Transferring wort to fermenter using ball valve

[Lunkerking]

I am new to home brewing. I have a brew pot with a ball valve and I am planning to transfer the wort to the fermenter using this but I am not planning to connect any tubing to it. Would this be bad ? Obviously there would be a good amount of splashing but I was thinking that this would provide good aeration ? Thoughts ? Anything wrong with this idea?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I am new to home brewing. I have a brew pot with a ball valve and I am planning to transfer the wort to the fermenter using this but I am not planning to connect any tubing to it. Would this be bad ? Obviously there would be a good amount of splashing but I was thinking that this would provide good aeration ? Thoughts ? Anything wrong with this idea?

All good assuming you've already chilled the wort.

 

[WI_Wino]

I used to do this but had some issues with the stream of wort shooting past my fermenting bucket. Then as the liquid level in the kettle went down I'd have to adjust my bucket to bring it closer to the kettle as the stream would not shoot as far. I eventually bought some silicon tubing and stopped dinking around.

 

[Zepth]

As said be cautious of overshooting / undershooting your target. I used to use tubing and eventually went to the direct shot to the bucket. My setup has my fermenter rather close vertically to the kettle so there is little risk of spillage. Seems to aerate quite well and give a perfect view of exactly what your wort looks like. If you're into checking out that sort of thing.

 

[Dixon9717]

That's what I do. Easier then syphoning. If using carboy as a Fermentor just use a funnel. I don't bother with a hose.

 

[dmcman73]

Splashing is good as it's being transferred, introduces more O2 for the yeast, the only time agitation/splashing is bad is when the beer is fully feremented and your transfering it to keg/bottling bucket. Use a small length hose to direct the stream into the fermenter otherwise as others have pointed out, it will overshoot/undershoot your fermenter then you'll have a sticky mess to clean up.

 

[McKnuckle]

One other point, not related to splashing:

If you have a pickup tube in your kettle whose inlet is below the level of the ball valve, then you need a length of hose which descends lower than the pickup tube inlet in order to establish a siphon and maximize wort collection. If you use only the valve, flow will stop at its level (considerably higher).

 

[mattdee1]

I initially started draining out of the kettle ball valve with no tubing because early on I’d be brewing a 10gal batch, my kettle would be sitting on top of the floor-sitting burner, and I didn’t feel very safe trying to lift that heavy-ass thing up high enough to easily drain into a bucket fermentor. So, I’d just leave the kettle full of cooled wort on the burner, hold a small sanitized pitcher under the valve, and go pitcher by pitcher into the fermentor until the kettle was light enough to just lift it up and dump the rest into the bucket.

The glorious side effect was some pretty decent aeration, between the stream of wort flying into the pitcher, and then being dumped in small batches from the pitcher into the bucket. I usually don’t spill a drop because as the stream out of the ball valve gets shorter and shorter, I just move the pitcher with my hand to follow. I like this method because it’s one less piece of tubing to clean.

 

[Patrick87]

When I first got my 10gal kettle with a ball valve, I used the 1/2" silicone tubing that came with it.

In my constant quest to minimize equipment/things to clean/things to sanitize, I eventually stopped using it. I ferment in 8 gallon buckets, so I just let it splash into the fermentor.

For me, most of the time, less is more.

 

[Peruvian802]

Seriously, a foot or two of silicone hose will me life easier.

 

[masaba]

I use a piece of tubing with a siphon spray wort aerator on the end. I actually think it aerates as well or better than just splashing straight from the ball valve nozzle because the wort has more contact with the air. As others have said, a short hose also makes it easier to control your aim.

 

[brew703]

+1 on the silicon tubing. Makes life much easier.

 

[Veldy]

I am new to home brewing. I have a brew pot with a ball valve and I am planning to transfer the wort to the fermenter using this but I am not planning to connect any tubing to it. Would this be bad ? Obviously there would be a good amount of splashing but I was thinking that this would provide good aeration ? Thoughts ? Anything wrong with this idea?

As long as the wort has been cooled, I'd do it. Clean the spigot out when you're finished ;-)

If not cooled, then either use a submersion chiller first or use the spigot to push into a counter flow chiller (tube or plate style).

 

[Veldy]

I use a piece of tubing with a siphon spray wort aerator on the end. I actually think it aerates as well or better than just splashing straight from the ball valve nozzle because the wort has more contact with the air. As others have said, a short hose also makes it easier to control your aim.

For what it's worth...I have found that aerating the wort prior to pitching is totally unnecessary if you pitch enough yeast to start with. I used to add oxygen to my wort and found it was very easy to add too much and my beers would get an off flavor. If you can..make a starter or pitch multiple packets of yeast.

 

[jzimpleman]

I don't use tubing. But do use a stainless conical screen that I got at a kitchen supply store. This helps filter out old hips and hot break and also adds extra aeration. I have a large funnel I'll use of I'm using the carboy as a fermenter.

 

[ImNoExpert]

There's a reason guys stand up to piss: the hose makes it easier to aim.

 

[LostHopper]

A two-foot piece of hose is not a cleaning or sanitation hurdle and it makes transfer to carboy simple.