Fermenting Under Pressure

[Mardoo]

I boil kegs in certain situations, such as when I recently had a wild yeast infection in some yeast I was given, or when I buy a keg that's had beer or wine sitting in it for years (25 in one case ). I use an OTS element, fill the keg with water, and turn the element on and leave it for 90 minutes or so.

 

[JB]

Just in case there's anyone looking for 50lt kegmenters, I'm off-loading a few:
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/kegmenters-outer-east-melb.97030/#post-1486562

 

[dent]

Well, yeah obviously it is a little more effort - and those kegmenters aren't cheap. Then again if you're happy with the percarbonate, it's not much extra effort at all - change a spring once, and trim a dip tube once. This way I can go straight from fermenting to dispensing while using my existing fleet of 40 or so cornies.

Plus with the kegmenter I'd have to rack it off into another keg each time, and every method of doing that in a low O2 fashion takes longer than I'd like, and wastes a bunch of water+CO2.

 

[mtb]

The replacement PRV is definitely a good idea. If those springs were predictable & consistent enough I wouldn't even bother with a gauge for my spunding valves.. might look into it actually.

 

[rossbaker]

Ok we have a bit of movement but it is a bit slower than I expected. The keg is now sitting at 5psi and slowly rising.

2 things I may have done wrong:
Yeast only had a small amount of time to come up to temp.
No aeration other than pouring from a height.

How long does it often take people to get their ales up over the 10psi mark?

 

[rossbaker]

And we are at 10psi and we counting. At what stage of Primary are people dry hopping? Or do we think keg hopping in the receiving keg is the go?

 

[mtb]

And we are at 10psi and we counting. At what stage of Primary are people dry hopping? Or do we think keg hopping in the receiving keg is the go?

I'm a believer of dry hopping while warm, I think it imparts a far better aroma. To that end I dry hop in the fermenter three days prior to cold crashing - obviously you don't know for sure when you'll start cold crashing, but you can estimate closely enough.

 

[rossbaker]

I'm a believer of dry hopping while warm, I think it imparts a far better aroma. To that end I dry hop in the fermenter three days prior to cold crashing - obviously you don't know for sure when you'll start cold crashing, but you can estimate closely enough.

Cheers for that. Any issues getting back up to target psi after depressurising and opening up for the dry hop?

 

[mtb]

Cheers for that. Any issues getting back up to target psi after depressurising and opening up for the dry hop?

If you dry hop before you hit FG - say, 1.02 - you should build up enough pressure during the remainder of the fermentation. Maybe 1.025 to be sure, that's when I dry hop.

 

[Dan Pratt]

I transfer to a corny keg from the fermentasaurus to dry hop keeping the beer under pressure during transfer.

when you dry hop into the Primary pressure vessell, just use your CO2 to repressurize the fermented.

 

[rossbaker]

If you dry hop before you hit FG - say, 1.02 - you should build up enough pressure during the remainder of the fermentation. Maybe 1.025 to be sure, that's when I dry hop.

I've done this and it seems to have worked a treat. Already up to a decent psi again after dry hopping this morning. What psi do you target now in order to get a good carb/pressure level one it is crash chilled?

 

[mtb]

I'll admit, I've never bothered calculating the target pressure required to result in a chilled & carbonated fermenter ready for transferring under pressure. I just leave it at 10PSI and chill/transfer because I leave my kegs under serving pressure for at least two weeks to condition before serving anyway - it carbs properly in that time as well.

It's likely someone in this very thread has discussed that topic already though, go do some diggin'

 

[husky]

Is anyone dry hopping with a few points to go? I have been lately with the theory the yeasties will have time to take up any oxygen that enters the fermenter after de pressurising and opening the lid to add the hops.

 

[mtb]

Is anyone dry hopping with a few points to go? I have been lately with the theory the yeasties will have time to take up any oxygen that enters the fermenter after de pressurising and opening the lid to add the hops.

Four posts ago buddy.

 

[pirateagenda]

after a wort volcano dry hopping 4 days in several batches ago, I have been dry hopping when pitching yeast. Still getting great results with that method.

 

[razz]

Not even at day 5 of my first attempt at this and I can't believe how well the ferment has gone so far and how easy the whole process has been. Ferment has hit final gravity after 96 hours and I'm giving it a few more days to carb up a bit more, currently 12 degrees and 14 psi. Already done a D rest for 48 hours. Taste is really nice with nice sweet aroma from the pilsener malt.

 

[pcqypcqy]

I've done this and it seems to have worked a treat. Already up to a decent psi again after dry hopping this morning. What psi do you target now in order to get a good carb/pressure level one it is crash chilled?

It generally takes a while for the pressure to build, but your yeast is doing stuff so you've just got to trust it.

If you're using the keg king spunding valve, the numbers stop at 15. I ferment at 10 ish psi for a while, and then as I start my d-rest I'll dry hop (if dry hopping) at that stage and then turn the temperature up. I usually aim to get the pressure up around the area between the two screws on teh gauge, which I'm estimating is about 20 psi. When I crash it usualy settles down at 10 to 12 psi which is my serving pressure on my keezer.

You can simply calculate it using your standard carbonation charts. Choose your target CO2 volumes, and with your known ferment temperature you can read off what psi you need to hit to achieve that level of carbonation. Then when you chill, you'll maintain that same level.

 

[pcqypcqy]

For example, using this chart: http://kegking.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/KEGKING-Set-Forget-CO2-Carbonation-Chart.png

Say you were chasing 2.2 volumes of CO2 as your desired carbonation level and you're keezer serving temperature is 5 degrees C. Reading off that chart you'd need 10 psi to achieve this using the set/forget method.

Following that same column down to your ferment or d-rest temperature then tells you what level you need to achieve prior to chilling to lock in those volumes. So in this case it's 23psi at 18 degrees or 27psi at 22 degrees.

 

[Mardoo]

Not even at day 5 of my first attempt at this and I can't believe how well the ferment has gone so far and how easy the whole process has been. Ferment has hit final gravity after 96 hours and I'm giving it a few more days to carb up a bit more, currently 12 degrees and 14 psi. Already done a D rest for 48 hours. Taste is really nice with nice sweet aroma from the pilsener malt.

Yeah, it really preserves some of the lighter malt flavours that get lost/buried/stolen, what have you. And it is surprisingly simple. Welcome to your newest obsession about your pre-existing obsession

 

[Hpal]

I brewed a Stone and Wood recipe today, I put the dry hops in when I pitched. It's a pain to open the lid with pressure and it'll be finished in 4 or 5 days so it was way easier to chuck them in straight away.