Using corny for fermenter - sealing issues

[Picobrew]

For the first time, I tried fermenting in my corny keg tonight. I brewed up a batch, filled up the corny (wasn't sure where to stop really), and clamped a hose to the gas in line for blowoff.

Sounds great so far, but the problem I have (or might have, not sure yet) is that the lid on my corny doesn't like to seal properly unless I gas it up to about 30psi. So if I try to seal it at 0psi or 5psi, and turn the corny upside down, I get some drippage. If I kick it up to 30psi, no drippage.

Now to my questions:

#1 Is this going to create a problem for my blowoff (is stuff going to come up through my corny lid?) or will things just take care of themselves and fly out of my blow off tube?

#2 Is this normal for cornys? How can I fix it so that I can seal it up fine at 0psi? Guy at LHBS (Steinbart) walked me through the 30psi trick on the phone and said that is pretty normal. Kick it up to 30psi, lower to what you want, and it's sealed. This would be fine for normal uses, but not for fementing, because I can't kick it up to 30psi. My corny is newly reconditioned and seems in nice shape. O-rings look good.

Thanks,
pico

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

I've had some leak a little, RDWHAHB- I would put it in a bucket though. There are many brewers who ferment with just saran wrap or aluminum foil covering their wort. It will be fine, it's just a matter of possible krausen leaking out.

You could safely pressurize it to 30 PSI to seat the lid, vent, and re-attach your blow off. If it still doesn't seat properly, add some keg lube (or your choice of alternative) to the lid seal, and try to re-seat it again at 30, vent, etc.

Hope it turns out great!

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

#1 Is this going to create a problem for my blowoff (is stuff going to come up through my corny lid?) or will things just take care of themselves and fly out of my blow off tube?

The krausen will take the path of least resistance which should be your blow off tube. In fact I'd suspect any krausen that makes it to the lid is going to seal the lid off.

 

[JVD_X]

Did you take the poppet out of the gas-in valve? This will help avoid it getting clogged.

 

[remilard]

You can get some thicker o-rings (might be silicone) for the lid that will seal without pressure. I've seen them sold several places, never used one myself.

 

[Picobrew]

Did you take the poppet out of the gas-in valve? This will help avoid it getting clogged.

Yes, actually, I took the valve off, left the little 1 inch dip tube in, put a hose over the whole thing and clamped it. I am still wondering what would happen if this got clogged. How much PSI can little yeasties build up?

 

[Picobrew]

You can get some thicker o-rings (might be silicone) for the lid that will seal without pressure. I've seen them sold several places, never used one myself.

Thanks! I'll look for these. I am trying to get a setup going where I can do everything in cornies. I have no room and it would be much more space-saving.

 

[Picobrew]

I've had some leak a little, RDWHAHB- I would put it in a bucket though. There are many brewers who ferment with just saran wrap or aluminum foil covering their wort. It will be fine, it's just a matter of possible krausen leaking out.

You could safely pressurize it to 30 PSI to seat the lid, vent, and re-attach your blow off. If it still doesn't seat properly, add some keg lube (or your choice of alternative) to the lid seal, and try to re-seat it again at 30, vent, etc.

Hope it turns out great!

Thanks, I've never used keg lube before. This is a good idea. Is it common that you would need to jump up to 30psi to seal?

No leakage yet, but it has only been about 11 hours. I'm hoping the nottingham will start churning soon.

 

[Bokonon]

Yes, actually, I took the valve off, left the little 1 inch dip tube in, put a hose over the whole thing and clamped it. I am still wondering what would happen if this got clogged. How much PSI can little yeasties build up?

I don't do closed fermentation so I don't have a good answer, but I know that too much co2 will slow/stop the yeast from working. So it might be a situation that resolves itself at the expense of your beer.

I think the relief valves usually blow at around 150psi, but I don't think you'd see that

 

[Picobrew]

Ok so this fermenation is going strong now, and I didn't get anything out my blow off tube. I peeked inside and see a nice krausen goin on. I am pretty sure the co2 bubbles are sneaking out of the lid instead of the blowoff tube. I suppose this is "ok" but it isn't really what I want, because I am still a paranoid closed fermentation brewer .

Now, as to what to do about it, I think for this batch, I am just going to chill out and let it leak as it may, but I really want to solve this for my corny keg, so that it can get a nice seal at 0psi and use airlocks etc in the future.

There was a recommendation up above to look at some thicker o-rings etc. I also found some other posts on this site about mcmaster, but I couldn't really derive the correct components (or if they would even solve my problem). I feel like when I clamp by corny lid, it isnt really clamping strong, so I think adding a thicker o-ring (or maybe new lid ???) would be the move. Can anyone link me up to some good equipment online?

Here is a terrible picture of the fermentation now:

Did I not put enough top off water in there? I was really expecting to have blowoff in these cramped corny quarters.

You all have been very helpful.
thanks, pico

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Either way, you have nice blanket of CO2 covering your wort; beer will be fine! Every fermentation is different... I've had violent krausen explosions coming out, to almost two weeks of healthy bubbling. As long as you have about 5G (assuming 5 gallon batch) I wouldn't be worried about the top off water. It might be handy to fill it with 5 gallons of water, and mark it outside the keg, or use a marking stick (why is there a black line on the brrom handle?) for future brews.

Cornies are designed to work under high pressure; I will typically seat my lid with 30PSI when I fill it. Without it, some kegs will just refuse to seal. If you're concerned with the current one still, you should be fine putting your poppit/post on, hit it with CO2, purge it, and re-do your blow off.

I will probably be doing a brew session this week, and think I will be making a walk through of my process, since this seems to be catching on (you'll see a lot of my post in another similar thread)...

 

[Picobrew]

Either way, you have nice blanket of CO2 covering your wort; beer will be fine! Every fermentation is different... I've had violent krausen explosions coming out, to almost two weeks of healthy bubbling. As long as you have about 5G (assuming 5 gallon batch) I wouldn't be worried about the top off water. It might be handy to fill it with 5 gallons of water, and mark it outside the keg, or use a marking stick (why is there a black line on the brrom handle?) for future brews.

Cornies are designed to work under high pressure; I will typically seat my lid with 30PSI when I fill it. Without it, some kegs will just refuse to seal. If you're concerned with the current one still, you should be fine putting your poppit/post on, hit it with CO2, purge it, and re-do your blow off.

I will probably be doing a brew session this week, and think I will be making a walk through of my process, since this seems to be catching on (you'll see a lot of my post in another similar thread)...

Thanks for all this tips! i think this corny keg brewing is the way to go if I can just tighten up my process a bit. I am ordering some sure screens, and I'm also thinking about getting an extra 1inch gas dip tube to sub out for the long dip tube that is in the "out" line (I think I need something in there to keep the seal). Or maybe buying another long one and chopping it by 1/2" so I can use it to rack. Next time I will do the 30psi trick for the lid.

Do you use tubes on the post, or on the fitting under the post, or do you use a QD? I am not sure how much flow there is in the QD and if it would get clogged/be easy to clean, but it seems easier. The hose I have now was difficult and required clamping.

btw, is "Broken Face" a reference to the Pixies song, or is it something altogether different?

cheers!

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

I use stock dip tubes on mine- I use the 'in' for the blow off, and actually transfer corny to corny for secondary/serving (depending on the beer) by jumping the out post (with long stock dip tubes), equalizing the pressure, and then disconnecting the pressure on the receiving keg and venting the CO2. It works great, unless you are dry hopping a beer in secondary and moving to a serving keg. My double IPA I had to remove the gas in post, and use a toothpick to remove the hop pellets, re-sanitize and I was good to go. I just use a connect for the blow off; so far I have been ok on any clogging (for secondary, I just vent the relief valve on occasion).

Broken Face- LOVE THE PIXIES! Caught them in concert on their last 'final' tour; but name actually stems from my actual broken face- Long story short- got a two Y/O kids ball back, received a cement edger to the head (9 stitches in the ER) followed by a blow to the face which got me three plates in my cheek... Got to love society these days! I think I posted it more detailed in the label thread, thread about brewery name/meaning (probably in the rants thread somewhere too )

 

[Picobrew]

I use stock dip tubes on mine- I use the 'in' for the blow off, and actually transfer corny to corny for secondary/serving (depending on the beer) by jumping the out post (with long stock dip tubes), equalizing the pressure, and then disconnecting the pressure on the receiving keg and venting the CO2. It works great, unless you are dry hopping a beer in secondary and moving to a serving keg. My double IPA I had to remove the gas in post, and use a toothpick to remove the hop pellets, re-sanitize and I was good to go. I just use a connect for the blow off; so far I have been ok on any clogging (for secondary, I just vent the relief valve on occasion).

Broken Face- LOVE THE PIXIES! Caught them in concert on their last 'final' tour; but name actually stems from my actual broken face- Long story short- got a two Y/O kids ball back, received a cement edger to the head (9 stitches in the ER) followed by a blow to the face which got me three plates in my cheek... Got to love society these days! I think I posted it more detailed in the label thread, thread about brewery name/meaning (probably in the rants thread somewhere too )

Ouch! I wish it was just a Pixies reference! Yes this primary/secondary setup is what I want to do. For now, I'm just doing a simple cheap ass turbo pale and I'm only going to Primary it. I think I'm going to rack off to bottling bucket, quickly clean out the corny (I only have one right now), and re-rack into it for serving. We'll see how that works out.

Do you use sure screens? When you are going to send from primary to secondary, what happens to trub and how do you manage it? Do you serve straight from secondary? That is why I was going to do, and that is what one of my favorite local breweries do.

 

[Picobrew]

I just ordered one of these rings , a thicker/softer o-ring, to try to see if it seals at 0 psi. I don't have CO2 where I brew/ferment so this would make it a bit easier.

On the batch I have going now, a bit of krausen leaked through the lid (just a tsp or so). The nice thing is that the sticky mess sealed it up, and now it's bubbling nicely on the blowoff tube.

 

[Ben25]

I just got a pack of 5 silicon o-rings from McMaster Carr. I believe it was about $7. I haven't tried them yet, but I've heard good reviews.

 

[Picobrew]

I just got a pack of 5 silicon o-rings from McMaster Carr. I believe it was about $7. I haven't tried them yet, but I've heard good reviews.

Can you post a link to what you bought? That's a lot cheaper than what I paid ($5/ring). I couldn't figure out the right piece to order on mcmaster.

 

[Ben25]

Here's the McMaster part number:
9396K926

And here are part numbers for 100 packs of the other 2 sizes you need for kegs (about $2 for 100, it's worth it)

9452K172
9452K23

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

I use sure screens for all of my primary fermentation. As long as you have it going 3+ weeks, you'll be surprised by the trub/yeast cake you leave behind in the primary. I force keg to keg (as posted before), and you can either dump the trub/yeast or re use it as a starter.

Depending on the beer, I either serve from secondary (no sure screen), or cold crash it and go to a serving keg; most I will use the secondary as a serving keg, unless I am dry hopping (with a sure screen), or feel it could use a little more clarification due to the nature of the beer I am brewing.

i hope the wording doesn't mess you up, I have been treating myself to the fruits of my labor