Mod to CF10 coil TC cap for BrewBuilt Uni+

[CDCTx]

TL;DR: I successfully drilled through the Spike CF10 coil's TC cap to add gas and liquid posts.


I thought I'd share this in case anyone has considered the same.

I bought the BrewBuilt 14g Uni+ over a year ago and have loved it. I debated between it and the Spike CF10, and I liked the floating dip tube option for the BrewBuilt (having used it on my Fermzilla Allrounder). I wanted something that could be pressurized but still affordable.

My only complaint with the BrewBuilt is the CoolStix doesn't cold crash well at all. Just not enough surface area. To be fair, it holds lager temps well, and my bottom temp matches what MoreBeer advertises about the CoolStix's ability, so it's not really a complaint. In winter, the lowest I could hit in my cool-yet-still-comfortable brewroom was 47°F, so I wanted more.

Loving my coil in my Fermzilla, I decided to give Spike's CF10 coil a try in my BrewBuilt since they both use 4" tri-clamp caps. With my house being considerably warmer now, I was able to hit 42°F. Still not quite cold crash temp range, but better. I also added a ball valve to my coil outlet to let the glycol run through slower, and the temp drop was crazy fast, but still leveled around 42°F. Maybe if I let it run over night I'll drip slightly below 40°F, but we'll see.

The downside of this route is that I lost the gas and liquid post that the CoolStix tri-clamp cap has. I considered several options with my remaining 1.5" tri-clamp, but I'm saving that for dry hopping.

So, after a few YouTube videos about drilling through steel, I gave it a go. I now have gas and liquid posts back! I'm giving my fermenter a good soak right now, and I want to get another washer and rubber gromet for the other post, but when complete, I'll give this a pressure test. I don't pressure ferment, but I do spund to the max 15 PSI so I can start partially carbonating. We'll see if this has CO2 leak issues.

 

[BeerBroSolar]

How was the pressure test? I'm planing on doing the same.

 

[CDCTx]

How was the pressure test? I'm planing on doing the same.

Oh yeah! I meant to come back with an update. No pressure issues at all. It holds 14 PSI steady at the end of fermentation.

I ended up getting a Spike CF10 as well and did this again for that fermenter. I wanted to save my lid ports for other things. Pressure holds fine there as well.

Just make sure you have a good bit set, start smaller and move up. Run the drill slowly, as letting it heat up too much can make the steel harder. But I'm happy with the mod.

 

[BeerBroSolar]

Oh yeah! I meant to come back with an update. No pressure issues at all. It holds 14 PSI steady at the end of fermentation.

I ended up getting a Spike CF10 as well and did this again for that fermenter. I wanted to save my lid ports for other things. Pressure holds fine there as well.

Just make sure you have a good bit set, start smaller and move up. Run the drill slowly, as letting it heat up too much can make the steel harder. But I'm happy with the mod.

Thank you!
Im having trouble finding other users of Brewbuilt stuff. There is a group on facebook but is like 10 people hahaha. Here in Chile, BB is one of the few brands that sale SS conical fermenters.

 

[CDCTx]

Oh, at least you have access to that then. I like the Spike CF10 a tadbit more (it's obvious that the BrewBuilt is copied from the Spike CF series), but the BrewBuilt has been very reliable. Well made, easy to clean, and just pretty.

As an another update, I added a cooling jacket around the back of the BrewBuilt as well. So my glycol goes through the coil inlet, out the outlet (with a valve so I can slow the flow), then into the jacket's inlet, out the jacket's outlet, and back to the glycol chiller. I can crash quickly to 35°F now and hold it. The pump will kick on and off rather than keep running nonstop to hold that.

 

[BeerBroSolar]

Oh, at least you have access to that then. I like the Spike CF10 a tadbit more (it's obvious that the BrewBuilt is copied from the Spike CF series), but the BrewBuilt has been very reliable. Well made, easy to clean, and just pretty.

As an another update, I added a cooling jacket around the back of the BrewBuilt as well. So my glycol goes through the coil inlet, out the outlet (with a valve so I can slow the flow), then into the jacket's inlet, out the jacket's outlet, and back to the glycol chiller. I can crash quickly to 35°F now and hold it. The pump will kick on and off rather than keep running nonstop to hold that.

Do you have pictures of the cooling jacket? Or were I can find it?

 

[CDCTx]

Do you have pictures of the cooling jacket? Or were I can find it?

I bought it from here: Conical Cooling Jacket

I didn't get any extras, just one per fermenter. I'm not sure how it does by itself with these fermenters, and I didn't test it with the CoolStix that came with the BrewBuilt, but it pairs well with the Spike cooling coil mod.

 

[DavidWood2115]

Do you also have the Spike neoprene jacket for your CF10? Does this cooling jacket fit under it?

Which pump are you using with your glycol chiller? Why is it necessary to slow down the glycol flow?

Thanks, this is super interesting.

 

[CDCTx]

Do you also have the Spike neoprene jacket for your CF10? Does this cooling jacket fit under it?

Which pump are you using with your glycol chiller? Why is it necessary to slow down the glycol flow?

Thanks, this is super interesting.

Good questions. I do have the neoprene jacket, and the linked cooling jacket does fit. Just have to stuff it down there on the back side.

I have one pump from MoreBeer and another I got from Amazon. They aren't high flow, but I wanted to slow down the flow to give the glycol more contact time. Though it was good enough without the valve (so definitely not necessary), I noticed the glycol returned very very cold still, meaning it wasn't as efficient. By slowing down the flow, the glycol has more contact time, making cooling faster and more efficient. The glycol still returns cool, but it definitely absorbs a lot of the heat from the wort/beer now.

Also, the cooling jackets have a max pressure rating. I don't think the pumps are powerful enough to reach that, but with the valve placed before the cooling jacket (on the outlet of the coil), it ensures the flow and pressure are restricted.