Brewhemoth Fermentation Chiller/Heater

I just finished testing my new Brewhemoth with the stainless steel chiller option. I couldn't be happier with it! I'm currently warming about six gallons of beer to 15ºF above ambient with a 100w fish tank heater set to about 40%.

The "Extreme" cooler keeps my water nice and warm, and when the the fermenter needs heat, my BCS 460 cycles the pump and my beer warms up. Originally, I was worried about temperature stratification, but the temps are pretty uniform - probably from natural convection cycles. Or the stratification effect will be more noticeable with larger batches.

I'm really happy with the energy efficiency of this system. I had concerns that it would be much less efficient than keeping my fermenter in a fridge, but now I feel pretty good about it. I may even insulate the fermenter at some point.

I'm hoping in the summer to just replace the fishtank heater with 2L bottles of ice.

Also, I've decided to try my first batch sans the airlock. I simply loosened the tri-clamp fitting that holds the temperature probe in place and moved it around until the gas vented. We'll see how this works; I'm assuming that the positive pressure will help keep bacteria out, and a few squirts of alcohol will help as well. When positive pressure starts to fade, I'll seal the fermenter.

Sorry about the lousy photos (they were taken with my iPhone which doesn't know what to make of the cool fluorescent light, the shiny fermenter, and the warm yellow walls of the lab).

That is one good looking setup!

That's hot. Can't wait to see how well it cold crashes.

Cool. I use a foam box for my ferm chamber right now - light bulb to heat, cooler (like your setup) with 2L bottles of ice for cooling. It's easy to forget to swap the bottles out (I use three at a time), and if that happens, the pump will keep running and warm the water up quite hot.... Just be careful. Still haven't planned how to do my hemoth box yet.

St. Marcos, I'm confused, do you also have the internal chiller?

I'm hoping that I won't have to switch bottles every day. During the summer, that cooler has kept beer cold for five days.

If you do have the chiller, I would recommend switching to the hot water bath for heating instead of the light bulb. I believe it's more energy efficient, and you don't have to hide your fermenter away in styrofoam

SankePankey said:

That's hot. Can't wait to see how well it cold crashes.

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Thanks, Sanke! If I remember correctly, don't you ferment under pressure? I was considering it, but I haven't researched it enough.

How long is your thermowell in there? My fermenters just showed up on monday and I'm trying to figure out what to do. With the angle of the fitting I was afraid the thermowell would touch or be too close to the chiller.

My recent thought is to get about a 10" thermowell to install on a Tee on the racking port, but I'm not completely thrilled by that idea.

I have a pair of them and I'm not sure if I'm going to want to crash one fermenter while keeping the other warm so my chiller will only be for chilling and I'll apply external heat with a fermwrap and some kind of insulation around it. Sadly I'll be hiding most of the attractive stainless, but they are going to be in my garage and it can get cold out there

My lab is part of the garage, and it gets pretty cold in there as well. Just checked my BCS, it's 49.5ºF ambient, and 64.3ºF in the tank.

You'll want a 24" temp probe if you want to do 5 gallon batches. It does sit pretty close to the coil, but it hasn't caused any problems for me. During the testing phase, I shut down the pumps and shook the fermenter to mix up the water - almost no difference. Certainly not enough to affect my fermentation. I did not test more than 10 gallons, though.

Derrin from Brewer's Hardware made my temp probe and it's awesome! If you're going to install a tee, I would get a longer probe in the event you want to do 5 gallon batches.

I really hope my no-airlock technique works, though I think it probably will. I don't think there are a ton of bacteria trying to sneak into my beer, so I'm not too worried. Also, no need for a blow off tube in the brewhemoth with a five gallon batch.

I have a lab grade temperature recirculator that would work perfect for this but I am wondering how you plan on sterilizing the cooling coil?

Chefkeith said:

My lab is part of the garage, and it gets pretty cold in there as well. Just checked my BCS, it's 49.5ºF ambient, and 64.3ºF in the tank.

You'll want a 24" temp probe if you want to do 5 gallon batches. It does sit pretty close to the coil, but it hasn't caused any problems for me. During the testing phase, I shut down the pumps and shook the fermenter to mix up the water - almost no difference. Certainly not enough to affect my fermentation. I did not test more than 10 gallons, though.

Derrin from Brewer's Hardware made my temp probe and it's awesome! If you're going to install a tee, I would get a longer probe in the event you want to do 5 gallon batches.

I really hope my no-airlock technique works, though I think it probably will. I don't think there are a ton of bacteria trying to sneak into my beer, so I'm not too worried. Also, no need for a blow off tube in the brewhemoth with a five gallon batch.

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Thanks for the input. It's been a while since I've done a 5 gal batch, but I'm sure I will again for some experiments. Probably do 6-7 gallons though so I can fill a keg and some bottles.

When I get a chance I'll do some water tests to see where the level will be.

If being close to the coil isn't a huge issue I'm tempted to get a thermowell welded to the cap the chiller is on.

I think your no airlock method will work well, I usually just cover my carboys with foil while fermentation is rockin.

I'm waiting on some fittings to come in but when they do I'll document my setup. Going to put a spunding valve off the Tee

Edit: What are you going to put in your water to keep it clean? Even though it won't come in contact with your beer, I'd worry about your water funking up

Chefkeith said:

Thanks, Sanke! If I remember correctly, don't you ferment under pressure? I was considering it, but I haven't researched it enough.

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Yes. Loving it. You will too. It's a lifestyle choice.

I have the following from McMaster. I would definitely get a very finely adjustable PRV for pressure fermenting. You'll want to, say, increase by 1 PSI every other day... very fine adjustments. The brass screw type- off of a ball lock fitting PRVs are really just useful as either an air lock or for bleeding/counterpressure filling. For good pressure ferments, you'll want much more control than that. And you're going to want a good all SS pressure gauge (the nice ones are glycol filled) ganged off of the PRV to monitor that control.

The current "best option" fittings ala the pressure ferment thread are:

McMaster:

99045k46
for the 60 PSI valve (there's a 30 available too)

and

3795K132
for the glycerin filled 60PSI all SS pressure gauge (also a 30 available)

I spent about ~$80 for my adj-PRV. If I had to do it again, I might get the 30 PSIs in stead of the 60s. If you do FULL pressure ferments (so, up to 35 PSI at 68* ish) it will work great, but you definitely increase cell mutation/damage and reusing your yeast becomes less advisable. That nugget comes from Chris White thru email exchange. A reason to finish carbing with a tank when your cold crashing. I have done a couple batches that I went all the way up to 35PSI and the beer was great. Dumped the yeast. 15 PSI is around where you'd want to end a pressure ferment and save the yeast.

I have a 3 gallon corny ganged off of my primary that I put the spunding valve on for the entire ferment. This way no gunk in the spunding valve. I put 2 gas (short) corny dip tubes in the 3 gal corny so I can then push CO2 thru the whole chain while counterpressure filling from my primary. Schveet.:rockin:

Bokonon said:

What are you going to put in your water to keep it clean? Even though it won't come in contact with your beer, I'd worry about your water funking up

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I put a few drops of iodophor in it, and it seems to be working well - no funk yet. I'm considering Star San, though. Not sure which would be best with stainless steel. I'll have to read back through the stickies.

For the other question: I don't sterilize the stainless cooling coil, I wash and sanitize just like you would with anything else in the brewery. Though, if it becomes an issue, I'll just toss it in the boil during the last five minutes.

Oh, and thanks for the info, Sanke!

Just started my first lager yesterday with my brewhemoth. I have a similar setup where I am recirculating glycol out of my kegerator freezer. Temps are being controlled by a crestron automation system.

Very nice!! I wouldn't think that would be enough glycol, but it seems to be doing a great job. I might consider a similar set up for summer use.

Thanks!

And my pump died today. Well at least it was chugging really hard but not pumping anything. I haven't really stressed it that hard, and it's basically brand new. The only thing I can think is that my iodophor laced water gets "slippery" after a while and the pump struggles with that?

Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon with pond pumps? Should I just clean it with PBW or Oxyclean? I don't have time to mess with it tonight, but I was just looking for ideas; my beer is getting cold!

Chefkeith said:

And my pump died today. Well at least it was chugging really hard but not pumping anything. I haven't really stressed it that hard, and it's basically brand new. The only thing I can think is that my iodophor laced water gets "slippery" after a while and the pump struggles with that?

Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon with pond pumps? Should I just clean it with PBW or Oxyclean? I don't have time to mess with it tonight, but I was just looking for ideas; my beer is getting cold!

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No clue, what kind of pump was it? Looking at getting the same setup, so I'm interested in the details of your setup.

Yeah that wasn't too clear - sorry. It was an external cooler, with a fan that blew across a transmission heat exchanger, and icewater in a coleman cooler pumped into the cooler. The cooler was external to a big expanded polystyrene box, which held the fermenter, fan, and t-cooler. This is what I used when I had blingman 14g conicals. Swapping out a couple of 2L bottles from my kitchen freezer each day was too much. Miss a day and the pump keeps running, heating the water, the box, and the beer, all while it is trying to cool it.

Kind of looking for a glass door Bev Air or True fridge atm.

Was thinking of using water or glycol with an internal chiller, and maybe using my kegerator as the chilling unit. Thing is though, you'd want to insulate the conical, and building a box around it would be just as easy as closely wrapping insulation around it (easier, really, and likely more efficient), but the box would make cleaning easier as you could remove the conical.

Chefkeith said:

St. Marcos, I'm confused, do you also have the internal chiller?

I'm hoping that I won't have to switch bottles every day. During the summer, that cooler has kept beer cold for five days.

If you do have the chiller, I would recommend switching to the hot water bath for heating instead of the light bulb. I believe it's more energy efficient, and you don't have to hide your fermenter away in styrofoam

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How's it working? Chillin'?

Where is your blowoff tube?