Closed transfers

darciandjenn · Post by **darciandjenn** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:26 am

So I may be picking up a free chest freezer in the near future with the idea that we may use it as a fermentation chamber, but I'm worried about moving full carboys in and out of it. Both my wife and I have back issues that come and go and I have this nightmarish vision in my head of picking up the glass carboy and then dropping it on the concrete floor, having it smash, severing an artery and bleeding to death all because I wanted to make a lager in the middle of August.

(I actually have this vision every time I decide to rack from or clean the carboys when there's nobody else home)

I was wondering if anyone has experience with pushing their beer out of the carboy with CO2. Google says that you can buy a cap for this purpose but it seems dangerous to me (glass + pressure). I don't really want to switch up my equipment right now, though, so if any of you folks have done it successfully, it might be something I'd look into. I've thought about using a pump as well, but that would be more of an investment in equipment and pumps seem fraught with issues.

The other option would be to build a collar for it and turn it into a small keezer and convert my kegerator to the ferm chamber.

the-mailman · Post by **the-mailman** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:36 am

You could also use a vacuum pump to transfer from primary to secondary. I use that method to move wine when I'm filtering it. I'm pretty sure you can rent a pump for the day from Noble Grape or you can build your own.

I made mine out of an old fridge compressor that was drained of coolant but still worked like this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9enWvFTwac" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It can pull down to about 30 in hg. I added a bleeder valve and vacuum gauge.

It's big and bulky and I'm planning on making a new one from either a portable air compressor like this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGb-UwAXicI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or buying one like this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRRK3ojaxoI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:50 am

You need a very minimal amount of pressure to transfer (a couple psi) so I wouldn't worry much about over pressurizing the carboy. The plastic carboy cap would pop off well before that happened likely.

jason.loxton · Post by **jason.loxton** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:45 am

If the carboy was sitting on the compressor hump, you could probably transfer most or all of it with an autosiphon, especially if you raised the freezer slightly on blocks.

Celiacbrew · Post by **Celiacbrew** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 12:46 pm

http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/racking-co2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maltose Falcons have a how to. Never done it myself but I plan to give it a try. I just haven't bought the tubing.

RossBee · Post by **RossBee** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:33 pm

jeffsmith wrote:You need a very minimal amount of pressure to transfer (a couple psi) so I wouldn't worry much about over pressurizing the carboy. The plastic carboy cap would pop off well before that happened likely.

This

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:00 pm

That maltose falcon DIY looks like the thing to do. I have transferred my last couple batches with an orange cap and racking cane, just used my mouth to get the siphon started - my eventual plan is to do co2 pressure transfers.

darciandjenn · Post by **darciandjenn** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:29 am

Thanks guys! Now to rig it up...

jtmwhyte · Post by **jtmwhyte** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:55 am

I do this and thought I was original, but maybe I just saw it in a drunken haze one night and thought the idea was mine the next day, lol.