33 gallons of fermentation space!

Huaco · Jan 17, 2013

Roadliner said:
What size freezer is that? Have you thought about putting a keezer collar on there to give yourself more headspace for an airlock?

It is a 15 cu. ft. (I edited the first post to include that... sorry)

Yeah, I had thought of adding a collar to it when I first got it because I was going to make a serving/cellering chamber out of it.
You can see the barb elbow does quite well at venting the gas down to the blowoff bucket. I have SOOOOOO much head space in the drums (4 gallons), I don't see any issues with the blowoff tube getting krausen in it. No collar required now... it all fit!

breckenridge · Jan 26, 2013

Do the vessels open up for cleaning? What's your setup for that?

Huaco · Jan 27, 2013

breckenridge said:
Do the vessels open up for cleaning? What's your setup for that?

No, they do not open up. They do have a 2" bung that I insert a keg cleaner in. I will be getting a proper drum cleaner nozzle to place on the pump output riser soon.

You can find details on how to build the keg/carboy/drum cleaner here.

chadillac7819 · Jan 29, 2013

Subbed. Huaco you are the man! I have a similar setup with a mini-fridge and converted 48" cabinet for a ferm chamber so this would be perfect. After breaking two glass carboys recently (one empty and one full of IPA) I was going to buy some of those Speidel 60L fermenters from More Beer but this may be easier and cheaper. Thanks!

Roadliner · Jan 29, 2013

wow.. I've never seen those containers in real life.. but seeing it on top of a 5 gallon bucket really puts it in perspective how large they are.

steber · Jan 29, 2013

Huaco said:
I have one STC1000 now, I plan to cannibalize that controller and incorporate it into an 8x8x4 PVC junction box I got today from the electrical supply store. I will have 3 hot/cold switched receptacles in the panel. The coldest fermentation will be controlled with the "master" controller and it will control the chest on and off. The other two controllers will heat the other two malt drum fermentors with reptile heat tape. Each of these drums will have a wrap of Reflectix to keep the heat reflecting into the vessel.
This will all be written up here in this thread once I can document it with pictures...

I'm interested in how you get this to work.. right now I use my freezer as a ferm chamber with the stc1000. I just got into kegging and would like to be able to keep a keg or 2 at serve temp and still have a fermenter in at 60-65 degrees.

Huaco · Jan 31, 2013

steber said:
I'm interested in how you get this to work.. right now I use my freezer as a ferm chamber with the stc1000. I just got into kegging and would like to be able to keep a keg or 2 at serve temp and still have a fermenter in at 60-65 degrees.

Well, it apparently worked out very well. I checked the gravity last night on my first batch to ferment (Dus Alt 7C) and it attenuated 77% to 5.1ABV. Right where I had expected it to be. :rockin: I think I need to adjust the temp offset on my controller though, because the sample I pulled was a few degrees higher than my set point. Beer still turned out great though.

mmeadows24 · Feb 4, 2013

Huaco, you ever get the pics on the epic 3 stc 1000 junction box build!! I am looking to do this setup myself.

Huaco · Feb 4, 2013

mmeadows24 said:
Huaco, you ever get the pics on the epic 3 stc 1000 junction box build!! I am looking to do this setup myself.

The temp controller I ordered for it got used to build a buddy's single temp controller he needed for his super bowl bash. I had to order one more for mine. It just came in Saturday, so I will be finishing it up soon. Hope to have pix up some time this week.

mmeadows24 · Feb 5, 2013

Nice, I really want to do that build but I have no idea how I want to setup the box. I really want something clean looking but not drop a ridiculous amount of money on a box to put it in.

Huaco · Feb 5, 2013

Put some more hours into this build this evening... Not quite finished. Probably another hour of work on it and it will be done. (I suck at soldering)

Huaco · Feb 5, 2013

breckenridge said:
Do the vessels open up for cleaning? What's your setup for that?

Huaco said:
No, they do not open up. They do have a 2" bung that I insert a keg cleaner in. I will be getting a proper drum cleaner nozzle to place on the pump output riser soon.

You can find details on how to build the keg/carboy/drum cleaner here.

I just took delivery of this beast of a CIP ball...

It won't fit into carboys but it sure will make cleaning these drums MUCH better!

Huaco · Feb 5, 2013

Decided to go with crimp-on pin terminals... Just ordered them on ebay. I am having a HECK of a time getting the 14ga stranded wire to stay in the terminals. I crank down on them till they are really tight, then a little later if I bump the wire, it comes out of the terminal. I initially tried to tin the ends and they were really too big then to fit into the receiver. So... I guess I won't be finishing my multi-temp controller until those come in the mail... Crud...

Better to be safe than sorry right? Let me tell you, it is getting CROWDED in the box with a 3-gang old work box, three STC-1000's, three inline fuse holders, six "cool and heat" pilot lights AND three mono headphone jack receptacles for the temp probes.

Huaco · Feb 9, 2013

Updated the first post with link to my 3 Temp Ferm Controller. Also in Sig Line.

kerschup · Feb 9, 2013

This project is awesome. I like the system you have setup for transferring beer from vessel to vessel at the different stages of the process. I was wondering about having multiple containers in the same space at such different temps. It seems you done it and it works, but i wonder how it affects the efficiency of the freezer. You have such a large thermal mass at 38 and one at 57 it seems like they are going to fight each other to maintain temps. Have you noticed if the freezer cycles more if you are trying to maintain two temps on two containers than if you are just trying to maintain on temp in one container?

Norie_ · Feb 9, 2013

Huaco said:
UPDATED:
Updates start HERE with the thermowell build.

Thermowell installation and Heat Tape install.

Pressure-Racking Assembly

Pressure-Racking installation and testing.

3-Way Fermentation Temp Controller 1 Chamber

Original Post:
Today I went to my LHBS and picked up (3) 15 gallon malt drums he had been saving for me. I was not sure if all 3 would fit in my 15 cu. ft. chest ferm chamber because I had laid them out with cardboard last week and it looked like they would over lap and be too tight with three drums in there. Well... to my surprise, they all fit in there with no shoving. I plan to pump directly into the sanitized fermentor from my chiller so I will NOT be lifting these drums over the top of the chest. Likewise, I plan to push the beer out with CO2 when racking to kegs. I need to pick up a bung wrench to remove the large bung plugs.

The way I figure it, if I brew 10.5 to 11 gallon batches, I can ferment all in one container. I will have to run blow-off tubes all the time because I don't have head space above the tops of the containers.

Wow. Two weeks ago I also was given these same malt drums from my LHBS! I was thinking of fermenting in them. Then I come across this thread. Awesome.

GrogNerd · Feb 9, 2013

Norie_ said:
Wow. Two weeks ago I also was given these same malt drums from my LHBS! I was thinking of fermenting in them. Then I come across this thread. Awesome.

just the opposite for me

was reading this thread earlier today and was going to ask my LHBS about them when I went in this afternoon

he just had one float, was sitting next to the checkout counter

I asked him what he was going to do with it, he said I could take it if I wanted it.

not sure if I will ever do a 10 or 11 gallon batch. I just made it up to full boil with my 5 gallons. I would have to get a bigger boil kettle

Leadgolem · Feb 9, 2013

GrogNerd said:
just the opposite for me

was reading this thread earlier today and was going to ask my LHBS about them when I went in this afternoon

he just had one float, was sitting next to the checkout counter

I asked him what he was going to do with it, he said I could take it if I wanted it.

not sure if I will ever do a 10 or 11 gallon batch. I just made it up to full boil with my 5 gallons. I would have to get a bigger boil kettle

Or do multiple boils.

GrogNerd · Feb 10, 2013

Leadgolem said:
Or do multiple boils.

or this, yes. but then I couldn't justify getting a bigger BK

also have to consider doubling up on bottling. kegging is waaaaaaaay down the road

BetterSense · Feb 12, 2013

Have you considered insulating your 2 higher- temp vessels? I have a similar setup but with corny kegs instead of drums. I have done it with the heated keg uninsulated and can't say i've had a problem, but now i have a layer of reflective insulation wrapped around it.

Huaco · Feb 12, 2013

BetterSense said:
Have you considered insulating your 2 higher- temp vessels? I have a similar setup but with corny kegs instead of drums. I have done it with the heated keg uninsulated and can't say i've had a problem, but now i have a layer of reflective insulation wrapped around it.

Yea, I plan to place reflectix on the bottom as well as wrap each of the two other drums with it up to about the 12 gallon mark. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Huaco · Feb 12, 2013

Last night I racked my Dus Alt 11 gallons out into kegs pushing with CO2. I got it all but a little over a gallon of trub/yeast at the bottom. It ran pretty clear too. After purging the keg with CO2, it took all of about 6 minutes to push the beer to two kegs.

Oldskooler · Feb 15, 2013

Great post, you really have a fine setup.

PDX_T · Mar 19, 2013

This is pretty impressive engineering. I'm going to borrow a lot of these ideas! I'll only claim them as my own to impress girls. Girls who like homebrew gadgets.

Leadgolem · Mar 21, 2013

PDX_T said:
This is pretty impressive engineering. I'm going to borrow a lot of these ideas! I'll only claim them as my own to impress girls. Girls who like homebrew gadgets.

So, you are attempting to snare a unicorn are you?

PDX_T · Mar 21, 2013

Leadgolem said:
So, you are attempting to snare a unicorn are you?

Maybe I should name my next session wheat beer Unicorn Glue:

http://theawesomer.com/how-to-catch-a-unicorn/61786/

Navy_Chief · Apr 1, 2013

Awesome build, I have been looking for a way to maintain multiple fermentations in the same freezer.

Have you tested how much of a temperature differential you can maintain with this?

Huaco · Apr 1, 2013

I fermented an ale while running a lager schedule. Is that a wide enough spread? Lol!

Navy_Chief · Apr 1, 2013

Yep that would be plenty...

PDX_T · Dec 8, 2013

Huaco,

I've now fermented several batches using these 15 gallon carboys. I love this setup! The pressure racking system is an absolute dream. Thanks for the great design and the excellent instructions!

Taylor

Huaco · Dec 9, 2013

Glad you like it.
I'm actually moving to modified sanke fermenters. Same basic functions however all housed in 6" sanitary caps.

PDX_T · Dec 11, 2013

Huaco said:
Glad you like it. I'm actually moving to modified sanke fermenters. Same basic functions however all housed in 6" sanitary caps.

Never can stop upgrading, eh?

33 gallons of fermentation space!

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