99 replies to this topic

[HVB]

oh man, the stuff that went into those kegs

Huh?

[MyaCullen]

Huh?

I'm guessing he's grimacing at the amount of shmutz that tranfers into a keg when you are still fermenting, versus the usaul still semi clear nearly finished product he's used to.

[positiveContact]

I'm guessing he's grimacing at the amount of shmutz that tranfers into a keg when you are still fermenting, versus the usaul still semi clear nearly finished product he's used to.

 

yeup!

 

eta:  I believe it's spelled schmutz©® (kenlenard patent pending)

Edited by Evil_Morty, 18 September 2016 - 03:30 AM.

[HVB]

yeup!

eta: I believe it's spelled schmutz©® (kenlenard patent pending)

I guess I will stick with my method then.

[positiveContact]

I guess I will stick with my method then.

 

could work out in the end though.  we'll see!

 

also, if this was a beer with less hop stuff in the fermentor (like a helles) I could see it not being nearly as bad.

[positiveContact]

so the amount of trub/hops/yeast that went in the kegs - how do most people using this method contend with this?  I'll cold crash the kegs in a few days but that can only do so much.

Edited by Evil_Morty, 18 September 2016 - 10:53 AM.

[neddles]

How did you get hops and trub in the kegs? Seems like it should have been just some yeast from a slowing fermentation and the hops and trub should have been on the bottom. What was the gravty when you racked?

[Genesee Ted]

Are you spunding to save on CO2 or for beer quality? If it is the latter, I don't think this method is going to be great for you. Day hopping can be tricky. You want to take the beer off of the yeast as best as possible during the dry hop, but you don't get as much out of your dry hops once the beer is cold. Sure, you could warm it up. That's easier on a HB level than it is for me, but it's still kind of wonky. Personally, I wouldn't spund a beer that I'm dry hopping because I have to relieve the pressure to drop in the hops. Although, I suppose I could make some sort of pressurized hops addition with a brink or something, but it's more work than just carbing as normal in my serving tanks, which are pretty much just big kegs with a carb stone. Not much different than carbing in a corny, minus the stone.

[positiveContact]

Are you spunding to save on CO2 or for beer quality? If it is the latter, I don't think this method is going to be great for you. Day hopping can be tricky. You want to take the beer off of the yeast as best as possible during the dry hop, but you don't get as much out of your dry hops once the beer is cold. Sure, you could warm it up. That's easier on a HB level than it is for me, but it's still kind of wonky. Personally, I wouldn't spund a beer that I'm dry hopping because I have to relieve the pressure to drop in the hops. Although, I suppose I could make some sort of pressurized hops addition with a brink or something, but it's more work than just carbing as normal in my serving tanks, which are pretty much just big kegs with a carb stone. Not much different than carbing in a corny, minus the stone.

 

the second.

 

i figure I can avoid some O2.  some of it is also just b/c I wanted to try it out.

 

as for dry hopping - I have done it cold many times and liked it so I'm not worried about that.

 

eta:  I also figured it gets the beer carbed a little faster, letting me drink the beer sooner.

How did you get hops and trub in the kegs? Seems like it should have been just some yeast from a slowing fermentation and the hops and trub should have been on the bottom. What was the gravty when you racked?

 

I would have had to leave a lot of beer behind to avoid it.  gravity was about 1.020.

Edited by Evil_Morty, 18 September 2016 - 10:57 AM.

[positiveContact]

so if this doesn't work out for me - what are these spunding valves good for?  paperweights?

[neddles]

I would guess the ideal way to do this is the way cask brewers do it. You need to know where it will finish to know when to rack. So you either use an established recipe and process or you could do a fast ferment test to know where it will finish and rack accordingly. That way there is no need for the spunding valve.

Doesnt help you much now but I think in your case I would have waited until the hops and trub fell.

Going forward I think I would wait until its fully carbed and cleaned up. Then get cold as possible before pushing or sphoning to another keg with waiting dry hops. Draw off sludge first then move it under as little pressure as possible to leave that cake behind.

[positiveContact]

well it's a bit of a disappointment that I bought a couple of these things b/c other than this scenario I don't have much use for them.  I may give them one more chance on a beer without as many hops in it but I dunno.  depends how this goes.

[positiveContact]

so do you guys actually think that after cold crashing these kegs I'll be able to pull out enough sludge that I'll then be able to jump relatively clear beer to another keg?  what if there are inches of stuff at the bottom of the keg?

[positiveContact]

so i poured some off one of the kegs (the one with less junk in it).  after half a pint I was into new england IPA territory looking stuff.  tastes good.  I'm thinking if I do the suggested jump to a new keg I'll be in reasonable shape for keg #1.  keg #2 we'll see I guess

[positiveContact]

so all in all I can't really see how these corny keg spunding valves can really work for me in the long run.  if someone fermented small batches (2-3 gals) in a 5 gal corny they would be pretty sweet though.

[neddles]

Is there a way to test if they are working properly before you put them to use?

 

 

If not spunding you could always prime your kegs after fermentation. Does anyone know if the yeast activity from a secondary fermentation of priming sugar is enough to scrub O2?

[positiveContact]

Is there a way to test if they are working properly before you put them to use?

 

 

I tested them by charging up an empty keg with CO2, putting on the valve, backing the regulator down until I heard a faint hiss and then leaving it to see what happened.  both of my valves bled off the pressure and stopped slightly lower than where I had charged the keg to.  they both seem to be holding the pressure where I want it to be during the end of fermentation as well so I think they do work as intended.  I wouldn't count on pinpoint accuracy but I bet they are within +/- 2 PSI which is good enough for me.

 

 

 

 

If not spunding you could always prime your kegs after fermentation. Does anyone know if the yeast activity from a secondary fermentation of priming sugar is enough to scrub O2?

 

I thought about that option as well.  the main downside I see is I like to be able to cold crash my primary before I keg.  if I wanted to add priming sugar I'd have to warm the beer back up for this to happen.  I generally don't like moving the beer temp around more than I need to.  maybe I'm being paranoid?

[neddles]

I tested them by charging up an empty keg with CO2, putting on the valve, backing the regulator down until I heard a faint hiss and then leaving it to see what happened.  both of my valves bled off the pressure and stopped slightly lower than where I had charged the keg to.  they both seem to be holding the pressure where I want it to be during the end of fermentation as well so I think they do work as intended.  I wouldn't count on pinpoint accuracy but I bet they are within +/- 2 PSI which is good enough for me.

 

 

 

I thought about that option as well.  the main downside I see is I like to be able to cold crash my primary before I keg.  if I wanted to add priming sugar I'd have to warm the beer back up for this to happen.  I generally don't like moving the beer temp around more than I need to.  maybe I'm being paranoid?

I would have no problem warming it back up once it's in the keg, but I am just a home brewer.

 

If the spunding valves are working like they should I don't know that I would give up on them. I think I'd just wait longer so that there aren't any hops and trub still in suspension before racking to the keg. But maybe I'm missing something here?

[positiveContact]

I would have no problem warming it back up once it's in the keg, but I am just a home brewer.

 

If the spunding valves are working like they should I don't know that I would give up on them. I think I'd just wait longer so that there aren't any hops and trub still in suspension before racking to the keg. But maybe I'm missing something here?

 

you are probably right in that I should give it another chance.  1.020 seems like it would be a good time to rack unless I'm looking at adding priming sugar to the kegs.  what would you do differently?

[neddles]

Well I just thought about this. You don't ferment in something you can see through do you? Were it mine I'd wait until the active fermentation was done. No swirling, no hops in trub in suspension and yeast starting to fall. But I can see that through glass. It's tough to say in your situation but I guess if I were you I would want to know the expected FG and rack 0.004 points away from it or so and top off with pressurized CO2 if necessary. Is using bottled CO2 considered bad according to LODO lore? IOW, is there thought to be a tiny amount of O2 in the CO2?