I had been thinking about using a couple corny kegs as fermentors. Maybe even trimming up some dip tubes to be able to CO2 push finished beer out of the kegs to clean serving kegs.
Here are some of the things I am concerned about.
1. Using the standard gas out port for my airlock set up (tubing and a water jug), may have more restriction than I am used to. A source of regular clogging perhaps?
2. The corny keg only holds about 5.25 gallons. This almost ensures the need to blow off every time, and as stated in part 1 cleaning that narrow a diameter tubing would be a pain each time. The fix would be 4 gallon batches. I nice idea for experimenting with recipes, but my mash tun and boil kettle are all somewhat optimized for 10 gallon brew sessions. Do I really want to ferment in two kegs for each batch?
3. The stainless keg is a superior container for sure. Light, easy to move, relatively indestructible. But I’d be competing for keg fermentor space all the time vs. keg serving space.
Fermenting in Corny kegs just doesn’t seem to have a enough plus sides. Am I missing any?
See these other posts about fermentor choices also:
George Hotelling
Instead of using the normal valve opening on the keg lid, you can get lids that have lager holes for a bung or blow-off tube: http://www.homebrewing.org/Cornelious-Keg-Lid-for-Secondary-Fermenter_p_999.html
JW
Mike,
I’m a carboy user, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. If your using a chest freezer as your fermentation space, a corny keg certainly has a smaller footprint than a 6 gallon carboy. So in theory, you could fit several more cornies into the freezer, so there is probably a space efficiency.
As a primary fermentor, take here’s a how-to for building a blow-off tube into a corney keg.
http://www.cornykeg.com/shopcontent.asp?type=convert-corny-keg-to-fermenter
All the same, it seems like cornies might be better served as secondary fermentors (no need to headspace, little gas output). This is especially true if your doing a lager and need to cold condition the beer for 4-6.
Best of luck.
-JW
Chris
I ferment in a 10 gallon keg and it works beautifully. Closed transfer, no blowoff, no clogging so far. I cut 1/2″ off of the dip tube and I use a corny keg with a hole punched in the top with a stopper and an airlock. You can pick up a factory second 10 gallon keg economically. The biggest thing I miss is being able to watch the ferment. The thing I don’t miss is the sense of impending danger when using a glass carboy. I had a bad accident with a glass carboy that made me switch.
Matt
I just listened to a Brew Strong podcast w/ Jamil and John Palmer where they did nothing but talk about fermentation vessels for an hour, very interesting – and they talk a bit about using cornies:
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/550
I’ve also heard of people using a product that (I think) is called Ferm-Cap – which reduces foam, and helps when fermenting in smaller vessels – I’ve heard that some commercial breweries also use it so they don’t need so much headspace in their fermenters, allowing them to do larger batches. Cheers!
Matt Sweeny
I bought a 10 gal corny off ebay for around $200 and it works perfect as a fermenter.
I removed the beer/out post, removed the dip tube, greased up the remaining gasket with some keg lube and inserted an airlock.
See it in action here: http://www.fattymattybrewing.com/ingredients/displayimage.php?album=293&pos=1 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeoPx5vexic
Marc
Hey Mike,
Why don’t you use some of the sanke kegs you have? They’re perfect for 10 gallon batches. Remove the spear and insert a stopper and blow off tube and voila – 15 gallon stainless fermenter.