Burton Device Project

One day I did some wiki diving on Burton unions. The purpose of a union is controlling high krausen while also blending and having a return path to the vessels. I came across a few small-scale homebrew adaptations but they were unwieldy with tubes running all over the place. I had the idea of creating a compact version that was more practical. I was not interested in blending, but the problem I wanted to solve was not losing so much volume (i.e., beer) compared to a simple blowoff tube. Here are some of the benefits:

1. The system is always under positive pressure, liquid never contacts air, so no contamination

2. Minimal loss of volume during high krausen

3. Less headspace required (therefore smaller fermenters)

4. Yeast can easily be harvested from bottom of container versus the fermenter

The part list is simple: a stopper drilled out with two holes (pressure out and return), a racking cane cut roughly in half, an airlock, a plastic storage container from the dollar store, a few rubber grommets. I already had most of these parts.

The concept: one end of a bent racking tube is above the wort. It will capture fermentation gas and if the krausen gets high enough will also transport the foam. The other end terminates in the chamber and is bent so any liquid drops to the bottom. Fermentation gas (CO2) exits through the airlock on top. Liquid accumulates in the chamber until it reaches the top of the second tube. The other end of this tube is submerged in the wort, creating the return path. Due to wort density, this creates a pressure differential that cycles the gas and liquid flows.

This process works for almost all ale and lager fermentations. I found out the hard way that a very, very aggressive fermentation (Russian imperial stout) can overpower the system and cause outward flow in both tubes. The solution is to temporarily attach a blowoff tube instead of the airlock. After krausen slows and normal flow is established the airlock can be reattached. Very little wort is lost even in this case, especially compared to a simple blowoff tube.