Anyone using a Burton Union System?

I have been thinking about making one up. There was a good write up in the 09/06 BYO
I was thinking it would work great to ferment 5 gallon batches in cornys plus you would have the added benefit of having a pile of yeast harvested when your done. Actually you could even do a 10G batch in 2 cornys with just one BUS.

I have thought of one before, but it never got built. I love the idea of having a whole fermenter full of beer and not worrying about head space. This is what I came up with using a regular beer keg as a fermenter and making a nylon connection to a piece of stainless cookware.


The green is the nylon piece I will have machined when I get ready to make this. It is clamped onto the keg opening via a #2 tri-clover clamp.


Here you can see how it works. I designed it mainly for blow-off wort recovery not yeast harvesting or removal.


Basically I am thinking that if I fill the fermenter and connected BU device to the top of the recovery tube, that I will have a more than full keg after primary is finished. When it is time to remove the BU device, I will just put a clean towel around the inside of the keg top and un-clamp the connection. For my system, I would then install the keg spear (3/4" cut off bottom) and reseal the keg. All the overflow, maybe a couple of cups will get cleaned up by the towel and then you can clean the top better after you are all sealed up. Just my version, so I thought I would share.

Nice job. I have a sanke I got with a still it has a triclover clamp and part adapter that could be welded to athe bottom of a 2.5 quart Stainless pressure cooker someone gave me. Then I could just drill and grommet the two holes in the bottom.
The only problem is I only do 5G & 10G batches.

I might be able to use some of your ideas to adapt my 5 & 10 gallon cornys. The out side already have long diptubes and a hose could be run to a disconnect & up to the BU, on the other side a disconnect to a post with the popit removed and up to the BU canister then I could use any size corny and just use the disconnects to attach the BU canister.

Here you go, this would work for your size setup.