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Overview
Transferring beer from the primary fermenter (carboy) to a secondary fermenter or a keg was
worrisome for me. My first effort consisted of Papazian's siphon tube full of water method (see "The
New Complete Joy of Home Brewing", Charlie Papazian). I hated it. I was worried about contamination and
oxygen exposure to my beautiful brew, and it was messy (it worked fine though, it just stressed me).
There had to be a better way, so this time 'round, I tried to create a better way.
As a special bonus, I made up a simple way attaching a fermentation lock to a corny keg. (a secondary in my case).
CO2 push
The idea is to use push the beer out through your racking cane (long bent rigid tube) into a secondary or
keg using pressurized CO2. It is simple if you have one of those two stem carboy caps or a
two hole stopper that fits your carboy. Shove your sanitized racking cane down one stem, and connect your
CO2 line to the other stem. I had to use hose clamps on the racking cane stem to seal it. A
short piece of stiff tubing would improve the interface between the CO2 hose and the second stem
over what is shown in the pics.
Connect some tubing to the racking cane and run it to your secondary or your keg. If you are going to a keg,
you can improve the transfer even more. Connect the racking tubing to the "liquid out" port of the corny keg.
You can leave the oval lid loose or connect the other "gas in" fitting to allow the displaced gas to escape.
Now slowly start the CO2 flow. Give it a few seconds before trying a higher flow, you just want enough
pressure to get the beer pushed up the tube. Yet another advantage of this method is you don't have to lift up your heavy carboy to use a gravity siphon. (Not moving the carboy also keeps the trub from getting all riled up).
Keep the steady slow flow of CO2 until it is all transferred.
Corny keg fermentation lock
This simple adaptation consists of the Ball or Pin Lock gas quick disconnect with a short piece of tubing going to the
fermentation lock. I put a (sanitized) piece of stiff copper wire (12 gauge home wiring) inside the tube so I could keep the tubing bent up. A piece pre-bent copper or SS tubing would make this more deluxe and robust.
Notes and suggestions
Since you have to sanitize your secondary or keg before the transfer, why not use CO2 to push the
sanitizer out? Not only is this easy, but it leaves your vessel filled with CO2! If you then proceed
with the CO2 push racking, you have no more worries about oxygen.
This method was developed on the fly, late at night. There are numerous improvements that could be made. To name
a just one, using a short piece of appropriate diameter rigid tubing between the CO2 tubing and the carboy cap
would make things more robust (I managed to shove the carboy cap stem into the CO2 tubing - a poor fit).
Contact info:
Rick Workman
rworkman@email.arizona.edu
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Connections for CO2 push. CO2 hose connects to one stem
of the carboy cap, racking cane is through the other stem. Tubing connects the racking cane to the
liquid in port of a corny keg (or another carboy). Leave the lid loose or connect the gas quick connect
to the gas port to let the displaced gas escape.
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Mmmm. Delicious wheat beer being transferred to the corny keg.
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View inside the Corny keg as it's being filled
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It worked. All beer was transferred, and the now light carboy could be raised for this
photo
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Close-up of the fermentation lock connected to the gas out port of the corny keg. A
piece of stiff wire was inserted in the tube to keep the fermentation lock upright.
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You may as well push the sanitizer out with CO2 as well. I also pushed
it out through my racking cane and tubing. As the second keg filled, the outside of my racking cane was
sanitized. Wow. My keg was also left filled with CO2 for the subsequent beer transfer. Wow wow.
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Special bonus photos! My new faucets from morebeer.com installed in the refrigerator door.
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Special bonus photos! Inside view of the door. I added the wood piece so I wouldn't crack
the very old plastic when I tightened the nuts down.
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