72 replies to this topic

[HVB]

What are you fermenting in?

Red top fermenter till I can get my ass in gear.

[HVB]

Full picture here Matt.  Do not mind the mess.  You can see the hose goes to the keg and then from the keg it would go to starsan.  Right now that is removed and the spunding valve is on there sitting at just about 5PSI.  I have also done it where I had the hose attached to the flair on the left of that fitting and the spunding valve where the house is now.  I can close that valve to bung up the tank.  I will just move the hose to the racking arm output when I am ready to keg, need to change the blank cover out, and be good to go.

 

[matt6150]

Red top fermenter till I can get my ass in gear.

This. BTW, your package is getting picked up today. There is a bomber in there of a fruited lambic brewed in 2015. It sat in the barrel for a year then into a keg where it sat on fruit for awhile. Let me know the carb level of it. I put it in that bottle over a year ago.

 

Full picture here Matt.  Do not mind the mess.  You can see the hose goes to the keg and then from the keg it would go to starsan.  Right now that is removed and the spunding valve is on there sitting at just about 5PSI.  I have also done it where I had the hose attached to the flair on the left of that fitting and the spunding valve where the house is now.  I can close that valve to bung up the tank.  I will just move the hose to the racking arm output when I am ready to keg, need to change the blank cover out, and be good to go.

 

So you are saying you swap out that large plate on top with something with a racking arm when you go to keg?

[HVB]

Awesome!  Looking forward to it.  Yours will go out next week.

 

The racking arm is already in.  It is behind the butterfly valve at the bottom.  I just have to take off the 1.5" cap on that valve add in my sightglass and then the hose.  This is an old picture from  the last transfer.  The arm is pointed at 3PM right now inside and as I keg I will rotate it to 5-5:30 to get all the beer but leave the shit behind.

 

[matt6150]

Cool. So how do you rotate it while racking? Are you just using the sightglass to see if you start pulling shit?

[HVB]

Cool. So how do you rotate it while racking? Are you just using the sightglass to see if you start pulling shit?

I just back off the clamp a bit and rotate, it is still tight enough to not leak.  I have a Teflon gasket on that one so it helps.  Yes, the sightglass is just to see when shit starts to get picked up.  Well that and it looks cool and I had it ..lol

[matt6150]

Looking cool is an acceptable answer as well! So what was the final straw for the Chapman? Or did you just want something new and shiny?

[HVB]

Looking cool is an acceptable answer as well! So what was the final straw for the Chapman? Or did you just want something new and shiny?

I still use 2 Chapman fermenters right now.  The one you are getting is 14g and I just do not brew that much anymore.  

 

I got the flex really for ales that have lots of hops.  My transfer method out of the Chapman made that a bit of a PITA.  I use my Chapman now primarily for lagers.

[matt6150]

I still use 2 Chapman fermenters right now.  The one you are getting is 14g and I just do not brew that much anymore.  

 

I got the flex really for ales that have lots of hops.  My transfer method out of the Chapman made that a bit of a PITA.  I use my Chapman now primarily for lagers.

Could you elaborate? How do you add hops in the Chapman, just pop the top and dump them in right?

[HVB]

This is how I transfer from them Chapman.  I have a tri-clamp adapter for  my racking cane.  I have it set so it is 1" off the bottom because for most beers I have found that gets me right about the trub level with little loss.  For a NEIPA with a big hop addition that 1 inch may not be enough.  I can start it higher and push down but at that point I may clog the poppet of the QD.  When I add hops I just do it through the 1.5" tri-clamp opening with a funnel.  I do not open the entire top to limit exposure.

 

[matt6150]

Ok, that's exactly what I do now with my red top. During fermentation did you just put something in the tri-clamp for a blow-off? Did you run it to the keg set-up like above?

[HVB]

Ok, that's exactly what I do now with my red top. During fermentation did you just put something in the tri-clamp for a blow-off? Did you run it to the keg set-up like above?

I have done it both ways.  I would have a cover on the triclamp and run where the CO2 house is to a keg or run that to a jar of sanatizer.  I also have a triclamp  barb fitting that I  used for a blow-off tube. 

[matt6150]

So when you ran a tube straight to a jar of sanitizer how did you avoid sucking it in during cold crash?

[HVB]

So when you ran a tube straight to a jar of sanitizer how did you avoid sucking it in during cold crash?

 I remove it.  When I go to cold crash I will bung it all up or maybe attach a CO2 line with maybe 1 PSI on it.  Most of the times I just bung it and make sure I add some CO2 from external before opening it so not to suck anything in.  The fermetner does not collapse like the plastic ones.

[matt6150]

 I remove it.  When I go to cold crash I will bung it all up or maybe attach a CO2 line with maybe 1 PSI on it.  Most of the times I just bung it and make sure I add some CO2 from external before opening it so not to suck anything in.  The fermetner does not collapse like the plastic ones.

Ok. To be honest I have never tried to close it up, I just figured the plastic would collapse. And I definitely didn't want it to crack. Also, since you are bunging up the fermenter towards the end of fermentation you are building pressure so the cold crash vacuum would probably even it out?

[HVB]

 Also, since you are bunging up the fermenter towards the end of fermentation you are building pressure so the cold crash vacuum would probably even it out?

Yes on this.  I will leave a gauge on it so I know if there is pressure in there.  If close to 0 I will hit it with some bottled CO2 just to be safe.

[matt6150]

Yes on this.  I will leave a gauge on it so I know if there is pressure in there.  If close to 0 I will hit it with some bottled CO2 just to be safe.

The gauge from your spunding valve? Could you post a close-up pic of your spunding valve?

[HVB]

Yes,  the gauge on the spunding valve.

 

Take your pick

 

[matt6150]

Awesome, thanks. Have you every experimented to see how much pressure builds up during fermentation? Like capped it from the start or near it? Or have an idea what it might be? Just curious really.

[HVB]

Awesome, thanks. Have you every experimented to see how much pressure builds up during fermentation? Like capped it from the start or near it? Or have an idea what it might be? Just curious really.

I have moved to a keg after day 3 or 4 and put the valve on and it went to over 30PSI .  In my Chapman it will leak out at about 5psi and 15 psi for the flex.