Hi all,
Issue:
I just bought a conical fermenter in the last year and this is only my second time using it and fermenting under pressure. As part of my setup I am using the Spike PRV to pressure ferment, and as you can see in the picture, I have a butterfly valve on the hop addition side of the lid that has a sight glass with a pressure valve on top. For my previous batch, I completely purged the fermenter of all CO2 and then before adding the dryhops, I would purge the little chamber of any oxygen by cycling some CO2 through it.
Questions:
My question is, is it necessary to completely purge the conical of all CO2 before opening the butterfly valve? My pressure is currently at 11psi in the fermenter and aside from being worried that could cause the sight glass to shatter, I'm not exactly sure about the science behind any other issues. I imagine the pressure differential would just cause the hops in the sight-glass to get violently sucked into the fermenter, but aside from that (and potential shattering of the glass) are there any other adverse effects I should be worried about? I suppose I can always charge the dry hop chamber up to 11 psi to equalize pressure with the fermenter, but I'm just curious how others handle this process. I also wonder if purging all of the existing CO2 allows for the escape of all the aroma that I would have gained from the whirlpool at the end of the boil.
Lastly, does anyone feel that recirculation of the hops is necessary? The last batch I added like 4oz of dry hop and after 2-3 days or so, I noticed all the hops sank into the cone. I didn't feel like the beer had the aroma of 4oz worth of dry hops. I do a closed system transfer to my keg btw, so that is a non-issue. Thanks in advance for your input.
Issue:
I just bought a conical fermenter in the last year and this is only my second time using it and fermenting under pressure. As part of my setup I am using the Spike PRV to pressure ferment, and as you can see in the picture, I have a butterfly valve on the hop addition side of the lid that has a sight glass with a pressure valve on top. For my previous batch, I completely purged the fermenter of all CO2 and then before adding the dryhops, I would purge the little chamber of any oxygen by cycling some CO2 through it.
Questions:
My question is, is it necessary to completely purge the conical of all CO2 before opening the butterfly valve? My pressure is currently at 11psi in the fermenter and aside from being worried that could cause the sight glass to shatter, I'm not exactly sure about the science behind any other issues. I imagine the pressure differential would just cause the hops in the sight-glass to get violently sucked into the fermenter, but aside from that (and potential shattering of the glass) are there any other adverse effects I should be worried about? I suppose I can always charge the dry hop chamber up to 11 psi to equalize pressure with the fermenter, but I'm just curious how others handle this process. I also wonder if purging all of the existing CO2 allows for the escape of all the aroma that I would have gained from the whirlpool at the end of the boil.
Lastly, does anyone feel that recirculation of the hops is necessary? The last batch I added like 4oz of dry hop and after 2-3 days or so, I noticed all the hops sank into the cone. I didn't feel like the beer had the aroma of 4oz worth of dry hops. I do a closed system transfer to my keg btw, so that is a non-issue. Thanks in advance for your input.