Spike Conical- observations and best practices

[Stand]

Your adding your dry hops in your conical using the keg hop tube?

I am, yeah.

I don't do a lot of big IPAs, so for me the convenience when I do hop is worth it. I have clogged a QD once and that was enough for me.

If I was making NEIPAs I would probably try to figure something different, but for my purposes it works great.

 

[jturman35]

Gotcha, I started throwing hops in loose to get more extraction. But if your only doing smaller hopped beers I’m sure it works just fine.

 

[CodeSection]

I dont know what the temp is . My heater is set to hot temp and I cant hold my hand in the hot water . It so hot that it produces steam though . My fermenter winds up nice and shiny but the coil gets that foggy look .

If you still are having a while film after trying other processes, you may want to consider an alternative cleaner. I know you have read what I'm about to write, but it is worth repeating.

I switched to Craft Meister Alkaline Brewer Wash and am really happy with it. It is not dependent on hot water and works just as effective in cold water. Plus, it does not leave any white film.

It does cost more, but to me is totally worth since I use it also to clean my bottles using a FastWasher (that has a water temp limitation). I bought the 40lb bucket as it was the cheapest overall.

 

[Yesfan]

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a CF10. It should arrive sometime tomorrow evening. For those with the CF10, how much do you overbuild on a 10 gallon recipe?

Also, anyone with the clear 4" cap....Have you guys experienced any pressure leaking issues?

 

[Jag75]

If you still are having a while film after trying other processes, you may want to consider an alternative cleaner. I know you have read what I'm about to write, but it is worth repeating.

I switched to Craft Meister Alkaline Brewer Wash and am really happy with it. It is not dependent on hot water and works just as effective in cold water. Plus, it does not leave any white film.

It does cost more, but to me is totally worth since I use it also to clean my bottles using a FastWasher (that has a water temp limitation). I bought the 40lb bucket as it was the cheapest overall.

I'm wondering if I'm not rinsing the PBW off well enough. It's just odd because the rest of the fermenter is fine . It's just the temp coils.

 

[eric19312]

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a CF10. It should arrive sometime tomorrow evening. For those with the CF10, how much do you overbuild on a 10 gallon recipe?

Also, anyone with the clear 4" cap....Have you guys experienced any pressure leaking issues?

Yes on pressure leak with the clear cap, I now use the clear cap early and switch to the solid cap when I dry hop...once Krause is falling but still some fermentation active.

 

[CodeSection]

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a CF10. It should arrive sometime tomorrow evening. For those with the CF10, how much do you overbuild on a 10 gallon recipe?

Also, anyone with the clear 4" cap....Have you guys experienced any pressure leaking issues?

Congratulations on your new purchase! I'm sure you will be very pleased with it!

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to "overbuilding a 10 gallon recipe" per se. If you are asking how much wort do you transfer into the fermenter to produce 10 gallons of beer, that would depend upon your processes (dumping trub/yeast, waste, cold crashing, etc). I try to transfer 11.8 gallons of wort into the fermenter to produce 10 gallons of beer to bottle.

Are you using any software like Brewfather or BeerSmith?

 

[iancl]

I don't think my cooling coil, or any other part of my CF10 has ever been dry.
Process: Transfer the beer, release pressure and open it up, pull the coil, hose it off and soak in a corny filled w/ caustic cleaner, hose the vessel out, (I have one of those adjustable jet attachments that fits on the end of the hose), clean the krausen ring with One Step and a microfiber cloth, rinse again, spray the whole thing down w/ star san, disassemble and reassemble from the top down, one part at a time, soaking all the parts in sterilizer while looking for/ rinsing out gunk from the predictable areas of the racking/ sample ports and valves, give it all another spray w/ starsan, cover, and refill the days wort from the BK.
This only works if you can transfer and refill on the same day. I have found that if I need to wait an extra week or 2 for brew day, best place for the beer is in the unitank vs having a dry vessel.

 

[itsnotrequired]

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a CF10. It should arrive sometime tomorrow evening. For those with the CF10, how much do you overbuild on a 10 gallon recipe?

Also, anyone with the clear 4" cap....Have you guys experienced any pressure leaking issues?

i don't overbuild anymore than i did when i was using carboys

 

[sicktght311]

Last question i promise. Pulling the trigger shortly most likely on a CF10.

Dryhopping while using the temp control coil. Do you use the 1.5" TC port typically used for blow off and dryhop through there? I was thinking it might make sense to leave the temp control coil on the 3" triclamp through all of fermentation, and build a dryhop cannister with butterfly valve and then put the blow off plate or spunding valve on top of that. Then i just leave the butterfly valve open during fermentation and it blows off the top, close it when its time to dry hop, purge, drop the dryhops, and then leave it back to open.

Anyone doing the same? Trying to go for minimal oxygen ingress and exposure, and the less changing of Triclamp accessories during fermentation the better

 

[CodeSection]

Last question i promise. Pulling the trigger shortly most likely on a CF10.

Dryhopping while using the temp control coil. Do you use the 1.5" TC port typically used for blow off and dryhop through there? I was thinking it might make sense to leave the temp control coil on the 3" triclamp through all of fermentation, and build a dryhop cannister with butterfly valve and then put the blow off plate or spunding valve on top of that. Then i just leave the butterfly valve open during fermentation and it blows off the top, close it when its time to dry hop, purge, drop the dryhops, and then leave it back to open.

Anyone doing the same? Trying to go for minimal oxygen ingress and exposure, and the less changing of Triclamp accessories during fermentation the better

@mongoose33 debuted such a setup quite awhile ago. I believe he has posted pictures on this thread as well as in the LoDo Discussion and Techniques sub-forum.

 

[mongoose33]

People use their yeast brink to inject the mushed hops into the fermenter through the dump valve all the time. I would do it now rather than later since there is no real trub at the moment. The hops are mush now and I suspect will not drop as quickly as the pellets did when you first added them.

A question for you following the post above, about the yeast brink.

I kinda like the brink as a way to add dry hops, but the one thing I've not figured out yet with the yeast brink that my hop dropper resolves is keeping air/oxygen out of the operation.

The reason I eventually settled on the hop dropper was that I could use CO2 produced by fermentation to purge the hops and sight glass tube of air so that what dropped in was as close to oxygen-free as I could get it.

When I look at the video by Jaybird about how to use the brink to dry hop, it looks to me like there is air in there.

Am I missing something about how to use it, or is there a way to purge it completely so there's no air in with the dry hops?

I think the brink might be a more elegant way to do this than the hop dropper, but not if I can't eliminate the air.

BTW, following the above post, here's a link to the hop dropper in action:

 

[Vale71]

A question for you following the post above, about the yeast brink.

I kinda like the brink as a way to add dry hops, but the one thing I've not figured out yet with the yeast brink that my hop dropper resolves is keeping air/oxygen out of the operation.

Assuming the fermenter is pressurized you need to attach some form of blowoff to the QD. As you open the dump valve beer will be pushed in rather forcefully and vent all air through the blow off. As soon as beer starts coming out you'd detach the blowoff and attach CO2 to shoot the beer/hops mix into the fermenter.

 

[CodeSection]

A question for you following the post above, about the yeast brink.

I kinda like the brink as a way to add dry hops, but the one thing I've not figured out yet with the yeast brink that my hop dropper resolves is keeping air/oxygen out of the operation.

The reason I eventually settled on the hop dropper was that I could use CO2 produced by fermentation to purge the hops and sight glass tube of air so that what dropped in was as close to oxygen-free as I could get it.

When I look at the video by Jaybird about how to use the brink to dry hop, it looks to me like there is air in there.

Am I missing something about how to use it, or is there a way to purge it completely so there's no air in with the dry hops?

I think the brink might be a more elegant way to do this than the hop dropper, but not if I can't eliminate the air.

BTW, following the above post, here's a link to the hop dropper in action:

When you fill the sight glass with hops or whatever (spices, gelatin, etc.) and attach it to the dump valve (or in the case of spices and gelatin, the racking arm), there is obviously air in the system (90 degree elbow, perhaps the 3" to 2" adapter) and the sight glass. However, the first step you perform is to attach a QD blowoff tube that goes into Starsan. Then, when you open the dump valve (or racking arm if adding spices or gelatin) slowly and fill the sight glass to the top with wort/beer, it pushes out the O2. There will some very slight O2 left in the unit since there is probably 1/8" or 1/4" of headspace in the top portion of the sight glass and whatever is in the gas tube.

HOWEVER, once you remove the QD blowoff and attach the CO2 line, open the CO2, and then open the dump valve and inject the first time into the ferementer, all future fills and injections are completely without any O2 exposure.

It really works well and I highly recommend the Yeast Brink with the 3" sight glass.

 

[mongoose33]

When you fill the sight glass with hops or whatever (spices, gelatin, etc.) and attach it to the dump valve (or in the case of spices and gelatin, the racking arm), there is obviously air in the system (90 degree elbow, perhaps the 3" to 2" adapter) and the sight glass. However, the first step you perform is to attach a QD blowoff tube that goes into Starsan. Then, when you open the dump valve (or racking arm if adding spices or gelatin) slowly and fill the sight glass to the top with wort/beer, it pushes out the O2. There will some very slight O2 left in the unit since there is probably 1/8" or 1/4" of headspace in the top portion of the sight glass and whatever is in the gas tube.

HOWEVER, once you remove the QD blowoff and attach the CO2 line, open the CO2, and then open the dump valve and inject the first time into the ferementer, all future fills and injections are completely without any O2 exposure.

It really works well and I highly recommend the Yeast Brink with the 3" sight glass.

But with regard to future fills and injections, how do you get the hops in there without any air?

Now, this is just me trying to retain fidelity to the LODO stuff which in the case of a dry-hopped IPA is primarily to keep O2 from oxidizing hop aroma and flavor. And thus, fresh flavor longer. I'm trying to be perfect though in reality it's a goal to which I can only aspire, never quite reach.

This is not how the device from Jaybird is constructed, but I envision a brink that has two gas posts on it plus the opening for the butterfly valve. What I'd do is draw off CO2 from fermentation and feed that into the one gas post on the brink, and then allow the other post to feed a blowoff jar with star san. Thus fermentation gases would purge the brink, in which I had already placed the hops, similar to what I do with the hop dropper.

I know, I'm being a little bit overly anal here, but it seems as though the hop dropper is more effective at keeping O2 away from the beer. The hop dropper isn't without its issues--there is bridging of the hop pellets and I found that if the garage is cold during fermentation, I get condensation inside the hop dropper sight glass, which moistens the hops, makes them stickier....

<sigh>

 

[CodeSection]

But with regard to future fills and injections, how do you get the hops in there without any air?

Now, this is just me trying to retain fidelity to the LODO stuff which in the case of a dry-hopped IPA is primarily to keep O2 from oxidizing hop aroma and flavor. And thus, fresh flavor longer. I'm trying to be perfect though in reality it's a goal to which I can only aspire, never quite reach.

This is not how the device from Jaybird is constructed, but I envision a brink that has two gas posts on it plus the opening for the butterfly valve. What I'd do is draw off CO2 from fermentation and feed that into the one gas post on the brink, and then allow the other post to feed a blowoff jar with star san. Thus fermentation gases would purge the brink, in which I had already placed the hops, similar to what I do with the hop dropper.

I know, I'm being a little bit overly anal here, but it seems as though the hop dropper is more effective at keeping O2 away from the beer. The hop dropper isn't without its issues--there is bridging of the hop pellets and I found that if the garage is cold during fermentation, I get condensation inside the hop dropper sight glass, which moistens the hops, makes them stickier....

<sigh>

I have not used it to add additional hops after the first injection as I bought the 3" sight glass that can hold more. When I spoke with Jay, I believe he felt it could hold 8 oz of hops if I remember correctly. If you need to add more than what the sight glass can hold, you are correct that there will be O2 in the system since you opened it up and will have to purge the system again to eliminate practically all of it.

Your suggestion of putting two gas posts is a good one. I would think you would still have some O2 in the 90 degree elbow and adapter since they are higher than the sight glass and since CO2 is heavier than O2.

If one did not want to use the CO2 from the fermenter and wanted to use their CO2 tank, I guess you could add a PRV that to the lid instead of an extra gas post that could be used not only in purging the O2 but would be a safety feature for those that might be using a canning jar rather than a sight glass. I would think that may be more beneficial since you would not have to wait for the container to be purged from O2 by using the CO2 fermenter when opening the system and adding more hops.

 

[k-os]

A question for you following the post above, about the yeast brink.

I kinda like the brink as a way to add dry hops, but the one thing I've not figured out yet with the yeast brink that my hop dropper resolves is keeping air/oxygen out of the operation.

The reason I eventually settled on the hop dropper was that I could use CO2 produced by fermentation to purge the hops and sight glass tube of air so that what dropped in was as close to oxygen-free as I could get it.

When I look at the video by Jaybird about how to use the brink to dry hop, it looks to me like there is air in there.

Am I missing something about how to use it, or is there a way to purge it completely so there's no air in with the dry hops?

I think the brink might be a more elegant way to do this than the hop dropper, but not if I can't eliminate the air.

BTW, following the above post, here's a link to the hop dropper in action:

How are you venting during fermentation with the sight glass filled with hops? Are you just letting it build pressure or is it cracked open slightly to allow air through but not allow the hops to drop?

 

[mongoose33]

How are you venting during fermentation with the sight glass filled with hops? Are you just letting it build pressure or is it cracked open slightly to allow air through but not allow the hops to drop?

The second is what I'm doing. I'm just letting the CO2 pass through the cracked-open butterfly valve and that CO2 eventually leaves via the gas post on the manifold.

I have a CF10 but the vast majority of my brews are 5-gallons. If you did a 10-gallon brew and the krausen started to invade the sight glass on top, you'd have...well, a mell of a hess. The hops wouldn't drop, and you may go all the way to the top and even clog the prv (potentially). Never been close with 5 gallons.

You can use that CO2 produced by fermentation to purge a keg, too. A 5-gallon batch produces about a volume of CO2 (or 5 gallons) for each 2 points of gravity fermented. So if you started with a batch at 1.060, ended at 1.010, you'd produce 25 volumes of CO2. That's enough to purge a keg virtually completely of O2. So the amount of volume in the sight glass is so small that I'm chasing all the O2 out of there with CO2 produced by fermentation.

 

[mongoose33]

I have not used it to add additional hops after the first injection as I bought the 3" sight glass that can hold more. When I spoke with Jay, I believe he felt it could hold 8 oz of hops if I remember correctly. If you need to add more than what the sight glass can hold, you are correct that there will be O2 in the system since you opened it up and will have to purge the system again to eliminate practically all of it.

Your suggestion of putting two gas posts is a good one. I would think you would still have some O2 in the 90 degree elbow and adapter since they are higher than the sight glass and since CO2 is heavier than O2.

If one did not want to use the CO2 from the fermenter and wanted to use their CO2 tank, I guess you could add a PRV that to the lid instead of an extra gas post that could be used not only in purging the O2 but would be a safety feature for those that might be using a canning jar rather than a sight glass. I would think that may be more beneficial since you would not have to wait for the container to be purged from O2 by using the CO2 fermenter when opening the system and adding more hops.

I never use the 90-degree elbow, I just have the 2" sight glass under the bottom butterfly valve. I like the idea of a 3" sight glass, if my calculations are correct that's about 4x the volume of the 1.5" sight glass I have on the hop dropper.

*****

Been thinking about this a bit more, spurred on by your comments. I could take either the 3" sight glass brink, or the smaller one with the quart jar, and hook up the fermentation Co2 to the gas post. Hops inside. I could put a plastic cap on top with a pinhole in it, , or even a fitting with a gas post (I have some of those) where I could purge the hops inside the yeast brink. I'd terminate in a Star-San blowoff jar somehow.

When it came time to draw the wort into the hops, I could add about 2 psi of gas to the gas post, carefully move the brink under the butterfly valve, and let positive CO2 flow purge the area between TC and Butterfly valve.

While not perfect, I think that would be fairly close....and since I don't use the 90-degree elbow, there'd be only an inch or so of space to clear with CO2.

Hmmm......been a while since bought a piece of brewing equipment. Might be a yeast brink on my horizon....

 

[Yesfan]

Congratulations on your new purchase! I'm sure you will be very pleased with it!

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to "overbuilding a 10 gallon recipe" per se. If you are asking how much wort do you transfer into the fermenter to produce 10 gallons of beer, that would depend upon your processes (dumping trub/yeast, waste, cold crashing, etc). I try to transfer 11.8 gallons of wort into the fermenter to produce 10 gallons of beer to bottle.

Are you using any software like Brewfather or BeerSmith?

Thanks. Yes, I have Brewsmith.

I was wondering if you transfer more wort into the conical than what you would do for, in this case, two 6 gallon carboys with a 10 gallon batch. I may just shoot for 12 gallons of wort.

Sucks to hear about the clear caps leaking pressure. I may just do what @eric19312 mentioned.

Here's a pic.

 

[Yesfan]

Sorry if this question isn't on topic, but it is about the temp coils. My garage averages 55F-60F in the cooler months and around 70F-75F in the summer. My basement averages in the mid 60s year around.

I'm wondering if the temp coils and temp controller would be worth getting in the future. Could a aquarium chiller be more than good enough in this scenario? I could just brew with the seasons, but thought I'd ask in case I wanted to ferment 11 gallons of Dunkel at 55F in mid July.

 

[user 272106]

I recently got a CF5 and am currently on my first fermentation with it. I put a butterfly valve on the 1.5" opening followed by a 6" extension tube and the blow off barb on top of that. My plan is to dry hop tomorrow by:
1) closing the butterfly valve
2) dump the hops in the tube
3) put the gas manifold on where the barb was
4) pressurize to 10 psi and release/purge 3 times to remove o2
5) open the butterfly valve back up to let hops drop and quickly close once hops have dropped (guessing since not a sight glass).
6) wait a couple minutes, re-open butterfly valve.
7) leave the manifold on until time to repeat dry hop or move to keg. (for kegging, will pressure to 5psi and cold crash)

Is this not just like that video? I don't see where o2 is a concern. I don't understand the talk about a need for 2 gas posts. The stock manifold has a post and a PRV which should be sufficient to purge the o2.

 

[jturman35]

Sorry if this question isn't on topic, but it is about the temp coils. My garage averages 55F-60F in the cooler months and around 70F-75F in the summer. My basement averages in the mid 60s year around.

I'm wondering if the temp coils and temp controller would be worth getting in the future. Could a aquarium chiller be more than good enough in this scenario? I could just brew with the seasons, but thought I'd ask in case I wanted to ferment 11 gallons of Dunkel at 55F in mid July.

Answer: YES

The temp coil/temp controller paired with a home made glycol chiller was the best addition to my brewing set up. I bought a $100 window a/c unit from target and an old icechest and I hold temps within a deg in my garage even in MS summer hitting 100deg. Glycol was the best return on investment.

Right now temps range 50-30deg outside and a old heating pad works wonders keeping beer at 68-72.

 

[user 272106]

Answer: YES

The temp coil/temp controller paired with a home made glycol chiller was the best addition to my brewing set up. I bought a $100 window a/c unit from target and an old icechest and I hold temps within a deg in my garage even in MS summer hitting 100deg. Glycol was the best return on investment.

Right now temps range 50-30deg outside and a old heating pad works wonders keeping beer at 68-72.




View attachment 663504

Can you share more detail on the home made glycol chiller made from the window A/C? I've got the chiller coil and heating pad (which I was skeptical about but is maintaining 70f in my garage which is now about 42f). I can probably cold crash without issue given the time of year, but summer is where I'm worried about. A cooler full of ice water and refreshing daily is ok but a pain in the butt. The price of commercial homebrew grade glycol chillers put me off for the time being.

 

[jturman35]

Can you share more detail on the home made glycol chiller made from the window A/C? I've got the chiller coil and heating pad (which I was skeptical about but is maintaining 70f in my garage which is now about 42f). I can probably cold crash without issue given the time of year, but summer is where I'm worried about. A cooler full of ice water and refreshing daily is ok but a pain in the butt. The price of commercial homebrew grade glycol chillers put me off for the time being.

All you need is a inkbird controller and a little hands on electrical skills. I made a table to place my conical on. The chiller is mounted in a wooded box underneath the table. If you look in the pic you can see the inkbird mounted. In a nutshell the inkbird controller will replace the thermostat on the a/c unit. Your basically just using the inkbird to turn the ac on/off to a set temp. Spike sells the controller for the conical with the pump and all of the insulated lines you need. You will end up having two controllers, one for the a/c unit which is the inkbird, the second you buy from Spike which will pump the glycol from the icechest as the temp in the conical calls for it. I have learned to set my glycol chiller to about 8-10 deg below the fermenter temp that way i don't overshoot cooling the wort during fermentation. Works wonders!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/diy-glycol-chiller-super-easy.650609/

 

[Yesfan]

....The price of commercial homebrew grade glycol chillers put me off for the time being.

Me as well.

I guess the issue I'm pondering is where is the point of diminishing returns on a chiller vs price? In my situation, is it worth going to an aquarium chiller or a DIY chiller if my temps don't vary too greatly? My garage varies mid 50s in the winter to mid 70s in summer. My basement is mid 60s year around.

On the flip side, since there isn't that much variation, does that mean a chiller is more justified since it's not going to have to work so hard against ambient temps to maintain a set fermentation temperature?

 

[Jag75]

That's the link I followed to build mine ^^^^
Really good instructions

 

[Yesfan]

^^ I bookmarked the link for future reading. If it's that easy and cheap, well.....

 

[CodeSection]

I never use the 90-degree elbow, I just have the 2" sight glass under the bottom butterfly valve. I like the idea of a 3" sight glass, if my calculations are correct that's about 4x the volume of the 1.5" sight glass I have on the hop dropper.

*****

Been thinking about this a bit more, spurred on by your comments. I could take either the 3" sight glass brink, or the smaller one with the quart jar, and hook up the fermentation Co2 to the gas post. Hops inside. I could put a plastic cap on top with a pinhole in it, , or even a fitting with a gas post (I have some of those) where I could purge the hops inside the yeast brink. I'd terminate in a Star-San blowoff jar somehow.

When it came time to draw the wort into the hops, I could add about 2 psi of gas to the gas post, carefully move the brink under the butterfly valve, and let positive CO2 flow purge the area between TC and Butterfly valve.

While not perfect, I think that would be fairly close....and since I don't use the 90-degree elbow, there'd be only an inch or so of space to clear with CO2.

Hmmm......been a while since bought a piece of brewing equipment. Might be a yeast brink on my horizon....

Instead of making those changes/modifications if you are trying to purge the O2 from the area of the YB's gas line, the area at the of the sight glass (1/8" or 1/4"), and the area between the TC and butterfly valve, perhaps the steps below when using a CO2 tank could accomplish the same result without modifications to the YB:

1. Fill the sight glass or jar with hops.
2. Attach sight glass to the lid and the lid's TC valve to the butterfly valve loosely
3. Connect CO2 tube from tank to the gas line on the YB.
4. Turn on CO2 at ~3-4 psi and purge the O2 by allowing it to leak through the loose TC valve and butterfly valve connection.
5. After purging, tighten TC.

Once the above steps are performed, everything should be purged of O2 and the sight glass or jar is filled with CO2. Then you can take off CO2 line from the CO2 tank and attach the gas blowoff tube on the YB and place the blowoff in Starsan. Now you are ready to follow the steps in the earlier post. Filling...injecting...filling...injecting...

 

[Tom R]

Me as well.

I guess the issue I'm pondering is where is the point of diminishing returns on a chiller vs price? In my situation, is it worth going to an aquarium chiller or a DIY chiller if my temps don't vary too greatly? My garage varies mid 50s in the winter to mid 70s in summer. My basement is mid 60s year around.

On the flip side, since there isn't that much variation, does that mean a chiller is more justified since it's not going to have to work so hard against ambient temps to maintain a set fermentation temperature?

In addition to having control of fermenting temp, you should also consider that once you have a glycol chiller you can also very conveniently lager and cold crash.

 

[CodeSection]

Thanks. Yes, I have Brewsmith.

I was wondering if you transfer more wort into the conical than what you would do for, in this case, two 6 gallon carboys with a 10 gallon batch. I may just shoot for 12 gallons of wort.

Sucks to hear about the clear caps leaking pressure. I may just do what @eric19312 mentioned.

Here's a pic.

I would cap it at maximum of 12 gallons. Depending on the yeast and how active/aggressive the fermentation is, you very well could end up with krausen or wort running out of you blowoff tube if you exceeded 12 gallons. Granted, the CF10 holds 14 gallons and has a dome lid, but you need the headspace.

I have never, ever used the clear 4" cap as I use the cooling bundle. I never felt the need to see what was going on inside. I would just use the 4" SS and not have to open up the CF10 to change out lids.

Also, as currently being discussed, there are other methods to add hops without opening the 4" cap.

 

[CodeSection]

....In my situation, is it worth going to an aquarium chiller or a DIY chiller if my temps don't vary too greatly? My garage varies mid 50s in the winter to mid 70s in summer. My basement is mid 60s year around....

I would suggest you evaluate what your needs are now and where you anticipate your needs will be later. For me, I have been growing and refining my processes continually based upon recommendations from members here on HBT. This has been an invaluable site for me. So, when I read something new, I try to think through it and see if it applies to me now or could I see it applying in the future.

You bought the CF10 for a reason. One of the features it has is temp control which will allow you to maintain really any temps you need for fermentation. I considered an aquarium chiller at one time, but soon realized it had limitations and it would not allow me to cold crash to 32F. Why pay for something that you will quickly outgrow?

So, when you are considering a chiller, consider not only your needs now, but your needs in the future. I suspect your needs will be changing and growing...

 

[Stand]

+1 leaky clear cap. I think it is a problem with how thick it is. It is much thinner than the SS cap, and it won't hold more than a few PSI for me.

I like seeing what is going on, but I have stopped using it to avoid swapping.

 

[fatnhappy]

I just got the CF10 late November. No time to brew over the holidays so I just got to getting it set up to brew and ferment. Did a dry run with 11 gallons of water. For the life of me, I couldn’t get it to hold pressure. Could hear it coming out around the manifold. Took apart and Taped the manifold 3 times. Finally found it. Pinhole leak at the tri clamp weld on the lid

 

[CodeSection]

View attachment 663593 View attachment 663593 I just got the CF10 late November. No time to brew over the holidays so I just got to getting it set up to brew and ferment. Did a dry run with 11 gallons of water. For the life of me, I couldn’t get it to hold pressure. Could hear it coming out around the manifold. Too apart and Taped the manifold 3 times. Finally found it. Pinhole leak at the tri clamp weld on the lid

I realize you are disappointed and maybe frustrated, no worries though. Spike Brewing will correct the situation and I suspect you will receive a new lid in no time. Just reach out to them and provide the pictures as well.

 

[fatnhappy]

I did last night. I’m not worried, just disappointed.

 

[Stand]

Side by side of Clear and SS tri-clamp cap.

 

[Gozie Boy]

Me as well.

I guess the issue I'm pondering is where is the point of diminishing returns on a chiller vs price? In my situation, is it worth going to an aquarium chiller or a DIY chiller if my temps don't vary too greatly? My garage varies mid 50s in the winter to mid 70s in summer. My basement is mid 60s year around.

On the flip side, since there isn't that much variation, does that mean a chiller is more justified since it's not going to have to work so hard against ambient temps to maintain a set fermentation temperature?

+1 to the other comments about the benefits of heating and glycol cooling control for your CF10. I initially set up a simple chest ice bath pump controller, which was fine for ales. I could easily keep mid 60s, and even cold crash in the mid 50s and below if it wasn't too hot in the garage. Usually had to change out ice twice a day, which meant about 7 or so 2L bottles rotating in/out of the freezer. That was a bit of a hassle but manageable. Then I wanted more, as several of my mates only drink lager (!) and I wanted that occasionally as well. No way the ice chest will do that, unless the weather is cold. So I made the plunge for an Icemaster glycol chiller, and that was a game changer. (Even more so if you construct your own and save $$). That and a wi-fi Inkbird that lets you monitor and control temp remotely (and go on vacations during fermentation with less stress!). "Set it and forget it" across almost any temp is wonderful! I'm now about to dabble in the world of Tilt hydrometers, which will be "nice to have" but will not have the same impact of the glycol chiller and wi-fi controller, which are now essential tools for me.

 

[KyleF318is]

This thread kills it! After my last question on here with the responses about brewing a 5g batch in the CF10, I pulled the trigger on a CF10. Just getting it put together. Do you think the highest Port on the side of the conical is too high for the temperature port for 5g batches? If so what do people who brew 5g batches do for this port?

Again, thanks for everything. You guys are awesome! Cheers!

 

[CodeSection]

This thread kills it! After my last question on here with the responses about brewing a 5g batch in the CF10, I pulled the trigger on a CF10. Just getting it put together. Do you think the highest Port on the side of the conical is too high for the temperature port for 5g batches? If so what do people who brew 5g batches do for this port?

Again, thanks for everything. You guys are awesome! Cheers!

View attachment 663716

While I only brew 10 gallons batches with my CF10, that port is where you want the temp gauge. According to Spike Brewing that is at the 4.9 gallon mark. Since you are trying for a five gallon batch, I suspect your wort going into the CF10 will be at least somewhere around 5.5-6 gallons (maybe more if you are dumping yeast/trub) depending upon your recipe.

These links may be of some help....https://spikebrewing.freshdesk.com/...idths-depths-and-volumes-of-our-conical-lines

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshd...rs=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf