Home Brewing Systems for Lagers

Corney keg is an excellent idea actually! You could just cut your batches to 4-4.5 gallons to accomodate the size. And you can always ferment in two seperate ones if you still wind up going larger. There is tutorials on how to best convert corney kegs for fermenting (not much you need to do, people just shorten the diptube). With a spunding valve you could even naturally carb them up when you are a few points from terminal gravity.

 

23L and 30L kegs have been available in the past but are pretty tough to come by now, and they're pricier than a standard corny.

Is there a best way to draw a sample with a shortened diptube? Tip the keg until the beer level reaches the base of the shortened tube?

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, the beer level would be a mostly full keg, taking a little bit off a diptube will not make a difference in that regard.

 

Likely me that misunderstood....cranial flatulation.
Shorten the gas tube so it doesn't interfere with fermenting; sample still comes thru liquid post.

 

You can shorten the gas tube to yield more usable headspace, but you'd also want to remove some of the liquid tube. The idea is to minimize the trub picked up when transferring. Some people also do this with serving kegs.

 

Have you seen the BrewJacket immersion coolers? The seem to fit whatever kind of fermenter you already use and look super small and portable: https://www.brewjacket.com/

 

That's the part I should have clarified. I know both are called "diptube" but the gas one is always an afterthought. It's barely dipping into anything.

 

I do a mixture of both gylcol and fridges. they both work well.

 

SS are in fridges

Stouts are glycol, and use coils, no jackets.