Which Conical to buy?

[cfrazier77]

I have a brewhemoth and really like it. I added a TC port for a thermowell on the side, in the back. This has worked well. For temp control I have been using a cooler with a submersible pump. I through in 2 frozen 2 liter bottles a day and I can get to the low forties. I added a fourth leg and polished everything and it looks really good. I would not want to put it in a fridge, I like looking at it and the big blowoffs!

Also, I think that CIP is a lot easier than scrubbing.

 

[damnitbeavis]

you must not buy much stuff.

+1

 

[onthekeg]

Believe it or not - most of the time you do have a choice. Sometimes it may not be rational or reasonable. But that doesn't change the fact the option is there.

I try to make obvious choices, (im not the one you responded to, so sorry for the derail), but I drive a VW car, chevy pickup, and have many fords, and chevy's for the kids.
We race Honda bikes, but try to keep most of our purchases -china.
I don't want to be labelled, but we don't buy chinese in our household. Not necessarily American though...

 

[DaleP]

If you're buying a chest freezer specifically to host a water or glycol bath for cooling the IC on the brewhemoth, wouldn't you just be better off buying a stand up freezer for a ferm chamber and getting the non IC version? I suppose if you had multiple conicals than a single chest freezer holding a large glycol bath would be a better option.

I have an email out to brewhemoth to find out what it will cost for some customizations, including adding either a npt or tc port on the sidewall for a thermowell, but apparently at least one of them is on Holiday until Oct (lucky dog!) so who knows what that will do to turnaround time.

If I want to pressurize ferment The brewhemoth seems to be the clear winner. I'm still reading up on the benefits of it and I'm honestly not sure I'd ever do it as Co2 reclamation vs the volume I'm doing isn't even going to be noticeable to my wallet.

Two things, its July 9th back from vacation, and a small chest freezer can be had for under $150 bucks, no issues of getting the fermenter in or out and leaves fermenter out where it can be seen. Why pay so much money to hide it? Even the microbreweries put at least some of theirs on display.

 

[jcaudill]

I have a brewhemoth and really like it. I added a TC port for a thermowell on the side, in the back. This has worked well. For temp control I have been using a cooler with a submersible pump. I through in 2 frozen 2 liter bottles a day and I can get to the low forties. I added a fourth leg and polished everything and it looks really good. I would not want to put it in a fridge, I like looking at it and the big blowoffs!

Also, I think that CIP is a lot easier than scrubbing.

How did you polish your BH? That is nice and shiny and I love it!

 

[cfrazier77]

I used gator wheels and pads from Lowes. I followed the instructions on the keg polishing thread on here. Thanks for the compliment.

It took about a day to get it all done. Here is after the medium wheel before polishing.

 

[Jukas]

Two things, its July 9th back from vacation, and a small chest freezer can be had for under $150 bucks, no issues of getting the fermenter in or out and leaves fermenter out where it can be seen. Why pay so much money to hide it? Even the microbreweries put at least some of theirs on display.

Ha, I never even put two and two together that you were the same Dale P until now (Ok where's the facepalm smilie?).

Might want to check your autoresponder mate, it says Oct 2nd (or just take a longer holiday!)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dale P
Date: Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 8:45 AM
Subject: Automatic reply: Brewhemoth answers.
To: "J


I am currently on vacation and will return at 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 2

 

[DaleP]

I like the longer holiday idea, doubt my boss does. Can't change the response from home, dang if I'm going in till the 9th!

 

[theBFG]

I am relatively new to brewing (only about 6 months and probably 15 brews deep), am probably a long way off from being able to buy one of these, and have little clue as to what a lot of things y'all are saying mean (tri-clamps, glycol baths, etc). Even still, this thread is fascinating.

I'd read more about this but I've really had to pace myself, otherwise I've found I will convince myself to buy anything to make better beer.

Anyway, that is all. Carry on.

 

[Jukas]

No - you setup a closed loop when you transfer. You pressurize the corny to a few pounds above the fermenter, then you bleed it as beer comes in. If you do this right you end up with exactly the same pressure. I have a couple of custom cables that go TC to ball lock connector for example. Excess CO2 from the corny I usually just put back into the fermenter.

So I've been contemplating this a bit more as I try and determine if the ability to pressure ferment/spund is worth it to me. So far I think the main draw for me, is the idea that I could have beer go from fermentation to glass without ever being exposed to air. That's got me wondering though if it's a completely closed system, how do you tell when the keg is full

I have two guesses, but I'd like to hear what you actually do.

1) Drop the temp of the beer well below ambient. When filling the condensation line will show where the beer is.

2) Place the empty keg on a scale. This would require you to know the weight of the keg + 5 gal of beer but would probably be more accurate than #1.

3) ??????

I ended up passing on the Blichmann conical. Even with the 10% coupon, the price was within a few hundred dollars of both the morebeer and the brewhemoth both of which I felt represented a better value.

I'd like to say the stout is out of the running as I much prefer to buy USA made kit when possible, but coming in fully customized and shipped under $700 makes it harder to remove from consideration.

 

[armageddon]

Interesting thread. For those of you using the IC option, how are you heating during times of the year where ambient is below fermentation temperatures?

 

[jcaudill]

Weighing is the best way - you can use option 2 for a gauge.

 

[cfrazier77]

Interesting thread. For those of you using the IC option, how are you heating during times of the year where ambient is below fermentation temperatures?

I have a cooler with an aquarium heater in it. A submersible pump on a temp controller takes care of the rest. It works well for me when fermenting a Belgian.