Mashmaster 30l Conical - What Fridge/freezer?

[WhiteWolf]

Hi,

I am thinking of getting one of these beauties, and the plan is to put it in a temp controlled fridge or freezer. I'm just wondering if anyone has one of these and whether they went with a fridge or freezer and what make model it is. I would like to use the stand it comes with and not have to make one myself as my handiness is limited. I have chased down many firdges and freezers on ebay and other sites that just don't seem to fit.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Brad.

 

[dj1984]

first time i have seen these they look good!! but expensive, what are you trying to gain from using a conical??

Edit, these are cheaper http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1147

 

[WhiteWolf]

first time i have seen these they look good!! but expensive, what are you trying to gain from using a conical??

Edit, these are cheaper http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1147

Yes expensive but worth it IMHO. Looked at the Craftbrewer ones but they can't be pressurised. I decided to go SS conical due to:
- longevity of material and product
- replaces many vessles with one - yes I use a secondary
- ease of removing trub
- ease of collecting yeast for resue
- ease of cleaning
- overall fit with my brewing routine and dream for my brewery

Since this product can be pressurised, you can push beer from the conical into kegs with C02 if need be. I don't keg yet, but when I do, I'd not like to find that I can't push beer from my fermenter just because I didn't plan ahead with my purchases.

 

[pbrosnan]

first time i have seen these they look good!! but expensive, what are you trying to gain from using a conical??

Edit, these are cheaper http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1147

Damn, I thought you might have an answer to the OPs question or some other useful contribution. More wasted moments (sighs) ....

 

[WhiteWolf]

OK,

Just got back from doing some recon at Bing Lee and Good Guys for measurements. I have decided that I will look for an upright freezer. Reason is that at higher temps it will be more energy effecient than a fridge and most of them don't have so much annoying door plastic to remove/modify.

I seem to have two choices:
1) get a larger (wider and deeper) freezer to accomodate the stand this is more expensive to run
2) get one that will fit the conical with a little room to spare that is cheaper to run but will have to make my own stand for inside

I'll let you know where I go with this. If anyone has done this before, I'm happy to receive advice.

 

[winkle]

You might be lucky and find a medium sized all-fridge unit in a second hand store. I've got one that would fit a MM fermenter easily - sadly the model number/manufacturer plate is missing. You'd just need to put a shelf over the compressor hump. For some reason all-fridge units seem quite scarce in Australia.
Otherwise an upright freezer with removable drawers/shelving is probably your best bet.

 

[argon]

Hi,

I am thinking of getting one of these beauties, and the plan is to put it in a temp controlled fridge or freezer. I'm just wondering if anyone has one of these and whether they went with a fridge or freezer and what make model it is. I would like to use the stand it comes with and not have to make one myself as my handiness is limited. I have chased down many firdges and freezers on ebay and other sites that just don't seem to fit.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Brad.

If i was in the market for an SS conical i would be PMing Schooey and see where he purchased this from 14.5Gallon (55L) SS conical for $800 landed sounds bloody good to me.

 

[roller997]

If i was in the market for an SS conical i would be PMing Schooey and see where he purchased this from 14.5Gallon (55L) SS conical for $800 landed sounds bloody good to me.

Considering it is a Blichman with no interior welds and generally acknowledged as the Rolls Royce of fermenters that is a very good suggestion.
I might have to see if the same mob can do 27Gal jobs at a good price.
Looking at iBrew they cost about $1895 with Triclamps or $1595 with standard fittings. The 14.5 Gal job at iBrew is $1150 or $1450 + postage so that is quite a saving at $800.

 

[dj1984]

Damn, I thought you might have an answer to the OPs question or some other useful contribution. More wasted moments (sighs) ....

Wow!! i wonder why i visit this forum sometimes...

The reason i asked the question about the conical, he wants one that is a lot of money to spend on something that looks cool but dont know what to do with it!!!

Seeing as he does not have a high post rate and has not been on the forum for that long i thought i might ask insted of shooting him down and telling him he does no know what he is doing and making an ass out of myself because he knows what he wants it for.

PS... your post on more wated moments is a bit hypocritical dont you thing you tossa..

 

[WhiteWolf]

You might be lucky and find a medium sized all-fridge unit in a second hand store. I've got one that would fit a MM fermenter easily - sadly the model number/manufacturer plate is missing. You'd just need to put a shelf over the compressor hump. For some reason all-fridge units seem quite scarce in Australia.
Otherwise an upright freezer with removable drawers/shelving is probably your best bet.

If i was in the market for an SS conical i would be PMing Schooey and see where he purchased this from 14.5Gallon (55L) SS conical for $800 landed sounds bloody good to me.

Thanks guys ... i saw this as well. Since I have only been brewing for about 2 years and I haven't really touched the tip of the brew-berg, there are so many other beers I want to brew and try and anything bigger than 30L would mean either longer between brews or a health problem .

I'll definitely PM Schooey.

 

[schooey]

To answer the sudden influx of PM's in my inbox at once (thanks argon .. <_<), I bought my 55L conical through Price USA from the states. I just googled up a random shop close to their agent in Portland, Oregon to keep the stateside freight down.

It ended up costing me closer to $900 than $800 by the time I got it... this is due to the way Price USA work, and something I wasn't entirely happy with about them. First you have to fill out this order form with all the details of your order. Then when you finally do order it, it may not be the final price because they keep emailing you for US freight... and then if the Fedex rate changes to Aus, you have to kick the can again.... I was starting to think I was going to get scammed when it finally turned up. But YMMV...

I am very happy with the product. It's well made, and it suits exactly what I want to do. I intend to put it in a fridge. It's dimensions are about 490 x 490 x 900 (including airlock).

And for the one person who asked me what the benefit of the extra wide glad wrap was.... I have no words

 

[argon]

To answer the sudden influx of PM's in my inbox at once (thanks argon .. <_<)

:lol: yeah thought you'd appreciate that mate. I did say, "If I was in the market" though. B)

 

[Brew Matt]

To answer the sudden influx of PM's in my inbox at once (thanks argon .. <_< ), I bought my 55L conical through Price USA from the states. I just googled up a random shop close to their agent in Portland, Oregon to keep the stateside freight down.

It ended up costing me closer to $900 than $800 by the time I got it... this is due to the way Price USA work, and something I wasn't entirely happy with about them. First you have to fill out this order form with all the details of your order. Then when you finally do order it, it may not be the final price because they keep emailing you for US freight... and then if the Fedex rate changes to Aus, you have to kick the can again.... I was starting to think I was going to get scammed when it finally turned up. But YMMV...

I am very happy with the product. It's well made, and it suits exactly what I want to do. I intend to put it in a fridge. It's dimensions are about 490 x 490 x 900 (including airlock).

And for the one person who asked me what the benefit of the extra wide glad wrap was.... I have no words

Without taking this too far off topic, can I ask you Shooey wether you got the conical with NPT fittings or Tri Clamp fittings, not that I know what the pros or cons of one over the other would be - I just see that the Tri Clamp verion costs about $300 more (& as I plan to keep this for 50 years, want to get things right the first time.

 

[schooey]

Without taking this too far off topic, can I ask you Shooey wether you got the conical with NPT fittings or Tri Clamp fittings, not that I know what the pros or cons of one over the other would be - I just see that the Tri Clamp verion costs about $300 more (& as I plan to keep this for 50 years, want to get things right the first time.

I bought the base option with the NPT fittings. As I'm going to be using it as a stand alone, one off, I don't see the point of paying the extra $ for the tri-clovers... It's not like I'm going to be pulling it apart every 5 minutes and on the homebrew scale of things.... meh

 

[WhiteWolf]

I just received some goodies .... the conical arrived safe and sound No thanks to TNT though. My lovely wife volunteered to drive to the distribution centre to pick up the package that had been sitting at Enfield for 5 days. They said that my house and the address didn't exist because it wasn't in their systems. I suggested that they update their systems rather quickly since there are a lot of new estates in the west that might want to have things delivered .... sorry for the rant. <_<

I also ended up getting an upright freezer - a Kelvinator no frost 290 - Impression series. An older model but with a bonus, the bottom shelf is a steel shelf. With that sitting above the hump, there is no problem sitting things in there. I'll need to make up a stand for the conical since the stand provided won't fit, but that is what holidays are for. Also haven't made up my mind on whether I will get a TempMate (Craftbrewer) or the BrewMate (Mashmaster) to control it all.

Thanks to all that have helped.
Brad.

 

[Cocko]

Photos please.

You know the drill....

 

[WhiteWolf]

Photos please.

Hmm ... first time at attaching pictures ... lets see now.

The upright freezer


Full freezer shot with door open


Conical with freezer.


Bonus shiny photo - Conical with the BIAB pot - recently been made electric!


Please pardon the mess of previous brewing on the floor :unsure: .

Once I have made the in-freezer stand and hooked up the tempmate - yes that is what I went with - I'll post final picks!

Regards,
Brad.

 

[Feldon]

Bonus shiny photo - Conical with the BIAB pot - recently been made electric!
View attachment 43663

Please pardon the mess of previous brewing on the floor :unsure: .

(Geez, that's a hellavu work bench you've got there. Been picking up scrap from washed-out bridges up Qld way?)

Nice FV.

Does it have welds? And if so, how good are they, especially on the inside where I guess there's not enough room to smooth them up.

Cheers.

 

[WhiteWolf]

(Geez, that's a hellavu work bench you've got there. Been picking up scrap from washed-out bridges up Qld way?)

Nice FV.

Does it have welds? And if so, how good are they, especially on the inside where I guess there's not enough room to smooth them up.

Cheers.

My brother in laws old bench that he made from scrap on worksites - that ain't moving anywhere in a hurry - you should see his new one B) .

As for the conical, looks smooth as the proverbial to me on the inside and out. See the Mashmaster website - link above - for the full details though. I'll see if I can take a piccy of the inside for you tonight.



Regards,
Brad.

 

[WhiteWolf]

Does it have welds? And if so, how good are they, especially on the inside where I guess there's not enough room to smooth them up.
Cheers.

OK, finally remembered to take some pictures. I had to take them off centre a bit so that it wasn't a large picture of reflected flash

Most of the only "weld" I could find is where the cone meets the cylinder


Here is a close up - close as I could get with my camera anyway