Kegging

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BillyBock
Imperial Stout
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Kegging

Post by BillyBock »

I'm looking for some advice or opinions.

I currently use Party Pigs as my "kegs". I'd like to move on to cornies. My concept is to primary in my conical or carboy and then transfer to the keg for the secondary stage and then serve from the same keg after carbonation and conditioning. This would make life alot simpler for me, especially if I can accomplish it under a closed system transfer. Any advice or opinions on this approach?

Cheers!
Bill
Fraoch
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cloudy firsts

Post by Fraoch »

Im not sure how "party pigs" work, but i'm presuming that they draw the beer from the top rather than the bottom as in Cornelius.Your system would work fine so long as you dont disturb the Corn'us once you have drawn a beer.
the first pint or so would be cloudy as the spike will suck up the sediment and create a"well", but after a few, it should by all acounts run clear. Sounds to me very much like a modern twist on a traditional method of dispensing beer especially if you are sealing the keg at 2ndary and allowing to naturaly carbonate.You could also shorten the spike by say an inch, so that it sits just above the yeast on the bottom and therefore only draws the brew itself.
Bottoms up!!!

Fraoch
fitz
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Yeh, What He said

Post by fitz »

If you shorten the draw tube an inch you'll keep it off the yeast sediment. I'm not sure if you can regulate the carbonation if you are using it as a secondary, but it is worth a try. You can take some of the pressure of with the relief valve, but it would be interesting to hear about your results.
Gravity Thrills
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Mmmm, Gasy...

Post by Gravity Thrills »

Billy,

It's possible to use CO2 to perform closed transfers from your primary fermentor al the way into your pint glass, if you use a racking cane as a liquid out tube in your carboys and drive the beer from vessel to vessel with compressed gas. The last transfers would be from your primary to a secondary - in your proposed case, a corny with the dip tube cut back ~ 1 inch, and then using a short jumper hose w/appropriate disconnects, from your secondary to another corny for carbonation and dispense. With regard to pushing beer from a glass carboy with gas, you have to make sure your lines are not clogged with yeast/hop debris/trub, or you could potentially be fuelling a gas bomb. You also have to have a drilled carboy cap that is secured in some way so it doesn't blow off from the gas you are adding at the in side. I have one of the bolt-down Fermentap inverted-thingy caps from my recent failed attempt to work that gizmo into my brewing; it may see future use as a gas transfer facilitator along these lines.

You could dispense from the keg you did your secondary in, but you would not be able to move it or shake to force carbonate without stirring up the sludge. Plus, unless the whole keg will be consumed in a week or so, there is enough of a flavor deterioration issue from yeast autolysis that you'd want to get the beer away from the secondary yeast bed.

Since commencing the use of corny kegs, this kind of gas-driven, multi-step closed transfer has been my goal. I have yet to get there, however, because I only have one of the small 5 lb. gas cylinders and between the need to force carb and dispense two simultaneous beers and hopefully get a couple of uses out of each recharge (my carbonic supplier is about 10 miles away), I don't have enough gas to push all my transfers as well. The moral of the story - get a 10 lb gas cylinder!!

Cheers,
Jim
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