Fermenting In A Corelius Keg

[Black Dog Brewery]

Hi All,

I spotted this today
Click Here
At first I thought this was pointless but the more I thought about it the more sense it made to have a closed system that beer can be transferred from and to without being exposed to O2.

Here are some of their Q&A's
Click Here

What are your thoughts?

Cheers BDB

 

[alexbrand]

At first I thought this was pointless but the more I thought about it the more sense it made to have a closed system that beer can be transferred from and to without being exposed to O2.

My thoughts are that you have to shorten the uptake to leave the slurry in the keg. So this keg could not be used in the 'normal way' anymore, it means you'll never be able to empty it completly. But you could replace the uptake frome case to case.

Next point is, that you have to take care of the krausen. The kit includes some chemicals.... if you can accept it, no worries. But I don't want chem. aids in my beer. Otherwise reduce the amount of wort in the keg (may be to 12 L?).

You are limited to ~16L per batch.

Greetings,

Alex

PS: To prevent exposure to O2, why don't just flush the keg you want to fill in after fermentation with CO2 right before transferring?

 

[pb unleaded]

Hi,
I fermented wort in a 20lt keg few times with good results. I just left the pressure valve open during ferment and closed it near the end,
then transfered to a clean 18lt keg.
Its fine if you have spare kegs to ferment in, however I found that head space of 2-3lt was not enough.
arthur

edit: as Alexbrand pointed out. Also I had the diptube shortened

 

[Doc]

This guy has temp control on a corny for fermenting in.
That is the same cooling unit I'm fitting to my lager fermenter (when the peltier chips finally arrive; hopefully this week).

Personally the size of the vessel, and the geometry is wrong. Cleaning could be a bitch to, unless you had a high pressure device to get the krausen off.

Doc

 

[sah]

At first I thought this was pointless but the more I thought about it the more sense it made to have a closed system that beer can be transferred from and to without being exposed to O2.

I manage this with a glass fermenter and it wouldn't be difficult to do with a polyethylene bucket either. I think PistolPatch has put some holes & grommets in a plastic fermenter for CO2 force filtering.

Scott

 

[Andyd]

I'd love to hear how you guys go with the Peltier. Normally I'd just do it myself, but SWMBO has recently roped in my brewery spending... *sob*

Andy

 

[bagnol]

My thoughts are that you have to shorten the uptake to leave the slurry in the keg. So this keg could not be used in the 'normal way' anymore, it means you'll never be able to empty it completly. But you could replace the uptake frome case to case.

Not necessarily. A piece of hose slipped over the end of the liquid out tube and run a couple of inches up the opposite side of the keg does the job. I do this when I (rarely) naturally carbonate.

Cheers

Bagnol

 

[alexbrand]

Not necessarily. A piece of hose slipped over the end of the liquid out tube and run a couple of inches up the opposite side of the keg does the job. I do this when I (rarely) naturally carbonate.

Hmmm... in my kegs the uptakes are just 1mm above the bottom. So there is no space for anything. But.. why don't just bend the uptakes? So you don't need to shorten them and they could be rebend if needed!

Here at home I have 10 CC kegs. Two of them have modified uptake tubes. I use these kegs for secondary. The others are for lagering, dispensig or whatever.

Greetings,

Alex

 

[Zwickel]

apropos bending the outlet tube....heres my solution:

that way the slurry will stay in the middle of the keg and you dont need to shorten the tube.

 

[alexbrand]

apropos bending the outlet tube....heres my solution:

[...]

that way the slurry will stay in the middle of the keg and you dont need to shorten the tube.

That's exactly what I meant! Thanks for the photo, Zwickel. And welcome back to Germany!

Alex

 

[MHB]

If you started with an old 23 Litre Myton/Reem keg rather than a Corney, there would be no problem making a full keg worth of beer.

One of the new 23 Litre kegs would work just as well - if you dont mind spending a couple of hundred dollars.

MHB

 

[PartyPooper]

Thinking about using some spare 19L corny kegs as fermentation vessels so I got a couple of newbie keg Q's:

If it's a pressurised container, why do you have to leave the pressure valves open? If you're fermenting in the keg, does it matter that the CO₂ created may be dissolved into the wort?

Would opening the valve every now and again to relieve pressure be another option if there are concerns about excessive pressure buildup?

Would it be better to start fermentation in a proper fermenter, then transfer into a keg for further fermentation of several weeks or more at room temp before filtering and transfering to the fridge keg?

Would there be any chance of the wort going off inside the keg if left for a long period?


Cheers
PP

 

[PartyPooper]

Forgot to add, considering the average room temp in my house is about 20 deg, would it be acceptable to make kit lagers and leave them in the keg to ferment longer before filtering, force carb'ing and putting them on tap?

 

[PartyPooper]

Anyone?

 

[Doogiechap]

Thinking about using some spare 19L corny kegs as fermentation vessels so I got a couple of newbie keg Q's:

If it's a pressurised container, why do you have to leave the pressure valves open? If you're fermenting in the keg, does it matter that the CO₂ created may be dissolved into the wort?

Would opening the valve every now and again to relieve pressure be another option if there are concerns about excessive pressure buildup?

Would it be better to start fermentation in a proper fermenter, then transfer into a keg for further fermentation of several weeks or more at room temp before filtering and transfering to the fridge keg?

Would there be any chance of the wort going off inside the keg if left for a long period?


Cheers
PP

G'day PartyPooper,
Firstly the amount of Co2 produced via fermentation is significant and the following quotation from here from will testify that supersaturation of CO2 will not do your fermentation any good :

It is widely believed that removing all cold trub not only has no benefit, but actually might slow fermentation and harm the finished beer, reportedly giving it an onion-like flavor. Stroh Brewing Co. reported slower fermentation, higher acetate ester levels, and lower yeast growth and viability after removing all cold trub from test batches (6). Further experiments showed another effect of the complete elimination of trub: the absence of nucleation sites during fermentation resulted in a supersaturation of carbon dioxide in the wort; high levels dissolved carbon dioxide inhibit fermentation. Stroh's work revealed the importance of having at least some wort solids present to act as carbon dioxide nucleation sites.

So the majority of your fermentation should be done with minimal pressure buildup in the fermentation vessel. Now, Roger Mellie on the telly has recently played with a spunding valve .in this thread which, as you read will see that towards the end of the fermentation process this pressure relief valve is placed on the keg to naturally carbonate the contents to a specified/ adjusted pressure.

If your keg is going to be sitting around for a long time then the trub in the bottom will effect the beer so you may want to keep this complete keg fermentation method limited to beers with a higher turnover. For me I will continue to ferment in a drum/ cube then transfer to the keg once fermentation is complete.

Forgot to add, considering the average room temp in my house is about 20 deg, would it be acceptable to make kit lagers and leave them in the keg to ferment longer before filtering, force carb'ing and putting them on tap?

For a true lager yeast 20 will make a mess of your beer. Typically lager yeasts need to have their temprature maintained at around 12. If you use the yeast supplied with the kit then you may find that it's not a lager yeast but it's best to determine that first before you persue ambient based fermentation
Happy brewing !
Cheers
Doug

edit: layout for clarity

 

[PartyPooper]

Thanks Doogiechap, it was good reading.

Because I have a fermentation vessel, it'd be a waste not to use it properly. I guess what I'll end up doing is filtering and transferring from the fermenter and into a CO₂ flushed keg after 14 days. Once filtered and in the keg, I don't foresee any problems leaving it at room temp for an additional period of weeks/months until I'm ready to refrigerate, force carbonate it and start drinking.


Cheers
PP