Bought a 15 gal fully draining Ace Rotomold "inductor tank" from www.spraysmarter.com for $63 deliver to Georgia. Couldn't resist! Ordered Monday, here Wednesday, good communications from Landry.
The first order of business is to build the dump/racking valves. I'm thinking of a little different appraoch in that I'm not going to add a racking valve to the tank by drilling/bulkhead etc. at the bottom of the tank.
Instead, I'm going to build as the following pics show, but before I do, looking for any feedback both pro and con.
The pictures are upside down sitting on my bench, but the idea is this. There is a reducer from 1-1/2" FPT tank threads to 1-1/4" PVC. Ive installed a 1-1/4" PVC tee directly below the tank with a 3/8" ball valve for racking/sampling. Below that is 1" ball valve for dumping/collecting. There is about 6 oz of volume below the racking valve and above the dump valve that will be lost when transfering to the cornies.
I'll use the dump valve in a traditional way making several trub/yeast dumps over the course of the fermentation (making sure the small racking valve doesn't get clogged by "bleeding" it), and would expect that at the end of fermentation, there would only be a minimal amount of yeast left on the top on the dump valve's ball. Now all I have to do is open the racking valve to transfer clear beer to the corny. Chose a 3/8" for the racking to force a slow flow rate as to not disturb any risidual yeast, and I expect to loose the volume between the bottom of the racking valve and the dump valve.
A few other thoughts...
1. Painting the outside - Has anyone painted these to reduce light infiltration? I was going to mask off the graduations at to be able to see the contents/volume and paint a nice color. I'm mostly concerned about an off flavor permeating the plastic and tainting the beer. Would this go away with time/soaking?
2. Thoughts on how to get that plastic odor out? Soak? With what?? Water? Star San? PBW?
3. PVC Cement - Is the purple primer/ clear cement OK to use? Is there another cement to use. I've always used this stuff for drain pipe, never potable water, but no indications on the lables. I think the medical word would call this an "off lable" application.
Have at it! Thanks.
The first order of business is to build the dump/racking valves. I'm thinking of a little different appraoch in that I'm not going to add a racking valve to the tank by drilling/bulkhead etc. at the bottom of the tank.
Instead, I'm going to build as the following pics show, but before I do, looking for any feedback both pro and con.
The pictures are upside down sitting on my bench, but the idea is this. There is a reducer from 1-1/2" FPT tank threads to 1-1/4" PVC. Ive installed a 1-1/4" PVC tee directly below the tank with a 3/8" ball valve for racking/sampling. Below that is 1" ball valve for dumping/collecting. There is about 6 oz of volume below the racking valve and above the dump valve that will be lost when transfering to the cornies.
I'll use the dump valve in a traditional way making several trub/yeast dumps over the course of the fermentation (making sure the small racking valve doesn't get clogged by "bleeding" it), and would expect that at the end of fermentation, there would only be a minimal amount of yeast left on the top on the dump valve's ball. Now all I have to do is open the racking valve to transfer clear beer to the corny. Chose a 3/8" for the racking to force a slow flow rate as to not disturb any risidual yeast, and I expect to loose the volume between the bottom of the racking valve and the dump valve.
A few other thoughts...
1. Painting the outside - Has anyone painted these to reduce light infiltration? I was going to mask off the graduations at to be able to see the contents/volume and paint a nice color. I'm mostly concerned about an off flavor permeating the plastic and tainting the beer. Would this go away with time/soaking?
2. Thoughts on how to get that plastic odor out? Soak? With what?? Water? Star San? PBW?
3. PVC Cement - Is the purple primer/ clear cement OK to use? Is there another cement to use. I've always used this stuff for drain pipe, never potable water, but no indications on the lables. I think the medical word would call this an "off lable" application.
Have at it! Thanks.