Kegmenter. Are they good to use?

[Midnight Brew]

I love the tare instructions and measurements on the side. That is one damn fine FV you have there Mardoo.

 

[Mardoo]

Cheers. I'm loving them so far. Three for ferment, three for dispense. The tare notes make closed liquid transfer and measuring so much easier.

 

[nosco]

Nearly finished my "dome-icle" fermeter. It will only be about 450mm - 500mm high depending on how i set up the ball valve and elbow. To wide for my little bar fridge unfortunately. Obviously it wont work as well as a conical but ill be able to draw off heaps of yeast.

One more post to go. Just have to test out the position of the beer dip tube. I might get a thermowell. Ill test it out first.

 

[nosco]

And the big moment....it hold pressure

Edit: i just have to cut the beer tube now but ll do that tomorrow.

 

[Tony121]

Looks brilliant, well done!

So the lid seals ok with just a hole cut out? What did you use to cut it, just a grinder?

 

[Maheel]

where did you get the G/B posts (assuming they are no-weld)

 

[nosco]

Looks brilliant, well done!

So the lid seals ok with just a hole cut out? What did you use to cut it, just a grinder?

The lid seems to seal ok. I had a slight leak the first try but I turned the lid around and it was ok. I used one of those thin 2mm cuttersl on an angle grinder that was already smaller from use. Ut was only a quick test so ill fill to about 20psi and see if it holds pressure over night.

where did you get the G/B posts (assuming they are no-weld)

From Grain and Grape

Gas Post

Beer post

I only did them up hand tight. Any tighter and the grommet squashed out of shape. Geez when I look back at the price I could have just about had a Fermentasaurus with apressure kit! :huh:

 

[nosco]

My first pressure test went ok. It held pressure over night at about 15psi coz thats about as high as I want it to go. I wasnt game to go to 30 just yet. The pressure didnt hold so well with a 1/2 perc 1/2 TSI clean. It had a slight leak and then I made it worse when I tried to tighten it. Probably a good thing without a PRV so I just let it go and put a towel over it. The inside came up very clean.

The o-rings on the bulkhead posts that I am using seem a tiny bit to big. So I swapped them with some that go on the top of the post where the disconnect goes. Perfect. They are a tighter fit so that the o-ring doesn't squash out of the sides when you do them up really tight.

No more pressure tests until I get a new lid with a PRV.

 

[pcqypcqy]

My first pressure test went ok. It held pressure over night at about 15psi coz thats about as high as I want it to go. I wasnt game to go to 30 just yet. The pressure didnt hold so well with a 1/2 perc 1/2 TSI clean. It had a slight leak and then I made it worse when I tried to tighten it. Probably a good thing without a PRV so I just let it go and put a towel over it. The inside came up very clean.

The o-rings on the bulkhead posts that I am using seem a tiny bit to big. So I swapped them with some that go on the top of the post where the disconnect goes. Perfect. They are a tighter fit so that the o-ring doesn't squash out of the sides when you do them up really tight.

No more pressure tests until I get a new lid with a PRV.

Having something that leaks at 15 psi might not be the worst thing, a built in spunding valve (assuming it's reliable and doesn't occasionally store that pressure on you)

 

[Droopy Brew]

So I have my first beer in the kegmenter. I have taken a few samples but they seem to be way over carbed.

The first night the pressure gauge hit the needle. I bled it off and bought it back to 5 PSI. The past few days it hasnt gone above 12psi.

See attached photo. Is this normal for a sample of pressure fermented beer (drawn off at approx 12psi with a pluto gun kept at same temp- 20C)?

Or do I need to try and bleed most of that CO2 out?

 

[malt junkie]

Once you cold crash the beer will absorb the "excess" co2, you will find at serving temp the beer will be under carbed and you will need to hook up Co2 at serving pressure to attain good carbonation.

The colder a solution the more Co2 it will absorb 8-10psi when cold should give you solid carbonation.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Tanks MJ. Sort of what I thought but those milkshake samples were a bit off putting. I also put some of the sample in the fridge and approximately 40% or it settled as trub. I knew I had extra hotbreak in there due to having straining issues with 300g of flowers in the boil but thought this might be a bit excessive.
Those that have done this before, do you tend to get a lot of trub drawn up the liquid pipe with samples? I thought (hoping) perhaps the pressure and of course suspended sediment in fermening beer at higher temp would cause this. I trimmed 20mm off the liquid post which from what I understand should be enough. Im hoping once cold crashed for a week, the trub will form a compact layer as usual and clean beer should pour off.

 

[user 36151]

You could Get a second dip tube installed in the top plate for taking samples from about 1/2 way up, you will near always pull yeast and trub of the bottom within a few inches during fermentation, I'm not certain but it may have an effect on gravity readings, as you said once cold crashed it will cake together a lot more.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Thanks mate. Good idea but Im like a newbie all over again, i just need reassurance and be told to RDWHAHB.
I let the trub settle from the sample, pulled the clear beer from it and the gravity was the same as the truby (is that even a word?) beer.

I'm sure it will be fine, just dont want to **** something up that could be avoided by asking question.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Do you dry hop? If so, how do you handle the dry hopping then carbonation?

Im keen to know too. Next beer wil be an IPA so very interested to know how others have dry hopped.
Do you ferment at 0 pressure or low if planning to dry hop? Can a dry hop be achieved with beer brewed under 15PSI or will that result in a gushing fountain of foam?

 

[Coldspace]

Im keen to know too. Next beer wil be an IPA so very interested to know how others have dry hopped.
Do you ferment at 0 pressure or low if planning to dry hop? Can a dry hop be achieved with beer brewed under 15PSI or will that result in a gushing fountain of foam?

Don't open them up at ambient temps, even after de-pressurisation once open the beer will volcano out and 1/4 keg lost before it settles and due to the co2 rushing out of the beer at ambient, it's very hard to clamp the lid on while keeping the seal in place. Lol.

I use one for lagers and my other for ales.

Just did a little creatures pale ale copy but tweaked it alittle and it's almost borderline to IPA . I brewed it at 5.5% made 44 ltrs into kegmenter, fermented using an English ale , wl005 , as I wanted a little malt to shine through. Then dry hopped it in 2 additions.
This brew has turned out spectacular, prob is the 2 cornies I got are nearly drunk by people.

With dry hopping, after ferment at 20 degrees with this yeast, 6 days, I shut valve off, raised temp to 24, checked pressure each day and purged it back down to 24 psi, 4 days later it was stable. I cc it then 24 hrs later after the co2 was absorbed into beer at 1 degree, depressurised which was just a puff of co2, starsan a small/medium hop bag, loaded with my dry hop, open triclamp, drop in, close, pressurise back to 12 psi, purge a couple of times. Left them for 3 days. Beauty is you can click on a pluto gun, pour a cold pot, sample and see where the hops are enough. Was heading in right direction, but I wanted more hops, so depressurised , open , fish out the bag with my sterilised mash paddle, drop next one in. Same close up leave.
3 more days and beauty it was excellent. Then pressure transfer into 2 cornies.

The quickness of the open top coupled with plenty of natural co2 in the headspace would ingress **** all o2, plus you seal it up and repressure and purge it anyway.

I opened it up 2 times as I was still developing my new receipe,

Plenty of positives using this fermenting techniques .

I'll experiment with a batch soon, an IPA I'm going to do soon, with a dry hop, instead of dropping it to 1, I'll drop it to 6 degrees so hopefully it's cold enough to hold co2 for the 20 seconds or so of open and dropping hop bag in then dry hop it at this temp, but cold dry hoping I'm more than happy with the results.

I've just ordered a stainless 30 cm long keg hopper, so once I'm happy with my receipe and times , I'll open once, drop it in till it's ready to pressure transfer over.

Lagers are just awesome, got a real nice light coloured rice lager sitting at 1 degree ATM , used s189, start to cc was done in 9 days. Sampled a pot sarvo after 2 days at 1 degree, cold, carbonated , slightly hazy still, but very drinkable. I usually brew at 44 ltrs, which is a double high grav mash out of one run in my grainfather. Gets me 44 ltrs at 5-6% brews , gives me a few sample schooners over the chill period to check progress then 2 cornies when done, I've never had one spill out through spunding yet, so the 6 or so ltrs of headspace in these 50 ltrs ones under pressure seems to be ok.

I've run these lagers through a filter at pressure and into cornies which works a treat , lagers perfection in 2-2.5 weeks if in a rush for a social thing, mainly just chill now, open throw in finnings and shut, repressurise and leave for 1 week till transfer .

The 26 ltr ones at ibrew look great for single batches, just got to get me a couple of them soon.

Cheers

 

[Droopy Brew]

Thanks mate. With the 0 pressure I was meaning I would ferment under no pressure rather than just releasing the pressure to dry hop. Sure it removes some of the advantages a pressure ferment brings but i figure I would ferment at normal temp and then once the dry hop goes in I would crank it to get some COS2 into solution and finish off.

Cold dry hop is the other option as you mentioned but it is just an issue of how effective it will be in cold wort. Trial and error i think.

 

[Coldspace]

I haven't had issues with cold dry hop. I sometimes dry hop cold in my cornies. Still works great.

Cheers

 

[Chridech]

Has anyone had issues with excess sulphur fermenting Lagers under pressure? I have brewed the same Bohemian Pilsener twice now in the kegmenter. The first brew I was very cautious and set the spunding valve at 5PSI, and only after 75% expected attenuation. It turned out really well. Minimal sulphur. Second time around I set the spunding valve to 15PSI at 50% attenuation. The beer remained fully carbed after a week cold conditioning sitting on the yeast. On transfer to the serving keg the first aroma was all sulphur and this took a few weeks to calm down. I was just about bowled over by the sulphur fumes when I cleaned out the kegmenter. It makes sense that the sulphur will be trapped if beer is pressure fermented. A potential downside. From now on I think I'll let this beer ferment out without pressure and hook it up to the gas to carb up during the last few days of cold conditioning prior to transfer.

 

[pcqypcqy]

I haven't had any issues releasing pressure and dry hopping or making additions at ambient temperatures. Just relieve the pressure and pop the lid, and bung it in. I purge 2 or 3 times with CO2 to minimise O2 afterwards.

I'm doing 6g batches in the 50lt kegmenter.

I might not do it this way if doing 40 litres of beer.