Want to try spunding...

Josh Hughes

Josh Hughes

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I’ve read a bunch of information but I trust you guys and gals more. I honestly have no reason for doing this other than i want to :)

Does this sound correct?
-ferment about 3/4 of the way to my FG or use a chart to determine when to stop so I’ll have enough gas
-transfer to a purged keg
-set my valve let it finish
-lager/condition in my refrigerator. I usually leave my ales a week or 2. The lagers I’ve kegged i’ve went twice that before drinking.
-start drinking expecting the first pour to be cloudy

his month craft beer and brewing has a recipe for a Czech pils that uses the sounding valve the entire fermentation. Transferring once complete to a new keg. This is similar to what some you of you guys do? @Trialben ?
 
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You can close off the fermenter pretty much at any time in the process if you have a spunding valve that allows you to set the pressure. If you're closing the ferment completely, be sure you have some sort of pressure relief valve that will keep the whole think from exploding. You have to do a pressure transfer from fermenter to keg when the beer is carbonated.
I close off my Unitank when I get within about 4 points of FG. Whether it's an ale or lager, the temp is up around 68 at that point. My PRV is rated around 20 PSI. As I lower temp for crashing in the tank, I have to keep adding CO2 to keep the pressure up. I can completely carb and clear in the tank and transfer beer ready to drink.
 
My set up isn’t that sophisticated so I probably cannot do this right now.

I have 2 kegs (one drinking and one conditioning)!and would need another one if I was transferring from keg to keg. I just use a simple fermonster to ferment. So I cannot pressure transfer from it. I would need to rack into a keg after fermentation was almost complete and go from there. So I am probably unable right now.
 
I ferment all my lagers under pressure with the Kegland Blowtie spunding valve. I use the Kegland because it's a diaphragm, it is easier to set and has finer adjust over a spring loaded relief valve.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/blowtie-diaphragm-spunding-valve.html

I really don't watch the gravity as it's fermenting. When I see it slow down, I raise the pressure. I ferment in a keg (uni-tank) so, all I have to do is turn the spunding regulator up toward the end. There's no real reason you need to be precise on the gravity, just as long as you catch it toward the end of fermentation. With pale ale and IPA's, I drop hop and spund at the same time. I add the dry hops and 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar with the hops. Seal the keg, wait 3 days and crash cool it. I set the pressure to 25-30 psi at 68-70F or to 20psi at 50F. I use way less co2 since I started carbonating with this method.

That leads to the next suggestion. Ferment in a corny keg. Cheap, easy to clean, can be pressurized. Downside is that you can only ferment 4-4.5 gallons.

Edit: You'll need this to get clear beer from a corny.

https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Hom...nt/Keg-Accessories/Top-Draw-Beer-Pick-Up-Tube
 
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I personally love my FermZilla, it is cheap and regardless of what others say about it, it is pretty easy to clean once you get the routine down. I'll set my spunding valve to 15psi about 8 hours before I feel my fermentation will be done (I use a Plaato Airlock during primary, otherwise I would just seal it all up day one). I then attach my co2 to the fermenter for the extra pressure boost and filter my beer with a 5 micron filter into my two 2.5gal corny's (filtering just makes cleanup a bit easier for the kegs and cuts down on the sediment in each keg pour). If you got the extra $130ish then get a FermZilla or something similar and it will make your racking day a bit easier for more fun in my opinion
 
I tried spunding in my cornies a while back but forgot to cut the gas dip tube short and painted one of my walls. Haven't tried it since.
 
I’ve been down a rabbit hole all day now lol. I’ve searched for spunding valves, floating dip tubes, fermzilla etc. I have put stuff in carts on multiple sites trying to get everything in one place. That isn’t easy. Not bought anything. The Fermzilla all rounder looks like a winner, it is 7 gallons but I only brew 2. If you guys have mentioned it I’ve read about and probably put in my cart at some point today.
 
Josh Hughes said:
I’ve been down a rabbit hole all day now lol. I’ve searched for spunding valves, floating dip tubes, fermzilla etc. I have put stuff in carts on multiple sites trying to get everything in one place. That isn’t easy. Not bought anything. The Fermzilla all rounder looks like a winner, it is 7 gallons but I only brew 2. If you guys have mentioned it I’ve read about and probably put in my cart at some point today.
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FermZilla Conical Fermenter - Smallest is the 7 gallon unfortunately, I like this one as it has the trub catch at the bottom and can be used for dry hopping or late additions without having to open up the lid
Replacement Floating Dip Tube for FermZilla &
Floating Dip Tube Filter Attachment - go great together
Spunding Valve (With Gauge) - Ball Lock - if you want to ferment under pressure, this will be needed

Hope that helps some, feel free to ask more questions if you have any
 
Yeah I had all of that together in a cart lol. Not pulled trigger. If the fermenter is that large would it affect the pressure negatively? The $50 one without the yeast collection looks like that would work too but still it is seven or 8 gallons

I also considered just buying the floating floating dip tube and spunding valve and just doing a “secondary” in my keg building up pressure.
 
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Josh Hughes said:
Yeah I had all of that together in a cart lol. Not pulled trigger. If the fermenter is that large would it affect the pressure negatively? The $50 one without the yeast collection looks like that would work too but still it is seven or 8 gallons
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Which $50 one? Post the link so I can see it. No, it won't matter as far as pressure goes. Every batch I do produces 40-50PSI easily in a day but I set my spunding valve to 15-20 psi since the fermzilla is meant to stay under 30 psi.
 
Josh Hughes said:
Yeah I had all of that together in a cart lol. Not pulled trigger. If the fermenter is that large would it affect the pressure negatively? The $50 one without the yeast collection looks like that would work too but still it is seven or 8 gallons

I also considered just buying the floating floating dip tube and spunding valve and just doing a “secondary” in my keg building up pressure.
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Nevermind, I found the $50 one you were referring to. Yeah that would be fine if you don't dry hop or add late additions to primary or don't mind opening the lid exposing oxygen and other POSSIBLE bacteria (I say POSSIBLE because I have yet to encounter a tainted batch and don't feel it is very often this happens as long as everything you stick in there is cleaned properly) or if you prefer to use the ancient methods of dry hopping using the magnet technique.
 
Marz said:
Nevermind, I found the $50 one you were referring to. Yeah that would be fine if you don't dry hop or add late additions to primary or don't mind opening the lid exposing oxygen and other POSSIBLE bacteria (I say POSSIBLE because I have yet to encounter a tainted batch and don't feel it is very often this happens as long as everything you stick in there is cleaned properly) or if you prefer to use the ancient methods of dry hopping using the magnet technique.
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You can pressure transfer with this one so no lid opening
 
Josh Hughes said:
You can pressure transfer with this one so no lid opening
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Yeah I meant opening the lid for adding late additions like hops or fruit etc. Pressure transfer is nice to have, especially if you filter like I do, you can filter with pressure directly from fermenter instead of transferring to keg first then pressurizing and filtering into second keg
 
If it were me and I was willing to spend money on a pressure-friendly fermenter, I think I'd get one or two corny kegs instead. Used 5 gal pin lock kegs seem to be cheapest. I bet you could get 2 plus the spunding valves, floating top draw valves, and associated tubes and valves for around $100. You can ferment 1 gal in a 5 gal corny if you want to, and if you want to scale up, you already have the capacity to. Also if it were me, before buying anything I would send an email to Todd at keg connection and tell him what equipment you're looking at and what you want to accomplish with it, and let him build out a system for you. Even if you don't buy all of it, I would be curious what an industry expert would recommend who has access to all the fun brewing toys imaginable. (This my exact plan when I eventually upgrade to kegging)
 
Sunfire96 said:
If it were me and I was willing to spend money on a pressure-friendly fermenter, I think I'd get one or two corny kegs instead. Used 5 gal pin lock kegs seem to be cheapest. I bet you could get 2 plus the spunding valves, floating top draw valves, and associated tubes and valves for around $100. You can ferment 1 gal in a 5 gal corny if you want to, and if you want to scale up, you already have the capacity to. Also if it were me, before buying anything I would send an email to Todd at keg connection and tell him what equipment you're looking at and what you want to accomplish with it, and let him build out a system for you. Even if you don't buy all of it, I would be curious what an industry expert would recommend who has access to all the fun brewing toys imaginable. (This my exact plan when I eventually upgrade to kegging)
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I should have waited for the female. I will email him for sure
Marz said:
Yeah I meant opening the lid for adding late additions like hops or fruit etc. Pressure transfer is nice to have, especially if you filter like I do, you can filter with pressure directly from fermenter instead of transferring to keg first then pressurizing and filtering into second keg
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ive only dry hopped once, even though I plan to more. Never plan to use fruit ever in a beer :)
 
Josh Hughes said:
I should have waited for the female. I will email him for sure

ive only dry hopped once, even though I plan to more. Never plan to use fruit ever in a beer :)
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I've been thinking about how I want to scale up to 5 gal batches and kegging/forced CO2 for a while lol I stopped spending money on my equipment a few months ago so that I could spend it all when I eventually upgrade and can do as much research as possible. I got so frustrated buying equipment for 1 gal batches and then scaling up to 2.5 gal batches making some of my original equipment obsolete. So next time the plan is to buy once cry once :D send me a DM if you need the email
 
Sunfire96 said:
I've been thinking about how I want to scale up to 5 gal batches and kegging/forced CO2 for a while lol I stopped spending money on my equipment a few months ago so that I could spend it all when I eventually upgrade and can do as much research as possible. I got so frustrated buying equipment for 1 gal batches and then scaling up to 2.5 gal batches making some of my original equipment obsolete. So next time the plan is to buy once cry once :D send me a DM if you need the email
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Yeah are kind of in the same boat growing up in this hobby. Btw my wife says I better check out what you say lol
 
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