I’m going to try fermenting in a sanke keg with a carboy cap for the airlock. My LHBS has the orange cap for 3, 5, and 6g carboy’s, but also have a red carboy cap for 6.5g:
http://www.thebeeressentials.com/equipment/carboy-caps.shtml
Does anybody know which size is a better fit for the sanke? I’ve heard of people heating up the orange one and stretching it for a good fit, but is the red one a little bigger, and would it work better?
The orange is the one you want. Some warm water and it stretches over it just right.
The red cap is actually smaller.
Sweet! Thanks for the quick reply. Wow, I figured the red would be bigger, since it’s for a bigger carboy. I guess that shows my knowledge of carboys :oops: … although hopefully I would have figured that out when I looked at them at the LHBS!
FInally got around to testing the sanke fermentor, and decided to do an all out technique test. My normal is Denny batch sparge, standard boil, chill, bucket ferment. Today I did BIAB, standard boil, no-chill, and transfered the still-boiling wort into the sanke. I double milled my grain and ended up with pretty darn good efficiency - 7.5 gallons @ 1.040, with 10 pounds of grain, which by my calculations is just over 80%, which is just about what I get with my batch sparge process.
My sanke is piping hot right now, I’m no-chilling and fermenting in this same vessel, so once it cools (hopefully by tomorrow!) I’ll pitch my yeasties right into the sanke. I really liked the whole process, less equipment and my brew day was 3.5 hours from milling to clean-up. I have no plans of hanging up my mash tun or my immersion chiller for good, but assuming it turns out good beer I’ll definitely use this BIAB/no-chill process again.
If you have good results but get tired of cleaning the sanke, you might want to try the same method in a corny. Two options: 1) using a “blow-off tube” on your gas disconnect and some keg lube on the o-ring for a good seal or 2) Fermenting under a slight pressure, such as 2PSI. I just got a “spunding valve” or as NB calls it, a “bleeder valve” that allows you to regulate a relief pressure. Then, as it gets close to final gravity, you can adjust the pressure upwards and carbonate in the keg. Samples/yeast are easily taken from the beverage side, since the keg is pressurized the entire time.
Sounds like a slick setup. Fermenting under pressure is definitely on the to-do list!
