Is there a way to purge the keg to avoid oxygen and after clarify the beer using some fining?, i was thinking maybe adding some gelatin on the fermenter after fermentation is complete, but i would like to avoid any introduction of oxygen. Any advice?
Opening the keg will risk introduction of oxygen. It will be small if your quick about it and give the PRV a good 20 burps at pressure.
I don’t know if it’s any better or not but here is what I have done the last few batches.
- Pour gelatin mix in keg
- Pressurize keg to 10-12 PSI
- Pull PRV a few times
- Open lid and transfer into keg
- Close lid and pressurize
- Pull PRV a few times
I am working to change steps 4 & 5 to a closed transfer. Not there yet.
- Purge keg by expelling 5 gallons of sanitizer with CO2 to the next keg to be sanitized via out-to-out line connector.
- Do a closed transfer of beer from fermentor to keg.
- Get the beer as cold as you can if it is not already.
- Pull PRV to release all pressure in the keg. Then, Turn on CO2 to 2-3 psi.
- Unscrew the PRV with the CO2 still on.
- While the CO2 is trying to escape the now open PRV hole, inject Biofine/gelatin or othe finings through the PRV with a large medicine dropper or like syringe.
- Screw PRV back on while CO2 continues to escape.
- Agitate keg to distribute the finings and keep beer cold for 24-48 hrs before allowing to rise to serving temp.
^^ complicated but it would work.
Do you really need step #8? I just assume the +/- charge action works like a magnet, but maybe not.
Its pretty low effort for a possible benefit. I just rock it back and forth a few times. I dont pick it up and shake it or oll it around the room.
Apparently I’m lazy… But you’re right, pretty low effort particularly if you’ve gone through the trouble of shputzing it in through the PRV hole.
I fill my keg with sanitizer of choice, push all out through tap, open lid and add gelatin solution, close lid and purge a bunch of times, then close transfer beer from primary into keg outpost.
BUT, I noticed on a Brulosophy exbeeriment that one of the guys was using a large syringe connected to a short tubing that was connected to a quick disconnect for adding the gelatin into the keg via the outpost. I though that was a really nifty idea. Just haven’t brought myself to making one yet. Very cool.
[quote=“brewinhard, post:9, topic:24129, username:brewinhard”]
I fill my keg with sanitizer of choice, push all out through tap, open lid and add gelatin solution, close lid and purge a bunch of times, then close transfer beer from primary into keg outpost.
Slight hijack here. but do you do something similar when you dry hop in the keg?
Also, when you do a closed transfer, do you fill by weight?
I’m going to have to try this out myself. Finings are the only part of my process after pitching where my system isn’t really closed. I even oxygenate (when needed) through the out post of my fermenting keg.
Put the gelatin mixture in a small soda bottle, squeeze all the air out, and put on a carbonator cap and pressurize with CO2. Then you can turn it upside down and transfer through tubing with a QD on each end after releasing most pressure in the keg. I’d purge the tubing as well first.
Serious? I’m waiting for the vacuum evacuated cellar with a scuba regulator connected to an air hose method.
I dissolve the gelatin in about 0.25 cups of water and heat it until it turns clear (160F or so). Then, I just pop the top open and pour the heated gelatin and water combination in, then put the top back on and blow it off a couple times to purge. Nothing fancy, and seems to work just fine.
There is a brulosophy experiment on kegging method (and how oxygen proof you try to be). It lends some insight into how paranoid you should be about it, though I don’t think they aged the stuff very long. Then again, most everyone seems concerned with it for hoppy stuff which wouldn’t be around long anyway.
As a side note, for those that do all the closed transfer stuff to the kegs, are you back filling the fermentor with CO2 as you transfer out of it? If not, then all the junk done on the keg end seems largely in vain since the fermenter is going to be swirling with mostly normal air all over the top of the liquid.
Why not? If you purge the keg before filling (which I do) it seems silly to open it again. I already have the tubing and disconnects; that’s how I fill the keg.
You could also gelatin in the primary. I’ve done it and it works fine and eliminates the need to get it into the keg.
huh, I went back to try to find that brulosophy experiment that I was talking about and I can’t seem to turn it up. Maybe it was something that I heard them talking about on a podcast. Sorry about that.
I think I’ll switch to this procedure. My SOP has been to take off the lid and immediately open the gas valve to let CO2 blow over the surface of the beer as I add the gelatin - at least some level of protection. But this is better. Thanks for the tip!
I push out of the fermenter with CO2, although I do it mostly because I can’t lift 10 gallons high enough to siphon.
FYI if you’ve been to the AHA conference in the past two years, there’s some new company selling gas QD fittings. They include a part in the swag bag that fits perfectly into the smaller hole of an orange carboy cap and 1/4" gas tubing.
I’ve been racking under pressure but I’m considering switching to fermonsters and haven’t figured out an easy way to do it. I’m thinking a solid cap, two holes, and two grommets might do the trick. If the gas in grommet leaks, I could replace with a bulkhead.
Your welcome! Hope it works well for you.