Spike brewing conical fermenters unitanks

[lespaul]

You guys are legends, thanks for the help!
I'm also looking for a fridge suitable for the spike, so pictures would be great.

 

[Hubert]

@Meddo,
Current configuration of the fridge. Not super happy with this layout, prefer the sight tube vertical, that requires me to have the valve above the tube with a blank on the bottom (good for yeast harvest, not so much for dumping trub in a controlled manner). Need to adjust the leg supports/get some extensions for the front and it’ll be sweet. Once I’ve transferred this brew, I’ll be taking the feet off and looking for some threaded rod or the like to fix it up.

Cheers,

H.

 

[Hubert]

STC controlled fridge has no issues holding temp in Nth QLD, or chilling down to 2 odd deg either. Pretty happy with the FB Marketplace for this pickup

H.

 

[Meddo]

Nice one @Hubert, that looks like a more appropriately sized fridge for the unit. My commercial jobby is 600L but a lot of that is width/depth that doesn't help as much as height.

I've just knocked up some leg extensions - 42 mm square pine and 3/8" furniture studs and t-nuts. Just pitched a double-batch of a lager intended to be a Munich Helles, dumping trub and yeast is a priority for this batch and since it won't be dry-hopped I left off the dry-hop airlock and put the extensions and sight glass / valve on it instead.

Using a 2" diaphragm valve for flow control when dumping the yeast and trub, unfortunately it's bloody long and adds a heap to the height requirement. I'm also a little bit skeptical as to how well it will work since it requires so many rotations to open and close - I'm a little worried that I'll need to open it right up to get it flowing but then won't be able to shut it off quickly enough. One way to find out though...

 

[lespaul]

@Meddo, the unit itself is 430mm, with the valves extruding a further 80mm out from that. So from back to extremities is just over 500mm. Remember though, you will gain a few mm in the door thanks to the seal and if you take the shelves off.
Mine sits in a Fisher & Paykel C450 single door fridge nicely or reference.

So I'm having a little trouble working how big I need the fridge to be. @Meddo what's the internal width and depth of yours? looks like a good fit?

Setup looks good @Hubert!

 

[Lionman]

I want one...

 

[Hubert]

I want one...

Just do it

They’re a great bit of kit!

 

[Lionman]

Just do it

They’re a great bit of kit!

Haha, its goign to take about 4 years for the wife to emotionally recover from the 1K I just spent on brewing gear.

 

[Hubert]

Haha, its goign to take about 4 years for the wife to emotionally recover from the 1K I just spent on brewing gear.

Yeah, that’d hurt a bit... Mine drinks mine, so it was a win for her as well I guess.

 

[lespaul]

It's finally here! Ended up with the pressure kit, pickup tube, few extra 2" and 1.5" addons, and some tubing all up for $1078 so not too different to what's on the Aussie market with pressure fermenting. Most of that was the USD conversion fee.
Seems like a really solidly built unit!
Brewing tomorrow so hopefully, have it going by tomorrow night.
Have you guys noticed a difference in the end product with the pressure ferment, i.e reduced esters and fusels at higher temps, quicker fermentations or anything? I'm doing an English ale tomorrow so not sure if I should just ferment as normal, or increase temps because of the pressure.

 

[Hubert]

It's finally here!
.....
Have you guys noticed a difference in the end product with the pressure ferment, i.e reduced esters and fusels at higher temps, quicker fermentations or anything? I'm doing an English ale tomorrow so not sure if I should just ferment as normal, or increase temps because of the pressure.

Congrats!! Absolutely love the build quality of mine.

I have only done one pressure ferment so far, it was an IPA and did ferment quite quickly (4 days as opposed to the usual 7). Good on that note and there weren’t a whole lot of ester losses that I could perceive.
Check out the BeerSmith podcast https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast...nn-beersmith/id398500515?i=1000400084905&mt=2 for some more info. From what I’ve heard/read, the pressure ferment is mainly aimed towards getting lagers fermented out quicker and at higher (Ale) temps, not some much an issue with Ales as they generally get done fairly quickly anyway.
Transfer to keg was a little harder as the beer was already carbed, so a closed transfer is essential. I hadn’t quite nailed down my process when I did this one, so it took a while amongst all the foam End product was still a nice beer that the traditional lager drinking FIL drank without complaint.

Cheers,

H.

 

[Meddo]

It's finally here! Ended up with the pressure kit, pickup tube, few extra 2" and 1.5" addons, and some tubing all up for $1078 so not too different to what's on the Aussie market with pressure fermenting. Most of that was the USD conversion fee.
Seems like a really solidly built unit!
Brewing tomorrow so hopefully, have it going by tomorrow night.
Have you guys noticed a difference in the end product with the pressure ferment, i.e reduced esters and fusels at higher temps, quicker fermentations or anything? I'm doing an English ale tomorrow so not sure if I should just ferment as normal, or increase temps because of the pressure.

Well done mate, sweet looking setup - what's the fridge you're using?

Haven't done any pressure fermenting yet as I don't have a spunding valve that I can trust. For me I'm not too concerned about doing the fast lager high pressure thing, but as I continue my lager-brewing education I would like to try the traditional German cold fermentation with a bit of top pressure to approximate the hydrostatic pressure in big commercial vessels.

 

[lespaul]

Thanks guys! So stoked on the purchase.
I managed to get a commercial fridge off a mate who's a fridge mechanic.
I might give the pressure ferment a go on this one just for fun. Will report back

 

[Meddo]

It's finally here! Ended up with the pressure kit, pickup tube, few extra 2" and 1.5" addons, and some tubing all up for $1078 so not too different to what's on the Aussie market with pressure fermenting. Most of that was the USD conversion fee.
Seems like a really solidly built unit!
Brewing tomorrow so hopefully, have it going by tomorrow night.
Have you guys noticed a difference in the end product with the pressure ferment, i.e reduced esters and fusels at higher temps, quicker fermentations or anything? I'm doing an English ale tomorrow so not sure if I should just ferment as normal, or increase temps because of the pressure.

Hey @lespaul, what's the make/model of that fridge? And internal dimensions if it's not too much trouble?

 

[H@wkeye!]

Sorry to drag up the thread, but is anyone planning on getting one of these anytime soon? I'm planning to get one early next year, figure i need to get organising (and convince the wife of the soundness of the purchase).

Also is anyone cooling the fermentor with the internal coil and water/glyco? I'm hoping to save some space and do this, but curious about the extra cost. My existing fermenting fridge is not big enough. Plus i'm in Canberra so heating will be the issue for most of the year.

 

[Meddo]

Sorry to drag up the thread, but is anyone planning on getting one of these anytime soon? I'm planning to get one early next year, figure i need to get organising (and convince the wife of the soundness of the purchase).

Also is anyone cooling the fermentor with the internal coil and water/glyco? I'm hoping to save some space and do this, but curious about the extra cost. My existing fermenting fridge is not big enough. Plus i'm in Canberra so heating will be the issue for most of the year.

I've just gotten a G40.1 glycol chiller, I'm hoping to start running batches off it in the next few weeks. I need to build an insulation layer first and source some tubing and wraps. Was using a glass door commercial fridge previously but it carked it a couple of months ago.

Let me know if you do go ahead with an order, I might try to combine postage for some accessories if you don't mind.

 

[Hubert]

Sorry to drag up the thread, but is anyone planning on getting one of these anytime soon? I'm planning to get one early next year, figure i need to get organising (and convince the wife of the soundness of the purchase).

Also is anyone cooling the fermentor with the internal coil and water/glyco? I'm hoping to save some space and do this, but curious about the extra cost. My existing fermenting fridge is not big enough. Plus i'm in Canberra so heating will be the issue for most of the year.

Purchase is very sound. Loving my CF15. Super versatile as far as pressure ferments, carbing and even serving straight from the tank is you get a little lazy (yep, I’ve done it...). And the tri-clover fittings make it easy to breakdown and clean.

It really does live up to the buy once, cry once philosophy.

As far as the glycol goes, can’t really comment on that as I live in Nth Qld so unless I get an industrial glycol chiller, it’s a temp controlled fridge for me.

 

[H@wkeye!]

I kind of figure that a temp controlled fridge is the way forward. I need one to control my yeast too so kind of means i have no real choice. Plus i concluded that i may get too much condensation in summer if only it is cooled. I brew in a not yet wet room (plan on eventually getting it tilled and sealed). Just need to arrange a fridge big enough.

 

[citizensnips]

I use a 52L SS conical in a ferment fridge. Cost me $80 to buy a fridge that fit it. A couple of $10 reptile heat mats hanging on other side connected to your stc/inkbird and the jobs done. I could never and still can't get my head around why any homebrewer would want to spend that amount of money on setting up a glycol system, particularly in the case of one vessel. You would want to make sure you throw in the CIP attachment as cleaning the chilling coils is a PITA if you don't have one. What's more is those coils add a hell of a lot more of surface area for bacteria to hangout, particularly on the underside/shadowed areas. That is just my 2c

 

[Basso]

Sorry to drag up the thread, but is anyone planning on getting one of these anytime soon? I'm planning to get one early next year, figure i need to get organising (and convince the wife of the soundness of the purchase).

Also is anyone cooling the fermentor with the internal coil and water/glyco? I'm hoping to save some space and do this, but curious about the extra cost. My existing fermenting fridge is not big enough. Plus i'm in Canberra so heating will be the issue for most of the year.[/QUOTE