I’ve just a few questions for those who are or may have done this. So, I’ve been looking at getting away from my carboys this year and was going to buy a SS Brew Bucket or two but then I looked over that Brülosophy article talking about just using a Corny. Thought about giving it a try and seeing what I thought. Though, this lead to a few questions…
How much yeast & trub could be estimated? In the article, they said to cut an inch off the dip tube but I feel like it would need more than that… And the pic looked like more… But who knows.
I have Tilts, so can it be read through the keg just fine? I heard it can read through the buckets fine and I don’t expect it to be that different but curious if anyone has done it.
Did you make any other modifications to the keg or just cut the dip tube? I saw some say they altered the gas out post but I didn’t understand what they did or why.
I feel like I had a fourth but can’t think of it… Oh well… I’m sure it’ll come back to me if it was really there.
I’ve ben leaving my dip tube as-is and blowing the trub out under pressure. It works fine most of the time, but can clog up with a lot of dry hops or a chunky yeast like WLP002.
I recently got a floating dip tube that I plan to install before my next brew that should eliminate the clogged dip tube issue. I plan to set it up so it stops about an inch above the bottom to start, knowing I can easily trim it back more if needed.
Don’t worry about cutting the diptube. You can always slip a piece of vinyl tubing over it if you need to extend it. I cut an inch off mine and that seems about right. Keep in mind that if you ferment in a 5 gal. corny you’ll have to limit batch size to 3.5-4 gal. Drew and I both use 10 gal. cornies. You can ferment an 8 gal. batch in one of those.
Splitting, that’s not a bad idea… I was just going to drop my batch size… maybe depending on the beer I am going to do. My new kegs should show up Wednesday… I should be able to whip some beers up after that. See what happens… see if my Tilts read.
FWIW, I ferment in a 16 gallon converted keg with a corny lid welded in and I have no problem getting Tilt readings to a iPod on the edge of my chest freezer. I set the iPad just enough in the lid to hold it and I get readings just fine.
I like the idea of a floating dip tube. Do you install it prior the start of fermentation or wait until the end? I wondered about Krausen if installed in the beginning, but more oxygen if installed right before transfer.
I ferment in a 13 gallon kegmenter with Tilt and floating dip tube. Works great and I have experienced no hanging up between the two while in the vessel.
I have a Tilt, and it works fine from inside of a 10 gallon corny keg. However, I can’t get a reading though the lid of the chest freezer that I use as a fermentation chamber.
Question 4: Do I need to do anything fancy to cold crash? I have a CO2 collection device that I use and connect when I crash in my carboy… I could just disconnect my out and not worry at all… right? Or would that lead to issues…
You can just disconnect everything and cold crash, but remember there will be a small vacuum in the keg afterwards. That could cause you an issue if you forget about it and do something like attach a disconnect (would suck in a bunch of air). Alternatively, you can pump in some CO2 so that it’s under pressure prior to cold crashing.
I’ve started fermenting in 5 gallon cornies and will do that exclusively after the last “beware of carboys breaking” post. I recommend not cutting tubes or limiting batch size too much until you see how it goes for you. So far, all I do is make the typical 5 gallon batch size, put it into a regular 5 gallon corny with the standard dip tube and a replacement lid with a hole in it for blow off. I rack to a serving keg with a jumper hose- one end has a threaded fitting for the liquid ball lock fitting. I unthread the ball lock fitting and blow out any trub and yeast until I get beer, then stop and re-thread the fitting on to complete the transfer to the serving keg. Works great and I didn’t modify anything.
I usually set my pressure relief valve to allow a bit of pressure to build up at the end of fermentation. I don’t fully spund to serving pressure, but its enough to buffer a cold crash and it’s also a jump start on the carbonation process.
