Can I pressurize a glass carboy??

[Topanga]

Can I gently pressurize my glass Primary fermenter so I can push beer into a Secondary Corny? It's in a chest freezer, too heavy for me to lift out (I'm a buck-and-a quarter 60 year-old!) and I don't own (yet!) a 10 gallon Firestone for a primary.
What kind of connections will I need?

 

[homebrewer_99]

As long as you don't go too fast I am certain you can since there is an outlet to displace the liquid through.

It would be like gravity with a kick.

If you have one of those orange carboy caps you can hook a racking cane in one opening and add air through the other one.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yeah. if the orange cap blows off your using to much pressure.

Keep the pressure very low.

 

[DeathBrewer]

don't forget the hepa filter! Here's a nice setup i've used a few times:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/

 

[bradsul]

don't forget the hepa filter! Here's a nice setup i've used a few times:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/18872/

My mother uses this exact setup along with an aquarium pump to push her wine through her filter. She even uses it on better bottles now with no problems.

 

[Speranza]

Here is a good Tutorial on using the Carboy Cap methods:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2910

I used it from my brewpot to my fermenter just this last week, works pretty well. Tomorrow I hook up the 2 carboys together and give it a try provided my S.G. is happy(crosses fingers).

 

[Got Trub?]

Can I gently pressurize my glass Primary fermenter so I can push beer into a Secondary Corny? It's in a chest freezer, too heavy for me to lift out (I'm a buck-and-a quarter 60 year-old!) and I don't own (yet!) a 10 gallon Firestone for a primary.
What kind of connections will I need?

Your title certainly got my attention. Imagine my relief when I realized you just wanted to transfer and not carbonate in a carboy...

I have started doing this alot with the filter. Initially did it for the sterility factor but I, like you, don't like slinging full glass carboys around so appreciate not having to do so as much now. You may find you need some hose clamps to connect tubing and racking canes in order to prevent air/beer leaks but o/w it works well. Also be sure to get the "deep" aquarium air pump as regular ones may not overcome the head pressure sufficiently to work.

 

[gnef]

if you are going to secondary in a keg, you should have co2. use co2 to transfer, you won't risk oxidizing as much as using atmospheric air to push.

you may find though, that the transfer starts pretty easy, but once you hit halfway, you may need to increase the pressure. at this point, be careful, as you can blow off the carboy cap. remember, it is better to blow off the carboy cap than have the glass crack or worse.

 

[billtzk]

I've used a vacuum pump to pull wine from one carboy to another, e.g., from primary to secondary. You don't need much of a vacuum to get the fluids moving, but it is still a bit worrisome. Carboys aren't designed for pressure or vacuum.

If you use a vacuum pump, you draw a vacuum on the receiving carboy via an orange carboy cap. A racking cane goes through the center hole to the bottom of the receiving carboy. A stiff tube (so it doesn't collapse) goes from the vacuum pump to the other nipple on the orange cap. A regular thin wall hose can be used from the racking cane to the source carboy, which can be open to the air.

I think pushing with CO2 is a better option for beer than pulling with a vacuum, but either method will work. With wine, there is less concern with transfer from primary to secondary since there is so much CO2 in suspension.