Pressure Ferment with HDPE Speidels???

Craigerrr

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Has anyone fermented under pressure with the HDPE Speidels?
I was thinking about cold crashing with 1 or 2 PSI through a cap in the top with a duotight fitting in ot.
This would also be good for preventing oxygen ingress during gravity transfers.


Drilling a hole in this:
upload_2021-1-6_14-37-33.png


To connect one of these:
upload_2021-1-6_14-36-43.png


This is the fermenter in question.

SPEIDEL.JPG
 
The vessel walls should hold the slight pressure you intend, I'd worry about the lid.
 
I routinely add 1-2 psi for bottling in these fermenters (I use the 20 litre version). No problem with those pressures. I'm using something similar from Norcal - https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Fermenting-Equipment-Fermenters-Speidel.html. They fit in the standard ports and have a silicon gasket that makes a nice seal.

I use this one in the bottom port, with a beer to beer line connected to the keg. I then attach a floating dip tube arrangement to this, so I don't have to worry about blockages.

liquid.jpg


And this is in the top port. The PRV is useful in case I'm not paying attention, though as I'm also using a bit of gravity to fill the keg I really only turn on the gas for a few seconds at a time when the flow starts to slow down. I don't do anything smart on the keg, just keep the PRV open while I'm filling.

gas.jpg


I only do the transfer under pressure. The fermentation is done with just a blow off.
 
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I've tightened the lid a time or two before when fermenting right in the Cube their HDPE. It didn't blow up blew up like a balloon though lol!
 
I routinely add 1-2 psi for bottling in these fermenters (I use the 20 litre version). No problem with those pressures. I'm using something similar from Norcal - https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Fermenting-Equipment-Fermenters-Speidel.html. They fit in the standard ports and have a silicon gasket that makes a nice seal.

I use this one in the bottom port, with a beer to beer line connected to the keg. I then attach a floating dip tube arrangement to this, so I don't have to worry about blockages.

View attachment 13568

And this is in the top port. The PRV is useful in case I'm not paying attention, though as I'm also using a bit of gravity to fill the keg I really only turn on the gas for a few seconds at a time when the flow starts to slow down. I don't do anything smart on the keg, just keep the PRV open while I'm filling.

View attachment 13569

I only do the transfer under pressure. The fermentation is done with just a blow off.
That's slick!
Me like!
 
The floating dip tube I use is the Fermzilla one. It seems to be sold separately at a lot of stores.
I have a couple of them that I used recently in kegs with mixed results, they got hung up on the side of the keg a couple of times. Might consider adding a bit of weight in future. Should be jim sandy on the speidel though!
 
I have a couple of them that I used recently in kegs with mixed results, they got hung up on the side of the keg a couple of times. Might consider adding a bit of weight in future. Should be jim sandy on the speidel though!
I had that happen to me last batch. The first fermenter I set up I did a test with water to get the right length. Last fermenter I set up I forgot about the side problem and thought I'll just add an extra cm or two to the tubing to be safe. Bloody painful transfer that was. Thankfully on a beer that likes a bit of oxygen for aging. After that I trimmed all the tubing to the shortest length.
 
I had that happen to me last batch. The first fermenter I set up I did a test with water to get the right length. Last fermenter I set up I forgot about the side problem and thought I'll just add an extra cm or two to the tubing to be safe. Bloody painful transfer that was. Thankfully on a beer that likes a bit of oxygen for aging. After that I trimmed all the tubing to the shortest length.
Yup i found that out as well. You want the end of the transfer to draw the float into the centre off the side. Tis what I've found.
Hard in a keg though...
 
I reached out to NorCal about their accessories for the Speidels. With a disclaimer to proceed at my own risk, they said that they have pressurized these fermenters successfully. I don't plan to be purchasing any new gear for a while, but when I do in the spring, I will be ordering a few gadgets from them. I am honestly more interested in trying the floating dip tube than actually pressure fermenting. Thanks for all of the input and comments folks!
 
I reached out to NorCal about their accessories for the Speidels. With a disclaimer to proceed at my own risk, they said that they have pressurized these fermenters successfully. I don't plan to be purchasing any new gear for a while, but when I do in the spring, I will be ordering a few gadgets from them. I am honestly more interested in trying the floating dip tube than actually pressure fermenting. Thanks for all of the input and comments folks!
I have 3 of the floating dip tubes. They work great.
 
Not that this thread really needs this, but it was packaging day yesterday, so a few snaps of the full setup. First is for the bottle filling. Second is the keg filling.

The batches I packaged yesterday were a mix of bottles and kegs. Getting through a full keg of imperial stout isn't the most practical thing for me and the wife.

bottle-fill.jpg
keg-fill.jpg
 
Cool, thanks for posting this.
I am going to work with what I have for the next while, but I will be ordering some bits from Nor Cal inthe spring
 
Not that this thread really needs this, but it was packaging day yesterday, so a few snaps of the full setup. First is for the bottle filling. Second is the keg filling.

The batches I packaged yesterday were a mix of bottles and kegs. Getting through a full keg of imperial stout isn't the most practical thing for me and the wife.

View attachment 13893 View attachment 13894
What keg do you have there? I'm looking for a 1-3 gallon.
 
Yep, the smallest torpedo keg. So well made, but as Blackmuse says, expensive. It's the 6 litres/1.6 gallon version.
 
Yep, the smallest torpedo keg. So well made, but as Blackmuse says, expensive. It's the 6 litres/1.6 gallon version.
You know what else they are good for though! - Cleaning beer lines! I mix a solution in that little bad boy and start running into the beer lines - then after 30 minutes or so I rinse the keg - fill with hot water and flush all the lines! Works great and you can do a whole keezer in one sitting! Pretty sweet. - I'm actually going to bring it to my dad's later this week to clean and flush his line before putting Shuttz: Pete's Big Brown Ale on tap!
 
You know what else they are good for though! - Cleaning beer lines! I mix a solution in that little bad boy and start running into the beer lines - then after 30 minutes or so I rinse the keg - fill with hot water and flush all the lines! Works great and you can do a whole keezer in one sitting! Pretty sweet. - I'm actually going to bring it to my dad's later this week to clean and flush his line before putting Shuttz: Pete's Big Brown Ale on tap!
Ouch! Don't trust his dirty beer lines hey!:D
 
Ouch! Don't trust his dirty beer lines hey!:D
Yeah! They are usually fine if he immediately replaces an empty keg with a new one but I know it's been a month or so since his last keg and I'm sure there is still stale beer in the line! lol
 

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