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Author Topic: Spunding balloon  (Read 2133 times)

Offline yso191

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Spunding balloon
« on: March 02, 2018, 08:33:31 am »
I hope I have my terms right.   I am wondering if someone has tried putting a balloon on the top of their fermentation vessel in order to capture the CO2.   I’m thinking about trying it so that when I dump the yeast  I don’t suck in any oxygen.

 Thoughts? How big of a balloon do I need?
Steve
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“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2018, 09:10:51 am »
Dumping yeast, it must be a conical... why not put a corny gas in post on it? When it's time to dump yeast, you'd only need a couple psi of CO2 to keep air out.

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2018, 09:24:44 am »
Dumping yeast, it must be a conical... why not put a corny gas in post on it? When it's time to dump yeast, you'd only need a couple psi of CO2 to keep air out.

^^^^
THIS

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2018, 09:26:59 am »
Have we considered the oxygen permeability of a balloon?  8)
Heck yeah I blog about homebrewing: Brain Sparging on Brewing

Offline yso191

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2018, 09:34:29 am »
Dumping yeast, it must be a conical... why not put a corny gas in post on it? When it's time to dump yeast, you'd only need a couple psi of CO2 to keep air out.

Hi Jim.  Yeah I have one of those ball lock pressure relief tri clamp fittings that I have used previously.  I’m just tired of buying CO2.
Steve
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“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Offline denny

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2018, 09:35:12 am »
I hope I have my terms right.   I am wondering if someone has tried putting a balloon on the top of their fermentation vessel in order to capture the CO2.   I’m thinking about trying it so that when I dump the yeast  I don’t suck in any oxygen.

 Thoughts? How big of a balloon do I need?

How 1920s!
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2018, 09:38:25 am »
Dumping yeast, it must be a conical... why not put a corny gas in post on it? When it's time to dump yeast, you'd only need a couple psi of CO2 to keep air out.

Hi Jim.  Yeah I have one of those ball lock pressure relief tri clamp fittings that I have used previously.  I’m just tired of buying CO2.
It should only take a little dab of CO2

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2018, 09:42:39 am »
I hope I have my terms right.   I am wondering if someone has tried putting a balloon on the top of their fermentation vessel in order to capture the CO2.   I’m thinking about trying it so that when I dump the yeast  I don’t suck in any oxygen.

 Thoughts? How big of a balloon do I need?

How 1920s!
I remember my dad having balloons on his carboys back in the 60s 70s. I think he started with blow off tube, then when the bubbles stopped he put on a big balloon. It must have been something you got at the beer/wine supply because I'm pretty sure they fit over a carboy. Long time ago though... who knows. He mostly made wine.

Offline Visor

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2018, 10:31:34 am »
   The volume of CO2 produced Steve would depend on the volume of beer and how many gravity points of fermentation you get. I'd imagine you could use a kraeusening calculator to get a close guess.
   I have some monster balloons we used to use for advertising big sales, until the price of helium went sky high, no pun intended. Fully inflated they were about 6 feet in diameter, and IIRC filling 3 of them consumed an entire 100 lb. bottle of helium - at $100 per refill. The point of this is that filling a balloon will generate some fairly substantial pressure, you might try a lawn and leaf garbage bag first, I think they are about 40 gallons. I attach a trash bag filled with CO2 to the airlock port now when bottling, just to minimize air entering the conical as it drains [laugh if you want].
I spent most of my money on beer, tools and guns, the rest I foolishly squandered on stupid stuff!

Offline erockrph

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2018, 10:41:54 am »
Each gravity point of fermentables consumed produces ~0.5 volumes of CO2. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation for an average-gravity beer:

1.050 OG - 1.010 FG = 40 gravity points consumed * 20 liters (batch size)  * 0.5 volumes per gravity point = 400 liters of CO2

You're going to need a rather large balloon, methinks
Eric B.

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Offline yso191

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2018, 11:11:27 am »
Each gravity point of fermentables consumed produces ~0.5 volumes of CO2. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation for an average-gravity beer:

1.050 OG - 1.010 FG = 40 gravity points consumed * 20 liters (batch size)  * 0.5 volumes per gravity point = 400 liters of CO2

You're going to need a rather large balloon, methinks

Wow.   Never mind!
Steve
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“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Offline stpug

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Re: Spunding balloon
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2018, 12:34:17 pm »
Each gravity point of fermentables consumed produces ~0.5 volumes of CO2. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation for an average-gravity beer:

1.050 OG - 1.010 FG = 40 gravity points consumed * 20 liters (batch size)  * 0.5 volumes per gravity point = 400 liters of CO2

You're going to need a rather large balloon, methinks

Wow.   Never mind!

Hmmm.... seems overthought to me.  If you'll dump a quart of yeast (or half gallon of yeast) then you'd simply need a quart volume of gas co2 (or half gallon volume of gas co2).  Otherwise, not much.  Seems like you could capture that much in a balloon in a day at the tail ends of fermentation, but canned co2 seems like a much easier option.