Filling Kegs from a Conical Fermenter

[u/ShootyHoops1]

I am wondering how everyone transfers their finished beer from their conical fermenters. I have a process but it takes a while, uses CO2, and sometimes gets clogged.

I have a tri clamp attachable liquid post that I connect to the butterfly valve on the racking arm of my Spike fermenter. When I fill my kegs I use 3/16 inch beer line with liquid quick disconnects on either end. I use CO2 to push the beer from the fermenter to the keg. This process works but it takes a while and if the line gets clogged it can be a real pain to unclog. Is there a better way?

[u/Uncross-Selector]

Cold crash for longer so the hops don’t clog it.

I just use gravity and a closed loop so the beer pushes the CO2 from the purged keg back into the top of the fermenter 

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/Uncross-Selector]

I haven’t cold crashed in years. Maybe I need to work on my patience and give that a try to prevent clogs with my next batch. I’ve got a west coast IPA in the fermenter right now with 170 g of dry hops that would be the perfect test case for this.

[u/brisket_curd_daddy → u/ShootyHoops1]

I would recommend cold crashing before packaging for every beer.

[u/kvbrewer → u/brisket_curd_daddy]

That is a good option, for sure. I just leave the beers an extra week or two in the conical, and it typically achieves a similar result. Note that I don't care if it is 100% clear and I do use whirlfloc in the boil.

[u/Hansemannn]

https://imgur.com/a/uiQ8ImU

Im doing it right now ;)

Sitting here waiting. I waste a bit of co2, but meh.

I use a thicker line when moving the beer.

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/Hansemannn]

Thicker line seems to be the answer along with cold crashing. I hope your beer turns out great. What’s the style?

[u/Hansemannn → u/ShootyHoops1]

It was suppose to be a vienna lager, but I messed it up and has 300 grams of dark crystal instead of dark munich.

So its like a cross between a stout and a dark lager with burnt flavour.

Its quite good though .

[u/NH_Homebrewer]

Clogged with dry hops? I use a tc/hose barb on my butterfly valve so if I get a clog it’s at the quick disconnect at the keg but it’s still a pain

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/NH_Homebrewer]

Yeah mostly clogged with dry hops sometimes trub.

[u/NH_Homebrewer → u/ShootyHoops1]

Like others have said cold crashing helps a lot. You could also try hop socks and clear the racking arm before you hook up anything with quick disconnects.

[u/lauterPope]

I use a 1/4id line as well as a filter (similar to the Bouncer) that I connect to the racking. If the filter should get clogged I simply unscrew the basket (have a small bucket underneath handy) drop out the trub, spray sanitizer and reconnect. But crash for at least 3 days. https://a.co/d/0g0dfJNm

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/lauterPope]

Thanks for the advice. I am surprised to see moving up to 1/4 inch ID line would double the volume of beer per foot of line. I will definitely give this a try.

[u/xnoom → u/ShootyHoops1]

If you use the swivel nuts commonly used for larger gas lines (for example), you can up your line size to 5/16", which will speed it up even more.

[u/lauterPope → u/ShootyHoops1]

Well when I keg I control the flow. You already purged the keg with CO2 so as you are filling up through the liquid line you can use a Kegland Bow Tie valve on the gas line to control the flow of beer coming in the keg. It helps to balance the liquid/gas. https://a.co/d/07W92OIw

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/lauterPope]

Any reason you don’t want the flow of beer in the keg to be as fast as possible? Never seen that product before but good to know it exists!

[u/lauterPope → u/ShootyHoops1]

I use a spunding valve (pressure fermentation) so my beer comes out, mostly, carbonated. So in order to avoid lots of foam (much like pouring a beer into a glass very quickly) I have to use the bow tie to create a counter pressure to avoid any foam build up which equals to gas/co2 being released.

https://a.co/d/01bzMmeD

[u/iFartThereforeiAm]

I use a kegmenter myself, with a super sucker pump from kegland and 6.35mm ID transfer lines keg fill

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/iFartThereforeiAm]

I did not know the super sucker pump existed. I will check that out.

[u/iFartThereforeiAm → u/ShootyHoops1]

I used to try and get away with just gravity, which worked well for the first keg, but once that was filled I'd have to lift the fermenter, which could stir things up or use co2. This little diaphragm pump was a game changer, 15mins added to the process to sanitise beforehand and flush afterwards saved me over an hour watching the transfer. It's not the quietest piece of equipment, hence why I have it suspended as my wife is sleeping on the other side of that wall.

Adding a temperature colour changing strip to my kegs helped too, so you could see the fluid is actually moving.

[u/AdmrlBenbow]

This is why my conicals sit in the corner and i ferment and serve dircetly from the keg. Well, that and cleaning time, space, O2, etc.

[u/ShootyHoops1 → u/AdmrlBenbow]

Cleaning conicals is a big pain. I agree. I’ve never tried fermenting in a keg but a lot of people seem to like it

[u/beefygravy]

Floating dip tube and cold crashing will help prevent clogs

[u/Otiman]

Floating dip tube with filter on one ball lock post and CO2 bottle on the other post.

Cold crash drops all the trub and hop matter first. If it's a heavy dry hop i'll dump the collection chamber once, but usually don't need to bother.

[u/Professional-Spite66]

Floating dip tube is the way.

[u/deckerhand0]

I purge my keg of all oxygen using co2 then I put my keg lower then my fermenter I set up my transfer lines gas to gas liquid to liquid then I open the fermenter using close transfer when needed I’ll all more co2 to the keg to pick up speed. There is detailed YouTube videos on how it’s done

[u/kvbrewer]

I don't dry hop directly into the fermenter anymore, for this reason, I put them in bags or one of my hop spiders.

I just put 2-3 pounds of CO2 into the fermenter and use that to push the beer to kegs.

[u/yep2012]

I got the inline filter from brewtools. Works really well, had a few different screen sizes. That combined with cold crashing works well.

Photos of setup: https://imgur.com/a/CBNEd2b

[u/brandonHuxley]

Is there some sort of filter you can fit over the end of your dip tube? I’ve got a floating dip tube and just ordered a filter cage for the end so I’ll see how it does.

I just do closed pressure transfers now. I ferment in a 1/4 keg. After fermentation, I’ll cold crash to clear things up and settle the yeast. Then hook up CO2 and tie the beer out to the beer out of my serving keg. I put a spunding valve on the CO2 in for the serving keg as well so it’s a closed system and under back pressure. I usually ferment under pressure to carbonate my beer. I have a dedicated keg coupler with the check valves removed for this.

[u/spoonman59]

I have a fermzilla so I use a floating dip tube and co2. No gravity option here since it sits on the floor, and I’m not moving 12 gallons.

It used co2 but the floating dip tube avoids clogging issues.

[u/Stonehenge361]

I always cold crash to 34F for a few days then I run the first pint of junk out of the racking arm on my spike 5gal conical and toss it, then connect my 3/8” ID transfer line to a flare fitting tc plate on the racking arm and to a ball lock liquid fitting and transfer under pressure to the keg.   

For non-hazys, that always works fine for me.  If it’s a heavily dry hopped hazy, hops will still find their way to the spring in the ball lock or keg fitting…usually in that case I take the center pin out of both male and female connectors. 

make sure you keep the PRV open when you disconnect or beer will come back out the liquid connection before you can reinstall the center pin.