Fermenting in corny

[rayw]

I have read some articles on advantages of fermenting in a keg. Is there a technique to deal with yeast slurry so that one can go to carbonation and serving in the same keg?

Thanks

 

[gravityspiral]

I have not done this myself, but only because I don't own any kegs yet.

There seem to be two schools of thought though:
1) Cut 1/2" to 1" off the bottom of your tube so it doesn't pick up any sediment when it's dispensing, or
2) Just don't worry about it. As long as you don't shake the keg up only your first mug will have any noticeable sediment in it.

Although not speaking from experience I'm partial to believing that #2 is likely the better route and definitely the one I will take until experience proves otherwise

 

[CRoth36]

Do it! Let us know the results.

 

[insanim8er]

I know you're trying to ferment/serve in the same keg, but I don't think that's going to happen with favorable results unless you're drinking it fast.

But I'd suggest you're better off racking off the lees and trub.

I ferment using the system I came up with to convert a sankey keg into a pressure fermentation vessel. (link in my sig) it's super cheap and easy to built if you can find a keg. Kegs are $25-50 on CL all the time.

I simply "blow off" the yeast by putting a bowl out and pushing the small pin in the coupler until the hose runs clear. It's normally only a few oz of beer. Once it runs clear, I connect the coupler to a ball lock keg and transfer. It racks off almost all the beer and comes out clear. My fermenting keg is full of nothing but sludge when I turn it over.

After I blow the yeast off, the only time yeast/trub starts to flow is when the beer is gone. I'll see the hose muck up, and that's when I pull the coupler off.

 

[RussPDX]

Insamin8r - you are racking off primary into the second keg. I would expect that you would get a hole in the yeast cake allowing you to transfer, but I don't know that I would want my beer sitting on the yeast and trub the entire time I was serving. If you drink it fast it might not matter. No problem skipping secondary and going into the keg as at least you wouldn't have as much material. I put everything in secondary before my kegs but I am going to play with skipping unless dry hopping or something.




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[Braufessor]

I do some fermenting in kegs.... however, I do this with smaller batches. I have a couple 3 gallon kegs so if I want to make a smaller batch of something, I will brew 3.5-4 gallons and ferment in a 5 gallon keg..... connecting a blow off tube to the "CO2 in" post. I complete fermentation in the 5 gallon keg and then transfer under pressure to 3 gallon keg.

There is a lot of sediment and trub and gunk in that 5 gallon keg. I would be hesitant to try to carb and serve out of the fermentation vessel. I would do it as a last resort as I think you would be battling sediment and gunk throughout your serving. Any bumping or moving would knock it lose, and if you are not drinking the keg relatively quickly, there is likely to be some off flavors developing over the time you are serving.

Fermenting in kegs.... especially for 3 gallon batches ..... is really slick though.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Since kegs pull from the bottom, the beer won't be sitting on the trub. The first thing it will pull will be the trub, and the small amount that's left in there won't cause any issues. The only time I could see a problem is if you have some hop material in the keg. That can clog the post, which is a pain in the butt. As long as you cold crash and let it settle for a while, pull off the trub, and then carbonate, I think you'll be fine. You may have issues with sediment being pulled if you let it sit for a while between servings, but even then, it'd be a small amount. I see no reason not to do this, except, again for the hop material or anything else that might clog the post.

 

[beersk]

If you do go this route, don't cut your dip tube, bend them a little so they sit an inch and a half or 2 inches off the bottom (you can do this with your foot, be gentle, you don't want to kink the tube). That's all you need. I ferment 4 gallon batches in low profile 5 gallon kegs. It's awesome. Can jump from keg to keg under co2 pressure. I LOVE IT.
The only issue I've had is foaming out the top of the keg when pouring the wort in before fermentation. I've since adjusted to pouring about half, swirling the keg to get the foam to settle, then repeating as needed. Sucks cleaning up the sticky foam...

 

[insanim8er]

Since kegs pull from the bottom, the beer won't be sitting on the trub. The first thing it will pull will be the trub, and the small amount that's left in there won't cause any issues. The only time I could see a problem is if you have some hop material in the keg. That can clog the post, which is a pain in the butt. As long as you cold crash and let it settle for a while, pull off the trub, and then carbonate, I think you'll be fine. You may have issues with sediment being pulled if you let it sit for a while between servings, but even then, it'd be a small amount. I see no reason not to do this, except, again for the hop material or anything else that might clog the post.

What? If he ferments in a keg and then serves in that keg, he is NOT going to blow off all the trub. He's going to create a hole around the dip tube that will pull clean beer. All the hot break, debris, lees..etc will still sit in a big glob around the tube.

When I ferment in my sanke kegs, I transfer to a serving keg with a normal dip tube just like a corny keg. When I blow off the yeast, it runs clear... Then I transfer. It runs clear until it gets to the end of the liquid then it starts pulling more trub gunk. That's when I stop the transfer.

When I clean the fermenting sanke keg out, it's full of nasty trub. I'd say a little less than 1/2 but more than a 1/4 of a gallon of gunk is still left--give or take depending on the beer.

 

[mikeoholic]

What? If he ferments in a keg and then serves in that keg, he is NOT going to blow off all the trub. He's going to create a hole around the dip tube that will pull clean beer. All the hot break, debris, lees..etc will still sit in a big glob around the tube.

When I ferment in my sanke kegs, I transfer to a serving keg with a normal dip tube just like a corny keg. When I blow off the yeast, it runs clear... Then I transfer. It runs clear until it gets to the end of the liquid then it starts pulling more trub gunk. That's when I stop the transfer.

When I clean the fermenting sanke keg out, it's full of nasty trub. I'd say a little less than 1/2 but more than a 1/4 of a gallon of gunk is still left--give or take depending on the beer.

This has been my experience.


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[zzzzzzzzz]

I use only pin lock cornies that pick up is at the very side. Bottom has a channel/groove in it, When I put in fermenter (cooling refridge, I'm in Hawaii) I just put a couple small spacers under the beer out side post raising that side about 1-1.5 inches. The trub etc settles to bottom side... no cutting of pick up tube necessary. One, a very stout stout, had a very large amount of trub and some transferred but basically seemed to be delivered in 1st couple of pours which I "ate" as they were a bit chewy...LOL. not a problem to me but might have been embarrassing if served. Have since fixed that by scooping the hot break, protein, off as it happens... therefore less junk to settle. Havent had the problem since.
.
Just my method and I created a "jumper" with beer out of a pin lock beer out connector and beer out ball lock on a short hose to transfer from primary to secondary. Uses a bit of gas but I have 2 twentys and a 5 pounders use external 20lb for transfers until keezer 20er needs refill and 5lber is for travel/emergency. I now have 8 fermenters and airlock caps and 24 ball locks (got a great deal!) for storage/ageing/serving
.
Aloha from Hawaii

 

[TheZymurgist]

What? If he ferments in a keg and then serves in that keg, he is NOT going to blow off all the trub. He's going to create a hole around the dip tube that will pull clean beer. All the hot break, debris, lees..etc will still sit in a big glob around the tube.

When I ferment in my sanke kegs, I transfer to a serving keg with a normal dip tube just like a corny keg. When I blow off the yeast, it runs clear... Then I transfer. It runs clear until it gets to the end of the liquid then it starts pulling more trub gunk. That's when I stop the transfer.

When I clean the fermenting sanke keg out, it's full of nasty trub. I'd say a little less than 1/2 but more than a 1/4 of a gallon of gunk is still left--give or take depending on the beer.

I didn't say "blow off" the trub. I said pull the trub from the bottom. My experience with trub in a keg has been, after I cold crash, the first pulls are mostly trub, and then clear beer after. Your last pulls might have trub too, but everything in between should be good clear beer. Again, I see no reason not to do this if you're fermenting less than 5 gallons and don't have other fermenters.

 

[hunter_le five]

I didn't say "blow off" the trub. I said pull the trub from the bottom. My experience with trub in a keg has been, after I cold crash, the first pulls are mostly trub, and then clear beer after. Your last pulls might have trub too, but everything in between should be good clear beer. Again, I see no reason not to do this if you're fermenting less than 5 gallons and don't have other fermenters.

I think the point is you won't actually be pulling out much trub, most of it will still be left in the keg when it kicks. You pretty much only pull out the trub immediately by the dip tube; everything else stays put.

I'm not one of those people that thinks you need to get the beer off of the trub within 7 days otherwise your beer is ruined, but I don't want my beer sitting on the trub for an extended period of time unnecessarily either.

Fermenting in the keg is fine, but (in my opinion) it's best to transfer to another keg for serving.

 

[insanim8er]

I didn't say "blow off" the trub. I said pull the trub from the bottom. My experience with trub in a keg has been, after I cold crash, the first pulls are mostly trub, and then clear beer after. Your last pulls might have trub too, but everything in between should be good clear beer. Again, I see no reason not to do this if you're fermenting less than 5 gallons and don't have other fermenters.

I meant blow out while serving, not while fermenting. That first pull is just getting a small amount of the trub out around the dip tube (like hunter said) a LOT is still left over and will remain well after the keg is empty.

I notice a difference when I let a beer settle yeast out, so it wouldn't be my choice.

I have a metric crap ton of kegs, so it's no issue for me. But even if i didn't, I'd still figure something else out. However, to each their own.

 

[rayw]

Thanks for all of your replies! I also found this helpful video



which shows a relatively painless way to get rid of the trub and transfer the fermented brew. Given the replies, it seems to be somewhat risky to ferment to serve on the same corny.

Thanks again for all the help.