I got the one from
homebrewing.org (AIH) and it seems to be fine. They say it only goes to 15psi, but you can set it higher. Mine is usually around 20
Not finding it on their site. Have a link?
I had a hard time tracking it down but this is what I found on their site:
Yeah, that is the one I have. I have 6batches on it so far and it has worked perfectly.
I’ve been tied up with extra work hours/kid activities, so in spite of being a DIY guy, I went lazy and bought the Morebeer one. Its only drawback is its gauge which is limited to 15 psi. Great for lagers, not so much for ales. Luckily I had a spare 30 psi gauge in the garage and put it on the valve instead. Now I like it really well. Word to the wise - leak check it thoroughly. My first batch using it wouldn’t hold full pressure until I found a small pinhole leak on the bottom. Tightened up all connections and it’s ready to rock.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/ball-lock-qd-adjustable-pressure-valve-wgauge.html
12 PSI at 45 degrees won’t work? May take a while to carbonate, but I’ve not had issues with cask ale carving naturally at cooler temps.
I just use one of the many carbonation charts out there to figure out what pressure to set. For most of them at 2-2.5 volumes, I need it around 20psi. I usually give it a week or two after transferring into the spunding keg before I assume it is done. I could take a sample, but I generally don’t since it was almost done when it went in there. I also usually turn the temp up 2F-4F or so when it is spunding to make sure that it all finishes out and cleans up. To date, it has worked nicely.
Sure, 12 @ 45F works great. But 12 psi on an ale that’s finishing up at 68F only nets you a fraction of those CO2 volumes. The IPA I just brewed peaked at 17 psi in the spund ( I raise temp to 68F-ish after 3 days at 63F, then kegged on day 4). That works out to around 1.7 volumes. I need to keg my ales a little sooner next time, all temp dependant of course. 10-12 psi for lagers is great though.
1.7 would be pretty near perfect for some of my beers.
Oh yeah, for bitters that’s a sweet spot. I like around 2.4-2.5 for most beers, with the outliers being obviously bitter on one end and Belgians on the other.
Is there any noticeable difference/improvement in the spunded beers?
I will say this - I keg hop American styles, and the hop character seems to stick around much longer. Noticeably so. It comes as no surprise to anybody I’m sure that hop character is easily oxidized, and the active yeast from the end of fermentation is there to scavenge the keg. The idea transfers to any beer and serves to prevent degradation of quality from oxidation IMO.
Disclaimer- these are only my non scientific observations. I see definite merit here though.
While I haven’t yet spunded, (just now got everything to try it, waiting on a beer) I’ve noticed my naturally carbonated beers have stayed fresh longer compared to force carbed beers. Bottle or cask, only time I tried keg conditioning the batch got dumped for a separate issue.
If the active yeast scrubbing O2 is the reason for the increased freshness, then spunding seems the next logical improvement.
Hope that helps. Is there a noticeable difference between spunded and force carbed? I’d say yes, based on my natural carbonation observations. Is spunding better than just naturally carbing the old fashioned way? Should be, but I can’t say from personal experience yet.
If you are fermenting an ale at say 64F in a keg. Can you set the spunding valve at 25PSI on day 1? 25PSI at 64F yields 2.35 volumes.
This valve recommended by Homebrewfinds can be set for up to 100 PSI.
Control Devices CR Series Brass Pressure Relief Valve, 0-100 psi Adjustable Pressure Range, 1/4" Male NPT Amazon.com
Homebrewfinds blog post on building a spunding valve:
Misread, Tommy. Not on day one, no. You’ll end up with way too much yeast in the keg. Transferring to another keg with ideally 4(or
A tad over) points of extract left will leave enough extract to scavenge and carb without having a keg full of trub,yeast, and gunk.
Here’s another reference FYI:
http://seanterrill.com/2015/06/25/build-a-better-spunding-valve/
Can you set the pressure for the highest temp your beer will reach during fermentation?
For instance, if fermenting a lager with a planned diacetyl rest at 64F: can you set the pressure to 25PSI on day 1? If you ferment at 50F your beer could reach 3.1 volumes CO2 after high krausen, but, over the 2-3 days of diacetyl rest presumably the beer would loose CO2 and the carbonation would drop to 2.35 volumes CO2. When you cold crash you can leave the valve at 25PSI. Assuming cold crash at 32F, the gauge pressure in the keg will drop to 7PSI but no CO2 will be lost.
I am not sure if the spike to 3.1 volumes CO2 would leave behind any off flavors. Also, not sure if the extra dissolved CO2 will have enough time to escape from the beer during the diacetyl rest.
I may be crazy but I have been thinking about this. Might make fermentation in the keg worth while.
I don’t have the spunding valve on it until I transfer to the keg, usually with 6 points left or so. I guess that maybe you could do what you are saying, but I don’t know that the yeast would play nice at that pressure through the main ferment. Additionally, you might get krausen up in the valve if the keg is too full and then you’ll have to deal with that.
Are you looking to ferment under pressure, or capture the end of it to scrub oxygen and carbonate naturally?
Yeah, same here. Overlooked that he said from day one. As said, you don’t know how a given strain will tolerate pressure from the get go (some do), but also you’d have a keg full of yeast and gunk. Waiting until there are a few points left gives the best results.
I was just asking to see what you guys thought. I haven’t tried spunding yet. But it is something I want to try.
I brew 3G in 5G fermenter so I don’t think I would have a problem with krausen.
But it would be a mess at transfer time and I also wondered about how the yeast would behave under high pressure.
I just thought spunding could speed carbonation this way.