Brewhemoth conicals?

I pump the wort in through the top to help with the aeration.

 

Very valid point, and you're right, there should be vacuum relief if using boiling water.

That said, just hot or boiling water being added wouldn't be enough by itself. If there is air inside when sealed, you won't get the vacuum after it cooled as you do when boiling water drives all the air out and replaces it with water vapor.

At the same time, if you're not driving all the air out and boiling, you probably aren't getting good sanitation.

Even with all that, the brewhemoth might still be strong enough to survive a high negative pressure. The diameter isn't that large, and the steel used is quite thick. That said, I have no intention of testing this theory out with mine :cross:

 

Good to hear.

 

So I've been conical shopping for at last six months trying to make a decision.. I think I have it narrowed down to either the brewhemoth or a 14.5g short Stout. I'd really prefer the brewhemoth and went to impulsively order one last week but their site had issues so I forced myself to low down and rethink. I read this entire thread over the last 24hrs but theres some things I never saw a clear answer to.

A) Temp differential capability of the IC when used with a pump & freezer/glycol mix? It's not uncommon for my garage to hit 100F in the summer and I'm dubious that short of a glycol power pack I'd be able to hit lager/cold crash temps.

B) Are there any Fridges or Freezers that will fit this? With above in mind, I'd normally vote to just skip the IC and get a fridge or freezer, but this thing is huge compared to others, and nothing I've seen can easily fit 19"w by 56" high (website says 50" I'm figuring the other 6" for the spunding valve & general clearance). Some of the commercial ones might, but they're harder to find on CL in my neighborhood and almost the cost of a glycol power pack to boot.

C) I believe most commercial breweries sanitize with steam, has anyone devised a way to do so with the hemoth?

 

B) Is an easy one, there are many folks who have their Brewhemoth in a fridge, The legs are adjustable.
A) If you put an insulating blanket on the Brewhemoth, temps 47-50 should be attainable, especially with 28 degree glycol. In a 100 degree room, getting it down in the low 30's, not sure, never tried it, always lagered my beers in kegs, in freezers, hated tying up fermenter space.
Hope I helped.

 

Dale,

Cheers for the reply. Since the legs are adjustable, can you give me an idea of the minimum height requirement for the hemoth with the spunding valve attached (http://brewhemoth.com/spunding-valve) and a 90deg bend on the dump valve?

 

Jukas,

Blackheart brewing has these in some sort of fridge/freezer

http://downthepieratehole.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/brewhemoth-fermentors-un-boxing/

 

With the spunding valve on top, you are in the neighborhood of 36 inches. I'm not sure how tall the 90 is, I'll look into this at work today.

 

Waiting on the delivery of my Tri Clover Brewhemoth (w/ spunding valve & immersion coil) Patiently. But in the mean time I'm trying to get a parts list together of what I need to order to get this 100% working once its delivered. I'm clueless in the engineering department and need to have this fully planned out for my Breweries new pilot system (Or else they'll go with Morebeer, please no). Ordered an extra 4" cap so I can have a spray ball attachable to a 1/2" nipple welded into it. Also had an extra tri coupler installed for the racking arm.

Does this part list look all encompassing?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqtZaptI1G9YdElZaDlWU21USDBadVBHdmhlNXdSZUE

Anything wrong/what else do I need?

 

I too am waiting on my tri clover hemoth with spunding valve and IC. Here's the fittings I was looking at, though I am having second thoughts about hte squeeze trigger butterfly valve vs the normal butterfly valves.

(1) 1/1.5 TC to 1/2" hose barb 90 deg bend. $15
(1) 1/1.5" TC Clamp $6
(1) 1" EPDM Sanitary Gasket $1.25

Racking Valves
(1) 1/1.5" Sampling Valve $29
(1) 1" Tri Clover Squeeze Trigger butterfly valve $49
(2) 1/1.5" TC Clamp $12
(2) 1" EPDM Sanitary Gasket $2.50

Thermowell

(1) 1/1.5" Tri Clover Thermowell 12" $24
(1) 1/1.5" TC Clamp $6


Dump Valves
(1) 1.5" Squeeze Trigger Butterfly Valve $53
(2) 1/1.5" TC Clamp $12
(2) 1.5" EPDM Sanitary Gasket $2.50
(1) 1/1.5" TC Cap $3

Misc:
(2) 1/1.5" TC Cap. $6
(6) 1" EPDM Sanitary Gasket $7.50
(6) 1.5" EPDM Sanitary Gasket $7.50
(2) 1/1.5" TC Clamp $12

Total: $248.25

 

HI All, After two hours of reading I did not find the answer to a questions I have. Can you really ferment 20 gallons in one of these Brewhemoths? I read mentions of people doing it but none of them made mention to how it went and if that is how they do it on a rewgular basis.

Can someone chime in that regularly ferments 20 gallons on these and let me know how it works for them?

Thanks!

 

I do it all the time. You get some krausen blow through the blow off tube, but thet is intoa 5 gallon bucket with Star San.

 

I have done 18 gallons repeatedly with no blow off. 2 more gallons should not be an issue.

 

I might start digging through the thread anyways, but since it's gotten so long:

What kind of pump are yall using for the CIP?

 

1hp sump, 3/4''id line, mcmaster spinner

 

Thanks StMarcos. Damn, I was looking at 1/4-1/3 hp pumps. Glad I asked first!

 

Maybe lesser hp would work. I started with a stpats stainless spinner and a 1/4hp pump, and it wouldn't spin. Kept returning the pumps for bigger ones 'till I got to 1hp, and it still didn't spin. Then swapped the stpats spinner for the mcmaster one, and it works well.

 

I use a 1 HP pump and a spray ball from brewers hardware and it takes all of the crud off.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/900W-1-HP-S...921?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5f0218a1

https://www.brewershardware.com/CIP10F10.html

I had a friend weld a SS threaded pipe in a 4" cap that had a hole drilled in it. Now they have this already done.
https://www.brewershardware.com/CIP10TC10TC40.html

I let it clean for about 30 minutes, then a 5-10 minute rinse, then 5 minute sanitize.

 

Some where on this forum (I thought it was in this thread but can't find the post) someone reported using a pump in the 1/4 to 1/2 hp range (I think) with great results. I think they used smaller tubing to make up for the lack of hp on a brewershardware.com spray ball.

I wish I could find it because it is tax refund time!

 

Yeah I'm using the Brewer's Hardware CIP ball as well.

Looks like a great deal compared to what I've seen. Thanks!

 

I think this is the one you are looking for: link

 

I think that is the one. That looks like a 1/6 hp pump on the label. I know there is another thread out there as well about this. He was using .5 inch tubing and switched to .75 inch and it completely changed his set up (for the better).

 

I didn't see a PSI rating anywhere on that pump.. would it have enough umph to push this?

http://www.brewershardware.com/CIP10TC10TC40.html

 

That is the exact pump that I use and I use the same spray ball. You can hear it spin. You should be good with it.

 

Maybe someone can help me out on a question.

What is the value proposition for the brewhemoth?

It seems when you start talking about tri-clamp/chiller its $774 (not sure what shipping is to Iowa). When you start talking about fittings, depending on what you are trying to accomplish, you are talking maybe another $150-$250 more? So we are talking about a $1k conical.

I like the idea that I can pressure ferment since I do that with my sanke's now. That isn't a deal breaker, but its nice to have that. It seems like you can setup relatively easily a CIP system and I like that too because I hate cleaning Sanke's.

While not the exact same size, you can buy a 14.5 gallon stout with all the fittings without cooling for what looks like close to $500. I'm sure this has be debated, maybe someone can point me to that discussion.

 

The Brewhemoths are all listed with free shipping.

EDIT: Also, the Brewhemoths are made in the USA and the Stout Tanks are made in China if you care.

 

That's worth something to me. I'm still on the fence on plastic, but also am thinking long term since I have noticed as my brewery has expanded I am buying upgrades of similar items I have and could have maybe got them in the beginning.

Are there specials run for these ever? Or is demand high enough they don't have to?

 

I shopped all major conical vendors and ended up ordering a brewhemoth. The stout was a close second though it was going to be about $700 shipped for the customized version I wanted.

What pushed me towards the brewhemoth in order was

1) Made in the USA
2) pressurizable beyond the 3-5psi of most other conicals.
3) variable batch size from 5gal up to 18 (or some have even said 20gal)
4) 20 day build time compared up to 3 months for a special order stout

 

Being upfront, I am a happy brewhemoth owner.

In addition to the above reasons,
1) Made in the USA
2) pressure fermenting, you can do it in a sanke but what other conical can you do it in, yeast and trub dumping.
3) variable batch size from 5gal up to 20gal, comparing a 14 gal stout is not apples to apples.
4) 20 day build time compared up to 3 months for a special order stout

5) internal chilling. I priced a stout with an internal stainless steel coil. It changed the the price a lot. I did not want to spend all this money and then buy a up right freezer for temp controlling. Factor in the freezer and cost go up again. Lastly, I did not want to put it somewhere I could not see. It is a completely non brewing reason, but I like to see it fermenting away, I polished mine, when I go into the basement for something.

 

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but on the subject of pressurizing the brewhemoth, would this work?

Right now I'm taking off the blow-off right towards the end of active fermentation, adding the pressurizer, then once it's ready to crash cool I've been adding a few PSI to compensate for the vacuum created by cooling. My question:

Since the beer will shortly be at serving temps, could I crank the pressurizer to 10-12 PSI and let the beer carb up as it's cold-conditioning?

 

I don't see why not. They offer a spunding valve that is adjustable from 0-100psi and has a pressure gauge on it. It also has a ball lock gas in connector.

http://brewhemoth.com/latest-product-spunding-valve

 

Yeah, I wish I had bought that instead but already have the pressurizer. I do have an extra CO2 tank and regulator, so I figured I could just leave it set at 10-12 PSI and just let it do it's thing.

 

Posted this before, but thought I'd do so again as we're discussing pressurized ferments. Quite a simple build, and wasn't too dear.

 

Since we're talking about pressurizing, here's a thread I wrote up on how I do it in my Brewhemoth.

Bottom line is, feel free to spund/force carb if you're not dry hopping. If you are dry hopping and need to filter enroute to the keg, then the carbonation creates some serious foaming in the line/keg, which may effect head retention.

I love mine, and as many have said above, the way I use it (under pressure) nothing else compares. Also the guys at brewhemoth are super easy to work with on customizations, and in my case it only extended build time by a week.

 

My hemoth arrived on Friday, so now I need to start getting together the tri clamp fittings and cip system. The only thing I wasn't expecting is bare tubing on the IC. What do most people use here?

 

I slip tubing over the tube and hose clamp. Its cheap works great.

 

What size tubing do you use? I can't find a spec on that pump and I'm guessing it's either 3/4 or 1/2" but I can't tell which.

You want to match gasket size to the ferrule size when ordering correct? This is my first time working with tri clover fittings and I'd hate to order the wrong gaskets. Any reason to choose Silicone over EPDM or vice versa?

 

I used 1 1/4" inside diameter hose.

 

Did you find anything nasty in this ebay pump? I once bought a Lowes sump pump for a CIP attempt, and it spit up all kinds of lubricants and oils which I would not want in my fermentor. Just checking before I pull the trigger, thanks!

 

I beleive it was advertised as oilless, if it is not there are others in the same price range that are. I change not had a problem.