Stout Tanks and Kettles - $400 14.5 Gal Conical

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Peacedale,

What is the length between the weld on the outside of the kettle to the tri-clover barb fitting? It appears as though one could inadvertantly put quite a bit leverage on the weld or kettle wall while attaching the hose or closing the ball valve, cleaning, etc. It's probably just the angle at which the picture was taken.

Beautiful kettle though!
 
I just had 14.5 gal of Sticke Alt go from 62 to 67.5 degrees in 36 hours with 64 degree air ambient inside a fermentation chamber. I had to add wet towels to facilitate better heat transfer to get it back down to 64.

Before the fermentation chamber, I have beers easily fermenting at 6+ degrees above ambient for the same batch sizes and had one ESB hit 8 degrees above ambient before I noticed and threw wet towels on it.

Radar, thanks for the volume, temp rise and ambient temps as without them it's a total guessing game the amount of internal cooling required to maintain constant internal ferm temps.
 
I don't believe the thermowell is good for anything but an FYI. An insulated thermocouple on the side of the tank is preferable for the vast majority of homebrewer fermentation temp control systems.
 
Peacedale,

What is the length between the weld on the outside of the kettle to the tri-clover barb fitting? It appears as though one could inadvertantly put quite a bit leverage on the weld or kettle wall while attaching the hose or closing the ball valve, cleaning, etc. It's probably just the angle at which the picture was taken.

Beautiful kettle though!

I was wondering that as well. Looks like it sticks out quite far. But that may be good, get the hose further away from the flame.
 
I was wondering that as well. Looks like it sticks out quite far. But that may be good, get the hose further away from the flame.

Any flames or just hot burner gasses alone would overheat that fitting sticking out that far unless a flame shield were placed below it.
I bet it would be strong enough for a while to handle a few bumps and bending with restraightening the fitting before the base SS material started to create fatigue cracks.
 
What is the length between the weld on the outside of the kettle to the tri-clover barb fitting?

The stem extends 3" from kettle face. The stem is roughly 3/4" OD and 9/16" ID. I have a Blichmann burner and I rotate the kettle so that stem is set over leg assembly. The bottom of the kettle has a rim that extends below the convex bottom of the kettle (when viewed from outside the kettle) and captures much of the heat. Personally I think the rim is a fairly decent heat shield with my set up.

Amendment: The barb valve assembly is 4" long (center to center) of clamp.
 
The stem a direct weld to the kettle or to a SS washer welded to kettle for added surface area and strength? I would be careful not to bang around that stem causing metal fatique then future cracks.
 
The stem a direct weld to the kettle or to a SS washer welded to kettle for added surface area and strength?

Yes, it is a direct weld. Based on the comments here I will exercise more caution than I have previously given it. I am pretty good with my equipment to begin. The proportion of the kettle is much better to transport through the house than my original Megapot kettle.
 
I can say that I have had my 7.3 gallon conical for a while now and am well pleased with the product and with the response I got from John. I recently ordered spare gaskets and valve parts, just in case, and my order was acted upon very fast. I'm impessed with the level of service provided to me by Stouts tanks and kettles.
 
I have to say that the service is great from Stouts Tanks and Kettles, and this thing has some pretty thick walls. I am definitely going to purchase their conical.
 
Have you guys had any luck contacting Stout Tanks recently? I have posted on their FaceBook wall multiple times, plus I have sent 2 or 3 messages to them on the contact us page on the website.

Our club is/was going to buy a 3bbl boil kettle from them but with the lack of contact I am wondering if I should be looking elsewhere. Heck we were even talking about buying a full 3bbl system from them in time.
 
nickpgoodman - John at Stout Tanks will surely get back to you. It is possible they had website problems. Try the email option (which you probably already have!) He sounded like a very solid guy when I spoke with him on the phone last week and I bet he will be a good person to do business with ultimately.
 
On Wednesday evening I received my 1bbl system from John/Stout Tanks and Kettles, I had to wait until this weekend to really check it out. It looks great!!! and of very good quality!!! Hopefully I'll be able to brew with it the few weeks and post a report with pictures. Based on what I see I will be purchasing the 3bbls system this fall.
 
Just to chime back in here... John was great to deal with and I'm on my second batch in the new conical. Breaks down nice, everything is super easy to clean. Couldn't be happier.

Photo_402753F0-9086-0FE8-2D24-0C4D643D82B3.jpg
 
+1 I have the 14.5 Gal and it is nicely constructed -- the larger dump valve will be a plus --- my brown ale trub got a bit stuck
 
UPDATE: I've taken delivery of the 20.8 MT and BK. EVERYTHING was as expected - no disappointed one bit. John was OOS of the HLT, so I'm going to play around w/batch sparging as I rebuild my brewery. Now I need to shorten my table, Doh!

2011-03-18_21-36-42_929.jpg
 
Very nice. I would love to see more pics of both kettles. Possible? My biggest concern in dealing with Stout Kettles is the lack of images. I would love to use Stout Tanks and Kettles to build my own version of Kal’s Electric Brewery. I keep waffling between them and Blichmann. How do you feel about the crazy long drain values?

Cheers,

-J
 
This is John from Stout Tank and Kettles.

The purpose of the long outlet is to keep the flames away from the valve if your burner is overshooting the kettle. If it is an issue for you, we could shorten it (and have done so for some customers). I think it does not look as nice as a shorter outlet would, but we went for function over form on this.

I would be interested in feedback from other brewers about this. Maybe it is really not necessary.

Also, I'll make it a goal to put more pictures on our gallery on our home page at www.conical-fermenter.com.

Cheers,

John
 
That would be great John. I don't have any doubt about the quality of your product. I have not heard any brewer say they were disappointed with a tank or kettle. Pictures just help me get ideas about what is possible. Pictures of Custom jobs would really help with that.

Cheers,

-J
 
@jazong - my only concern was the longer the tube (moment arm) the more torque applied to the weld. When they arrived I (re)assured myself that the weld is solid enough to withstand weight and motion of the valve. I've really not given it another thought since. Obviously I'm electric - so flames are not a concern. The sight tube is solid too. Although it is not graduated, I calibrated & marked the glass with enamel. I also use a zip tie around the tube that I can slide it up-down to mark my volume for a particular recipe.

The brewery has been completed since the above photo was taken with my control box, temp sensors, etc ... located in the following thread

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/new-econtrolbox-based-ohio-eds-239558/

Cheers
 
Very nice. I would love to see more pics of both kettles. Possible? My biggest concern in dealing with Stout Kettles is the lack of images. I would love to use Stout Tanks and Kettles to build my own version of Kal’s Electric Brewery. I keep waffling between them and Blichmann. How do you feel about the crazy long drain values?

Cheers,

-J

I used Stout Tanks to some what replicate Kal's set up. They work great in an electric set up. I did have to turn the heat exchanger in my HLT upside down to allow room for the heating element. But, not that big if a deal.
I went with a More Beer type tiered stand, though. The "tippy" dump makes cleaning 30 pounds of spent grain a lot easier.
 
Tippy dump is an awesome idea. So you bought the HERMS coil and all. I am thinking about seeing if I can get John to make a coil that is as large in diameter as possible (no thermowell) while still being able to a 90deg bend for the tri clover clamps. It wouldn't need to be centered. With the increase in diameter I would most likely be able to install an element below the coil. Even if that doesn't pan out I could always do as you did and install the coil upside down and it would then sit lower in the kettle (relative to a stock coil) because of its larger diameter. What do you think about this idea cbraun77s? What size HLT did you buy? How high in the kettle are the tri clovers for the coil (in gallons if you know)?

Thanks for the info.

-J
 
I did have to turn the heat exchanger in my HLT upside down to allow room for the heating element. But, not that big if a deal.

Also, have you noticed any stress on the coil fittings from installing it this way. Do you get any leaking of wort into your HLT caused by the coil being unsupported? In Kal's setup the ends of the coil are at both the top and bottom (as I'm sure you know). This configuration causes less torque on the compression fittings and their connection to the coil.

Thanks again,

-J
 
thought I would resurrect this thread instead of starting a new one. I am close to jumping on the 7.5 gallon conical and had a few questions if anyone can answer:

1 - any problems dumping the trub, does it every get stuck. Any tricks to make it go better?
2 - can you pressure the lid and put a pound or two of pressure to help dump the yeast/trub and help with racking
3 - anyone worried about the quality/safety of the welds in terms of lead or any other hazardous material?
 
Tippy dump is an awesome idea. So you bought the HERMS coil and all. I am thinking about seeing if I can get John to make a coil that is as large in diameter as possible (no thermowell) while still being able to a 90deg bend for the tri clover clamps. It wouldn't need to be centered. With the increase in diameter I would most likely be able to install an element below the coil. Even if that doesn't pan out I could always do as you did and install the coil upside down and it would then sit lower in the kettle (relative to a stock coil) because of its larger diameter. What do you think about this idea cbraun77s? What size HLT did you buy? How high in the kettle are the tri clovers for the coil (in gallons if you know)?

Thanks for the info.

-J

Also, have you noticed any stress on the coil fittings from installing it this way. Do you get any leaking of wort into your HLT caused by the coil being unsupported? In Kal's setup the ends of the coil are at both the top and bottom (as I'm sure you know). This configuration causes less torque on the compression fittings and their connection to the coil.

Thanks again,

-J

No stress from flipping upside down. No leaks either. I would HIGHLY recommend the larger diameter HERMS.
 
Has anyone had any problems getting the ring clamp to seal on the 14.5 gallon conical from Stout Tanks & Kettles? Mine seems to be losing a seal somewhere.
 
I recently purchased a Stout conical and have had trouble with the gasket not staying in place and therefore not sealing. It's the ring clamp type 14.5 gallon and the problem seams to be related to wetting the lid and seal to sanitize and then the seal slips off.

Anybody else having problems? How are you handeling sanitizing the lid and gasket.
 
Hi - the trick is to put the gasket in when it is dry, and then spray it with sanitizer. If it's wet, it is harder to keep it in place while you install the lid.
 
Thanks for the reply John. I recieved your email with the same suggestion and have tried but wound up with a gasket falling into the wort. So, I've fermented two batches without the use of a gasket, not the end of the world but I would appriciate feedback from some other users. I was wondering if anyone else has had the same difficulties with the gasket and if so what they do.

Thanks
 
The seal issue is driving me nuts too. I think it's the groove in the center of the seal. If the seal is not absolutely perfectly aligned, that groove is going to allow the fermenter to breathe. Good luck getting the seal to align while it slips off the lid, the ring clamp won't line up and the lip on the fermenter is too fat for the clamp anyway. I've fermented 4 batches now without a proper seal and I'm about ready to turn this thing into garbage can! I'm going to try installing a port for pumping in wort and yeast so I can install the lid while the fermenter is empty, get a proper seal then not touch it or remove other than for cleaning. Or I might try making my own seal...

Anyone make a 12 gallon glass carboy? Ugh!
 
Back
Top