The Brewhemoth - mega picture thread

[nostalgia]

My Brewhemoth takes a dump.



-Joe

 

[ThickHead]

Yup. That pretty much beats the hell outta using a thief!

And racking gear....and lifting heavy carboys, etc.

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Just need to get a stopper for the airlock and I am good to go.

 

[nostalgia]

That's weird. I don't see my videos any more. Are they gone for you guys too?

-Joe

 

[ThickHead]

Are they gone for you guys too?

Yes.

 

[nostalgia]

Yes.

Bizarre.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXfIiiExnaE]Brewhemoth conical fermenter setup 22 gallon homebrew - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8_lzCFepw]First trub/yeast dump from the new conical fermenter! - YouTube[/ame]

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

I can't imagine what happened...I just went back, clicked 'edit' and 'save' on the posts without changing anything, and the videos came back. Wacky.

-Joe

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Day 1 after about 3 hours

Day 2 about about 3 more hours!

 

[nostalgia]

That is so...shiny

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

Some updates:

To push the beer out with CO2, I made this little adapter. I use 1/4" MFL on my quick connects, so all I needed was a 1/4" MFL to 1/4" NPT adapter, a 1/4" NPT to 1/2" NPT bushing, and a 1" tri-clamp to 1/2" NPT fitting (which I already had).

It won't hold gas for carbonating, but I'm looking into a check valve for that. This will at least let me push the beer out. Which will come in handy soon, since this beer is going into a barrel whose opening will be well above the racking port.


Next up was the quick connects for the chiller. I grabbed some air line fittings that are all 1/4" NPT. Then a 1/4" compression to 1/4" NPT fitting for the chiller lines, a 1/2" barb to 1/2" female NPT plastic fitting, and another 1/4" to 1/2" NPT bushing.

Now I've got to figure out what I did with my 1/2" tubing I wanted to use 1/2" all the way up to the chiller to have as little backpressure in the lines as possible.

Before:

After:

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

Perfect! McMaster-Carr has 1/4" MPT to 1/4" FPT check valves for < $10.

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

Coupla more random shots for you. Our club - NJHOPZ - did a big barrel brew. I combined 10 gallon batches with a buddy and fermented about 21 gallons in my Brewhemoth. Transferring to the barrel was so easy, it was silly. Hooked up the hose, opened the valve, drank beer.

Then the question became: how do we kill the bugs from the Roeselare blend? Boil 'em to death! I used the basket from my turkey fryer to soak anything stainless, silicone or rubber in my boil kettle for at least a half hour. I also recirculated boiling water through the Brewhemoth the whole time, spraying the walls down (have a pic of that somewhere too).

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

Grabbed the 360 degree rotating spray ball from McMaster. Going to solder the pipe nipple into the cap with the chiller. That way I can clean and sanitize everything at once instead of having to clean and sanitize the chiller separately.

It's good up to 190F. Now I have to get a good pump to go with it.

-Joe

 

[pickles]

how much does that bad boy cost?

 

[nostalgia]

$50, and I think $6 for the long nipple.

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

Started some mods on the chiller and cap today. I had a machinist friend drill a hole for a 1/2" long nipple. Then, taking my cue from Shockerengr, I cut off the top leg of the coil (diamond wheel in my grinder), then ground it flat with a stone.

Then I broke it free by drilling down with a 1/4" cobalt drill bit. The cobalt cuts through the stainless like butter.

Next was stretching out the coils, which is surprisingly tough for 1/4" tubing.

Then it was time to solder in the 1/2" long nipple, and solder the tube in place. I rigged up a little jig to hold everything in place.

The cap is thick and holds a tremendous amount of heat. It's cooling now. Pressure test later!

-Joe

 

[nostalgia]

Here we go, finished product!

I may end up pulling the coils down a bit, but I'm very happy with how everything came out.

-Joe

 

[Shockerengr]

Looks good! The open coils are way easier to clean. When I opened mine up i was surprised how much crud was left on the inside of them.

 

[Nanitebrewing]

Thanks for the great posts, pictures, and videos. I ordered by brewhemoth yesterday, and you helped me figure out fitting, valves, and changes quite a bit.

I contacted Dale and he said stretching the coils on the chiller to about halfway up would be no problem. I also had them put another TC on just above the cone for a thermo well.

Can't wait for this baby to come!

 

[nostalgia]

Glad to help! Be sure to let us know your impressions.

I really wish they'd make the thermowell port standard. The 24" TC works, but is no good for 5 gallon batches, and the tip sits right in the middle of the cooling coils, which can't be good for accuracy.

I'm considering teeing off the sampling port with a shorter thermowell instead of the top.

-Joe

 

[Bokonon]

Glad to help! Be sure to let us know your impressions.

I really wish they'd make the thermowell port standard. The 24" TC works, but is no good for 5 gallon batches, and the tip sits right in the middle of the cooling coils, which can't be good for accuracy.

I'm considering teeing off the sampling port with a shorter thermowell instead of the top.

I'm not sure there is a perfect placement for the thermowell. I've got my first batch in mine even though I've had it for almost a year now.

Mine are in my uninsulated garage and its been really cold so I'm just keeping it warm now. Before fermentation (and during my water tests) I'd have 20 degrees difference between the middle (thermowell welded into the 4" cap) and at the bottom (thermowell through a Tee in the sample port). I'd shake the whole thing and it would mix up the liquid and the temps would come closer together.

Once fermentation kicked off I'm seeing a 2 degree difference between the top and the bottom. It will be interesting to see how different things are when it's warm outside and I'm cooling and not heating.

 

[Shockerengr]

I'm not sure there is a perfect placement for the thermowell. I've got my first batch in mine even though I've had it for almost a year now.

Mine are in my uninsulated garage and its been really cold so I'm just keeping it warm now. Before fermentation (and during my water tests) I'd have 20 degrees difference between the middle (thermowell welded into the 4" cap) and at the bottom (thermowell through a Tee in the sample port). I'd shake the whole thing and it would mix up the liquid and the temps would come closer together.

Once fermentation kicked off I'm seeing a 2 degree difference between the top and the bottom. It will be interesting to see how different things are when it's warm outside and I'm cooling and not heating.

What are you using to heat it? A brew belt or similar?

 

[Bokonon]

What are you using to heat it? A brew belt or similar?

I have flexwatt heat tape wrapped around the cylinder and then convered in reflectix insulation. I had them weld the leg posts as far apart as they could so the 11" heat tape would fit between them.

The bottom cone is insulated as well. It's not the best insulation, just better than nothing. I'm conisdering putting some of the 3" heat tape around the cone but I'll have to make up a template to see how I'll be able to wrap it around and if it is worthwhile.

 

[Shockerengr]

ok, that explains the temp difference then

 

[Bokonon]

My first fermentation in the conical is winding down. It was actually kind of cool to see the differential between the two temps increasing as fermentation was completing. Will be handy to know when fermentation is done or almost done.

I'm not going to always have a 2nd thermowell in the bottom, but maybe on the next batch I'll see how different the temp is with a probe on the outside of the cone between the insulation.

 

[Nanitebrewing]

I got my brewhemoth a couple weeks ago and just now got all the fittings on and gave it a good rinse.
Overall, I am impressed with the build quality. Sure there are bumps and scuffs in the dome and it is not polished, but what does that matter? They thermowell port near the bottom was a great addition and the chiller coils were stretched for me and nice and even.
I just ordered fittings to run the glycol through the chiller and parts for a spunding valve with a corny gas disconnect fitting too.
Getting ready for my first ferment in it. I'm hoping to get down to lagering temps using a tub with about 4 gallons of glycol/water in a freezer though the chiller. Has anyone achieved this? Probably to insulate it.
Also without a CIP yet, how are you guys cleaning/sanitizing yours?

 

[nostalgia]

Getting ready for my first ferment in it. I'm hoping to get down to lagering temps using a tub with about 4 gallons of glycol/water in a freezer though the chiller. Has anyone achieved this? Probably to insulate it.

This is actually my next project. But I was able to easily maintain ale temps with a cooler + ice water, so I think you'll be ok.

Also without a CIP yet, how are you guys cleaning/sanitizing yours?

I just got my arm in there with a scrubby as best I could for cleaning. For sanitizing, I used my March pump and a loose hose to hose the interior down.

-Joe

 

[akthor]

Love these but at $600+ dollars I could build 6 - 15g plastic conicals:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/super-simple-15g-plastic-conical-276378/index42.html

I went all SS for my brewstand and all the related parts but I just can't justify the costs of SS fermentors At least at my salary.

 

[thatjonguy]

Also without a CIP yet, how are you guys cleaning/sanitizing yours?

Keg cleaner - Sanke size and a drill...works awesome.

 

[Nanitebrewing]

Joe, I've posted my results from cooling the brewhemoth with a tub of glycol in a freezer:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/brewhemoth-glycol-chiller-test-313638/#post3899590

Got down to 49 without insulation, and 43 with a sleeping bag. Promising, but not quite there yet. Time to decide the best way to insulate.

 

[nostalgia]

I'm going to try stick-on neoprene like a wetsuit for the conical.

-Joe