Canning Jar Trub/Yeast Harvester for Conical

The knockout punch will make a much cleaner hole. I looked around for an appropriately sized one but couldn't find one (but I didn't look all that hard). Plus I already had step bits.

If you're going to butt your ferrule to your lid, I'd try to hunt down a punch. Otherwise you'll be spending a lot of time with a Dremel tool removing burrs that your step bit left behind. It's doable (I did it once) but it takes time.

If you pull a dimple in your lid then a step bit is fine. You'll still need to clean up the big burrs, but having a little dimple that the bit leaves behind is actually useful.

Good luck!

Pliny,

Thanks so much for all the info you've provided on your brilliant creation!

After measuring the ID of the ferrule, it appears that a 1 3/8" knock out punch would create the correct hole size for the lids with the ferrule butted to it. But...yikes, $82 for three holes!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002NQX006/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The Greenlee step bit of this size is $57 so some, but not much, relief from the cost of the knock out punch.

Wondering if the el cheapo Harbor Freight set for $25 has a 1 3/8" punch in the set? And if it would be robust enough to do the job? HF doesn't list the sizes though.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

JB,

Be careful if you order a punch - a 1-3/8" punch will make a hole much larger than 1-3/8". I don't know what size punch is needed to make a hole of the size that you need. I think that the punch size is related to the size of conduit that is being used in panels along with the attachment hardware. So, don't go by the advertised punch size - you'll regret it.

I used step bits from Harbor Freight. Pretty cheap but they got the job done. I did use copious amounts of oil to keep the heat down. I just used motor oil - not fancy cutting oil. It still gets hot. Just back off once in a while to let things cool down and you'll be fine.

Cheers!

JB,

I scratched around a little and found a punch size that will give a hole size close to 1-3/8". The punch size is 1" and it makes a hole 1.362" in diameter - close to the 1.375 that you want. Here is where I found that info:
http://m.grainger.com/mobile/product/GREENLEE-Punch-4A738

I wouldn't buy from there - $90+ is way too high! Try Harbor Freight. They sell a set for about $25 (I think). I'm sure it is not Greenlee quality, but if you're only going to punch a few holes, it's probably good enough. Just make sure the set has a 1" punch. Heck, you could even take a peak at the set and measure the diameter of the die to verify.

Good luck!

Of course the other option is to use a sanitary sight glass. Which are normally really bloody expensive, but can be had on ebay rather cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271508732911

Pliny and Uber,

Thanks for the suggestions. I erred when I wrote "1 3/8" knock out punch". I should have written "knock out punch to make a 1 3/8" hole". Thanks Pliny for reminding me about that.

I'm tempted to go the Harbor Freight route for the $25 punch set and hope there's a size in the set that will be close.

The nice thing about the mason jar approach is that once you harvest, just swap the lid and done. I suppose using the sight glass option (ala Morebeer's one) you can just pour it into a cleaned and sanitized mason jar, but then it kinda defeats the purpose of keeping everything as sealed as possible. But jeebus, it's a lot of wonga and work for a mason jar lid!

The Harbor Freight kit does indeed come with a 1" punch, which should take care of this, though.

Ubermick,

I gotta say, had I seen sight glasses at those prices when I had this idea, I may have just picked up a sight glass. Awesome deals there - I'll have to go back and see what other kind of shiny things I need.

I will say that if one wanted just the original concept - a ferrule soldered to a lid - that's cheaper and more versatile than a sight glass. You can easily swap out jars and even use different sizes. With the sight glass, you still have to buy a cap and a clamp to close it off. But those prices are awesome!

But for the lid with the in and out posts, you are correct - it's a lot of money to lay out for a mason jar lid. The work I didn't mind. It was kind of fun to figure out.

Now that it's done, I think it'll come in handy. I make west coast style IPAs almost exclusively. This expensive lid allows me to minimize (nearly eliminate) exposure to oxygen during yeast harvesting and other conical chores.

Pliny

Nothing wrong with that at all! In fact, even though I went an ordered a sight glass, and the other parts from Derrin to basically make a Morebeer harvester, I also ordered a pack of lids from Ecojarz, haha. Think I'll give it a crack... but probably next month, since with a BrewPi too, I've already blown my beer budget (and then some!) for the month.

Just purchased a used knock out punch from Ebay for $25 after the seller assured me that it makes a 1 3/8" hole. Comes with the original box and is said to be in excellent working condition. Now I have all the parts and will soon make my first attempt at silver soldering. Thanks again Pliny and Ubermick for all the advice.

A knock out punch does make a perfect hole. They are expensive though. I just used a bi metal hole saw.

A 2.5" tri clover fitting does fit perfectly as a cap for a wide mouth mason jar. I ordered a flat cap from Brewers hardware to test it. My point is, a 2.5" to 1.5" (or whatever size you use) reducer would be perfect and we wouldn't have to do any soldering or welding. The problem is I can't find one for a decent price anywhere. If any of you find a source for a 2.5" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducer I'd be very appreciative.

By the way, the 2" tri clover is the correct diameter for a regular mouth mason jar, but they are way too thick to screw the band down. I bought a 2" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducer from Brewers hardware for $15 I think to test this out. I did eventually get it to work by grinding it down on my bench grinder but it is rough and still very hard to get the band to screw down. You wouldn't think it but a regular mouth jar has a lot less play than a wide mouth jar.

Artifishal said:

A knock out punch does make a perfect hole. They are expensive though. I just used a bi metal hole saw.

A 2.5" tri clover fitting does fit perfectly as a cap for a wide mouth mason jar. I ordered a flat cap from Brewers hardware to test it. My point is, a 2.5" to 1.5" (or whatever size you use) reducer would be perfect and we wouldn't have to do any soldering or welding. The problem is I can't find one for a decent price anywhere. If any of you find a source for a 2.5" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducer I'd be very appreciative.

By the way, the 2" tri clover is the correct diameter for a regular mouth mason jar, but they are way too thick to screw the band down. I bought a 2" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducer from Brewers hardware for $15 I think to test this out. I did eventually get it to work by grinding it down on my bench grinder but it is rough and still very hard to get the band to screw down. You wouldn't think it but a regular mouth jar has a lot less play than a wide mouth jar.

Click to expand...

Awesome Thread! did you find any 2.5" to 1.5" trip clover cap reducers? or have you come up with a work around?

Any new genius ideas to this setup?

Doublej0305 said:

Awesome Thread! did you find any 2.5" to 1.5" trip clover cap reducers? or have you come up with a work around?



Any new genius ideas to this setup?

Click to expand...

No new ideas from me. I got what I was looking for with the lid fitted with gas-in and liquid-out posts.

I did see that the ecojarz place does sell stainless steel bands. So, in theory, one could make an extra thick band to hold a ferrule to a jar. That would be a chore though.

I picked up some stainless steel wide mouth bands from Ecojarz- they had a 30% off sale going a few weeks ago. The bands are deeper than regular bands by a little bit. It's not by much but it's enough to make a big difference. So if anybody went to the effort of making one of these lids or went to the trouble of thinning out a reducer, then an Ecojarz band would make things a bit easier.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450041601.576687.jpg

Ecojarz stainless band in the right.

Cheers!

Pliny, are those wide or regular? They are running a 20% off sale now through Wednesday night.

I use the wide mouth ones but there was that issue of not being able to find a 2.5" to 1.5" reducer.

If those are regular then they might make it doable.

They have both but I bought the wide mouth for my needs. It's my guess that the regular bands are also slightly taller.

Thanks. I ordered a regular. It might work with the 1.5" to 2" reducing cap. I'll keep u posted.

Artifishal said:

A knock out punch does make a perfect hole. They are expensive though. I just used a bi metal hole saw.

A 2.5" tri clover fitting does fit perfectly as a cap for a wide mouth mason jar. I ordered a flat cap from Brewers hardware to test it. My point is, a 2.5" to 1.5" (or whatever size you use) reducer would be perfect and we wouldn't have to do any soldering or welding. The problem is I can't find one for a decent price anywhere. If any of you find a source for a 2.5" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducer I'd be very appreciative.

By the way, the 2" tri clover is the correct diameter for a regular mouth mason jar, but they are way too thick to screw the band down. I bought a 2" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducer from Brewers hardware for $15 I think to test this out. I did eventually get it to work by grinding it down on my bench grinder but it is rough and still very hard to get the band to screw down. You wouldn't think it but a regular mouth jar has a lot less play than a wide mouth jar.

Click to expand...

Artifishal - What are you using as the gasket for the 2.5" tri clover fitting as a cap?

I'm planning my conical build and even though I've silver soldered before I'd rather avoid it if possible.

Here's my plan, in order, top down. Let me know if you guys see any issues with this plan.

15 Gal Full Drain Ace Plastic Conical Tank with 2" Male threaded outlet
2" Full Port Banjo Ball Valve
2.5" MPT to 2.5" Tri clover adapter
Ecojarz Wide Mouth Stainless Band
...some kind of rubber gasket...???
Glass Mason Jar

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450958644.926950.jpg

Three issues I see. If you start with a 2" full drain tank you will need a 2" to 2.5" reducer. You will need a full flow butterfly valve in there too (so it is not clogged with grub and yeast cake). 2" valves are a lot more expensive than 1.5" valves.

If you plan to go straight from conical to jar with no valve you will need a racking/sample valve up higher and the only value your jar will serve is as a sight jar, which in my opinion is not as accurate as I had originally thought. Now having more experience with this set up, the clarity of the beer in the jar is always way cloudier than the clarity of the beer up above in the cone.

Does this make sense?

Thanks Artifishal. I definitely want a valve so I can harvest several jars throughout fermentation. Here's a link to the valve I was thinking about buying. It's ball not butterfly but is full port so hoping that will be enough width to allow trub & yeast to pass through. Plus I should be able to take it apart to clean.

http://agrimart.net/2-full-port-poly-6-bolted-ball-valve-v200fp/

Here is the 2.5" tri-clover to 2" male npt adapter that will connect below the valve and hopefully screw on to the jar. Do you think the shape/slope of the tri-clover impede the jar band?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/161917251123?_mwBanner=1

camcdonald1 said:

Thanks Artifishal. I definitely want a valve so I can harvest several jars throughout fermentation. Here's a link to the valve I was thinking about buying. It's ball not butterfly but is full port so hoping that will be enough width to allow trub & yeast to pass through. Plus I should be able to take it apart to clean.

http://agrimart.net/2-full-port-poly-6-bolted-ball-valve-v200fp/

Here is the 2.5" tri-clover to 2" male npt adapter that will connect below the valve and hopefully screw on to the jar. Do you think the shape/slope of the tri-clover impede the jar band?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/161917251123?_mwBanner=1

Click to expand...

I might have a 2.5" tc to 2" npt adapter at home that I misordered and a 2.5" valve if you are interested just let me know and I will check. I definitely have a spare 2" valve if you want to go that way.

WPStrassburg that would be awesome. Could you send pictures of the adapter and the 2" valve? I don't think I'll need a 2.5" valve.

camcdonald1 said:

Thanks Artifishal. I definitely want a valve so I can harvest several jars throughout fermentation. Here's a link to the valve I was thinking about buying. It's ball not butterfly but is full port so hoping that will be enough width to allow trub & yeast to pass through. Plus I should be able to take it apart to clean.

http://agrimart.net/2-full-port-poly-6-bolted-ball-valve-v200fp/

Here is the 2.5" tri-clover to 2" male npt adapter that will connect below the valve and hopefully screw on to the jar. Do you think the shape/slope of the tri-clover impede the jar band?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/161917251123?_mwBanner=1

Click to expand...

That should work. I bet you get tired of cleaning off the Teflon tape and switch to a ss butterfly valve shortly though.

So I tried to make one of these and failed. I tried with a hole saw and a used green lee punch, I'm guessing it was pretty dull. I decided to cut my losses and ask for help. I heard Jaybird would make custom fittings so I shot him a PM. He said he would give it a go and I sent him my remaining Eco-jarz lids. He couldn't make them work but had custom lids fabricated from 1.5" tri-clamp to wide mouth mason jar and man are these sexy. Here's the link: http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Tri-Clover-Canning-Jar-Harvester.html. The welds are beautiful and I cant wait to use them. I get no profit from this just thought for those of us that aren't to metal savvy it was a great option for a great price.

@PlinyTheMiddleAged

Thanks for the PM! I am all for your deal! I will 100% live up to that. Only 999,800 to go! LOL

I really like the addition of the Gas in and Beer out connections. That is KILLER! I think I may need to play around with that as well.

Here are the links to the kits we put up on the site. Check em out and tell me what you think.

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Tri-Clover-Canning-Jar-Harvester.html

and for the entire kit without the jars.

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Ultimate-Tri-Clover-Canning-Jar-Yeast-Harvester.html

The lids I laser cut in house out of 18 ga SS. So I might have to do a few runs to where I can add NPT fittings on there as well. You are an inspiration my friend!

I cant wait to buy you that beer! Wish me luck!

Cheers
Jay

Toejam792 said:

So I tried to make one of these and failed. I tried with a hole saw and a used green lee punch, I'm guessing it was pretty dull. I decided to cut my losses and ask for help. I heard Jaybird would make custom fittings so I shot him a PM. He said he would give it a go and I sent him my remaining Eco-jarz lids. He couldn't make them work but had custom lids fabricated from 1.5" tri-clamp to wide mouth mason jar and man are these sexy. Here's the link: http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Tri-Clover-Canning-Jar-Harvester.html. The welds are beautiful and I cant wait to use them. I get no profit from this just thought for those of us that aren't to metal savvy it was a great option for a great price.

Click to expand...

It was an absolute pleasure! I LOVE to see a plan come together!

Cheers
Jay

Jay,

Those are sweet! Much prettier welds than my crappy soldering.

To the folks buying these yeast harvesters - I added gas-in and liquid-out posts to my lid. I did this so that I could fill a jar with Star-San, attach it to the conical, and push the Star-San out under CO2. That way, I could harvest yeast without introducing oxygen.

A simpler method would be the following: with Jay's lid loosely attached to the jar, clamp the jar/lid to your conical. Open the valve to dump yeast. Having the lid loose will let the yeast force the air out of the jar without bubbling up through the conical. When the jar is filled, close the valve, tighten the lid, and either open the valve to let more yeast settle in or just remove the jar.

I found that if I didn't have a way to vent the jar, the yeast flowed in really slowly. As soon as I vent, I get a jar full of clean yeast.

The other thing that I do with this rig is to attach it (sealed up nice and tight) to the conical prior to filling with wort. Then I dump in the wort and let the jar fill with trub. After the jar is full, close the valve, remove the jar, and pitch yeast. This keeps the cone of the conical fairly clear of non-beer junk which makes for an easier transfer to my kegs.

Cheers all!

Removed my post as I believe I should post this elsewhere.