Home brewing spunding valve in action!
Don't forget to check out Poindexter's Spunding Valve Video in this link.
Definition:
To spund is German for bung, meaning to close up or seal. Spunding in brewing refers to the act of closing off a vessel containing beer or wort and allowing pressure to build inside the liquid. This is useful in the natural carbonation of a beverage such as beer. The spunding valve is a device consisting basically of a pressure gauge to show vessel pressure, and some way to release overly wanted pressure from that vessel. Normally something such as a adjustable back-pressure relief valve is used to control a set pressure, venting any excess gas out of the vessel.
Use in brewing:
Spunding valves help the brewer by allowing natural carbonation to build up. This happens inside a fermenting beverage when the vessel is sealed up toward the end of primary fermentation, or after the beverage is transfered to another vessel containing more fermentable sugar for carbonation during a secondary fermentation. Transferring or racking into another vessel containing fermentables after primary fermentation is complete is known as priming. This, is a really good article on spunding I found on the web while doing my research. Here, is a really good article where Kaiser talks about transferring or racking beer from one keg to another under pressure or "counter-pressure".
Links to some brewers who use this technique:
WortMonger, Poindexter, Kaiser
--By WortMonger, member of HBT.com 15:38, 13 August 2008 (CDT)
