Blowoff Suck Back

[nosco]

Yep party balloon. I got the jumbo one in case but maybe didnt need to. $2 for 5.

The bar fridge is extended out to fit 2 fermenters. It can hold ale temps with 2 fermenters no probs in summer but CCing isnt possible. I can do a lager in winter by blocking of the fron half with some insulation board. I have a bigger fridge as well now so no need. I got the idea off youtube.

The castors are from bunnings. 25mm i think. They didnt quite fit so i had to plug em in with silicone tape. I love silicone tape. Its on the balloon as well. They have been washed a few times and havnt shown signs of rust yet.

The spagetti is a reptile heater.

 

[nosco]

Ive had to de-gas it twice. Its an over hopped I/IPA kinda thing. 5 days old. I havnt taken a sample yet but maybe its the dry hops nocking the co2 out of the krausen. Or maybe i was a bit early with the balloon [emoji1]

 

[Danscraftbeer]

BANG!

 

[nosco]

Lucky i got the jumbo one.

 

[Moog]

here's an idea........., do you think you could fit a carrier bag over the mouth of a plastic fermenter, the same way people use glad wrap, then it can inflate right up and vent by escaping past the rubber ring seal , and suck back down during cold crash.
If it sucked back too much and touched the beer, could it cause an infection?
If the touching the beer is seen as a problem, you could rest a Perspex disc, bigger than the mouth opening (maybe add a couple of small holes in it), on top before the bag goes on, then the carrier bag can only deflate until it touches the disc.
Could this work?

 

[user 44743]

I'm not into LoDo myself, but do use CO2 pressure to push the beer out (because the FV valve is lower than the keg); as a side effect it also stops oxygen being drawn in during the transfer. About 1 or 2 psi is applied using a primary/secondary regulator combo, and there is a ~3psi safety valve fitted to the FV. The FV needs to be able to safely take that, but it isn't very much really.

In theory that could also work for when crash cooling, but the pressures are so small (and the time period longer) that I'm not sure I would be confident in the regulator not creeping slightly and losing all my gas. A cask breather (or aspirator) would seem a better idea for that stage (I believe people have made these by reversing a propane regulator or similar).

The balloons & bags are a good idea, but if you are serious about LoDo then something oxygen-impermeable could be needed (CO2 pressure does not prevent the ingress of oxygen, being a dissimilar gas). TBH in a homebrew scenario I personally just use the cotton-wool filter when chilling and let the yeast deal with any oxygen, as I don't filter them all out or pasteurise the beer, but I realise people have different viewpoints on this.

 

[nosco]

Moog it might depend on how much room you have in your fermenting fridge/area.

Kev i can do that with one fridge but the other is too gar away from my co2 bottle.

As i turns out balloons are not air impermeable. The balloon went flat after i had been carefully watching it over the weekend. They are also very atttactive to 2 year olds who like to yank the hose out of the plug and run off with it. I have a colapsable water container on order but it taking its time getting here.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Connected my new 'suck back sacks' last night and they're already tight.
I snipped the valve off the end and the tube fits snugly into the silicone plug that comes with the Brewbucket.
These are are a couple of lagers that are d-resting.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

What fan is that mate? Looks perfect to push around ferment fridge air! Is it 240V or otherwise?

Also I may have missed it but can’t find link to the blow off suck back sacks (LOL)?

Can’t wait to tell the wife I just bought some blow off sick back sacks or BOSBS’ [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[Black Devil Dog]

The fan is from Jaycar. Katabat is the brand, they're great, they come with a really short USB lead though, so I bought a longer one to run into my fridge.

Here's the link to the suck back sacks.

 

[nosco]

The baloons worked ok but couldnt hold the co2 for more than a day or 2. The collapsable container i used was a bit the same. It jas a valve on it so maybe some gas was escaping from there. The process seemed to work well enough but i cant say if it improved beer or not. Maybe that says more about the brewer [emoji16]. The only down side maybe is that there wasnt enough co2 in the container to last the whole keg transfer. Maybe one advantage of the baloon is that you can fill it alot but its maybe not worth the trouble.

 

[S.E]

The baloons worked ok but couldnt hold the co2 for more than a day or 2. The collapsable container i used was a bit the same.

Some collapsable containers are better than others. I have a couple from eBay that stay up and others from Aldi that will only stay up for a few days to a week.

 

[mofox1]

Just found these at kmart - $8 a pop, with tap lid. Could be a goer... I'll pick one up tomorrow - just in time too, if I want to start cold crashing early next week.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Are the walls collapsible mate? If not I don’t think that’d work from the vacuum being created etc

 

[mofox1]

Yep, they come folded up in a little square.

 

[mofox1]

Here we are, Kmart collapsible containers in use. Tap end fits into the end of the blow off tube.

Seem fill alright, we be interesting to see how the CC goes.

 

[Dylo]

This is a pretty cool solution I saw. Don’t know how much volume is needed for everyone’s setup, but you could use bigger jars.

 

[CJW]

Don’t know how much volume is needed for everyone’s setup, but you could use bigger jars.

Probably about the volume of contraction of the beer and CO2 in the ferrmenter when it cools from fermenting to cold crashing temperatures.

 

[GalBrew]

Here we are, Kmart collapsible containers in use. Tap end fits into the end of the blow off tube.

Seem fill alright, we be interesting to see how the CC goes.

View attachment 110174 View attachment 110175

Any update on how cold crashing went with this setup? How much did the bag inflate? I admire the simplicity of this setup very much.

 

[mofox1]

Any update on how cold crashing went with this setup? How much did the bag inflate? I admire the simplicity of this setup very much.

Really great - I've done it a few times now. The initial suck back during rapid cool doesn't deflate the bag too much, but interestingly, over the next few days it will continue to deflate until the bag pulled back in to a compact shape. Perhaps the beer absorbs a few litres of CO2 when the temp is dropped?