Keg early to carbonate

[UKSkydiver]

I went on a recent Brewery tour and was surprised to hear that they rack from the fermenter into barrels after about 72 hours. They then (if I remember correctly) cool condition for a couple of weeks.

This got me thinking that I could do the same with a corny keg and let it finish fermentation and naturally carbonate 'sooner'.

Clearly you would have to time it right to ensure that most of the fermentation was complete, which it does tend to be after 3-4 days.

Beer would be off the trub but still have enough yeast for remaining ferment to continue.

Would I need spending valve - certainly the brewery did not have spunding valves on their barrels.

Cornies are rated to 60 (or 130) psi depending where you read which should be plenty high enough.

It all seems too easy so I've probably missed something fundamental otherwise people would already be doing it, right?

Brewery was brewing standard ales, nothing weird, using British ale yeast whose name escapes me for now.

Looking forward to hearing your experience.
Thanks

 

[The Baron]

It is only the same as secondary fermenting in a corny which is done by many.
You would have to time it right as you said but it would work once you have got the hang of the timing and you could use a spunding valve so that you got a specific carbonation level again with trial and error. If you did it without a spunding valve again it would just be a matter of experience and getting to know your beer timing and set up, any over carbing can be controlled with your pressure relief valve

 

[Agentgonzo]

Yes, you can do it as well. The brewery will have hundreds if not thousands of identical brews under their belt so know exactly when to rack into barrels to get desired carbonation.

You could absolutely do the same thing at home. If you're not sure on exactly what FG to rack it into a cornie, then a sounding valve is a good safety measure.

The other reason people don't do it in cornies is that you'll get more trub settle into the bottom of the cask/keg by racking early as you'll take more yeast into the fermenter. For pubs serving cask ale this isn't an issue as they normally let it settle and leave the bottom of the keg as that's their normal practise.