Completing Fermentation ready for a Corni

[woolyghost]

Hi all, I am quite new to this. Although I have done a few Kit Brews and used Pressure Barrels, this is the first time that I have used a Corni.

How is the best way of brewing for a corni?

I was thinking of racking off to a second fermenter with air lock after about a week, leaving in the warm for another to finish off and then leave in the cool until the corni is ready for filling. I will then be using CO2 to carbonate. Does this sound about right?

If so how long can I leave it undisturbed in the 2nd fermenter with air lock? I am thinking of starting another brew strait after and leaving it until corni is empty.

Any tips or suggestions welcome, eventually I will be getting more cornis but one step at a time.

[chris_reboot]

by all means, you should rack off to another sterlised (obviously) FV, and store under airlock.
In theory it will store for a long time like that, but I personally have never done it longer than a month.

AG brews of mine should be more than clear by then for kegging, kit brews getting on for that too.

I normally leave for 2-3 weeks total from start of fermentation to kegging, but I'm more cautious at this time of year, and temps may kill that theory, so I have left it half that time on this brew. as I say that's caution rather than sound science.

If you're storing because the cornie is not empty, your problem there my friend is you dont (yet) own enough cornies
bulk store and mature in those is my advice.

[Blue Brew]

This is a question I was going to ask too. I currently brew kits (Mainly Coopers) and bottle, but want to move to Cornies to get away from the pain of bottling and to get a more consistant pint. Love the idea of a kegerator too if I'm honest.

If I rack off to secondary FV for 2 or 3 weeks and then put into a corni and leave to condition for a couple of weeks or more, won't the first pint or two be full of sediment?
Also, would you bottle the excess brew when you transfer to secondary FV or after its sat in secondary FV for a couple of weeks? My worry is that the yeast would then have fallen out of suspension and so would fail to carbonate the primed bottles.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[woolyghost]

Excellent questions Blue Brew, this is the sort of thing I too could do with finding out.

I am under the impression that 3 weeks would be fine and that there will always be a tiny amount of yeast left for the bottle conditioning. I could well be wrong but even if it is just a single speck surly it should then multiply.

I am also under the impression that when put into the corni after a long 2nd fermentation, if no extra sugar is added then there should be no reason to have any sediment in the keg at all.

Like I said, I am fairly new to this and all comments on the subject are welcome, there must be others out there doing this or something similar.

[chris_reboot]

OK, good questions.
FWIW, here's my advice.

Depending on the yeast you've used, will depend on how well it sticks to the base of the keg.
You may actually find that you dont draw any up at all (as I do), or you may find the first pint or so is cloudy at worst.

You generally want to be kegging clear or clear-ish beer to the cornie, so, yes, a holding FV after racking off for a week or so is a good idea, as long as its stored well.
If air gets in....well you know..


As for bottling as well, the more time goes on, the less viable yeast there is in suspension.
Now I've bottled at the 3 week, even 4 week point beffore, and its been fine, but it gets riskier as time goes on.

Another option is to add fresh yeast into bottles, but I wouldn't bother myself.
Another option still is to bottle from cornie at low temps so CO2 is already absorbed, and theres' no bottle sediment therefore.
Never tried that myself, but I understand others do. You would need to cool to 3-4C as I understand it.

My typical regime is ferment for 7-10 days, then rack off to second FV to clear.(And dont bother priming at this point. In fact, only prime the bottles at bottling time, cornies dont need priming at all, as you force carbonate). Technically therefore no secondary fermentation in the cornie (but still in bottles).
Leave in there another week or so, then bottle/keg at same time.
I usually get 7-8 bottles and a cornie full from a 23L batch size (40 pints).

The only time I differ from that is if my schedule doesnt allow for that, eg if I know I'm going away for a week, I may bring that forward by a week save risking it further.

HTH.
Chris

[woolyghost]

Fantastic, sounds just like what I planned to do. Just one other thing, I presume that finings are not required with Kit brews. The Brew should clear on its own in this time scale?

Thanks a lot anyway.

[chris_reboot]

Your call

I don't fine personally. Most here dont.
A good yeast should clear down on its own anyway, and fining can make fluffy deposits instead of stuck down yeast.

[Blue Brew]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your advice on this, just have to see if I can pursuade SWMBO that cornies in a kegerator are worth it so that she doesn't have 40 bottles sat in the kitchen for a week or so to get them primed!

Expect more questions over the next couple of months if thats OK, including where you get your gas from, I'm in Hudds too.

Cheers

[woolyghost]

Kegerator is what I am going for. I already had a standard fridge in the garage for beer but could only get 1 pressure barrel in at a time and had to keep opening the door to get a drink.

I had hoped that 3 corni's would fit with 3 taps on the door. That was until I saw the size of my first corni, I do have that one set up with a tap on the door but it just isn’t enough.

My brother-in-law is now getting me a chest freezer that I plan to convert; hopefully it will be a good size (maybe 4 corni's.) I plan on plugging it into a ATC-800+ temp controller with 3 to 4 taps.

I will probably get a second controller for my old fridge then to use for fermentation.

Anyway thanks again for all the help.

[thedeckking]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice in this thread. I've just bought my first cornie and found all this very helpful

[chris_reboot]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your advice on this, just have to see if I can pursuade SWMBO that cornies in a kegerator are worth it so that she doesn't have 40 bottles sat in the kitchen for a week or so to get them primed!

Expect more questions over the next couple of months if thats OK, including where you get your gas from, I'm in Hudds too.

Cheers

no problem.
I get my gas from HB Clarks at wakefield

[Blue Brew]

Thanks Mate.

[bogmonster]

Hi, hope I am not hijacking this thread, this is a bit of a follow on.

Have just moved to cornies but think I am still being slow on the uptake. I have fermented my brew until final gravity. It is 32 pints. I racked this to another container (a leaky pressure vessel) for it to clear before racking into the cornie but then worried that I was being a muppet. Because the fermentation is complete there will be no CO2 production. Because the brew is 32 pints there will be a lot of headroom in the second container. Will my beer spoil in the second container due to oxidization?

I guess the other options are:

1) Rack part was through fermentation after initial activity has subsided.
2) Find a second container with minimal headroom – might be difficult for odd sized brews?
3) Leave in the first container to clear.
4) Try and fill the second container with CO2 before racking

Am I worrying about nothing or have I ruined my beer? What is the best practice here?

Cheers, Chris.

[woolyghost]

Hi Chris, I am by no means an expert as I too have only just started with Corni's.

I always ferment for 7 days, then rack into second bin fitted with an air lock for another 7 days to clear. If I then don't have a Corni free I leave like this in my garage until I'm ready(sometimes over a month)

I used to give it a squirt of co2 from widget world before closing the lid but I don't bother any more.

I think you probably worry too much, I just try not to move it round too much until I am ready.

[bogmonster]

Great, I was worrying last night over my beer and eventually got up at 2am and squirted some CO2 in. How sad is that? I think I will relax and 'have a homebrew'.

Cheers, Chris.