Fermenting Under Pressure

[Coldspace]

I've done countless pressured brews now, 3 x 50 tr kegmenters running here in temp controlled chesties, ales, stouts , irish reds, plus heaps of lagers, all at 12-15 psi primary and all turned out great.no yeast stress or such or off-track esters etc, Better than my stainless ambient fermeters. Never had a bad batch from ferment issues, just a few brews that were abit too bitter due to my over doing hops etc in pushing fancy IPAs out, but generally all turn out super great , and I will never go back to normal ambient pressure ferments.

I brew, under pressure, primary done, let pressure rise to the pre-determined level depending on style, hold for 2 days to confirm ferments complete, then pressure inject biofine ( used to use dissolved gelatine ) into kegmenter, rock abit, then CC to 0 degress for 1 week minimum, lagers 2 weeks then pressure transfer the remaining liquid into cornies and mini 5 ltrs if ive drunk too much out of the kegmenters during the clarifying period,

pictured, 1st and second picture, nice hoppy fresh flower chinook IPA, CC one week and these have been in my cornies one week, lovley little carb bubbles, really lets the hops and malt flavours shine through, just cant buy packaged beer this tasty. yummo

next 2 pictures are my Amarillo hopped ale first photo shows the true colour, second is holding upto the light, its a real favourite around here, done this brew for years, everyone loves it but since ive been doing it under pressure ferments everyone agrees its just nicer, more of a professional touch to it. Same , CC one week with biofine, 1 week in corny.

Last photo , is my new Nelson/cascade Ale just getting ready for summer, its still in kegementer, biofined, and has been under CC at 0 for 2 days now, still cloudy but tasty as ****, will be an excellent summer smasher in 2 weeks once transferred to my keezer. But had a few cloudy schooners sarvo to test it and that's what I love about this fermentation technique , just makes it so much fun part of the hobby, plus the added benefits etc. dip tube shortened in the kegmenter by 20 mm, first pour pulls abit of crap but usually good from then on, gets clearer as the week goes on, plus flavours start to meld as the clarifying continues and yeast drop out. But generally it's good from 2-3 days at cc onwards from primary ferments.

Into lagers again next few brews, they go a lot clearer as well, on par with when I used to do lagers and filter them. This is so much easier and less risk of oxidation .
These hoppy ales are great, and I do agree, the biofine seems to leave the flavours abit more intact than gelatine.
The lagers, I have only used gelatine last years batches under pressure ferments and all turned out great after 2 weeks, and then 1 week in corny, so I am keen to try lagers in the coming weeks with biofine .

Did a great dobblebock and Irish red over winter and both turned out awesome in the kegmenters , i do employ a blow off system from the gas post kegmenter - to the liquid post of a 9ltr corny then all blow off muck goes into this, then spunding valve onto gas post of 9 ltr corny to vent away, works a treat especially big brews....

I'm in love..... lol, had a few sarvo and excited
I've got to share my excitement with you lot as the poor family will never understand lol

 

[Crusty]

They do look awesome coldspace.
The finer carbonation certainly puts a commercial feel to the beer, that's for sure.
It's a much faster way to ferment & I'll also be pressure fermenting from now on.
I'm going to do the same as you next time & pressure inject biofine. I got far too lazy & opted to drink from the fermenter without any clarification apart from cold crashing. My Lager's great, just not super clear.

 

[nosco]

How do you pressure inject biofine?

 

[malt junkie]

How do you pressure inject biofine?

Once in CC your ferm should be around 8-10 psi. Put Biofine in a pet with Carb cap and dip tube hit it with 25psi and connect to ferm. Job done.

 

[Coldspace]

Also mix it with about 200 mls of sanitised water ( pre boiled and cooled)into the PET bottle then inject, easier to do than trying to squirt 20 mls in, plus I recon it would disperse through the kegmenter better.

 

[mtb]

Could you just pull a cup or so of the beer itself into the bottle with biofine, then pump the mixture back into the kegmenter? Saves dicking about with boiling and cooling water.

 

[bradsbrew]

I've done countless pressured brews now, 3 x 50 tr kegmenters running here in temp controlled chesties, ales, stouts , irish reds, plus heaps of lagers, all at 12-15 psi primary and all turned out great.no yeast stress or such or off-track esters etc, Better than my stainless ambient fermeters. Never had a bad batch from ferment issues, just a few brews that were abit too bitter due to my over doing hops etc in pushing fancy IPAs out, but generally all turn out super great , and I will never go back to normal ambient pressure ferments.

I brew, under pressure, primary done, let pressure rise to the pre-determined level depending on style, hold for 2 days to confirm ferments complete, then pressure inject biofine ( used to use dissolved gelatine ) into kegmenter, rock abit, then CC to 0 degress for 1 week minimum, lagers 2 weeks then pressure transfer the remaining liquid into cornies and mini 5 ltrs if ive drunk too much out of the kegmenters during the clarifying period,

pictured, 1st and second picture, nice hoppy fresh flower chinook IPA, CC one week and these have been in my cornies one week, lovley little carb bubbles, really lets the hops and malt flavours shine through, just cant buy packaged beer this tasty. yummo

next 2 pictures are my Amarillo hopped ale first photo shows the true colour, second is holding upto the light, its a real favourite around here, done this brew for years, everyone loves it but since ive been doing it under pressure ferments everyone agrees its just nicer, more of a professional touch to it. Same , CC one week with biofine, 1 week in corny.

Last photo , is my new Nelson/cascade Ale just getting ready for summer, its still in kegementer, biofined, and has been under CC at 0 for 2 days now, still cloudy but tasty as ****, will be an excellent summer smasher in 2 weeks once transferred to my keezer. But had a few cloudy schooners sarvo to test it and that's what I love about this fermentation technique , just makes it so much fun part of the hobby, plus the added benefits etc. dip tube shortened in the kegmenter by 20 mm, first pour pulls abit of crap but usually good from then on, gets clearer as the week goes on, plus flavours start to meld as the clarifying continues and yeast drop out. But generally it's good from 2-3 days at cc onwards from primary ferments.

Into lagers again next few brews, they go a lot clearer as well, on par with when I used to do lagers and filter them. This is so much easier and less risk of oxidation .
These hoppy ales are great, and I do agree, the biofine seems to leave the flavours abit more intact than gelatine.
The lagers, I have only used gelatine last years batches under pressure ferments and all turned out great after 2 weeks, and then 1 week in corny, so I am keen to try lagers in the coming weeks with biofine .

Did a great dobblebock and Irish red over winter and both turned out awesome in the kegmenters , i do employ a blow off system from the gas post kegmenter - to the liquid post of a 9ltr corny then all blow off muck goes into this, then spunding valve onto gas post of 9 ltr corny to vent away, works a treat especially big brews....

I'm in love..... lol, had a few sarvo and excited
I've got to share my excitement with you lot as the poor family will never understand lol

Beers look good. But that thumb nail........

It's amazing how quickly we become lazy though. I fermented a beer in my SS non pressurised fermenter a few weeks ago and it sat there a while because it was so much work to take it out of the fridge, attach a hose and send to keg and it wasn't even carbonated yet.....what a drama.
And since i put a tap on the fermenting fridge, well, it's a struggle to keg.

 

[Crusty]

I didn’t transfer to another keg to serve because I don’t have any corny kegs. I ferment in a 50L commercial & transferring to another 50L under pressure requires another coupler. Time to place an order for some kegs I suppose.

 

[Coldspace]

Beers look good. But that thumb nail........

It's amazing how quickly we become lazy though. I fermented a beer in my SS non pressurised fermenter a few weeks ago and it sat there a while because it was so much work to take it out of the fridge, attach a hose and send to keg and it wasn't even carbonated yet.....what a drama.
And since i put a tap on the fermenting fridge, well, it's a struggle to keg.

Ha yes, thumb nail,
My hands cop a battering at work doing electrical and airconditioning, at least I have plenty of beer to sooth the pain lol

 

[Coldspace]

Could you just pull a cup or so of the beer itself into the bottle with biofine, then pump the mixture back into the kegmenter? Saves dicking about with boiling and cooling water.

Yes you could, but when it's warm and under 26-28 psi it's cranks out fast into a jug and foams totally, which would be a foamy mess to then let settle to add biofine. I purge samples this way to check grav.
But recon 200 mls of cooled boiled water is a lot cleaner. We always have a cup of cooled water sitting in our kettle from the morning coffees here anyway.

You could cc, then biofine , but I think it works better and mixes better into warmer solution then as cc pulls down it help drop the sediments.
That's just my opinion I have no info regarding this ,has been working great for me .

Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

An interesting video I found today, would have to be the heavy duty cubes though,

 

[Grott]

Fairly impressive, missed the reason for the connection on the cap, is this to allow for air or co2 to replaced poured beer?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I wouldn't know Grott have watched a few of this guys videos before, pretty average but I like this idea and will be giving it a go.

 

[Grott]

Thanks WEAL, played the area of the video again, he states it’s an inlet valve for co2 but not sure of connection type but easy enough to do

 

[wide eyed and legless]

It is a little similar to what I do now capturing the co2 for my cask ale, but using the heavy duty cubes as casks I know they can handle the pressure.

 

[rossbaker]

Hi guys, I pitched a decent sized jar of us05 into a corny with 15l of 1040 wort at about 10:30 last night. Still no movement on the pressure guage of the spunding valve. When should I start to worry?

Sorry if this is the pressure fermenter version of a 'my airlock isn't bubbling' question.

 

[mtb]

Hi guys, I pitched a decent sized jar of us05 into a corny with 15l of 1040 wort at about 10:30 last night. Still no movement on the pressure guage of the spunding valve. When should I start to worry?

Sorry if this is the pressure fermenter version of a 'my airlock isn't bubbling' question.

Kittens in.. the spunding valve?
I suggest the same approach as with a non-bubbling airlock; take hydro samples. If no movement over 24-48hrs then you have a problem.

ed: consider also pressurising the corny a little to see if it holds pressure, you may have a lid not seated properly.

 

[rossbaker]

Thanks MKB. Curiosity got the better of me and I just pulled the prv and heard a little hiss so hopefully there is some movement. I'm also using a keg King spunding valve with a swapped out guage that goes up to 50psi from Bunnings. I tested it out on another keg and it works but reads a little lower than my regulator. Will try a sample later tonight to see if we have movement.

 

[dent]

It is nice to see a resurgence of this.

I stopped doing the pressure ferments back in the day as cleaning the krausen from the inside of the 50L kegs was a PITA. But lately I've started it up again with slightly modified cornies, as part of my current war against oxidation. At least with those I can fit my arm in there to clean them.

First thing is I replace the spring in the PRV with a much weaker one. This will let the PRV release pressure at around 15 psi, depending on the specific spring. I found two in my Jaycar spring kit that were suitable. This way we don't need a separate spunding valve, the keg itself sorts out the spunding. It also raises the release point a little higher than the gas dip tube, so we can fit a little more in the keg.

I always trim the dip tubes on my kegs as a matter of course, but for fermenting I take another 10mm from the usual 20mm I remove.

For fermenter duty, I like to boil the keg, as there's lots of places for infections to hide. I fill them about 1/4 full of water, ensuring the PRV is locked OPEN, and boil them sideways on the gas burner. Once there's plenty of steam hissing out the whole thing has gotten hot enough to be decently sanitary.

It makes some interesting patterns on the side of the keg too!

Once the ferment is on the go, the blowoff can make a little mess, depending on the fill height. It's a good idea to clean this off regularly to stop the fruit flies from getting too interested.

Once the ferment is done, replace the PRV with a standard one. It's a good idea to attach the CO2 and have some positive pressure when you're doing the changeover to maintain the nice oxygen free environment. From there, you're good to jam the keg into the serving fridge.

 

[mtb]

That's a lot of effort compared to just getting a kegmenter dent.. is it due to cost? You can fit your arm in a kegmenter like this one and infections find it difficult to hide from warm sodium percarbonate.