99 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

So I have a couple of spunding valves I can use on my corny kegs.  I bought them in the spring and will only get around to using them for the first time next week I'm guessing.

 

I was planning to rack my 10 gallons into two 5 gallon corny kegs towards the end of fermentation and put these valves on.

 

I'm figuring purging the kegs before racking isn't a huge deal here.  I will purge post racking while I'm getting the lids to seal up.

 

I'm also accepting I'll have to work through more cloudy pints on these kegs but hopefully not too much more than normal.

 

I'm planning to do my dry hopping once I've cold crashed the kegs b/c I want get most of the yeast to drop out first.

 

Is there anything else I should know about this?

[neddles]

Maybe cold crash after full condition is reached and then draw off sediment until clear. Then do a keg-keg transfer to waiting dry hops?

[HVB]

Maybe cold crash after full condition is reached and then draw off sediment until clear. Then do a keg-keg transfer to waiting dry hops?

that is what I would do. 

 

I do it a bit different than Morty because I will start spunding and crashing in my fermetner and then move that beer to the brite tank with dry hops waiting.  Just sealed up the fermetner with my Wet Hop Amber last night and had 2PSI on it this morning.

[positiveContact]

Maybe cold crash after full condition is reached and then draw off sediment until clear. Then do a keg-keg transfer to waiting dry hops?

 

advantage being if I moved the keg there is no sediment?  or is there another benefit?  cleaning and sanitizing kegs is a bit of a PITA.

 

eta:  not trying to put anyone's methods down.  we all do things a little differently.  and I'm always looking at ways to improve and make my life easier.  often those don't go together though

Edited by Evil_Morty, 08 September 2016 - 10:05 AM.

[neddles]

advantage being if I moved the keg there is no sediment?  or is there another benefit?  cleaning and sanitizing kegs is a bit of a PITA.

 

eta:  not trying to put anyone's methods down.  we all do things a little differently.  and I'm always looking at ways to improve and make my life easier.  often those don't go together though

You kind of need to pick your poison. If you add the dry hops and spund the keg with beer with active yeast then you are going to lose a good bit of what you added in the dry hop when the yeast finally finishes and floccs out. Also, if your name is Denny you might not be a fan of the yeast/hop interaction. To get the most of your dry hop you will want to hit it with clear beer. So you can push to another keg as I suggested above (which has the added advantage of leaving the yeast/sediment behind) or you can open up the keg after the beer clears and drop your hops in at that point. Opening up the keg to drop in hops seems to me the method most likely to introduce O2 into your beer. I think this might matter more to you than a lot of people because your beer (10 gallons) sits around longer than for many of us. Like I said above tho… you kind of need to define your priorities and pick your poison. Does that make any sense?

[positiveContact]

You kind of need to pick your poison. If you add the dry hops and spund the keg with beer with active yeast then you are going to lose a good bit of what you added in the dry hop when the yeast finally finishes and floccs out. Also, if your name is Denny you might not be a fan of the yeast/hop interaction. To get the most of your dry hop you will want to hit it with clear beer. So you can push to another keg as I suggested above (which has the added advantage of leaving the yeast/sediment behind) or you can open up the keg after the beer clears and drop your hops in at that point. Opening up the keg to drop in hops seems to me the method most likely to introduce O2 into your beer. I think this might matter more to you than a lot of people because your beer (10 gallons) sits around longer than for many of us. Like I said above tho… you kind of need to define your priorities and pick your poison. Does that make any sense?

 

it does.  those were all things I was considering as well.  one thing to note is I typically don't dry hop keg #2 until I finish keg #1 so the time to finishing the keg from the time I dry hop it is about the same as someone who makes 5 gal batches.

[neddles]

it does.  those were all things I was considering as well.  one thing to note is I typically don't dry hop keg #2 until I finish keg #1 so the time to finishing the keg from the time I dry hop it is about the same as someone who makes 5 gal batches.

that seems like a good strategy

[positiveContact]

that seems like a good strategy

 

I figure the hops are fresher that way.

[positiveContact]

i assume the beer doesn't need to move many gravity points to carbonate right?  right now i'm around 1.030 but I was thinking tomorrow would be the better day since I'll probably be around around 1.020.  airlock is still pretty active.

[HVB]

In my experience it does not take a lot.

[neddles]

Somewhere I remember reading that it only takes 1º plato (0.004 SG) to fully carb a beer. Not sure how accurate that is but you could estimate a general accuracy by figuring out how many ºP is added to 5 gallons with a few ounces of dextrose. Better to aim low and add CO2 than to aim high and have to decondition the beer.

[positiveContact]

Somewhere I remember reading that it only takes 1º plato (0.004 SG) to fully carb a beer. Not sure how accurate that is but you could estimate a general accuracy by figuring out how many ºP is added to 5 gallons with a few ounces of dextrose. Better to aim low and add CO2 than to aim high and have to decondition the beer.

 

don't forget, spunding valves!

[HVB]

don't forget, spunding valves!

Have you been able to get yours to "vent" at a predictable level?

[neddles]

don't forget, spunding valves!

Oh yeah, true... if it works tho. I don't read a lot of good things about their accuracy but I have no experience myself.

[positiveContact]

Have you been able to get yours to "vent" at a predictable level?

 

we'll find out.  I'll shoot for a less carbed to be safe.  probably about 17 or 18 PSI I'm thinking.

[HVB]

we'll find out.  I'll shoot for a less carbed to be safe.  probably about 17 or 18 PSI I'm thinking.

 

I will be transferring my wet hop amber tonight that I bunged and let finish The gauge only shows like 2PSI (@50) but I feel the gauge is off.  Time will tell!

[positiveContact]

I will be transferring my wet hop amber tonight that I bunged and let finish The gauge only shows like 2PSI (@50) but I feel the gauge is off.  Time will tell!

 

I just checked mine on empty kegs.  one gauge seems to read about right.  the other def does not.  it's like it needs a gain correction or something.

[Stout_fan]

I have mine set at 25 PSI.  Which for basement temps comes out to 8PSI at serving temp.  There is the rapid bleed off, followed by the slow leak down to final pressure.  Short of spending a lot of time calibrating on empty kegs, I can see no other way to find the final pressure.  Out of four, I have one that will reliably stop at 25 PSI.

[positiveContact]

I have mine set at 25 PSI.  Which for basement temps comes out to 8PSI at serving temp.  There is the rapid bleed off, followed by the slow leak down to final pressure.  Short of spending a lot of time calibrating on empty kegs, I can see no other way to find the final pressure.  Out of four, I have one that will reliably stop at 25 PSI.

 

what do the other 3 do?

[positiveContact]

oh man,  the stuff that went into those kegs