Keg Brew

[hughyg]

Is it possible to brew in a sealed keg with a pressure release valve (set to say 12psi) thus retaining the CO2 in solution? I was thinking of brewing a wheat beer. could I brew in keg and after primary put it in the fridge, connect gas cylinder, set to serving pressure and drink away? And if so where would I get a valve to do so?

 

[Pennywise]

I don't think our little yeastie friends like working under pressure

 

[hughyg]

They do for bottle conditioning and sparkling wine production

 

[Supra-Jim]

Your correct, they do work under pressure for the carbonation process, but there is far less sugar being consumed in this stage than during primary fermentation. I think working under pressure for the whole ferment would un-necessarily stress the yeast.

You also get some funky odours (and some good hop ones, but a recipe correction can overcome that!) etc driven off with the C02 emitted during fermentation, think of the sulphur pumped out by a lager ferment, you don't want that trapped in your beer!.

Remember when you ferment in the keg and do what you're planning, you'll have a truck load of trub sitting at the bottom of the keg. Most likely the beer out dip tube will be buried an inch or two deep in trub.

If you want a 19 ltr stainless fermenter you could convert a keg, maybe put a blow off tube where the relief valve currently sits, but you want to rack it off the trub before drinking.

Cheers SJ

 

[raven19]

You could ferment this way, but the trub left in the bottom of the keg would make for a number of very thick cloudy pints before clear beer comes out.

Maybe transfer from normal fermentor to a keg for secondary - where minimal yeast/trub will drop out.

Another issue would be a full keg of Wort fermenting would need headspace for Krausen... and being a wheat beer, you may need 50% headspace... they are known to be excitable!

Edit - beaten by SJ! :icon_cheers:

 

[peas_and_corn]

There was an article in BYO about this recently, I didn't read it- maybe someone who did could pipe in?

 

[Fourstar]

brewing under pressure can be benificial for lager brewing requiring a quick turnaround time.

http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?t...ion_of_the_beer

See point 2

I had a quick read of that article P&C, from memory it was more about utilising a free keg if you have no spare carboys/fermenters. I dont think it was looked favourably as an ideal solution for brewing. It WOULD be good for lagering brewing (i think MHB said this once before). Tall skinny fermenters are good to help reduce ester formation apparently.

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[peas_and_corn]

Tall skinny fermenters are good to help reduce ester formation apparently.

Indeed this is true- it's the reason why Belgian breweries that have conicals only fill them halfway, to encourage esters

 

[Plastic Man]

From memory there was also a corresponding episode on BBR the same time as the BYO story was out. Might be worth a listen.

One option the pro's use is to seal fermenter when beer is about 2 gravity units from finishing. The final CO2 goes into the beer and natuarally carbonates it. BUT they typically have conicals so have dumped yeast and also know their yeast, process, beer very well. If trying at home the general advise seems to be to rack to the keg as a secondary, (to leave yeast and trub behind), with a few gravity points to go, seal keg, BUT use some sort of spunging valve for safety.

 

[kirem]

I have read that some brewers in Cologne conduct all or close to all fermentation under pressure.

I transfer a still fermenting beer at about 1/3rd of the OG into keg and use a pressure relief valve to self carbonate the beer. Craftbrewer sells one, but it wouldn't be dificult to make your own

At the end of fermentation/lagering/maturation/cold conditioning or what ever you do to get the beer into shape for consumption, I chill the beer, often to about -2/-3degC (the temp just above freezing for the alc/water mix) and then leave at that temp for about a week I then connect to a tap. The first bit to come out is often lees, then the beer is clear and fine for consumption.

I think this method significantly reduces oxygen exposure to finished/unprotected beer.

other options are keg to keg filtration or counter pressure filler into bottle.

 

[Adamt]

Tall and skinny's hinder ester formation due to the higher hydrostatic pressures present.

 

[hughyg]

I have read that some brewers in Cologne conduct all or close to all fermentation under pressure.

I transfer a still fermenting beer at about 1/3rd of the OG into keg and use a pressure relief valve to self carbonate the beer. Craftbrewer sells one, but it wouldn't be dificult to make your own

At the end of fermentation/lagering/maturation/cold conditioning or what ever you do to get the beer into shape for consumption, I chill the beer, often to about -2/-3degC (the temp just above freezing for the alc/water mix) and then leave at that temp for about a week I then connect to a tap. The first bit to come out is often lees, then the beer is clear and fine for consumption.

I think this method significantly reduces oxygen exposure to finished/unprotected beer.

other options are keg to keg filtration or counter pressure filler into bottle.

Keg to keg filtration was where I was gonna take the thread next. So could I ferment in primary until about 2/3 way through. Then rack to sealed keg with a pressure release valve. Let ferment finish, then chill for serveral days and filter to serving keg for clear beer all under pressure? I'm trying to figure out ways to save on gas usage.

 

[kirem]

Keg to keg filtration was where I was gonna take the thread next. So could I ferment in primary until about 2/3 way through. Then rack to sealed keg with a pressure release valve. Let ferment finish, then chill for serveral days and filter to serving keg for clear beer all under pressure? I'm trying to figure out ways to save on gas usage.

If you want to filter, I would still remove the settled lees before filtering the beer. Once you have removed the lees via a tap, filtration would work better if you resuspended the solids by shaking the keg.


Move the pressure relief from the maturation keg to the recieval keg, put filter between kegs, gas out the filter, recieval keg and lines. and start transferring/filtration

Lots of homebrewer's do it.

 

[slacka]

Most likely the beer out dip tube will be buried an inch or two deep in trub.

You could always put a tube on the end of your beer outlet and float it similar to drinking water reservoirs.

 

[Ross]

Keg to keg filtration was where I was gonna take the thread next. So could I ferment in primary until about 2/3 way through. Then rack to sealed keg with a pressure release valve. Let ferment finish, then chill for serveral days and filter to serving keg for clear beer all under pressure? I'm trying to figure out ways to save on gas usage.

Absolutely & there are quite a few people doing this already. I've just taken delivery of some 35L corny's for this very purpose.
If you use a spunding valve on the gas post, you can set the carbonation to any level you desire. Above the set pressure the keg just vents the excess CO2.
To filter, I just gravity feed from 1 keg to another under pressure - this way you don't lose any carbonation.


cheers Ross

 

[komodo]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/Pr...spx?ProdID=6120

 

[hughyg]

Absolutely & there are quite a few people doing this already. I've just taken delivery of some 35L corny's for this very purpose.
If you use a spunding valve on the gas post, you can set the carbonation to any level you desire. Above the set pressure the keg just vents the excess CO2.
To filter, I just gravity feed from 1 keg to another under pressure - this way you don't lose any carbonation.


cheers Ross

Hi Ross
what is spunding valve and where can I get one?