51 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

Bought one of these on e-bay: https://www.homebrew...ASABEgI1qvD_BwE

 

Right now I'm just soaking it in oxiclean and then I'll probably cut a little bit off the dip tube so that I don't transfer yeast to my corny kegs.

 

So now that I have this thing I have a few new process things I'd like to try:

 

1) evacuate my corny kegs with the fermentation gases.  this isn't b/c I'm super concerned with CO2 tanks that have some small amount of O2 but more b/c it seems like an efficient use of resources (maybe stupid).  should I just jumper the fermentor to the 2 kegs?  I was thinking kegmentor gas to corny1 liquid and then corny1 gas to corny2 liquid and then corny2 gas to container of starsan.  any problem with doing this?  only problems I see are that I have to set up a bunch of strange keg jumper configurations and that maybe I could pull starsan up into my corny keg if there was some cooling in the fermentor (pulls a vacuum).

 

2) after my corny kegs are pretty well purged with CO2 I'm going to put a spunding valve on there.  My spunding valves are a little bit of a PITA to set so I don't expect to be able to really nail a specific PSI.  what is a reasonable PSI to shoot for that won't inhibit the yeast from finishing up but also provide a good amount of carbonation so i don't have to do much force carbing?  I was thinking something like 20-30 PSI is safe but at warmer ferm temps probably isn't enough to really get the job done fully.

 

3) I will now be able to do a closed transfer.  this seems pretty straight forward in that I'll just jump the beer from the big keg to the 2 smaller corny kegs.  again, I'll need to sort out how much dip tube to remove so I don't pick up a ton of yeast/trub when moving the beer to the serving kegs.

 

thoughts?  did I miss something?

[SchwanzBrewer]

Beef up on your arm curls. 10 gal in that thing is over 100lb. Just be careful and find some mechanical advantage to help you or do 5 gal batches.

[positiveContact]

Beef up on your arm curls. 10 gal in that thing is over 100lb. Just be careful and find some mechanical advantage to help you or do 5 gal batches.

I already deal with this so I've got that aspect covered. I fill in place and will rack out of it in place or I can lift out with a winch if needed.

[positiveContact]

ordered some QDs, tubing, dry yeast and carapils copper from ritebrew but forgot the SS hose clamps!  I emailed to see if they could add them in to take advantage of shipping.

 

in any event I think the main thing I need to do is figure out how much to cut off the dip tube.  any advice on sorting that out?

 

also - if I'm using my fermentation to purge my corny kegs what could I do when I dry hop in the corny keg?  could I put my bagged pellet hops in there during the CO2 evacuation or would that be a problem?

[HVB]

Measure from to bottom of the keg to the top of the triclamp fitting and the measure the length of the diptube to figure how far off the bottom it is presently. I would think you need about 1.5" off the bottom for trub and yeast but just guessing.

[positiveContact]

Measure from to bottom of the keg to the top of the triclamp fitting and the measure the length of the diptube to figure how far off the bottom it is presently. I would think you need about 1.5" off the bottom for trub and yeast but just guessing.

If the dip tube was a little bit into the trub would it create a little cavity of clear space once I started racking so maybe I'd get a little sludge followed by clear beer?

[HVB]

If the dip tube was a little bit into the trub would it create a little cavity of clear space once I started racking so maybe I'd get a little sludge followed by clear beer?

yeah that may work.   I wonder if the last bit of beer will collapse the cavity and be cloudy again?

[positiveContact]

yeah that may work. I wonder if the last bit of beer will collapse the cavity and be cloudy again?

That might be the case. I may just have to sacrifice some to the beer gods and cut the tube with a little room to spare.

[positiveContact]

So cleaning it out isn't too hard but where I struggle is rinsing the oxiclean out. Any suggestions? Do I need a rack or something to hold it upside-down? Not sure what the best approach would be.

[positiveContact]

if I could get something like this on the end of a garden hose type connection I could spray my keg out with ease in the sink.  what adapter do I search for?

 

https://www.amazon.c...eaning Ball ght

[jayb151]

I've seen people do a pump and makeshift pvc type washer for cleaning corney kegs with oxyclean/pbw. Maybe you can make something like that that connects to a garden hose or something?

[positiveContact]

I've seen people do a pump and makeshift pvc type washer for cleaning corney kegs with oxyclean/pbw. Maybe you can make something like that that connects to a garden hose or something?

 

I could do that but this thing will make life pretty easy.  i just set it up and rinse for a few minutes.

[HVB]

if I could get something like this on the end of a garden hose type connection I could spray my keg out with ease in the sink. what adapter do I search for?

https://www.amazon.c...eaning Ball ght

LASCO 15-1701 3/4-Inch Female Garden Hose by 1/2-Inch Male Pipe Thread Brass Adapter

[positiveContact]

So I decided to get a connector that goes to a hose Barb so I can use my silicon hose. Hopefully I can turn the pressure up enough without needing hose clamps.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Just be careful with the silicone hose. It cant take a lot of pressure before it explodes.

[HVB]

Just be careful with the silicone hose. It cant take a lot of pressure before it explodes.

Found that out the hard way!

[positiveContact]

so initially I'm going to try it without any clamps which would mean the hose would come loose long before it could possibly explode.

[positiveContact]

chopped off an inch or so of the dip tube so now it should be about 1.5" off the bottom.  I figure if it's still too long I can always take another 1/4" off or so.  after I reamed out the hole and gave it a light sanding I rinsed and put it in some starsan.

Edited by pickle_rick, 08 April 2018 - 10:49 AM.

[positiveContact]

so initially I'm going to try it without any clamps which would mean the hose would come loose long before it could possibly explode.

 

clamps def not needed!  there isn't a ton of back pressure.  I won't be blasting anything out with this thing using my municipal water pressure but I will be able to effectively rinse out oxiclean.

[HVB]

clamps def not needed! there isn't a ton of back pressure. I won't be blasting anything out with this thing using my municipal water pressure but I will be able to effectively rinse out oxiclean.

Those need some good pressure to spin as designed.