10L pressure fermenter - small scale pressure fermentation

[jambop]

I am thinking about trying small scale pressure fermentation. I do 25L batches all the time and from that I normally put 10L into two mini kegs and the rest in bottles. I am now thinking I can buy a 10L pressure fermenter for 45€ and use that for the keg portion and ferment the rest out as normal. The knock on from that is that CO2 costs will be consideribley reduced as a pack of ten CO2 capsules cost 15€ but a 2kg cylinder is 89€ and I find I use just about one capsule per keg so by my math the 2kg cylinder is almost 100 € cheaper by CO2 wieght.
So the question is this. Is pressure fermenting really that much better than fermenting at normal atmospheric pressure? And secondly do you start the fermentation off and let it come under pressure straight away? I read an article where the brewer stated he starts the fermentation off as normal then after a couple of days set the spunding valve at the desired pressure. Last brew I used Windsor the fermentation was 95% finished inside 48hrs and I find I get almost the same results with Verdant and Notty the gravity has dropped by almost 75% inside the first 48hrs. Would be interesting to hear any experiences and advice.

 

[Its 6pm somewhere]

Is pressure fermenting really that much better than fermenting at normal atmospheric pressure?

That's gonna cause a debate worthy of fetching popcorn.
Pressure fermentation has its place and like everything else there are pros and cons. I do all pressure ferments now, it suits my setup and the styles I brew. Its worth trying and by the sounds of it you're going to be able to compare apples to apples with half pressure fermented and half not. We'll be looking to you in the coming months asking how it went...
One thing I would say is don't buy into the grain to glass in a week stuff...yes it's possible and you'll have a drinkable beer but conditioning time improves everything and elevates your beer to what you wanted it to be.
On your second point, I put the spunding valve straight on. I let Ales build themselves up to 12psi but I use CO2 to set lagers to pressure straight away.

 

[fluketamer]

the only benefit i see is the ability to ferment warmer and thus faster.

however if push comes to shove for me at least, cold fermenting with or without pressure always tastes better in the long run. whether it be ales or lagers.

you can make very comparable (perhaps equal) beer with warm pressure but it will take longer to condition out any off flavors and all things being the same you dont save much time in the end.

however the fact that you may be able to get away without a fermentation chamber or temp control other than a swamp cooler imo can also be of great benefit.

so for example my ferm chamber is tied up with a lager right now. so i could use my basement (70) with swamp cooler to pressure ferment an ale which for me would be too high temperature without any spunding.

 

[jambop]

That's gonna cause a debate worthy of fetching popcorn.
Pressure fermentation has its place and like everything else there are pros and cons. I do all pressure ferments now, it suits my setup and the styles I brew. Its worth trying and by the sounds of it you're going to be able to compare apples to apples with half pressure fermented and half not. We'll be looking to you in the coming months asking how it went...
One thing I would say is don't buy into the grain to glass in a week stuff...yes it's possible and you'll have a drinkable beer but conditioning time improves everything and elevates your beer to what you wanted it to be.
On your second point, I put the spunding valve straight on. I let Ales build themselves up to 12psi but I use CO2 to set lagers to pressure straight away.

To be honest this has nothing to do with speed of getting the beer made. I am thinking more about the end product. I have read for example that hop flavours are conserved better using pressure fermentation and that beer can be served directly from the pressure fermentation vessel or bottled from it.
You are right though the cost of this experiment is not that great in the grand scheme of things, maybe an 80€ outlay and I can see for myself if the beer I make is significantly different. Even if I did not then go on to use the vessel for pressure fermentation I still have a handy 10L keg and as every brewer knows ... you can never have too much brewing equipment