Brewtech SS fermenting vessels discussion thread

[Florian]

Yep, every time I opened the dump valve on my chronical it dispensed a solid yeast sausage which curled up in the container like the perfect frozen joghurt or dog poo. Almost the consistency of play dough.

 

[Spiesy]

Yep, every time I opened the dump valve on my chronical it dispensed a solid yeast sausage which curled up in the container like the perfect frozen joghurt or dog poo. Almost the consistency of play dough.

Crazy styles.

 

[Camo6]

Crazy styles.

Mad playdough cits.

 

[Spiesy]

So very true, Sir Camalot.

 

[SimoB]

Any idea about my question, can phosphoric acid from keg king passivate the bucket?? Can't wait for yeast poo ... Hmm that's sounds wrong

 

[Camo6]

Uses for phosphoric acid with stainless steel
Phosphoric acid is used as a chemical-cleaning agent for stainless steels.
It is used in commercially available stainless steel cleaning preparations and so if used in accordance with the manufacturers / suppliers instructions will not etch or corrode the steel surface.
Phosphoric acid is not considered to be a 'passivating' acid but the clean surface left after treatment should allow the stainless steel to naturally self passivate.

 

[SimoB]

Thanks, Camo.

Passivating time.

 

[Camo6]

Just quoting words of the great oracle Google. (Thereby exempting myself from any responsibility in the extremely unlikely event that something on the internet is untrue!)

 

[mckenry]

Hey All,
Ive been searching through heaps of these SS brewtech, chronical type threads looking for a post. I cant remember who, but they linked to an ebay seller, all the butterfly valves you'd need to get sanitary dump and sample triclover fittings.
Can anyone remember where it was posted?
The reason I ask is, I went and bought my own, but I stuffed up in that the butterfly valve I bought for sampling, wont take the racking arm. Its too big.
I want to see it there's another fitting that takes the racking arm, that I can fit up to my purchased butterfly valve.
Cheers,
mckenry

 

[Florian]

not exactly sure how to solve the racking arm issue as mine doesn't fit into the back of my sanitary sample valve either, but another option for transferring to keg could be to take the beer out at the dump valve via a barb or similar. once you have crash chilled for long enough you should be able to get all trub etc out the dump valve, then connect to keg and get every last drop of beer out.

that still doesn't solve your sampling issue, though.

have a look on aliexpress and see if you can find something suitable there, that's where I got all my gear from.

 

[Spiesy]

Any idea about my question, can phosphoric acid from keg king passivate the bucket?? Can't wait for yeast poo ... Hmm that's sounds wrong

Just get some StarSan mate. Every brewer should have it on hand. A little bottle goes a long way.

 

[vykuza]

Extremely similar, different bottle, half the price!

Actually, I might make a thread and see if we can get some wisdom gathered on the matter.

 

[mckenry]

not exactly sure how to solve the racking arm issue as mine doesn't fit into the back of my sanitary sample valve either, but another option for transferring to keg could be to take the beer out at the dump valve via a barb or similar. once you have crash chilled for long enough you should be able to get all trub etc out the dump valve, then connect to keg and get every last drop of beer out.

that still doesn't solve your sampling issue, though.

have a look on aliexpress and see if you can find something suitable there, that's where I got all my gear from.

Thanks Florian,
I had thought of that, but my first trub and yeast dump was a frigging mess and I didnt get it all out anyway. I was thinking this would just add yeast to my filtering process. I guess I could adjust my numbers wrt equipment and not use the racking arm at all. I.m not sure how many extra L the racking arm can get to anyway?

 

[Florian]

Yep, I won't be using my racking arm either for now. It's seriously only an extra half litre at the most. Have a look at it when the fermenter is empty, it doesn't make much of a difference.
The only real advantage of the racking arm is that the sample comes from in the middle of the fermenter, as opposed to from that triclover port where the beer might not get as much movement.

 

[Fat Bastard]

I made a replica racking arm out of SS tube and welded it into a butterfly valve hole sized bung with an o-ring groove and a small step so it does not slip further down into the butterfly valve. I'd post a picture, but it's submerged in beer at the moment!

 

[mckenry]

I made a replica racking arm out of SS tube and welded it into a butterfly valve hole sized bung with an o-ring groove and a small step so it does not slip further down into the butterfly valve. I'd post a picture, but it's submerged in beer at the moment!

Please show us Fat *******. Care to make some more for a $ ?

 

[Fat Bastard]

Unfortunately I'll have to say no to making a few more for sale at this point. I don't have the correct grooving tool for the o-ring and grooving stainless with a HSS ground up tool was a pain. I also had to put a chamfer on the valve body for the step to sit in so it wouldn't nip between the tri clovers.

Will post up pics later.

What are you blowoff tube guys doing for the cold crash? I've got a little HEPA disc filter I've been attaching to the blowoff when I've been dumping yeast. I screwed up and left it on for the crash. I'm assuming that it'll only be sucking in and it won't be breathing yeasty CO2 into the disc. Should I chuck it and get a cleanable one?

 

[Florian]

I've been wondering about the same thing for a while. Was determined about getting another one of those (one is on the oxy setup which I don't want to pinch and the other I bought just disappeared...), either the cheap ones (then mark top and bottom as to not mix it up between ferments) or the autoclavable one.

But lately I thought I might just go down the $7 Kmart water jug route with a bit of silicone hose running of the supplied 90 degree triclover elbow coupled with a triclover barb (all parts due to arrive in a week or so). The idea is that the cooling loss from crash chilling is not big enough to draw the blow off jug sanitiser all the way up into the elbow (and from there into the fermenter), but not sure if I'm correct there.

Then there's also the issue of dumping. Might do a combo of the two.

Most importantly I should get brewing to see my new sight glass in action...

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

I think its purely a volume calc, is the shrinkage from cooling in volumetric units equal to the volume of air inside the hose or less. If its more then you will suck in some of the water from the jug.

 

[Camo6]

With my Brewbuckets I'm using a 1/2" hd silicone blowoff hose that's a snug fit into the hole in the lid. When it comes time to CC I swap the hose for a two piece airlock and the supplied bung.
I tried CCing with the blowoffs left in but too much water got sucked up the tube. I didn't realise this the first time I drew a 'clarity' h34r: sample and, due to the slight vacuum inside the bucket, the tap sucked a heap of air right through the brew . I quickly closed the tap and to release the vacuum I pulled the blowoff hose out of the bottle of water only to watch the remaining water in the hose get sucked straight into the bucket! :angry:
For now the two piece airlocks seem to do the trick. Only problem is making sure I don't crash chill too quickly or the water freezes and another vacuum is created. One thing's for sure, those lids hold a seal.