Well I received 2 of them yesterday and I have to send one back for a return. There's a pit on the inside where one of the foot welds breached through. The other one's fine and I'll be breaking it in with a memorial day dubbel. Hopefully all goes well.
Brew Bucket by SS Brewing Technologies
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Lazer Wolf Brewing
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My CFC only gets my wort to about 80 degrees in the summer and uses a TON of water to do so. I'm thinking about maybe chilling the wort to around 120 - 150 degrees, putting into my brewbucket, and throwing into my ferm chamber to drop it to ferm temp. Does anyone see any issues with this other than the amount of time it will take to bring the wort to temp as well as increased chance of infection? I really want to stop using so much water (i save what I can). I realize there may be some suckback but hoping that an S airlock will prevent that. Just want to make sure putting hot wort in the brewbucket is OK.
Try recirculating water from an ice bath using a submersible pump (HF type). You can use ground water to about 130° then switch over. It's very efficient & saves a lot of water.
Also fill some buckets w/ your initial hot outflow & save for cleanup.
Also fill some buckets w/ your initial hot outflow & save for cleanup.
I think you're less likely to get an infection sealed up in a ferm chamber than open to elements slowly chilling. In fact, you might want to chill to only 160F and slowly (at first) fill your SS bucket (so you don't thermal stress it too much) so that you also sterilize it. The only concern with this would be "hot side aeration". Not sure what the final verdict on that issue is, I know it was contentious awhile back but maybe just minimize splashing, etc.
So I just kegged my first beer from one of these. What a passion it was with all of the hop matter from dry hopping. I had to mess around with it the whole time and was able to get about 4.5 gallons into the keg. The rest went into a 2 liter soda bottle. Guess I have to figure out a way to keep the hop sludge down. Beer tasted great though!
brewbama
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Oldskewl
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I was gonna say the same thing. I use Hop bags from Wilserbrewer and have done some pretty large dry hops and I have never had a problem with draining the bucket
Lazer Wolf Brewing
Well-Known Member
Did you cold crash?
Did you move the spigot around to get it out of the settled material?
I thought about the hop bags, but haven't used them before. I'll cold crash the next time, but didn't have the right kind of airlock, so I didn't want any suck back from it. Moving the spigot didn't help, but I think I'll try the bags next time. Do you weigh them down with something when dry hopping, or just dangle them from the side?
You using pellets or whole flower? I've added 6oz+ if pellets and never had an issue cold crash or not. I could imagine flowers could clog the racking arm easily
Well I'm using pellets, but I was transferring directly from the bucket ball valve into the liquid out disconnect through my keg. I've never had an issue with this before, but in the past I was pushing it from a better bottle with co2. Looks like I might need to look into pressurized transfers with this too.
Lazer Wolf Brewing
Well-Known Member
I put a few sanitized glass marbles in there to weigh the bag down
I find this thread to be depressing. I've been using the same Igloo cooler for 20+ years and I loved the idea of replacing it with stainless. But this thread is convincing me to not buy one. Sigh!
I have had 4 of these basically since they came out..... I love them. Honestly, might be some of the very best money I ever spent on brewing. Like any part of home brewing, they do take some trial and error to get a process down for using them effectively and efficiently. I have ZERO problems with them.
I routinely brew IPA's that I use 6 ounces of late hops in the boil, I tend to allow them to sit and settle out with break material to minimize "gunk" that I transfer to fermenter. I brew enough to still put 5.75 gallons into fermenter. I DON'T use the little racking arm at all. I dry hop loose in the fermenter (usually 3 ounces). I move the fermenter to the counter 2 days before kegging so I am not disturbing and rousing yeast/sediment/hops. I generally rack quite clean beer into my kegs as everything tends to settle out in the cone.
*I do a second dry hop on IPA's in a dry hop keg before moving to serving keg.
Other beers are not problem at all as there is little debris left behind. Works great for collecting yeast from beers like blonde ales and light lagers to keep for repitching.
Overall though, by far one of the best purchases I have made in brewing. My guess is 100-125 batches through these easily. A few hiccups getting use to them, but no different than other gear in that way.
How do you collect the yeast? Dump it into a sanitized jar after racking the beer? Or scoop it out with some sort of sanitized spoon? I haven't started trying to save my yeast, but it eventually is something I'd like to do. Thanks!
I put six half pint mason jars and lids in a tub of star san while I am kegging. Toward the end, beer gets to spigot (no racking arm attached inside at all). I shut it off. Then, I swirl up the remaining beer and the yeast into suspension. I let it sit for a minute which allows the heaviest gunk to drop out first. Then, I just fill mason jars from the spigot (lean fermenter forward as it gets shallow) and put lids on them as you fill.... then put them in the fridge.
*I tend to plan for my yeast harvests. I brew with Conan yeast A LOT. So, I brew a blonde ale first - 1.040. 2 ounces of hops in kettle, I let trub all drop out and settle and transfer clean wort into fermenter. No dry hop. So, the yeast that drops out is quite clean. I collect 6 jars. I make a starter with each one when I want to use it. I make sure 1 of the 6 I brew another blonde and harvest another 6 jars. I don't harvest yeast from IPA's and big beers. I do the same with my lager yeast.... I start with a 1.045 type helles, harvest a few jars and go from there.
Then, I just store them in the fridge....
Lazer Wolf Brewing
Well-Known Member
I will sum up my feelings:
1. I hate the base of the BrewBucket Mini.
2. I love my Brewmaster Bucket.
3. Attaching the spigot takes a little getting used to.
4. I recommend the Brew Bucket.
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
I second this. It is a joy to clean and the FTS works very very well. Still looks as good now as it did 2+ years ago when I first got it. Had to recently replace the rubber feet, that's it.
I really would love to replace the spigot with a 3-piece, haven't seen one that fits (read, too lazy to really look very hard). The spigot is not great but not so painful as to be a show-stopper.
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
Dip tube. I had a thread on this, check it here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=575247
I think the issue I had was that my diptube was clogging and stopping the flow. I'm going to use a longer hose next time to see if I can create more suction of the siphon. I've got 2 lagers to brew next week so in a couple weeks I'll try again.
I could not see any detail in the picture.... how are you getting CO2 back into your fermenter???? What connection do you have on the lid? I really like that idea.....
I have not had very much luck at all draining from the fermenter to the keg, down the dip tube just by gravity.... so, I have just been pushing out star san from keg with CO2 and taking lid off and just draining with tubing to bottom of keg and re-purging head space at end.
Be interested to see what you have on the lid of the brew bucket to get the CO2 back in.
This has been an interesting read, I just don't know if I could justify two buckets when that cost encroaches on a 14 gal conical with a bit of saving.. I wish they had a brew bucket XL... instead of the mini.
I am hating the idea of splitting up 1/4 keg batches a lot, having to mix two separately fermented buckets or carboys, double the possibility for error.
Edit: I have a collection of sanke kegs usually have 2 x 1/4 talls in the kegerator and a 1/6 keg for large brews
I am hating the idea of splitting up 1/4 keg batches a lot, having to mix two separately fermented buckets or carboys, double the possibility for error.
Edit: I have a collection of sanke kegs usually have 2 x 1/4 talls in the kegerator and a 1/6 keg for large brews
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
I've got a gas-line ball-lock connected to a tube, that takes the displaced CO2 out of the keg, and runs it back to the top of the fermenter. There's a blow-off barb on the lid of the fermenter that allows the CO2 to flow freely back in to the fermenter. It's all gravity-fed, there is no pressure in the fermenter.
I was in the wrong thread! I was talking about the SS BrewTech mash tun.
I have two of the Brew Buckets and love them!
SpeedYellow
Well-Known Member
This closed-system racking is definitely the best way, but I don't find it worth the hassle, the CO2, or the lost beer. You lose a lot of beer since you can't open the lid, see when the beer level is low, and tilt the fermenter to get every last little bit of beer out (note that I don't use the silly little racking arms). So I just gravity-feed my beer from Brew Bucket valve into the liquid-out (dip tube) of my keg. Works great.
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
What size barb? Where did you get it? Thanks
I think it's a 5/8" ID, I'd have to look. It's the one that SS BrewTech sells on their web site, it's made to go with the brew bucket lid.
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
It's certainly a matter of great debate as to whether it's worth it, there was quite a bit of back and forth about even the smallest amount of oxygen exposure in my thread, and even moreso in the "Interesting German PDF" thread. If you get great results without it, then awesome! : ) I've found that, especially for my hoppier beers, they maintain their good flavor much longer with this method.
SpeedYellow
Well-Known Member
Regarding O2 exposure, let me just leave here a quote from Charlie Bamforth who has studied this extensively: (Beersmith podcast #74)It's certainly a matter of great debate as to whether it's worth it, there was quite a bit of back and forth about even the smallest amount of oxygen exposure in my thread, and even moreso in the "Interesting German PDF" thread. If you get great results without it, then awesome! : ) I've found that, especially for my hoppier beers, they maintain their good flavor much longer with this method.
Personally, my kegged beer NEVER warms up -- it stays at 38F typically for around a year. I'm super-sensitive to stale flavors, and have never seen it in my beers, despite my not using closed-system racking. This agrees with Bamforth's position above.
That "Interesting German PDF" is a disgrace and a disservice to the homebrewing community. It's merely a hypothesis masquerading as science, with no references and no support. Although minimizing O2 uptake is a good goal, they misunderstand the relative importance and make unsupported recommendations.
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
I don't disagree at all about keeping it at temperature, and I do the same. And I certainly won't pretend to be an expert on the effects of either temperature or O2 uptake. However, it's my understanding that there is a correlation; very cold beer would be very slow to take in the O2, whereas warm beer would be affected rather quickly. Or is that what you are stating?
My Brewmaster Bucket arrives today. Can anyone suggest a non-beer recipe for something fun and easy to ferment in it? Ginger ale, or something? Cider? Dump stuff in and wait? The rest of the beer production line is occupied right now.
milldoggy
Well-Known Member
Just picked up two this am from The542, one NIB the other used. Excited to use them. The NIB looks to be from 2014. Was there a gasket issue back then, should I order a new one? The latch is a little lose, think I will just bend it slightly to make it holder tighter
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
Absolutely can bend the latches a bit to tighten up. One trick with the gasket, is that it is much more effective if it is installed "upside down"; ie, the "concave" part of the gasket does not match into the "concave" part of the gulley in the lid... you actually flip it over so that the "concave" part of the gasket is facing outward, and makes contact with the rim of the BB. It is a bit counterintuitive, but it makes a much better seal.
ChuckS1
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Well, add me to the list of happy users. I just bottled Biermuncher's Nierra Sevada clone and I'm kicking myself for not getting it sooner. The trub stayed in the in the conical bottom and the dip tube, when horizontal, worked perfectly let me get 5 gallons of clear beer into my bottling bucket. No more screwing around with a siphon for me. If you're on the fence, just get it. You won't be sorry.
Does anyone have the brewmaster bucket and the FTSs fermentation control system? I just bought both of these and am wondering how to place the near preen cover over the brewmaster bucket as there is no hole for the temperature coupler on the brewmaster bucket. Does anyone have a workaround to this or has anyone figured out a workaround? I would hate to have to send it back, looks awesome and I want to use it just need to figure out a way to make this work.
dsniegocki
Well-Known Member
For the *bucket*, the FTS coil goes through the lid; the neoprene cover should not come into play, as it covers everything but the lid.
Silly question and I hate to ask, but you're not putting the neoprene cover over the top of the bucket, are you? It should be installed so that it covers up from the bottom, as opposed to pulling it over from the top.
Yeah I am talking about that temperature coupler that comes on the brewmaster bucket. I emailed SSBrewtech and they instructed me to make a small incision in the neoprene in order to let it poke through and slide the thermometer over the temperature coupler.
No I am putting the neoprene on the correct way. Just needed to know how to make the coupler work with the neoprene other wise I would have a hole in the bucket.
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