What are you doing with homebrew today?

[GFHomebrew]

I’m sure it’s possible. The more sophisticated brewers here will surely chime in.

I always gravity fill through an open lid. Why? Because it’s easy. And I haven’t been convinced of the need to try another way.

But…

If you can forgive the artistic skills at play, I’ve always thought about trying this. I believe the theory is relatively sound but I’ve never yet felt the inspiration to try it. Consider this a tech-free, pseudo-low O2 transfer. I wouldn’t doubt there are easier and/or better ways though.

View attachment 27631

Gravity transfer it looks.

I ferment with gas going through serving keg as in illustration A (top)

Gravity transfer I've done but X2 and both were PITA I got half done but ended up pushing the rest with Co2 I could of had a leak or done it wrong though...

 

[Herm brews]

I looked into the process, and it is as @Megary describes. Many are in favor of doing everything possible to protect the beer from any exposure to air, many others just don’t care. The first thing is to get a keg, tank, regulator, ball lock connectors, hoses and a picnic tap. Then with the help of you fine folks, and practice, I can figure it out.
I would imagine in small batch size (2.5 gallons), the beer will be consumed relatively quickly, so it would not have a lot of time to go stale. If I will not be increasing my batch size, is there any need to go bigger than a 2.5 gallon keg? Pros and cons of bigger vs smaller kegs?

 

[GFHomebrew]

It would be the head space in thr keg herm.
You'd only be occupieing half the keg leaving alot of head space on 19lt keg.
You'd have to purge them real good if using larger size.

I would imagine it would be the same price wise.

You can always keep to your conditioning practice and use sugar to carbonate the kegs as well.

 

[Donoroto]

Just enough for a solid head of foam

I gotta get me a couple of those.

 

[Sunfire96]

Added cocoa nibs and coffee beans to my golden stout this evening. I soaked them in 2 tsps vanilla extra and a shot-ish of Maker's Mark bourbon this morning. It smelled wonderful and I'm excited this beer may actually come out as planned...

 

[Donoroto]

OK, not exactly a closed transfer, but is it possible to transfer from ported, spigoted fermenter via transfer tube into the keg via the liquid port? I am thinking more like a gravity feed that does not go into the keg through the open lid.

I do a fully closed transfer every time. My fermenter has a racking arm that leaves the last few liters (mostly trub) on the bottom, is pressure-rated, and has a gas port at the top. I use CO2 to pressurize the fermenter, and have a tubing setup that feeds right into the in-port of the keg. The keg is already purged and full of CO2, and an open gas port lets the fluid in by venting to atmosphere. Beer never sees the light of day until I dispense it.

 

[Megary]

Added cocoa nibs and coffee beans to my golden stout this evening. I soaked them in 2 tsps vanilla extra and a shot-ish of Maker's Mark bourbon this morning. It smelled wonderful and I'm excited this beer may actually come out as planned...View attachment 27633

Following…

 

[Josh Hughes]

Watching as fermentation ramps up on my Smooth Stout, and thinking about taking a small gravity sample of Vienna Garage Lager.
My supportive wife has said yes to kegging! I know there are deals available online, but I would rather support the lhbs, and pay no sales tax. The lhbs offers refurbished 5 gallon Corny kegs for $75, or new (imported from China) for $120. They sell brand new Torpedo kegs, too, $110/2.5 gallons, $130/5gallons. A 5 pound filled aluminum CO2 tank goes for $102, and an exchange costs $25. And then there are all of the other things required.
I am not looking to increase my batch size, since I like my current setup and recipes. So I wonder if it would make sense to get a used 5 gallon Corny for fermenting, lagering and/or brite tank, and a 2.5 gallon for serving?
So much to consider!

That’s what I did. 5 to ferment in and 2.5 keg. I do closed transfers, out to out in a purged keg

 

[GFHomebrew]

Added cocoa nibs and coffee beans to my golden stout this evening. I soaked them in 2 tsps vanilla extra and a shot-ish of Maker's Mark bourbon this morning. It smelled wonderful and I'm excited this beer may actually come out as planned...View attachment 27633

Sounds Fing Tasty I hope it does hey and looking forward to the tasting video

 

[Craigerrr]

Sundays brew is done fermenting, set the ferment fridge to 1C, going to let this cold crash until Sunday.

 

[Craigerrr]

I looked into the process, and it is as @Megary describes. Many are in favor of doing everything possible to protect the beer from any exposure to air, many others just don’t care. The first thing is to get a keg, tank, regulator, ball lock connectors, hoses and a picnic tap. Then with the help of you fine folks, and practice, I can figure it out.
I would imagine in small batch size (2.5 gallons), the beer will be consumed relatively quickly, so it would not have a lot of time to go stale. If I will not be increasing my batch size, is there any need to go bigger than a 2.5 gallon keg? Pros and cons of bigger vs smaller kegs?

I did gravity transfers into co2 purged kegs, many, many times, and never had an o2 issue. I would drain into the keg through the open keg lid with star San soaked paper towel over the opening. For good measure I would add a trickle of co2 into the top of the fermenter. Once transfer was done I would burn it with co2 a few times for good measure.

 

[RoadRoach]

Even though I do 5 gallon batches, I'm thinking about a couple of the 2.5 gallon kegs just for making it easier to put them in/out of the fridge.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Even though I do 5 gallon batches, I'm thinking about a couple of the 2.5 gallon kegs just for making it easier to put them in/out of the fridge.

You can always transfer into an empty keg in stitution or it's serving position.

A fair while back I built this into my brewing process.

That keg stays until it kicks then it's lifted back out and cleaned ready for next time.

It's a horses for courses type situation and brewery setup.

Hey you could always build a walk in cooler lol!

 

[Zambi]

Another small batcher...
I went for cheapish 8 litre oxebar kegs from kegland. They are flimsy in comparison to corny kegs, but the price of corny kegs was prohibitive to me.

I too don't want to increase batch size.

I generally transfer via spigot, then close the keg, put on CO2 and pull the pressure release valve a couple of times, thinking (hoping) to let O2 out.

Cureently I have a batch carbonating on sugar and will up with CO2 if and when required.

I got a 2.5 kg CO2 cylinder that I own and refill at the fire brigade, and a returnable 5 kg from gas suppliers (they do oxygen, co2, LPG, nirogen etc etc)

Check the size of your fridge @Herm brews, just to see if keg and CO2 cylinder fit.
I carbonate outside the fridge as I don't want to cut a hole in the fridge. It works, but it is a bit of a pain.

 

[Herm brews]

Another small batcher...
I went for cheapish 8 litre oxebar kegs from kegland. They are flimsy in comparison to corny kegs, but the price of corny kegs was prohibitive to me.

I too don't want to increase batch size.

I generally transfer via spigot, then close the keg, put on CO2 and pull the pressure release valve a couple of times, thinking (hoping) to let O2 out.

Cureently I have a batch carbonating on sugar and will up with CO2 if and when required.

I got a 2.5 kg CO2 cylinder that I own and refill at the fire brigade, and a returnable 5 kg from gas suppliers (they do oxygen, co2, LPG, nirogen etc etc)

Check the size of your fridge @Herm brews, just to see if keg and CO2 cylinder fit.
I carbonate outside the fridge as I don't want to cut a hole in the fridge. It works, but it is a bit of a pain.

I will need to get a fridge first. We have a fridge in the kitchen, but it won’t be holding any kegs. Yesterday I checked the ambient temperature in the garage; it was 45F. For the Winter season, a keg would probably be fine just sitting out there, but a fridge would be necessary for warmer seasons. There is still plenty for me to wrap my head around.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

I use a combination of conditioning. I have 5, 3, 2.5 and 1.75 gal kegs. I ferment in them, I sugar condition in them and I dispense from them. Think of the keg as a big bottle. Now, I mostly brew 2.5 gallon batches. With that size, sometimes I'll use a 5 gal keg to pressure ferment rather than use the allrounder. I don't worry too much about oxidation and I brew a lot of IPA's.

I have tried the transfer method that @Megary illustrated (great art work) and it is slow because you have to have some psi built up in the receiving vessel to push the beer out of the fermenter. If not using a closed transfer, I just do the gravity transfer, seal the keg immediately and purge with CO2 releasing and O2 from the head space.

 

[Bigbre04]

Added cocoa nibs and coffee beans to my golden stout this evening. I soaked them in 2 tsps vanilla extra and a shot-ish of Maker's Mark bourbon this morning. It smelled wonderful and I'm excited this beer may actually come out as planned...View attachment 27633

did you put it through a coffee grinder? Surface area is king! i bet it smelled amazing!

 

[Bigbre04]

I’m sure it’s possible. The more sophisticated brewers here will surely chime in.

I always gravity fill through an open lid. Why? Because it’s easy. And I haven’t been convinced of the need to try another way.

But…

If you can forgive the artistic skills at play, I’ve always thought about trying this. I believe the theory is relatively sound but I’ve never yet felt the inspiration to try it. Consider this a tech-free, pseudo-low O2 transfer. I wouldn’t doubt there are easier and/or better ways though.

View attachment 27631

super interesting layout. if you felt froggy you could always build in a quick connect and do an additional purge with a co2 bottle.

Is your setup staggered height wise? I wonder if that would make a difference as far as purging the keg with fermentation gasses?

Adding a ball valve at the end of the vent in the keg out would help ensure that you dont accidentally grab some O2 as you move hoses around. Super simple solution would be to use Quick connects with check valves built into the female qd. Not cheap but would be easy.

 

[Sunfire96]

did you put it through a coffee grinder? Surface area is king! i bet it smelled amazing!

Nope, left the beans whole. It was very aromatic when adding everything to the fermenter

 

[Megary]

super interesting layout. if you felt froggy you could always build in a quick connect and do an additional purge with a co2 bottle.

Is your setup staggered height wise? I wonder if that would make a difference as far as purging the keg with fermentation gasses?

Adding a ball valve at the end of the vent in the keg out would help ensure that you dont accidentally grab some O2 as you move hoses around. Super simple solution would be to use Quick connects with check valves built into the female qd. Not cheap but would be easy.

Good points. Honestly, every time I think about trying that transfer, something gives me pause, makes me feel like I'm just wasting my time. And I always end up gravity filling into the open keg. Easy always wins for me.