$49.95 Stainless fermenter

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runhard

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Here is my keg conversion fermenter with racking arm assembly. A friend at work pick up 3 kegs for me out of someone's trash; can't beat free. These were beat up pretty good but not so much to be used a kettles and a cheap fermenter. I posted and gave two away to a fellow homebrewer who lives about 100 miles away and he and his wife drove up and picked them up. They'll make good kettles for him and since they were free to me I gave them to him. I hope the next time I visit his city I can have a homebrew. I cut a 9 inch hole in the top and fashioned a lid out of acrylic and gasket out of rubber so I can see the krausen fall or harvest some yeast from the top if my racking assembly won't work. The only thing I paid for was the $49.95 racking assembly which I should have just made; the quality isn't superb for sure and I probably could've made something as functional for about half that. Oh well, lesson learned. I need to add a ball lock so that I can add a little pressure to aid in racking or harvesting the yeast but I'm 90% done. I'll pressure test it today after the ball lock addition but so far it at least holds as much pressure as I can force into it with my lungs. It should work
fermenter take 1.jpg
 
Looks good. Can you tell me more about how the lid fixes/ seals to the keg.
What's the racking assembly?
I'm thinking about doing something similar. I have a few spare kegs.
 
I've got 3 virgin kegs and I am trying to figure out if this is a good thing to do. I was going to do the same thing you did, but I am starting to change my mind.

A Sanke keg is too large for a 5-6 gallon batch. So it would only be used for double batches.

I can see a Sanke keg being the right size for being a primary fermentor for 12-13 gallon double batches. But it won't be good as a secondary fermentor for the same. By the time you rack it off, you'll have 12 gallons of beer in a 15.5 gallon fermentor and I feel that is too much headspace.

And as far as it being a good primary fermentor, I already use plastic pails and they work great for that. They can be equipped with the same racking valve. They are easy to clean and sanitize, they are much easier to store, are less expensive, they are easier to move when full and easier to fit into a deep freeze lager chamber.

So I guess I am undecided about using Sanke kegs for fermentors.

Anyone want to buy some kegs ?
 
I'm thinking of turning them upside down and using the dipp tube turned up side dow and re-inserted so I can use them as a conical type fermenter. at the top I was going to cut a corni keg top shape hole and using a corni lid.
 
EDIT: I THINK the bottom would be too flat. The yeast wouldn't collect and you'd have to rack anyway.

I'd like to know more about the racking valve. I was going to use Better Bottle racking valves in my plastic pails, but if there is something better, I'd like to know.
 
The simples way is in a carboy with a cap, racking tube and a quick squirt of CO2. I reckon that is the simples quickest cheapest way to do it.
 
Conditioning after ferment in multiple glass carboys is what I had in mind, although I don't see why you couldn't use another Sanke keg. Two six gallon or 6.5 gallon carboys would do the trick for a 13 gallon brew minus trub losses.

I agree on the multiple carboys for the secondaries. I'll be using Better Bottles.

I disagree on using a Sanke keg for the secondary for 12 gallons of beer. There would be too much headspace and it would oxidize.

I have changed my find on Sankes as primary fermentors. I just measured my plastic pails and they are about the same overall diameter as the Sanke kegs. The plastic pails have a 1" lip on them and thus they take more room than the Sankes. The kegs are taller. I could fit one keg with 12-13 gallons of beer in just about the same space that a plastic pail would take.

I'm going to cut one and try it as a primary fermentor. A medium to large sized deep freeze would make an excellent lagering chamber. One could fit 2 Sanke kegs (24 gallons of beer) plus carboys and serving kegs in it. And they are cheap if you buy them used.

Note that if you can pressurize the keg, then you can void the oxygen out of it easily with C02 so headspace would be irrelevant. Actually, nitrogen would probably work best for that purpose.

I guess you could do that. I'm not 100% certain that gets rid of all the O2. Add a touch of sugar to the brew or racking before its done fermentation and it will self purge.


I am going to leave off the racking valve, so that they fit in the deep freeze better. One could make a lid with a port for a racking cane and force a little air/CO2 in to start the flow. I do that with my Better Bottles now. It works great.
 
orfy said:
Looks good. Can you tell me more about how the lid fixes/ seals to the keg.
As far as the lid, I have two small square tube bars that run across the lid on either side of the air trap and fit through the keg handles. I drilled two holes in each bar and added threads so that I can tighten the bolts and add a little pressure to the acrylic lid. I placed a cut out square piece of steel around the air lock that allows me to add pressure at four points. I surmise wood might work as well.
orfy said:
What's the racking assembly?
I bought the racking assembly from Austin Homebrew supply. It is design for conicals but works for this application. It allows one to move the siphon tube to a level to either remove the yeast and trub or siphon off beer without disturbing the trub and yeast sediment. I believe that Yuri has a picture of the racking arm on his thread about his conical. I need to rack an ale to kegs but when I'm done I'll post a picture of the assembly. I'm kicking myself for spending the money as I think I could've fashioned one very similar for about 1/2 the price by just ordering parts from McMaster-Carr or even making one out of CPVC.

Someone asked about headspace. As far as too much head space, I do 10-12 gallon batches and I'm not too concerned. If I purge with CO2 or N2 I'll be fine. I also plan to try my hand at siphoning off the trub with the assembly. If it doesn't work then I'll add a valve to the bottom and drain what trub and yeast I can. I know it isn't as nice as a conical but it will do for me.

So far my investment is about 2 hours and the racking assembly for $49.95 US. I should have made something on my own. Live and learn, right?

I like your idea of flipping the keg upside down. I saw a website where a guy did that. If i can locate his page again I'll send you the link as he had a couple of pointers on using the Sanke valve for a dumping valve.

If this works then maybe I won't be whining about a conical so much.
Jeffrey
 
brewman ! said:
I disagree on using a Sanke keg for the secondary for 12 gallons of beer. There would be too much headspace and it would oxidize.
Just curious about this headspace thing -

CO2 is heavier than oxygen, right? Seems to me that once the blanket of CO2 produced by the fermentation is created, it should make little if any difference if there is 3 inches of headspace or 3 feet of it. So long as the space above the beer isn't disturbed by opening and closing the lid to check on it every hour...

I remember reading somewhere that guys have used the 14 gallon Blichmann fermenters for 5 gal batches and 10 gal batches with no problems. You'd think the headspace issue would pop up there.
 
DrewsBrews said:
Just curious about this headspace thing -

CO2 is heavier than oxygen, right? Seems to me that once the blanket of CO2 produced by the fermentation is created, it should make little if any difference if there is 3 inches of headspace or 3 feet of it..

Yea, a blanket of Co2 will sit on top of the beer. And in a couple days the CO2 will purge out everything else. You should be fine as long as you avoid spashing
 
How much CO2 by volume does 5 gallon of beer produce when feremnting. I'd guess hell of a lot more than 5 gallon at standard pressure and temperature.
My brew''s bubbling at 3 bubbles per second through a blow off tube. If a bubble is on cc then thats 3cc per second or 180cc per minute. 1.8L per hour

That's 5 gallon in 12 hours if my math is right.
Regardless of that, I purge with CO2 before racking anyway.
 
Hello Orfy,
I finished all that I had planned today so I took a picture of the racking arm assembly that I purchased from Austin Homebrew Supply and installed in my lost cost fermenter. I need to bend it but hesitant to try. I think that this will work great for a primary at least and I have an idea for a valve in the bottom that will rotate and allow me to remove the trub. I'll draw a picture and post so that others can comment on the design and hopefully point out flaws. racking arm assembly.jpg
 
beer4breakfast said:
What racking arm did you use? How is the acrylic lid and rubber gasket secured? What are you planning for your first fermentation in it?
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=10155 is the link to my LHBS but they haven't loaded a picture. I can take it out of my fermenter and take a picture if you like. Let me know. I'm not too impressed with the assembly. I'll make something for my next one and save the 49 quid.
Jeffrey
 
CO2 is heavier than oxygen, right? Seems to me that once the blanket of CO2 produced by the fermentation is created, it should make little if any difference if there is 3 inches of headspace or 3 feet of it. So long as the space above the beer isn't disturbed by opening and closing the lid to check on it every hour...

I don't think gases work like liquids, that is why I said I am leery about the whole pre injecting CO2 thing. Gasses mix. Rather than the beer being protected by a layer of CO2, I think the whole headspace needs to purge of O2 and that is generally done by the CO2 emitted during fermentation or if the chamber is purged beforehand. But purged, not blow in a bit and hope the CO2 and O2 stratify and the CO2 sits over the beer, below the layer of O2.

I remember reading somewhere that guys have used the 14 gallon Blichmann fermenters for 5 gal batches and 10 gal batches with no problems. You'd think the headspace issue would pop up there.

That is totally different. During primary fermentation so much CO2 is evolved that it purges whatever O2 is in the container. After a day of fermentation, the entire headspace of the conical has been purged several times. And once its full of CO2, its never exposed to O2 again.
 
I wasn't able to brew yet, my Vizsla had emergency surgery and hopefully gets to come home today, but I did complete the final touches to the fermenter. I added 6 psi to the keg and left it for the week. I went out this morning and it still had pressure. So I'm not worried about any oxidation of the beer but I do wonder if the racking arm will remove any trub and yeast and allow me to use this as a secondary as well. If not I'll simply use this for a primary and I'll rack to two glass carboys. I'd like to get better bottles but after the pups surgery money will be tight for awhile. I'll keep anyone posted on how it turns out if interested.
Cheers All,
Jeffrey
A friend asked, "Can you brew me a LoneStar clone?" That's a Texas Megaswill for those outside of Texas. I told him,........uh why would I!
 
Not as nice as a conical but for $49.95 and a little time this fermenter is working well. I have my second batch in it right now and I certainly can't complain about how it has worked so far. Just thought I'd keep any interested parties up to date.
Jeffrey
 
brewman ! said:
I don't think gases work like liquids, that is why I said I am leery about the whole pre injecting CO2 thing. Gasses mix. Rather than the beer being protected by a layer of CO2, I think the whole headspace needs to purge of O2 and that is generally done by the CO2 emitted during fermentation or if the chamber is purged beforehand. But purged, not blow in a bit and hope the CO2 and O2 stratify and the CO2 sits over the beer, below the layer of O2.

You can purge it with co2 if you want and the co2, as long as you are not taking the lid off and on all the time, will "blanket" the top of your brew, at that point, headspace means nothing really because your headspace is the co2 blanket. The co2 and the o2 won't mix unless you have the "air" in the vessel circulating, that's why you need to leave the lid alone once your done.

Look into "open fermenters", many German breweries use them to this day. The room they are in is set up so as little air flow as possible so the blanket of co2 doesn't just blow away. "Sealing" a fermenter, IMO, just came about as a way to keep "hard" stuff out of the beer. If it's "sealed", you need not worry about airflow "disturbing" the co2 blanket and you can put them anywhere, airflow at that point doesn't matter.
 
Looks cool!

How did you add pressure? Do you have a pic of it pressurized with the top bolted on?


And how did the arm work out for you?
 
beer4breakfast said:
Yeah, I'm curious about the pressurization too Jeffrey, because I've got a keg destined for fermenterhood just waiting to be circumcised. I want to make it as leakproof as possible. I'm not sure yet if I'll add a racking arm at first, but I'm interested in how you secure the acrylic lid for a good tight seal.

100% seal is not really necessary, there is no real reason for it except to keep foreign material (and critters) out. Use something to clamp the acrylic down and keep it from falling off and it would be fine.

Pressurization? There is no need to preasurize a fermenter. Just a way for excess gas to escape, the layer of co2 is the protection layer keeping o2 out of the beer. You just need a way for the extra to escape. During the fermentation, co2 should purge all other gases out of the vessel... unless you have way too much headspace.
 
The racking arm worked out well. I added a ball-lock so that I can add pressure to assist the racking and the harvesting of yeast. Harvesting the yeast doesn't work as well as I'd like but that is partly due to the small diameter of the racking assembly. So far the gasket will hold pressure up to 11 psi before failing but so far I've not need more than a few psi to yeast harvest. It was cheap to make, works well but I still like the ease of the conicals for trub removal and yeast farming.
 
I was just given two kegs and I would like to do something like you have here.
But I was thinking of turning it upside down. Thanks for all the pics and info. It's given me a good place to start. :mug:
 
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