Methods of Transfer

[AGbrewer]

Secondary = Keg.... Easiest way.
Adding oak chips? Keg to keg transfer after aging... Done. No need to buy extra fermenters or secondaries... Kegs. Worried about yeast? Get a ball float for the "secondary" keg... Nothing but clear beer into the serving keg.

You are 100% right, except for the serving keg as I only bottle my beer. Truth be told, 70% of what I brew ends up going out the door to friends and neighbors so Kegging really doesn't lend itself to that kind of thing. Plus, most of my stuff is High ABV so it take about a year before it is really "Ready". I like to age them in the bottles at least a couple months before drinking them. Bulk aging works, but something about them doing a bit in the bottle seems to make them taste better and have better head retention (of course this could be all in my head).

My main problem is I can't do primary fermentation in corny kegs as i'm doing 5 gallon batches. It just won't fit.

 

[AGbrewer]

So I used the anti-gravity pump today with no issues to transfer my Saison into the bottling bucket. It seemed like the connections were snug and that no oxygen was introduced (at least none that I could see in the lines). I primed the pump with starsan and water even though it didn't require it to reduce the chance of oxygen and to ensure that it was clean and sanitized. started the transfer with the starsan in the lines and moved the discharge line over to the bottling bucket once the beer was coming out. It pulled about 1 gallon per minute for the rate. very quick and easy. just ran some hot water and starsan through it after the transfer to clean and letting it air dry.

Think that I've found my solution. Don't know why it took me so long to break this thing out, but it seems to work great. Time will tell if there is an issue when i bottle the RIS that I'm barrel aging. It may show signs of oxidation after a year, but it will take some time.