Brewhemoth conicals?

byzan, are you sure it's spinning in there? I tested a stpats ball in air (a wet venture) and it didn't spin w a 1/2hp $120 pump from the hw store. Got a pp one from mcmaster and it spins like the taz devil. Or is yers not a spinner? Waiting to post pics of mine when I make/get a nice ferm chamber (glass door?). I'd really like to be able to see all of my tc **** I spent $ on without opening a door.... it's silly but I'm a stubborn showoff gearhead like that.

StMarcos said:

byzan, are you sure it's spinning in there? I tested a stpats ball in air (a wet venture) and it didn't spin w a 1/2hp $120 pump from the hw store. Got a pp one from mcmaster and it spins like the taz devil. Or is yers not a spinner? Waiting to post pics of mine when I make/get a nice ferm chamber (glass door?). I'd really like to be able to see all of my tc **** I spent $ on without opening a door.... it's silly but I'm a stubborn showoff gearhead like that.

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Positive. I wasn't getting much spin with a small diameter hose that I was using with the 1/3hp pump. As soon as I put a larger one on that allowed for greater flow, it was spinning like crazy. I did quite a bit of testing outside of the fermenter to be certain.

What does the finish look like on all of the Brewhemoth fermenters everbody has received? Mine looks like somebody took a grinder and randomly ground down the thing. (And I am not talking about the spinning marks)

My guess is that the welding was not done cleanly and weld spatter got everywhere. Therefore they decided to take an angle grinder to it.

I was hoping this thing would be the highlight of my basement brewery, which is why I bought the tri-clamp fittings.

You might want to contact them about that. Mine is nice, brushed stainless. Nice enough that I'm proud to show it off.

Mine looked good as well... some grinding/polishing marks at the welds as expected, but overall very clean. I would definitely give them a call if you are not satisfied with it.

I too went with the St Pats TC spray ball. I also bought a 4in to 2in reducer cap from them. The spray ball will need a 1/2 HP pump that can get the 50gpm desired spec. Hose size is the key......that and I suggest you use PBW or a home-blend to add some lubrication to the spray ball.

If you circulate the PBW for a good 15min you'll clean the heck out of the fermenter. Rinse with warm water and finish with some Starsan. It's more time consuming than a basic carboy but it's still fun. It's a good time to light a cigar and work on your next recipe!

I've used Sankey kegs in the past to ferment and cleaning them is basically the same except there's no return flow....obviously.

my next challenge is to rig up a cooling system with a control valve to run multiple Brewhemuths.

This hobby never stops growing.

mine should be here soon

i had been planning on doing a 20 gal batch of Apfelwein to start in it... but i think instead i am going to try my hand at a saison since i have a friend who loves them from summers he spent in europe in college but doesn't like any of the ones he can get in Utah without sepdning $15-$20+ in a bottle.

He is going to come over to learn on brewday for his first brew day too :rockin:
we are planning on doing a 10 gal saison. this should also be a good fit since i don't have the gear set up yet to use the chiller for it to do any other styles yet.

Mine has a few random grind marks, but nothing I'm sad about.

Anyone been carbonating their beer in the brewhemuth?

I carb mine with no problem in the brewhemoth... I use a spunding valve to do it. Look up a thread from Wortmonger about closed vessel pressurized fermentation to find the details.

Yep, I have info in my signature link. Glad to see the thing can hold carbonating pressures. That makes it very attractive to me .

Devised a device to allow one to hook up the Brewhemoth to a ball lock gas in connector. Personally, I got tired of taking my ball lock fitting off my system every time I wanted to empty the Brewhemoth. So now we have a fitting that will clamp on the one inch triclamp on the top that will allow the use of a ball lock disconnect with a 50 psi safety valve attached. This will also allow the Brewhemoth to be carbonated. Next is a tap system, ferment, dump yeast, condition, carbonate, and serve all out of one container!

its almost here!!!
UPS says it should arrive on Thursday. thanks Dale and Josh!

Well it finally arrived

I get the box...seems the box is in decent shape...small hole on top but whatever


open top flaps... hmmm hole is still there


open mid flap...hmmmm hole is still there


open final flap and im almost to the item i have been waiting for almost 6 weeks for!!!


BOoooooo!!!! as it turns out that hole in the top was from what appears to have been a solid steel or iron rod of 1/2 inch or so in diameter. it was dropped or stabbed intentionally through the top of the box with serious force as it ran straight into the edge of the bottom dump triclover fitting and bent the lip over. the whole thing is at this point useless as the fitting has an rolled over lip with a bend that brought down the edge over a quarter inch.

I gotta call josh and dale tomorrow and see what to do next. as it is right now i have a custom stainless fermenter that can't be used without cutting and welding a new triclover to the bottom.

Damn mwhc22, sorry man. that kind of stuff is frustrating and disapointing. I empathize with ya man.

close up of triclover fitting





what makes it worse is that i was so excited to finally get some stainless to ferment in... now that i see one in person... it makes me wish i could clean it and brew a batch right now. grrr@&%@^$@*$!

I haven't even taken it out of the box to see if anything else got damaged. all i did was take the bubble wrap off the top of it. from what i can see nothing else got touched though. not a scratch on it aside from the valve being crushed.

Sorry! Ording a new 45 today, will ship you a new one next week ASAP. My welder is very unhappy, a lot of work wasted.

Dale Penrose

I echo Dale's sentiment...we are NOT happy!!!
We'll get this fixed for you...

Jim Carey probably delivered your box in his undercover UPS uniform.

On the positive side:
If they can cut the down tube TC and weld a ferrel it might be a perfectly fine "second". You'd have the option of adding a 90 deg fitting.

Hang in there!

So now you have to find a local welder and have that cut off and a new one welded on?
Sorry but UPS would be picking that up and paying for a new one. Or at least shipping it back for repairs and shipping it back to me free of charge. i would be pissed and not a nice guy.

DaleP said:

Sorry! Ording a new 45 today, will ship you a new one next week ASAP. My welder is very unhappy, a lot of work wasted.

Dale Penrose

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JEBrew said:

I echo Dale's sentiment...we are NOT happy!!!
We'll get this fixed for you...

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This is why these guys are people I want to do business with!

I'm confused, was the 45 welded on the fermenter?

jamcclureuk said:

I'm confused, was the 45 welded on the fermenter?

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Yep, it sure was. He paid for a custom Brewhemoth, so that's what he got! Darn UPS had to go and screw it all up, though...

It's okay...we're fixing it for him. AND...we have learned a valuable lesson...we need to pack these things better!!!!!

FSR402 said:

So now you have to find a local welder and have that cut off and a new one welded on?
Sorry but UPS would be picking that up and paying for a new one. Or at least shipping it back for repairs and shipping it back to me free of charge. i would be pissed and not a nice guy.

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Yeah, the perils of dealing with UPS. We have learned a few things...good thing shipping is free (for our customers). It's us that have to take that hit, but I had a nice chat with my UPS rep this morning...

What about the insurance? I'm sure these are shipped insured, right?

Ok, you guys just made my "Eagle Scout list" and I will be buying one of these from you as soon as I can afford it. I will sing your praise to everyone I hear interested in a conical. Hang in there keeping up doing what you are doing and I promise you guys will make it big.

WortMonger said:

Ok, you guys just made my "Eagle Scout list" and I will be buying one of these from you as soon as I can afford it. I will sing your praise to everyone I hear interested in a conical. Hang in there keeping up doing what you are doing and I promise you guys will make it big.

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I have got to agree, I will be in the market for my first conicals pretty soon and I will without a doubt be giving you a call.

Chromados

Dang! Talked to josh today and he mentioned there was some posts on HBT about it. Unfortunately i can't access HBT at work and he can :jealous:

Anywho's everything should be getting worked out in a few weeks. I guess mine isn't the only one that UPS damaged recently so I hope Josh gives em hell for sucking. Maybe FedEx will damged less of the hemoths than UPS will lol.

mwhc22 said:

Dang! Talked to josh today and he mentioned there was some posts on HBT about it. Unfortunately i can't access HBT at work and he can :jealous:

Anywho's everything should be getting worked out in a few weeks. I guess mine isn't the only one that UPS damaged recently so I hope Josh gives em hell for sucking. Maybe FedEx will damged less of the hemoths than UPS will lol.

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Mine made it all the way to Australia, luckily enough without damage. However, you should have seen the state of the box. The 4' lid fell out onto the road whilst carrying it to the car to take home. Probably lucky all the parts were still in there.

Sympathy for having your long wait spoilt.

RC racking arm and sample valve arrived yesterday from Morebeer. Last piece of the puzzle is the carbonation stone with TC cap and a ball lock adapter. Looking forward to the Brewhemuth arriving......will take the day off work and brew!

Landshark67 said:

Last piece of the puzzle is the carbonation stone or TC cap with a ball lock adapter.

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You mean... alike-a deees?
(courtesy of brewershardware)

Here's a fitting that could get the job done without a custom weld. From St Pats (picture at the end). I would not buy their expensive stone for it, but get a pipe to female flare adapter and one of the cheap morebeer stones.

Or get the second one pictured and chop off the barb. Actually, morebeer might make one for you with omitting the barb. That second one is the stone that they put in their 'economy in line aeration' device and they were going to custom one of those for me before I got one made from brewershardware.

Precisely!

So what pumps are you guys using to CIP these things? I'm looking to order one next week and want to figure out what other stuff I will need also.

I just use a cheap 1500 gph dirty water sump pump from harbor freight.

I am still looking for the best option. St Pats has a jet brewery pump but it's around $400. I'd like to find a pump that will get me over 30gal per minute for around $200.

The spray ball effectiveness comes down to throughput and psi.

Here is a 61 gallon per minute pump for $76.

http://cgi.ebay.com/XP-900W-1-2HP-C...954?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf93d7cea

Thanks!

Just placed my order for the pump. $79 including shipping is a very fair price.

My only concern with those pumps is how do they hold up to the 150* water and caustic cleaners?

I'll run some tests as soon as I get the pump. I usually don't crank the heat on the PBW-mix above 150F but it's a valid point. For the price of the pump, it's worth the trial. Otherwise it's a much more expensive option for a CIP that is more for fun than function.

Brew on!