Transferring to keg through liquid post - can I completely remove PRV?

[ILMSTMF]

In most attempts at doing a transfer this way, I would pull the PRV up and twist it slightly to get it to stay open. Once beer is done (or near done) transferring, I would give the PRV a little twist to close it and stop the flow of beer. The problem - Several times, the PRV has "dropped" closed on its own thus, stopping the transfer. Very annoying.

The possible solution - I thought I could unscrew the PRV a bit out of the threading or even unscrew it all the way to prevent this problem. Instead of having to close PRV to stop flow when I want, I could just pull the QD off of the post. Would this be a bad idea? Thanks!

EDIT - I may have figured this out. I can eliminate the PRV issue by venting the keg with a QD connected to gas post of receiving keg. Pull either QD off of the post to stop the flow when wanted. Good plan? Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

I transfer with co2, and just pull the prv when the flow slows down. Leaving it open seems counterintuitive to me since the idea is to make it a closed transfer.

 

[ILMSTMF]

Hey @Yooper

Maybe I should be more clear. Whether I'm transferring from FV to keg or jumping from keg to keg, I always have to keep the PRV of the receiving keg open in order for liquid to flow in. This would be for 2 scenarios:

• bucket FV to keg. Lid open on bucket. Siphon, no CO2 supply from a tank.
or
• keg to keg. Purging a keg of StarSan, replacing with CO2. The CO2 from tank gives the pressure to move the StarSan out of keg 1 and into keg 2. But, here's the key bit, the receiving keg will not have liquid flowing into it unless the PRV is open.

Are we talking about the same thing? Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Yes, I also jump to a serving keg via the liquid to liquid posts. That minimizes splashing. However, I simply pull the PRV on the new keg once in a while if the flow slows, and I push it with about 2 psi CO2.

I try to never do open transfers if I can help it.

 

[tmurph6]

You can pull the PRV out. My process involves purging keg with co2 then transferring beer into keg with prv unscrewed. If you’re transferring beer into the keg, you’re just venting co2 out the top so you don’t have oxidation risk any more than burping the keg in my opinion.

As an aside, I always think about how many years I made good beer without closed transfers, and it always makes me feel better about how much more careful transferring with co2 into a mostly closed and purged keg is.

 

[VikeMan]

When doing a closed xfer to a keg that's pushed by CO2, you can put a spunding valve (set to about 2 PSI or so) on the receiving keg's gas post. That's about as close to truly "closed" as you can get.

 

[ILMSTMF]

When doing a closed xfer to a keg that's pushed by CO2, you can put a spunding valve (set to about 2 PSI or so) on the receiving keg's gas post. That's about as close to truly "closed" as you can get.

That's the plan. Soon, anyway.
Gas QD on the post though... good enough to serve as a "vent" for the pressure in keg?

 

[VikeMan]

Gas QD on the post though... good enough to serve as a "vent" for the pressure in keg?

I'd say it's better than, for example, leaving the keg lid off, and marginally better than removing the relief valve.

 

[DVCNick]

As long as the beer is flowing, there will be slight outward pressure on the receiving keg and it's a closed transfer. Doesn't matter if the valve is installed or not in my opinion. I'd use the mentioned gas QD instead as it will be easier.

However plenty of times I've purged a keg and then popped the lid off and drained into the bottom of it with no perceivable issues.... No risk of hops clogging up the poppet that way. As long as you are careful about eliminatimg any air movement in the vicinity during the transfer, the slight outbound pressure will still be pushing CO2 out and not letting air in.

 

[VikeMan]

However plenty of times I've purged a keg and then popped the lid off and drained into the bottom of it with no perceivable issues.... No risk of hops clogging up the poppet that way. As long as you are careful about eliminatimg any air movement in the vicinity during the transfer, the slight outbound pressure will still be pushing CO2 out and not letting air in.

The high CO2 concentration and the (slight) pressure outward is better than not purging, but some air will get in.