Fermenting in corny keg

[Jamie1983]

Ive been brewing 9 months now and i have done many batches using a plastic bucket fermenter and transferring into the lid of the keg with a beer line then closing the lid and purging it a few times with co2 before carbonating.
Im looking to change and i was thinking of purchasing a fermzilla but it seems to need a lot of extras im also curious about fermenting in a corny keg if anyone has any opinions. I understand i need a spunding valve but also im wondering how much height of trub will collect and how much headspace should be left in the keg?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Jamie, i think there are 2 ways to do it, some cut about 2 inches off the dip tube or you can use a floating one which draws beer from the top, i have never tried it, the experts will be along shortly

 

[stripeyjoe]

You can get the All Rounder for £49.50 from Get Er Brewed (FermZilla All Rounder 30L Fermenter - Get Er Brewed), then get the spunding valve and pressure kit from KegLand's AliExpress store, will take a week or two to arrive. A reconditioned Corny is going to cost you about £60-80 depending on who has them in stock, plus you'll probably still want the spunding valve on top of that.

I ferment in an all rounder and have it connected to a corny for CO2 collection and to transfer the beer to when it's done, any remaining I bottle into PET bottles using a carb cap with some silicon dip tube.

Just makes it all a bit easier and you can see what's going on, also you can just do normal 23l batches instead of trying to build up 16l or so recipes to give yourself some headroom in the corny.

 

[Surfingobo]

I’m planning on doing this soon. I’ve got a fermenter king jr but find it difficult to clean as you can’t use hot water! Not sure whether to go steel or floating dip tube.

 

[Broken Toe]

I've started to ferment in a corny.

For the ferment I have had to use only about 15l out so to avoid any Krausen issues and then connected the gas line out to a bottle of starsan as a sort of blow off. Mostly as I don't have a spunding valve.

I haven't changed anything about the dip tube. when I transfer I just discard the first pint or so so that is yeast then connect it to my purged corny for the remainder using gas to push it through. Be careful if you do this method as you also get tub at the end of the transfer so will need to reduce pressure at the end to slow it down and catch it. Helps to have a clear beer line for this.

It's just caused me the age old problem of but having enough cornys as I have one always out of action as it were.

 

[stripeyjoe]

It's just caused me the age old problem of but having enough cornys as I have one always out of action as it were.

Thanks what set me down the All Rounder path, was about the same price as another Corny but has a larger capacity and you can see what’s going on.
I find cleaning to be pretty straight forward, blast crud off with a hose and give it a soak with some Oxy. Finish off with a swirl of star san.