Yeast Sediment and FG

[Blulakr]

I have recently gone to kegging (corny) but don't yet have a CO2 tank and regulator (Christmas soon :rockin. I'm currently making due with a picnic tap and a CO2 mini charger. A local grocery store sells co2 cartridges pretty cheap so I can carb a keg with the mini charger for now and not go broke doing so.


I thought I might try and rack my beer from primary into my keg before fermentation is complete. I'm currently doing a wheat beer with a 1.054 OG. I racked it into the keg at 1.020. FG should be around 1.012. My thought is that this will save time from having to add sugar and keg condition another 2 weeks or more. I can also use less co2 to carb it.

2 questions,

Has anyone done this? and

I'm sure there will be a fair amount of yeast sediment on the bottom of the keg. I'd like to check gravity without opening the keg. If I pull a sample from the tap it will have alot of this sediment in it, will this affect my hydrometer readings??

 

[Homebrewtastic]

8 points is going to develop an awful lot of CO2. You will have over carbed beer. Typically speaking when you add your corn sugar (for bottling) you're adding about .001 . But a lot of people do secondary in their corny kegs. I would relieve the CO2 a little every day or so.Then once you're at .014 or .013 stop doing so.

 

[ChshreCat]

Or make yourself a spunding valve. Lets you build up to a certain pressure (say... what you want to carb at?) and then releases the excess.

http://byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/400-build-your-own-spunding-valve-to-carbonate-in-the-keg

 

[Blulakr]

8 points is going to develop an awful lot of CO2. You will have over carbed beer. Typically speaking when you add your corn sugar (for bottling) you're adding about .001 . But a lot of people do secondary in their corny kegs. I would relieve the CO2 a little every day or so.Then once you're at .014 or .013 stop doing so.

I forgot to mention that I have released some of the co2 3 or 4 times to purge any oxygen out of the keg. I'm not really worried about overcarb.

Will the sediment pulled from the bottom of the keg thru the tap affect my FG reading???? Should I pull a pint and toss it then take a reading??

 

[Pommy]

I dont keg so I dont know how much yeast will be coming through but if you put the sample in the fridge the yeast should drop out in no time

 

[pjj2ba]

Will the sediment pulled from the bottom of the keg thru the tap affect my FG reading???? Should I pull a pint and toss it then take a reading??

The sludge will not affect your reading if you let it settle. Only dissolved stuff affects the specific gravity. Now if yeast settle ON the hydrometer itself, that can affect the reading. I find it takes about 3-5 pints of beer from a properly aged, naturally carbonated keg before it will run clear.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

I read in my midwest catalog that the mini co2 cartridges are just for serving and will not work for carbing....just fyi. When you are first carb'ing the beer, you will pressurize the keg, turn off the knob and the liquid will absorb the CO2. You will have to repressurize many times before the beer is fully carb'd. Of course you can also leave the c02 on/off knob on all the time, my point was to show that there is a lot of C02 absorbed and I would think it would take many small cartridges to do this.

When you say "conditioning and carbing at the same time" I am thinking you mean that fermentation will release c02 and since you're using a sealed corney it should pressurize itself. The pressure it takes to carb a cold keg is about 12psi, I really doubt that would happen naturally.

Also note that fermentation slows drastically when the corney is cooled to ~39degF.

I think you are thinking very creatively but IMHO I would still ferment 4 weeks in primary, then keg and carb/condition one week.

 

[Blulakr]

I read in my midwest catalog that the mini co2 cartridges are just for serving and will not work for carbing....just fyi.

I've carb'd 2 kegs with the cartridges. It takes about 6-8 cartridges to carb and dispense a full keg. I get cartridges (food grade) for a buck apiece. The beer is nicely carbed, not flat or too foamy. I know this isn't a permanent solution but it works for now. With the cartridges and ingredients a keg of beer costs me around $25 total to make. Still pretty cheap.

My thought was to use some of the co2 created during secondary ferment to start the carb process.