floating dip tubes in kegs

[soccerdad]

For the $5-7 that yeast costs, i just buy fresh. Haven't gotten on the harvesting yeast train yet

There are a few that I save - specialty liquid yeasts that won't ship well in summer heat. But even with those, I'm getting in the practice of overbuilding a starter and using half. Then overbuild the second half - and again ...

 

[GFHomebrew]

For the $5-7 that yeast costs, i just buy fresh. Haven't gotten on the harvesting yeast train yet

A big benefit is most times i find the second third generation ferment s soo much better than the first gen.

 

[Donoroto]

A big benefit is most times i find the second third generation ferment s soo much better than the first gen.

Yeh they got experience.

 

[Herm brews]

Yeh they got experience.

Experience with our techniques and tools, those yeast are quick learners.

 

[RoadRoach]

I'm trying to follow this discussion, but not quite wrapping my head around the phase of the brewing process we're in at this point. Is this for keg fermenting, then transfer to a clean keg for secondary or dispensing, or what? If primary or secondary fermenting stage, is the objective of doing that in a keg to pressure ferment? What's the advantage of pressure fermenting? If at the dispensing stage, how is this better than bottling if there's still sediment to deal with? I get it and have seen lots of floating pickup designs in my reading and research for racking a fermenter, but just wanted to make sure I understood what was going on in this discussion. Not so much the mechanics of the tube length or how to float, just WHY the float and what stage of the process was targeted. Anything you can do to prevent trub pickup is going to obviously help clarify the beer, but if this is for dispensing, then why is there that much sediment in the kegging process if one has cold-crashed and taken the efforts to clarify the brew?

Not criticizing or challenging, just learning before I commit to changing my process. I like to learn things before I spend money on them.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I'm trying to follow this discussion, but not quite wrapping my head around the phase of the brewing process we're in at this point. Is this for keg fermenting, then transfer to a clean keg for secondary or dispensing, or what? If primary or secondary fermenting stage, is the objective of doing that in a keg to pressure ferment? What's the advantage of pressure fermenting? If at the dispensing stage, how is this better than bottling if there's still sediment to deal with? I get it and have seen lots of floating pickup designs in my reading and research for racking a fermenter, but just wanted to make sure I understood what was going on in this discussion. Not so much the mechanics of the tube length or how to float, just WHY the float and what stage of the process was targeted. Anything you can do to prevent trub pickup is going to obviously help clarify the beer, but if this is for dispensing, then why is there that much sediment in the kegging process if one has cold-crashed and taken the efforts to clarify the brew?

Not criticizing or challenging, just learning before I commit to changing my process. I like to learn things before I spend money on them.

For dispensing beer from keg. It draws from the top therefore (clearest beer). As opposed to traditionally drawing via the "dip tube" from the bottom.
Theoretically if allows you to draw clear beer sooner than if dispensing from the bottom of the keg where the trub settles.

These are also used in fermentors to do the same thing and to help stop trub carry over from transfers.

 

[soccerdad]

We may indeed be talking about different things RR. In my case, I am talking about experiments where everything is done in one keg. After boiling, cooling, and pitching yeast, I transfer to a keg with a floating dip tube where I ferment under pressure, and when fermentation is done, I cool and carbonate and serve from the same keg. There is only the one transfer - on brew day or one day thereafter. Others may be using the floating dip tube for other reasons.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

What's the advantage of pressure fermenting?

This is a whole other thread, so it may get hijacked.

Fermenting under (head) pressure increases dissolved co2 in the fermenting beer. The yeast react to dissolved co2 by reducing ester production and slowing their growth. It also produces less "high" alcohols, which pretty much anything other than ethanol. This is good for lagers, but not for anything that benefits from esters like English, Belgian or wheat beers. You can also raise the temperature of the lager fermentation without the yeast getting too fruity. I ferment at lager temps at 4-5 psi with great results.

The floating pick up works for both fermentation in a keg and serving. It's possible to ferment an serve from the same vessel.

 

[Minbari]

For dispensing beer from keg. It draws from the top therefore (clearest beer). As opposed to traditionally drawing via the "dip tube" from the bottom.
Theoretically if allows you to draw clear beer sooner than if dispensing from the bottom of the keg where the trub settles.

These are also used in fermentors to do the same thing and to help stop trub carry over from transfers.

What he said!

I don't use the kegs for fermenting, but you always have some sediment that goes to the bottom. The floating diptube leaves that sediment at the bottom and draws from the top (or middle in my case)

 

[RoadRoach]

This is a whole other thread, so it may get hijacked.

Fermenting under (head) pressure increases dissolved co2 in the fermenting beer. The yeast react to dissolved co2 by reducing ester production and slowing their growth. It also produces less "high" alcohols, which pretty much anything other than ethanol. This is good for lagers, but not for anything that benefits from esters like English, Belgian or wheat beers. You can also raise the temperature of the lager fermentation without the yeast getting too fruity. I ferment at lager temps at 4-5 psi with great results.

The floating pick up works for both fermentation in a keg and serving. It's possible to ferment an serve from the same vessel.

Nope, not hijacking, just looking for the condensed and abridged version (since floaty things were being discussed along with pressure issues). Thanks for the schoolin'.

 

[Craigerrr]

I use floating dip tubes for dispensing for brews that have a lot of dry hops.
It is inevitable that some hop debris gets into the keg when I transfer.
The floating dip tube prevents the hop debris from clogging up the liquid post.
I originally found that the float would get hung up on the side of the keg because the tubing wasn't very flexible.
I found a thinner wall silicone tube which solved the problem.

 

[highlanderninerkc]

I use floating dip tubes on my corny kegs to both pressure ferment and serve. I had a similar problem with sucking air and solved by adding a little weight to the intake attached to float in the form of 3 stainless fender washers secured to the split ring with stainless wire. Works great! Also had to make sure the silicone hose was just long enough to reach the bottom of the keg.