This will explain how to transfer your fermented beer, using your 1/2 barrel brewhouse plumbing, into your sanitized kegs.

Step 1 – From the keg cleaning step, you should have 5 gallons of Iodophore solution in an extra keg.  To this, immerse your stainless steel dip tube, and hoses for sanitization.

Step 2 – Attach hose to dip tube and then to pump inlet side.  Put hose from pump outlet side into sanitizing keg.  NOTE, everything is now sanitized.

Step 3 – Open up filtered water line (white/red in picture above) to purge iodine and air from system.  Once no more bubbles come out of dip tube, turn water off, turn yellow valve from pump-out off, raise dip tube and cap end with finger.  Put into beer fermentor FAST trying not to lose prime (if you lose priming, you won’t pump beer out)

*Note, I use a C-clamp so dip tub will not hit yeast sediment.

Step 4 – Have clean keg ready.  Turn on pump, man the exit valve (the yellow one) and open up until flow starts.  Hold line over sink, once you see beer (not water from lines), put into sanitized keg.

On the second keg (last 5 gallons of 10 gallon batch), I have to hold the dip tube straight down into fermentor to not suck air.  Once near the bottom, gently angle keg so you can get the most beer out without sediment.

Step 5 – Once the fermentor runs dry, turn the pump off, kink the line running to the fermentor and gently turn on the filtered water line (red/white valve in picture) to ‘push’ out about 1/4 gallong of beer remaining in the lines.  As soon as it starts clearing, turn off.

*The less sediment you pickup, the EASIER…MUCH EASIER your filtration to be.  That’s why I brew 11.5 gallons so I can leave some behind and not take a chance.

Now you are ready to filter.