Head Space In A Cube

[matti]

Ross, jelous as buggery.
Pumpy, put boiling water in airlock and/or a bit of pure alchohol.
Vlbaby, yes don't worry .lol
matti

 

[fixa]

Howdy all.
I'm just into kegging, and as such only have 2 kegs. And they're in use :blink: of course..
I'm wondering if i can make a batch, rack it, then put it into a 20 litre cube and put it into the fridge to have when the keg runs dry..
Would there be any issues with this? :chug:

 

[PistolPatch]

Howdy all.
I'm just into kegging, and as such only have 2 kegs. And they're in use :blink: of course..
I'm wondering if i can make a batch, rack it, then put it into a 20 litre cube and put it into the fridge to have when the keg runs dry..
Would there be any issues with this? :chug:

Hi there Fixa,

I also have only 2 kegs. Cubes are a great solution and your beer will only benefit by sitting in the fridge in a cube. In fact, depending on the beer you brew, it will often end up crystal clear after even a week in the fridge in a cube.

What I do if I'm not being lazy is ferment for a week in my fermenter which I keep at the right temperature. The following weekend I then syphon the fermenter into a cube using an auto-syphon. (Tilt the fermenter and you'll get pretty much all the beer to syphon leaving only the crud.)

I then leave the beer at room temperature (as long as temps aren't way out of control) for another week. Either put the cap on loosely so CO2 can escape or just undo the cap every day to release any gas. After that it's into the fridge.

Here's a very poor pic of my simple fridge setup...



As you can see, the one fridge can hold up to 138 litres (4cubes and 2 x 23 litre kegs).

There will be no problems with doing what you are proposing. One thing you could do though to prevent oxidisation is squirt some CO2 into the cube before you syphon from the fermenter.

Cheers
PP

 

[fixa]

Cheers mate..
So i'd be better off racking directly into the cube rather than going into another fermenter then the cube?

 

[vlbaby]

Hey PP, those shelves look like they're under a bit of strain. Pity your not so far away I'd help you release some of the weight from those cubes.

vl.

 

[PistolPatch]

Fixa - You are spot on. The only vessels you need are fermenter (7 days), cube (7 days outside fridge and whatever you like inside fridge) and keg (as little as 1 day if you have lots of friends!) If you were brewing with a proper lager yeast you would adjust the above time frames a little but I'm assuming you are brewing with kits.

So all up, you syphon once into the cube and once again into the keg. Going from fermenter to another fermenter and then into a cube creates an unneccessary step and is actually inadvisable as it will increase the chances of contamination and oxidisation. It also offers no advantages. When people refer to 'secondary' here, they are often just meaning a cube.

If you are brewing kits, as a general rule, the longer you leave the beer the better. Quite often, depending on the age and style of your kit, there can be quite a biting taste on the side and toward the back of your tongue. Some people don't mind this. Some people do. If you do mind this taste, you'll probably end up doing All-Grain beers which are more time-consuming to make but you can drink them pretty much straight away - cool!

Oh! And meant to say welcome to AHB! Have a look at my post tonight in the '100 Can Pop-Up Coolers from K-Mart' thread. There are 2 links I put there for new brewers that will be great reading for you and answer many questions.

If you've just started brewing, you'll have a million questions and be really impatient for answers. Having a relaxed, slow read through those 2 threads will save you heaps of time (and money!)

Cheers
PP

 

[PistolPatch]

Hey PP, those shelves look like they're under a bit of strain. Pity your not so far away I'd help you release some of the weight from those cubes.

vl.

VL - One did collapse once and it's on my list of things to do. Haven't worked out a good solution yet. Saw Fixa was in QLD and hoped he would fix the problem for me. On closer reading though just realised he's way up in Mackay. Shafted!

Fixa - As you had 5 posts, I assumed you had just started brewing. Just noticed that you joined AHB in 2004 though so please ignore any advice I have given that is old hat to you.

 

[fixa]

No worries
Always learning. Haven't posted much, had a break from brewing, took up more expesive activities for a while...