Tertiary Keg

[Axis714]

Heres the scenario-

Brewed a North Euro Pils on Nov. 17th
Transferred to secondary Dec. 1st
It has been lagering at 38-40 deg. now for a couple weeks and appeared to be complete fermentation. OG was 1.052 expected FG 1.014

I want to naturally carbonate this beer in a Cornelius Keg to serve from 1 of those mini Keg charger cartridges so as not to drag a big ol tank w/ me this new years.

Long story short- (You know the deal) Brought out the secondary, set in on the table, let it settle for a couple hrs. and of course it starts to show ferment activity, so I take a reading and Im at 1.020.

Does anyone see a problem with going ahead and priming in the keg - Burping til after xmas, and hopefully it will be carbonated enough to push with the tiny dispenser carts?

What Im after here is not only natural priming the keg but also Id like to get a few more gravity points in the process. Hence-Tertiary serving keg.

Thanks in advance,
Axis

[DannyW]

I don't know the math of it, but I'd bet you have plenty of sugar left to carbonate without priming. If it's already in a keg then I'd just leave it there and let it carb away. You might want to transfer to a clean keg just before you move it if you are taking it somewhere.

If you are going to do this sort of thing often you might want to build an adjustable pressure relief valve. Then you can "set it and forget it" and get perfect natural carbonation every time.

[Axis714]

That sounds about right- Yes I do plan on doing it more often and an adjustable pressure relief valve sounds like exactly what I need. Ive seen them before and sorry if this has been rehashed here before- I couldnt find anything about it. Do you know how to build 1? Or know of a link to turn a poppit valve into a regulated pressure valve? Is it possible to use a standard gauge like the 1 on my regulator and convert the fitting somehow?

[Henning1966]

I just got my january febuary byo in it they had a valve just for doing what your talking about. Look up a spunding valve it is basically a brass y with a gauge one side a pressure valve on the other side hooked up 2 the gas post on the keg.

[DannyW]

Looks like part K088 on http://www.northernbrewer.com/gas-handling.html but with an adjustable pressure relief in place of the needle valve. I got mine from http://grainger.com and it is part 4TK26.

There is a picture in the "Fermenting Under Pressure" PDF article on http://bubrew.org/articles.html

[Axis714]

Awesome info....bubrews article spelled it right out for me. Great article. I appreciate the guidance...I think a 4tk26 will solve my dilema nicely. THX again for the links.

[Speyedr]

Yeah, thanks Danny, that's awesome! I'm building one..

[DannyW]

I just got my january febuary byo in it they had a valve just for doing what your talking about. Look up a spunding valve it is basically a brass y with a gauge one side a pressure valve on the other side hooked up 2 the gas post on the keg.

That sounds like exactly the same thing. I had no idea it had a name. Must remember "spunding valve" so I can be nerdy dictionary-head at the next homebrew meeting.