Brewtech SS fermenting vessels discussion thread

[meathead]

My Brewbucket is not air tight any more
No bubbling in airlock during fermentation
I have put in a temporary fix by placing folded paper between the clamps and the lid to get a tighter seal and it works
No big deal but a bit disappointing from a piece of kit that cost $250 and has only been used maybe 20 times
Also the welds failed on one of the handles

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

 

[stilvia]

My Brewbucket is not air tight any more
No bubbling in airlock during fermentation
I have put in a temporary fix by placing folded paper between the clamps and the lid to get a tighter seal and it works
No big deal but a bit disappointing from a piece of kit that cost $250 and has only been used maybe 20 times
Also the welds failed on one of the handles

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

Here's a link:
https://ssbrewtech.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202956225-Is-there-a-way-to-adjust-the-lid-clamps-on-a-Brew-Bucket-

 

[evildrakey]

After more research, the following seems to be the accepted facts:

It will not do so if it's not bare metal: i.e some grease or other substance on the surface that will prevent the layer of chromium dioxide developing.

actually... Stainless Steel in air if you are doing it right will passivate to Chromium(III) oxide

 

[zwitter]

Hi Meathead
Have you raised this with where you bought it?
Or with importer/agent Newera
Or with feedback to SS Brewtech?

The clips can be bent
The handle is spot welded so many car body repairers should be able to put a few welds to hold it in place again? Would need to be careful not to make holes.

Could make handle arrangement that strapped on too i guess

I have Cronical7 and while I love it I think the foil it is made from is a bit thin and some of the welds are light for purpose. I try to be very careful lifting it when it is full.

Zwitter
James


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[meathead]

Thanks for the replies
Unfortunately it's out of warrantee

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

I have a Tpiece on the top of my Chronical 7 mounted onts side and a glass window in the top of the straight and a 1/2 barbed fitting on the side going to the blow off jug of starsan.
I haven't the new rotatable sanitaty style racking arm and a sanitary sample valve on that too.
At the bottom I have a sanitary butterfly valve and usually a cap on the bottom.

Looks really good with all the extra bling.
I can look down the top and see what is happening so no lifting the lid.
When I want to drop yeast or move to Keg i lift the tube from the blow off and use a ball valve/ bottle carbonation fitting and connect to low pressure CO2. The connection at the CO2 is very loose so any pressure over 1-2psi and it leaks to stop over pressure of the fermenter.
I have a temp probe in the thermometer hole connected to a brewpi in the fridge to give perfect temps.
I use the racking arm and sample valve as output to keg. At the keg I open the lid and have purge CO2 flowing in there as well. It works well.

I would like a quality regulator that can actually deliver 1 or 2 psi but very low pressure regs are expensive. Spunding valves tend to trip and then not re-seal.

One way to prevent sucking the blow off in is to permanently have positive CO2 pressure but must be at very low pressure and to get it to work correctly is very difficult but possible but really not for home brewers.

A simpler way for avoiding getting the starsan in the fermenter is to have the blow off pipe have a large diameter section in its length so that if you suck it gets to the wide section and sucks all the blow off in and then sucks air past/ through the starsan and into fermenter. Better than the liquid.

I plan to try getting a better spunding valve maybe using a valve and pressure sensor and an electronic circuit to control it. I have searched for mechanical valves but still looking.

I do love the SS though, so much better than plastic.

Currently it has a brewdog punk IPA clone in it.

Got to get out more I think

Zwitter
James
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Please send link or pics of said glass tri clamp piece. Where'd your get from? I like to watch...

I think I'm gonna go for the slight positive co2 pressure route for sampling and kegging. How about cold crashing? It really gets a lot of starsan sucked up the hose... The sterilock is an absolute POS. Might get a sanitary air filter and try that...

 

[zwitter]

Hi Dj
Has a brewdog punk IPA clone in it in the brewpi fridge but should be able to take a photo later in the week.

Will look for the order details too but this week is just madness at work and home but will see what I can do.

It is a sanitary fitting with a thread on the other side with silicone washer, ground glass tablet, silicone washer and a threaded cap with a hole. Works well but I thonk came from USA as the Chinese ones did not seem to exist?.

Got the butterfly valves on the same order.

Was some time back.

James


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[zwitter]

Hi Dj

Ok the IPA is in the kegs

Here are the photos of the looking glass I use on the top of the chronical7.

Will find where it came from shortly
James


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[DJ_L3ThAL]

Nifty! Thanks for postin

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Copied this photo from the Brewtech site, showing how to fix the clamps.

 

[zwitter]

Hi DJ

Found where I got the sight glass.

https://www.brewershardware.com/1.5-Tri-Clover-Compatible-Process-View-Sight-Class.html

I made a big order when the dollar was at parity and got 2 butterfly valves and a few other bits. never seen this particular type of sight glass on the Chinese sites?

zwitter
james

 

[MastersBrewery]

Stilldragon usually has the sight glasses in stock, quick local shipping.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

These links show most of the gear that I have added, see also comments below those posts for clarification.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/81167-brewtech-ss-fermenting-vessels-discussion-thread/page-11#entry1217901

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/81167-brewtech-ss-fermenting-vessels-discussion-thread/page-12#entry1218487

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/81167-brewtech-ss-fermenting-vessels-discussion-thread/page-18#entry1242678

EDIT: all from ebay and aliexpress.

A couple of photos of the chronical7 in the brewpi fermenter
Belgium Dubbel due to keg on Saturday
James


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Guys who have the sanitary sample valves from eBay (ie. this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-5-Tri-Clamp-Sanitary-Sample-Valve-Elliptic-Handle-Ferrule-OD-50-5MM-SS304-Hot-/191539666431?hash=item2c98a75dff:g:yQAAAOSwv0tVCnGv)... do you have any issues with rust in yours? When I bought mine it was a bit oily but I did a real good soak and scrub in TSP, then hot PBW, then rinsed and soaked in passivation strength star san and let air dry in same fashion I did my Chronical upon receipt. I have noticed today when pulling apart that the rust seems to have appear on the rough inner surface.

Any thoughts as to what I could use to attack this and bring it back into clean SS? Another option is to claim back on the eBay seller and ask for another one but shipping is slooooooooow. Pics below...

View attachment 91292View attachment 91293View attachment 91294

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

 

[blekk]

Roll up one of those green scouring pads and pass it through like a pipe cleaner a few times. Just looks to be some surface rust and should clean off quite easy.

 

[brewdjoffe]

Sorry if this question has already been answered - I'm planning on brewing a DIPA in my SS Brewbucket this weekend. I found the recipe on BYO - https://byo.com/mead/item/2808-hop-stands

19L Brew, OG = 1.074, FG = 1.012, ABV = 8%

Considering it has a pretty high OG do you think I need a blow off valve? The SS Brew bucket is about 26.5 litres as I understand so there is room for the Krausen to build, but I will be pitching 2 packets of Safale US-05 (rehydrated), so I imagine that fermentation will be pretty vigorous.

I currently just have a standard airlock. If I were to use a blow off tube, do you guys recommend the 10mm piping from Bunnings?

Thanks for your help

 

[pat_00]

I did a 19L 1.10 OG Imperial Stout in mine, definitely needed a blow off tube. 1/2" Silicon hose works great just pushed into the hole.

 

[Camo6]

Doesn't hurt to use a blow off with your BB. Takes two seconds to set up which is a quarter of the time it takes to clean up a krausen eruption.
I use good 1/2" ID silicone hose which makes a good seal in the existing hole and doesn't kink easily. Straight into a half filled 1-2l bottle with a bit of foil wrapped around the mouth. I use a sanitised bottle with sterile water incase you catch some yeast. Tried it with starsan but the recovered yeast was kaput.

Just be aware if you take a large sample or cold crash and your unit is well sealed, it will draw water up the hose which can end up in the beer.

 

[zwitter]

I have Chronical7 and only ever use a blow off into a tall thin jug with starsan in it. I have had yeast everywhere when doing a wheat beer as they just go mad really quickly but was not a problem with the blow off.

I use low pressure CO2 pressure to keep O2 away when transferring and actually use the blow off tube to apply it so have never sucked the starsan in.

James
Zwitter


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[TidalPete]

Quote
Just be aware if you take a large sample or cold crash and your unit is well sealed, it will draw water up the hose which can end up in the beer.

Agree here with Camo6 but remember that the bigger the diameter of your blow-off tube, the less likely that this will occur.
Widening the lid hole to suit an 18mm ss barb & food-grade tube seems to have resolved the above problem.

With the BB having so small a volume, a blow-off tube is a must-have. Sterilise the container correctly & you have the perfect volcanic yeast collection receptacle.