I love fermenting in my cornies using a floating dip tube. I use a blow-off tube for ales and a spunding valve set to 10psi for my lagers. I ferment 2.75 gallon batches in 3 gallon kegs and I find Fermcap to be absolutely necessary. I've never had an issue with the limited headspace. When fermentation is finished, I perform a closed-loop pressure transfer to a clean and sanitized serving keg, using pressure from the serving keg to push the beer out of the fermentation keg. My beers have been consistently better since I started fermenting in my cornies!

Great video! I've been fermenting in corny kegs for about a year now and they've become my favorite fermenters by far. Most of my batches are 4 gallons or less so I've never been worried about headspace, but the tip with the 1/2" silicone tubing on the PRV is a great idea for those trying to fit a bit more in their keg. For my pressurized lager fermentations, I use a spunding valve set to around 15psi and have had great results with that. For non-pressurized fermentations, I have a couple gas disconnects connected to short pieces of bent SS tubing and S-airlocks, so I can pop those on and off my keg as needed. If I ferment in my corny kegs, 99% of the time I'm serving directly from them as well with floating dip tubes. If I'm taking the beer to an event, I'll jump from that keg to a clean, purged serving keg. I put a 3/8" SS hex nut on the end of the tubing right near the ball float to make sure the tubing end stays submerged, and when serving from a keg that I've dry-hopped, I put the small filter on the end of the dip tubing. It's great to have less vessels to clean, and reduced oxidization. My NEIPA's have gone weeks with no noticeable oxidization or color changes, and haven't noticed any detrimental effects of having the beer sit on the yeast and hop trub in the serving keg.

I see a lot of people for pressure fermenting now attaching the PRV to the gas post on a second keg, and using a jumper from the primary gas to the second keg liquid post. This serves to fill the second keg with CO2 (which is pricy now AND bad for the environment) so that you can transfer the beer without introducing O2 at all. Usually, a floating dip tube is used in the first keg. BTW, THANK YOU FOR CREATING GREAT VIDEOS! Seems far too many are hand held jerky unedited, uninformed time wasters. I appreciate how well done your videos are!

Nice, I use 30L sanke keg with spear removed for 5g batches and 2" triclamp to ball long on top. Works great for PSI fermentations!

Really good video! I would say an easy way to do a larger batch is hook 2 kegs up together. I am doing a pressure fermentation right now, gas in to liquid out and a spunding valve on the second keg. Works great!

I fermented in Corny kegs for several years until I upgraded to Spike Flex+, but I kinda miss it. For a blowoff, I took a gas post with me to Lowes and found vinyl tube that fit snug on the post. I would remove the poppet and push that vinyl hose on to make a blow off. Even with 4.5 gallon batches, krausen would rarely push through. When it was time to transfer to a serving keg I would put the poppet back in the post. I also had no problems harvesting yeast. Although I went through several trials and error on my process, I eventually landed this: 1) push starsan out a hose from the future serving keg. 2) with a small amount of pressure, push the first slug of yeast into a sanitized jar, using the same hose until clear beer flows. Amazingly, it was usually only a few ml before the clear beer. It seems the yeast cake would hold it’s shape at the bottom 3) disconnect the QD from the fermenter keg to stop the flow, attach another black QD to the hose to make a jumper 4) transfer the beer to a serving keg. 5) when finished transferring, depressurize the fermenter, pour in 500ml or so of preboiled and cooled water on to the yeast cake to soften and dilute it, swirl it. 6) close the fermenter keg back up, pressurize and push to the jar. I did all of this without cutting the dip tube. I had a cut diptube handy if there was ever a clog but it rarely happened.

My main fermenter is an old 10g corny keg. I've got a modified lid that I welded a 3/4" sanitary fitting in that I use a thermowell with, and I also have a floating diptube in there for transfer. It's the perfect fermenter.

I bought the Kegland 7.6 gal or 29L Kegmenter (low profile and 4” opening for easy cleanings) which works great with the Blowtie Spunding valve. also has a built in relief valve. Can use as a Fermenter or Keg by design...it’s sweet!

Good suggestion on the 6 gal keg. Looks like it will even fit in my fermentation kegerator. Just had a massive blowout through my 5 gal through the spunding valve.

I’ve been fermenting the full 5 gallons with no probs. Blow off tube set up like the vid will take care of any blow off. It’s usually minimal. A recent 13% Kveik barley wine blew off only around 100ml. I also don’t tamper with the dip tube. I don’t feel the need to. After a few days in the Keezer, the first pour pulls up the yeast cake then the beer is fine after that so no need to transfer to another ‘serving’ corny. I’ve also had great success harvesting yeast by using a sterile picnic/party tap and literally pouring the yeast cake into a sterile jar. Corny fermentation is brilliant. I do all my Weizens this way and any other beers that aren’t dry hopped. I have dry hopped though with success using a hop filter in the corny. Hang it in there with a bit of sterile dental floss for a few days. Make sure you have a steady flow of co2 going into the liquid post when adding removing hops though to minimise oxygen entering the corny.

Thanks Brian for all the great info, I don't cut my corny keg dip tube, I just use a BeerBrite filter system when racking to another corny keg, in my experience 41/2 gallons is about right for trouble free fermenting, though I find with cider I can manage 5 gallons...Thanks again Brian.

I have been fermenting in corney kegs since the mid-90s. I used to use pin lock for fermenting, and ball lock for serving, so I always knew which one had the short tube. I brew lagers in my kitchen, in Albuquerque with no temperature control all year round (85F in the summer) by using a spunding valve. I transfer to a serving keg, then pour out the yeast in the fermenter (leaving a few tablespoons) and pour new wort on top of it. I brew 2.5 gallon batches every Saturday, and I never buy yeast. I used the same "Cry Havoc" yeast for 20 batches, now I use 34/70...

Thanks for all your video. I love watching your videos. It is verry instructive. I am new to pressurised fermentation and i would definitly try it with a corny keg insted of a sanke keg.

Hydrotesting is done with water. Same pressure as it would be done with air but as fluids don't compress under pressure only thing that will happen in case of vessel failure is some leaking instead of explosion if done with air. (in case not answered already)

Great points for those who are doing 5gal batches or less. Some of the similar options for those doing 10gal batches before switching to unitanks.

This video is awesome! I have been wanting to do this and you answered a lot of my quesitons, great job!

Thanks Brian. The more I get into home brew the more I find your videos more and more helpful. If I could like your videos twice I would! By the way, what is that arcade game you have in the background? I see it says sega Dreamcast on it. I am really interested in this. Do you have a video about this, if not maybe you could make one! Cheers

Thanks for doing this video, great to see sound advice covering all brewing possibilities. I’m a small batch BIAB brewer (using electric) and use a 10ltr pressure barrel converted to take a Corni Ball Lock Valve to add a spunding valve to control the pressure. It works really well.

I have just done our first keg fermentation and it has not gone well, I got an emergency call to come to our brewing room at the Shrine this morning, we have easily lost 2/3 of this keg. I brought it back home into my shower and it still keeps leaking. Thank you for this video, next time we will only do 4 gallons. I hope that is all that is needed to solve this issue. Blow off was our big issue.

Brewing now in a spac branded keg I got cheap but did not use as it was too fat for my kegorator . It is 25 litres & I usually brew 22 litres , so enough headspace. Just cut the dip tube to about 5 cm & pushed on a piece of silicone tube &float with a filter (Kegland) & it works great ! I can fit it & an allrounder in my fridge to brew 2 at once. Use a spunding valve of course. Also easy to clean & should last forever. Cost bugger all.

Hey Brian in regards to harvesting yeast from the keg. I have done it several times by just dumping some distilled water in the keg ( i dont have a trimmed dip tube so vertually just sludge and no liquid) swirl it around, put a funnel over the opening and dump it into a sanitized jar, my wife helps me do this part. Make a starter as usual. So far I haven't had any problems using this method. The kegs I have done this with sat in my keezer empty for 2-3 months. Just a thought to ponder if you need that particular yeast and don't have any. That's what made me try it. And it worked

Hydro testing is something you will need to take to a shop. It involves submerging the vessel in water, pressurizing it, and seeing how much it expands. I've never heard of hydro testing a plastic container before.

The most budget friendly method of pressure fermentation is to monitor gravity and close the vent valve on your corny to achieve your desired Co2g/l desired. Keeping in mind your known actual attenuation. Cheers

Very useful. I changed to the "kegmenter" for pressurefermentation. Also nice for storing beer

Kegs are great fermenters! I use the floating dip tube. They make a little filter screen for it too and that works great as well!

Todays brew was full of experiments. First time doing no chill in a keg. I bought lid with liquid post and floating ball. Hot wort went into 2 kegs 16l each. Ill probably just attach spunding valve to gas post after pitching.

i gotta get on the that floating dip tube train!

I've recently got into homebrewing and have now done three 1gal batches. Looking to step up and the major thing I've been trying to figure out is how to temp control my fermentation (I'm in FL). That lead me to possibly looking at pressure fermenting instead. That lead me here to a video posted only a couple days ago!! Crazy how the internet works!! It just knows haha. Think this is the route I'm going to go. Looks to be one of the cheapest and easiest to test out. It'll be a great learning experience and let me see if I want to invest in something more substantial. Appreciate the great info and look forward to more videos on this. Cheers!

Your tip for cutting the hose on the dip tube also largely eliminates the dip tube hose getting tangled or flipped under the float.

I did 2 batches into a corny keg as a first test. I also used a floating dip tube from Fermzilla with a small mesh thing at the end. I ended up having to cut the tubing on this out of the box a little so it just barely reaches the bottom make sure it works properly, but other than that they seem to work great. For blowoff, I used some old gas line attached to the gas line ball lock running into a 2 quart jar half full of star san. Seemed to work great. I did try to different volumes, the first I did about 4.5 gallons, and there was no blowoff to speak of just co2 off gassing. The second one had virtually no head space probably like 5.25 gallons and there was at least a quart and a half of blowoff/liquid added to the star san jar. So i'd say 4.5 gallons is certainly safe, and you will probably lose at least .5-.75g at the bottom due to trub. I plan to pressure transfer to a serving keg using a beer line jumper (floating dip tube in both kegs) and just watch the transfer and when it hits the trub ( super cloudy xfer ) I will stop. Probably gradually reduce pressure as I transfer to ensure I can stop quickly. Getting roughly 1g+ less volume is definitely something to think about with this setup. The bonus side for me is I can ferment 2 kegs in my chest freezer ferm chamber, whereas with buckets only one at a time fits.

You can absolutely harvest yeast. Boil and cool a water in a erlenmeyer, pour onto slurry in keg. Shake up, wait 15 mins, then push through a sanitised hose into the flask.

Hydrotest is basically to fill it with water and pressure it up using water pressure. Depending on your water pressure from your mains you could possibly just fill it from a faucet,bleeding the air out and then seal it up

Nicely done Brian. I prefer SS over plastic myself. Great to see more of your Mame cabinet too :p

Thanks for sharing. Great information. I did one batch fermentation in a keg. I can't remember the gallons exactly. I recall I was able to do a 5 gallon batch with no problem. I might be wrong on the gallons that I fermented. I did have a blowoff tube when I did it. I had an extra lid and ended up drilling a hole in the middle and was able to put a airlock in. I liked your idea of just unscrewing the pressure relief valve. It was a pain in the but, to drill a hole in the center of the lid. Cheers!

The nice thing about fermenting in a keg is clean up is pretty easy and if your doing it right your beer doesn't see light or O2 until it's in your glass. Also you use way less CO2 like maybe 2/3rd less or more because your beer is already carbonated, your only using the CO2 for purging and pushing.

Luv the silicon tubing for blowoff

Great tips, Brian! I'll have to try the "airlock through the PRV" trick - I've just used a blowoff tube attached to the gas in disconnect. I've fermented a couple of batches in a corny keg - mostly 3 to 4.5 gallon batches. For one ~5 gallon batch (pressure fermented SMaSH with 2-row, Belma hops, and Lutra @ 10 psi), I also added some Fermcap-S to prevent too much foaming. Worked like a charm! -Jeremy

Brian, great content again. I use the gas post and hook the blowoff tube to that in a corny. I haven't had to limit the batch size too much since I tend to keep my beer between 4.5% and 5.5% ABV. That lets me transfer from the fermentation keg to my serving keg by pushing with CO2 reducing O2 exposure. Was considering moving to a conical and glycol, but this is a pretty economical and simple solution for me. Also looking at the Spike trio, so paying attention to your thoughts on that system.

I’ve turned 2 of my corny kegs into pressure fermenters. They work great the only downside in my eyes is the cleanup. I need to figure out how to build a good keg washer.

Why couldn’t I swirl the yeast slurry after transfer and pour the yeast into a mason jar and harvest the yeast?

Great video. No fluff and loads of clear info. Really want to streamline my process these days to make it as easy as possible but keep quality. Have you had any experience from serving directly from the fermentation keg? Fermenting under pressure in a corny with a spunding valve and floating dip tube (serving directly) seems about as easy it gets. Carbonated naturally (saves CO2), further reduces possible O2 exposure as no need to transfer, less steps, less to clean and sterilise... Autolysis (at our level) is mainly debunked by now too. Seems like a no-brainer really. I imagine in practice, minimising trub transfer from the kettle is essential. I suppose if you want to dry hop you'd need to transfer or bag it up or something. 🤔

Great video I need to revisit keg fermentation. I don't remember if you have done video on transferring out fermentation keg to another vessel but if you haven't would love to see one and all my options

I do 4 gal in the corney keg and simply set up the CO2 connect on the post with hose going into a growler with star san. No need to mess with the PRV.

Is it okay to leave the floating dip tube in during pressure fermentation on the “out” post? Then when I transfer to my serving keg or take a gravity sample I won’t have to open the keg or worry about sucking out the yeast. Currently making my first lager under pressure fermentation in a corny keg with a sounding valve.

Great video/info. Thanks!

I like the idea with the blow off tubing, thanks for the video!

Or you can use a ball lock with tubing on the gas side for a blow off. Seems more practical

I’ll give that a go

Enjoyed the video, I do have a question. At the beginning of fermentation you added a blow off tube or an air lock. Then later you added a spunding valve. I guess I got lost here. Do you take off the air lock , replace the pressure release valve, and then add the spunding valve? Or, if you plan on fermenting under pressure, do you just add the spunding valve from the beginning? I ordered 4 corny kegs, I will only be despensing beer in 3 of them, I was thinking of one of two things; using the extra keg as a pressure fermenter or using it to cold crash. Kegging and using kegs as other pieces of equipment is all new to me. Any help is appreciated.

How about cold-crashing your keg, making more particles drop out of suspension?

Many thanks Brian for this great video! I'll try keg fermenting next batch. And one question : Is it possible or safe to drill a hole in a keg and install a pressure gauge for beer force carbonation and storage?

This video is exactly what I needed! I want to try to use my corny keg to ferment my next brew. Do you have to use the 5/8" elbow on the blow off tube?

Brian, do you see any issue pressure fermenting a 5 gallon batch in a 7.75 gallon keg, provided it's purged of O2?

thank you for introducing the keg fermenting. I tried my first batch after your last video. but it seems little awkward when it hit the yeast layer. even if it is floating tue still the beer is not clear. wondering how can I solve this. looking for your reply~ thanks🙂

You read my mind thanks Brian

Nice video Brian! I have fermented a Mexican Lager in a corny using the shortened dip tube method under 15 psi at room temperature using traditional yeast. Fermentation was fast and clean with no off flavors. I did have some foaming out of the spunding valve. I use my all rounder mostly because I am enamored by watching the fermentation. Which of the floating dip tubes do you feel performs the best in the corny keg?

Why can't you harvest the yeast when fermenting in a corny?

Getting into pressure fermentation soon. Can I ferment in my keg and then bottle the beer? And if so what is the best way to do so

Hi Brian, Couple questions. 1) using the PRV as a blow off, why can’t this be used to capture yeast? Is starsan harmful to yeast viability? (Actually always wondered no matter the FV) 2) By keeping the dip tube unchanged, couldn’t you use that to periodically pull trub and yeast buildup? (Although this might clog the QD post). I’m thinking about the Grainfather Jewel valve in their fermenter as they instruct to pull off sediment in a similar way.?.?

Great tips. Thanks.

Great vidya Brian, I must have missed this one when it came out. I have had this nagging thought in the back of my head for some time now. What do you think the effects would be of fermenting under vacuum?

How do you dry hop when fermenting under pressure in a Kirby keg?

Great video.

Will the beer be carbonated after pressure fermenting in the corny? Thanks

Any thoughts on the shape of corny keg to fermenter geometry? Just listened to most recent Brew Strong and Jamil thought it was a “giant mistake” to ferment in a corny keg because of it being tall and skinny, and the beer won’t mix well. Seems like a weird thought to me… I do buy it producing different tasting beer than in a glass carboy, but calling the vessel a “mistake” seems a bit much. Great vid as usual!

I have only pressure fermented in my FermZilla Allrounder. But I might try one of my corny kegs. Will the Tilt signal make its way out of a metal corny keg?

This has answered my question re volume reduction/head space requirement of fermenting in a keg. I brew small batches and had worried about the impact of fermenting in a 9L keg effectively having to reduce my batch size further. I have since found 12L kegs which I may invest in as they are same price as a keg and therefore cheaper than equivalent size ss fermenters. One final question. Can you get away with pressurising the beer and serving it out of the same keg (effectively a uni-tank) or do you always have to push it to a 2ndry keg?

maybe a silly question, but if you were doing a NEIPA with this pressure fermentation. can you still dry hop?

Think i'm gonna need a showcase on what games that arcade has

why you cant harvest yeast from corny keg?