Dangers of fermenting in a corny keg?
Dangers of fermenting in a corny keg?
I’ve started fermenting in a corny keg recently with a spunding valve, seemingly to good results (I love the fact that it’s a cheap multi-purpose stainless steel vessel), but I’ve heard it can be discouraged as if the spunding valve outlet gets clogged, it can lead to some “dangerous situations”. The recent post about a brewery staff member dying from an exploding keg means that the danger is a real one, even with commercial experience and controls.
Are there any extra preventative measures I can take, beyond using a spunding valve and PRV valve as backup in the keg lid, to ensure that I do this safely?
I'm in the middle of drinking my first keg fermented beer, straight from the fermentor. I also used a spunding valve and had zero problems. Beyond spunding valve and a prv, some measures you can take are:
- leave lots of headspace
- get on the higher side of pressure, this will further lower the krausen
- you can get one of the 1.5 inch tri-clamp lids for a corny keg and fit it with an additional prv and/or spunding valve. I plan on eventually trying that.
That being said unless you overfill the corny keg, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I used 15 liters of wort and didn't have any issues even when I opened a prv and krausen quickly started rising. It still didn't blow out.
Great tip on considering the tri-clamp lid. I also filled up the keg too much on my first attempt, so splitting up the batches, particularly on strong beers, is a good idea. Thanks!
On an unrelated note, I haven't found hard evidence yet of harm to flavour caused by leaving the beer on the trub, but the common advice seems to recommend moving it off either after primary, or if the beer is to be drunk in more than 3 months time. Are there any issues drinking it straight from primary over the long term?
Well, I don't have much experience on that, especially long term, but for a relatively fresh batch, the taste is great, even for a relatively hoppy beer (it's an APA). And throughout a few weeks, it hasn't changed. And it for sure won't last anywhere near 3 months.