Transfering from carboy to keg via co2

So I got a stainless racking cane with an orange carboy cap and hooked it up for my sour beers so I could push them into a keg with minimal oxygen exposure to age for 6 months or longer.

It took almost 30 minutes under 1 or 2 psi and the orange cap kept popping off the carboy neck. I’m thinking I might have gotten the wrong orange cap but I’m not sure. It fits snug but definitely not tight. Anybody else experience this?

You need one of these. Works great, simply tighten it snugly around the bottom section of the carboy cap.


Not sure about the size as I’m not at the house currently but you get the idea.

Yeh @voodoo_donut I thought about that too. No worries of blowing up the carboy? Does it still take a decent amount of time for the beer to transfer. I think my liquid out tube is 5/16 diameter or something pretty small. Maybe I need a few adapters to get it to 3/8 or 1/2 inch

No, I think if you keep the pressure low like you are, you’ll be fine. If the gas is on and you are NOT seeing beer move, dial it down and check all connections. I’ve done this now a number of times and it really works well, but I try not to get complacent as it could be conceivably dangerous.

It goes pretty quickly once you get a good seal.

Ok cool. I’ll try it in a few weeks with that hose clamp

Here’s some food for thought. Put your fermenter higher than your keg as if you’re going to siphon. Use the CO2 to start the siphon and to make up the lost volume as the beer transfers. Pushing the beer is a bit of a misnomer. You’ll find your caps don’t pop off if you match the CO2 supply to the flow of beer out of the fermenter.

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After reading about the glass carboy blowing up I’d be leary of doing this. Maybe invest in plastic bottle or buckets

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buckets rule

Yeh I actually only own one carboy and use it exclusively for sour beer. I’ve read a little about transfering under co2 pressure from a bucket to a keg but it just doesnt seem worth the hassle for me. I just liked the idea of doing co2 transfers with my sours to reduce oxygen exposure for long term storage. None of my clean beers last more than a month once they are ready because I like to share it with my test subjects.

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Why are you worried about it with your sours? Sours are one of the categories that a bit of oxygen will help the brett age. At this point I’m only worried about oxygen and heavily dry hopped beers because I can see/taste the oxidation of the hop oils in them.

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I use plastic BMBs, a plastic Fermoonster, buckets, and a glass BMB. Not afraid to transfer under CO2 with any of them using our technique. I like the plastic BMBs and Fermonster best because you can judge pressure quite easily. Probably if you were going to get all scientific you could use a manometer. :nerd:

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Oh yeah. For me, it was all about big IPAs/NEIPAs. But I transfer all kegged beers this way now, as they will all benefit from lower risk of oxidation.

I get the concerns about glass and gas…as @WMNoob said, I’m not afraid but I am cautious and methodical. Gravity is definitely your friend as 1psi can get it going.

I agree with @squeegeethree that sours would be the least beer I worry about oxygenation. Especially with Bret.

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Interesting. Maybe I’ll have to do some rethinking today. I don’t really make alot of heavily hopped beers.

Are you transferring with the keg lid off though?

No I was just getting set up. I sealed the lid, purged with co2 and then just opened the vent valve

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