Getting Beer Out Of 60l Fermenter

[woodwormm]

I'm going to take the plunge and get a big fermenter...

how am i going to get the beer out and into my cornys?

siphon? - what do people use and how do you do it?

pump? - i a peristatic pump ok for this purpose? there's some cheap ones on fleabay

gravity? - i can't lift the big fermenter but i could weld up a stand to raise my entire ferment fridge...

cheers.

 

[raven19]

You should be able to gravity feed the first portion into keg #1, then you should be able to lift the larger fermentor out of the fridge and up onto a shelf for keg #2.

 

[Bribie G]

Two Stage:

(next payday I'm going to get my 60L and have bought the bits from Craftbrewer last week)

First Keg:



Second Keg:

the fermenter is now light enough to pick up and put on counter and fill by gravity.

Anthony from Craftbrewer put me onto the idea as a few guys do this, especially old dudes like me who's back is worn out from lots of action, betta believe me


Edit: couple of bonuses with the method: I have a "naked" gas line from the kegerator with a check valve. I intend to roll the 60L out of the fermenting fridge on a board with castors (actually the castors I got with the Kegmate but never bothered to put them on). Winkle has a little board on castors that he uses to trundle his pot out to his Rambo burner on the patio, owe him for the idea -Then purge the keg and cling wrap it, poke the beer line through the wrap and fill. So the beer never encounters oxygen.
Second Keg purge and wrap it, and as I fill it by gravity, the headspace above the beer in the 60L will have heavier CO2 still above the beer, so similar advantage.

 

[Hatchy]

You should be able to gravity feed the first portion into keg #1, then you should be able to lift the larger fermentor out of the fridge and up onto a shelf for keg #2.

That's what I do except I don't have a shelf. I use a keg to sit the fermenter on for filling the 2nd keg.

I'd probably prefer 2 30L fermenters if I could fit them in my ferment fridge.

 

[Bribie G]

Hatchy how do you initiate the first pour into the first keg? As there is actually only about 40L in the fermentor and if it's sitting on the deck with the keg alongside I would have thought there would not be much of a height difference to enable syphoning. Photo would be invaluable.

talking here about not raising the full fermentor at all for the first pour.

 

[[email protected]]

My fermenting fridge is tall enough that I place my 60l fermenter on a home made shelf inside the fridge. I then can gravity feed into the first keg. I use the syphon tap with a hose attached. I lift the fermenter out onto a higher bench for the second.
Always has worked well for me.

 

[Hatchy]

Hatchy how do you initiate the first pour into the first keg? As there is actually only about 40L in the fermentor and if it's sitting on the deck with the keg alongside I would have thought there would not be much of a height difference to enable syphoning. Photo would be invaluable.

talking here about not raising the full fermentor at all for the first pour.

The shelf that my fermenter sits on is probably higher than in most fridges. I can get a cube under the tap for bulk priming if that paints a mental picture. I'll get a photo tonight.

 

[Pennywise]

I keg first lot straight from fridge, to get it going I lay the keg on it's side, but prop the open side up about 150mm, once the beer starts to flow, I then stand it up, keeping the out end of the transfer hose lower than the tap on the fermentor. I do have a racking cane but I hate the fecking thing

 

[QldKev]

What about pumping it out into the kegs? Then the kegs could be higher than the tap. If you don't have a March pump get one of these $13 hot water pumps. If you bled the air out of the system I can't see any issues.

QldKev

 

[cdbrown]

I normally only have 40-45L in a 60L fermenter and thankfully can manage to move it around and get it up on a shelf to drain into 2 kegs. Pretty knackered afterwards, but good strength training I suppose.

 

[Bribie G]

The shelf that my fermenter sits on is probably higher than in most fridges. I can get a cube under the tap for bulk priming if that paints a mental picture. I'll get a photo tonight.

Yes but that presupposes that you have already lifted the 60L fermentor to get it into the fridge in the first place. My FV will sit at about ground level on the bottom of my Kegmate / Apache style fridge and the point of the thread is to avoid having to lift a full FV thus aggravating backs and hernias etc.
Kev, $13 pumps............ please elaborate


CDBrown.... yes when I was 34 as well I used to hoist two 15K dumbbells and other stuff just to get me pumped before I put on my singlet and went cruisin' - shit I was a babe in those days -





however as mentioned, not quite as strong nowadays due mostly to lazyness B)

 

[pdilley]

On cold windy nights when curled up in bed I often think about having a block and tackle system on a rack so I can move it all along the brew shed and take care of all sorts of lifting large fermentations in and out of fridges and chest freezers and take care of having gravity siphoning of everything. Now that I have my place I only need to find such a beast and get it up in the work shed.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[QldKev]

Bribie, sorry typo, should have read $33
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=54167

 

[QldKev]

On cold windy nights when curled up in bed I often think about having a block and tackle system on a rack so I can move it all along the brew shed and take care of all sorts of lifting large fermentations in and out of fridges and chest freezers and take care of having gravity siphoning of everything. Now that I have my place I only need to find such a beast and get it up in the work shed.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

Something like Budwiser has

http://www.tigereye.net.au/bluedog/hoist.html

 

[woodwormm]

On cold windy nights when curled up in bed I often think about having a block and tackle system on a rack so I can move it all along the brew shed and take care of all sorts of lifting large fermentations in and out of fridges and chest freezers and take care of having gravity siphoning of everything. Now that I have my place I only need to find such a beast and get it up in the work shed.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

to really pimp your ride, how about one of these on a sliding track system?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-Electric-...=item5d2e5cf767

 

[woodwormm]

would one of these work?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Dosing-pump-Perista...=item5d2e798b87

 

[pdilley]

Aww Yeah! Now we are talking!

A rolling track system is what I had in mind to move fermenters and kegs across the shed or pallets of fermenters and kegs plus lift and drain monster BIAB bags.

But minus the electrics. Just block and tackle so I can go back to my sailing days and also still brew come the apocalypse

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[donburke]

would one of these work?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Dosing-pump-Perista...=item5d2e798b87

at 100ml/min its gonna take 400 minutes to pump 40 litres out of the fermenter

this slow pump rate might help in the maturing/ageing of the beer

 

[Tony]

and also still brew come the apocalypse

:super:

Hardcore!!! I like it. :beer:

 

[woodwormm]

at 100ml/min its gonna take 400 minutes to pump 40 litres out of the fermenter

this slow pump rate might help in the maturing/ageing of the beer

i only noticed the flow rate after i posted! doh!

i'm sensing gravity half and lift half option coming my way... but i do like gadgets too......