Looks like it was dripping and just kept freezing, like an upside down ice cycle.
I use Fermentrack, so I can set a minimum temperature threshold for ambient air. Mine can't go lower than 20 degrees, but I don't know how cold the elbow gets or how the yeast reacts under those circumstances.
I've never seen an icicle cylinder, and I still don't get that part, but now that I'm looking at it the only port that has beer on it is the bottom butterfly. It had to have come from there.
The inner ice cylinder will act as a stopper because of expansion. You don't need another stopper to hold a stopper in place.I don't think the valve's housing is expanding due to the pressure created by freezing beer on one side of the valve because there is no valve on teh other side of the elbow at the bottom of the fermenter. All pressure created by the freezing beer will just go up into the fermenter.
I do similar with my Auber DT500 controller - lower limit 20C. Are you circulating the air in the freezer? I might back off on my lower limit while you sort this out. Don't like idea of ice damaging the lower plumbing,
I do have a fan at the top that is always on, and the freezer itself is frost-free, so it has a monster fan that blows cold air from the bottom to top when it's running.
I'll increase the lower limits, and see if that fixes the problem next time.
Fantastic thanks!I wish I had taken a picture when it was pulled apart. This is a picture I took mid-way through my installation.
The hump at the back is just sheet-metal. If you pull out the seal on the right and left sides there are like 9 screws, and the whole panel comes off.
Behind that on the right side there is a hole in the sheet-metal that allows the wiring to come into the chamber, and it's filled with foam. I drilled from the inside-out, so there is no way to make a mistake and puncture the cooling lines. Then I put holes in the sheet-metal cover I removed and installed aviation connectors for the fan power, two temp probes, and the gas line.
Those frost-free freezers are fantastic for our applications. I love mine.
View attachment 679382View attachment 679383
Enter your email address to join: