tranferring from fv to keg and other questions.

[paul]

afternoon all.......my first brew (woodfordes wherry kit) should hopefully be ready for keggin this weekend and i have a few questions before i do it....

1.how do i syphon the brew from the fv to the keg with out getting air into it?(i have a small lid on the keg and rather large arms so they wont fit inside)
2. whats the best way to start the syphon because iv heard sucking with your mouth contaminates the brew?
3. how long should the brew be left to condition in the keg?

and finally
4.how long will it keep in the keg?

cheers as always for any help

paul

[Garth]

before doing another brew I would fit a tap to your fv, it makes life a lot easier and eliminates the need for siphoning, make sure it clears the workbench or it'll pickup nasties and may break the seal




you could give the keg a squirt of CO2 first, CO2 is heavier than air so will sit in the bottom of the keg to a certain extent

give your mouth a wash out with whiskey or vodka maybe?

the length of time a brew will last depends on a number of things, how good your cleaning and sanition is, what temperature it's stored at, how strong in alcohol the brew is, and how much it got exposed to air. If it's under pressure of CO2 I should think you'd get a good 6 weeks out of it, probably more, I have a 4.5% stout in a cornie in the garage, it's been slowly drank since the start of December and it's still fine.

[Ditch]

Garth; Am I missing something here? Or would it not be better to add that a PVC Hose should then be attached to that tap, thus enabling the beer to drain down out of the FV and straight into the bottom of the keg. Thus soon ensuring the beer exits FV / Hose straight beneath itself, in the keg bottom. Thus eliminating as much air exposure as possible?

Otherwise, I envisage Paul trying to position the FV tap so that it drains into a small hole (in the top of the keg) from a given height. Lots of air involved.

[KevP]

give your mouth a wash out with whiskey or vodka maybe?

Any old excuse for a wee dram!

[Garth]

Garth; Am I missing something here? Or would it not be better to add that a PVC Hose should then be attached to that tap, thus enabling the beer to drain down out of the FV and straight into the bottom of the keg. Thus soon ensuring the beer exits FV / Hose straight beneath itself, in the keg bottom. Thus eliminating as much air exposure as possible?

Otherwise, I envisage Paul trying to position the FV tap so that it drains into a small hole (in the top of the keg) from a given height. Lots of air involved.

err, yeah but I thought that would have been obvious, but maybe I'm just assuming too much....

I was probably sidetracked by the actual tap fitting thing...

[Wolfdog]

before doing another brew I would fit a tap to your fv

I would totally agree with Garth on this. Ive just syphoned off my first FV into bottles and a Keg, total pain in the arse!!! I have now bought a FV with tap and intend to fit one to my other FV's I bought prior to my first kegging! Hind sight is wounderful but this Forum can save you the need for it!!
If I was you i'd have a read of some of the other threads, loads of grate info and answars a load of questions that you will probl'y ask!
Kind regtards

[mercilessrich]

I'm thinking of getting a FV with tap. One Q- since the tap is right at the bottom and cannot be moved, isn't there a large chance of sucking up loads of dead yeast and crap? Any way to avoid this?

Cheers!

[Ditch]

Rich; By the nature of its construction and attachment, the centre of the taps neck will sit about 1 1/2 - 2" off the bottom of the FV. Believe it or not, this should be quite ample to clear the sediment, once everything's settled down.

I might also point out ~ just as an aside ~ that Coopers Stout, at least, has the happy habit of forming an almost jelly like sediment. Once that strange stuff settles, it sort of congeals and there's actually not a lot ye could do to make it pass through that tap

[brysie]

the tap on my coopers barrel came with a sediment reducer on it, which is just a small plastic extension on the back of the tap
with a narrow slit on the top so that it only allows liquid to pass from the top of the tap.
to be honest, i always end up having to tip the barrel to get the last couple of pints out, and ive never had that much sediment in a brew.

[Garth]

Ditch is right, the tap dosen't suck up any sediment unless you angle the fv when you're getting the last drips of precious beer out, a bit yeast in the barrel is beneficial anyway, if it's still active it'll mop up any oxygen that got in when transferring.

[mercilessrich]

Cheers guys, can't wait to start my next brew. Turbo cider methinks!