Spunding manifold

[jmcquesten]

After a messy bout with pressurized fermentation in corny kegs using one spunding valve with 3 kegs daisy chained together, I came up with a solution.

I had this put together using fittings, but was able to get something a little better machined out of a stainless block. It's basically a block of stainless with 5 - 1/4" npt holes tapped into 5 sides of it. One hole gets the spunding valve, the top hole gets a 0-30 psi gauge, the other 3 holes are the lines coming from the kegs. I usually make 11 gallon batches to end up with 2 FULL kegs, which is too much to ferment in 2 kegs, so I set it up for 3. The valves aren't really necessary since each hose will have a gas ball lock fitting, but I had them, so that's what I used.

I hope to test it out soon.

View attachment 1491357260869.jpg

View attachment 1491357288455.jpg

 

[IslandLizard]

Very cool! That looks really good. And a simple solution.

Silly question.
Are those shutoffs with check valves in them? If so, wouldn't they block gas from going into the manifold?

 

[jmcquesten]

Very cool! That looks really good. And a simple solution.

Silly question.
Are those shutoffs with check valves in them? If so, wouldn't they block gas from going into the manifold?

Thanks. I had to come up with something better when my daisy chain blew a hose and I lost 4 of 11 gallons on my dining room floor.

The shut off valves are NOT check valves. I had them on hand from when I bought my 4-regulator co2 manifold and changed those shut offs to check valves. You are right, and I thought about the check valves not working. I should have mentioned that in the first post.

 

[jmcquesten]

Originally, I had a brass cross fitting, but I was short one hole. I had the gauge and spunding valve on a tee going into one hole on the cross, then the other 3 were gas in lines.

 

[jmcquesten]

This is another option if one wants to accomplish a similar setup. It has a few more openings than I needed and would have required a few plugs in the extra holes, but it would work. And for $12.99, the price for just that is reasonable. Add a few plain hose barbs to it, a couple pipe plugs, a gauge, and a spunding valve, and you'd have a spunding manifold.

Caution: this particular manifold block has a large 3/8" opening on the bottom opposite of the 5 holes. Not necessarily a problem, but it's not shown in the picture and requires a larger plug.

http://m.northerntool.com/products/shop~tools~product_200658778_200658778?hotline=false

View attachment 1491359987375.jpg

 

[thekraken]

Do you utilize a blowoff vessel?

 

[jmcquesten]

Do you utilize a blowoff vessel?

Well, I have thought about it but have not used a blowoff vessel. I've only keg fermented once and it didn't go well due to a poorly executed "daisy chain" spunding setup that (due to my stupidity) failed and dumped almost half of an 11 gallon batch on my floor.

After that, I put this together to avoid that ever happening again. I have not used it yet. I plan to use the kegs mostly for fermenting my lagers, and from my (little) experience, lagers aren't nearly as active with the blow off. But, I'm also splitting like a 11-12 ish gallon batch between 3 kegs to further prevent blowoff. The pressure is also supposed to help keep it under control.

I'll determine if I need a blowoff vessel after a batch or 2 with the spunding manifold. I hope that I won't need a blowoff vessel.

 

[jmcquesten]

Spunding manifold is done. Got some thick wall tubing and made sure to use hose clamps this time. Hope to be testing it on a Helles lager real soon. (valves are NOT check valves)

View attachment 1491658227664.jpg

View attachment 1491658237864.jpg