do things differently? What should I have done differently earlier in the process, given my time limitations?

A temp change going from 66°F to 35°F will drop 14 psi gauge pressure to 12.3 psig. Additional CO2 absorption due to the lower temp, could easily lead to an additional 0.3 psi drop. So, the pressure difference you observed is exactly what would be expected.

It's good that you attached a CO2 source to the keg, as if you hadn't, the headspace pressure would drop even more over time as CO2 gets absorbed into the beer. The final outcome would depend on the actual beer volume in the keg. Assuming a standard "5" gallon corny keg, ferm temp of 66°F, starting headspace pressure of 14 psig, storage temp of 42°F, and no replacement CO2, would result in the following:

With the CO2 connected at 12 psig, the final carb level will be 2.4 volumes @ 42°F.

Brew on

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Unless pressed for time to get a keg carbed, set it and forget is a safe bet. Otherwise 40 psi for a day will carb just about any beer.

 

[whovous]

Tastes great, but it is foaming like crazy. Now what?

 

[doug293cz]

Tastes great, but it is foaming like crazy. Now what?

What's the length and ID (inside diameter) of your beer line? You need adequate flow resistance to get back pressure during the pour to minimize foam. Too short, or too large ID, tubing doesn't provide enough flow resistance to balance the pressure in the keg. A good line length calculator can be found here.

Brew on

 

[whovous]

I think it is EVABarrrier and DuoTight. It has been a while. I think it is 6 or 7 feet and 3/16". It has worked fine in the past, albeit, I've not made a lot of beer in recent years. I also have flow control taps. Reducing the flow close to zero definitely reduces the foam, but I still get far more foam than beer.