Any ideas what to do with 2x 10L quad-port bio-reactors/carboys?

[rhamilton]

My mom is a chem teacher and she's offered me 2x of these glass bio-reactors for my beer brewing hobby. Looks just like a carboy except they have 4 more ports at the top.

Any cool ideas what I could do with them, other than use them like a regular carboy?

 

[Native302]

You could sell one to me...................?

 

[aomagman78]

Could be special cause it'd be easy to put temperature probes in them. You could also use them for other probes, like pH and hydrometer. All I can think of is probing...

 

[wyzazz]

How big are they? You could use them for starter vessels.

Nevermind I need to read a little better, 10L is around 2.6Gal. Starters or small 2Gal batches of "test" beers or Barleywines.

 

[sarsnik]

My Mom's a chem teacher too!

 

[rhamilton]

My Mom's a chem teacher too!

Definitely a perk -- she also hooked me up with flasks and a hotplate/stirrer, but she's still mad I went into software instead of chem

Yea when she said 4 ports I was hoping they were at the bottom -- I was planning to move to smaller batches so these will work as primary/secondary. I was just hoping to do something neater though

 

[Tinga]

Could be special cause it'd be easy to put temperature probes in them. You could also use them for other probes, like pH and hydrometer. All I can think of is probing...

This or you could maybe get some sort of coil in there to regulate heat.

I think the real question is what are they supposed to be used for?

 

[Zamial]

This or you could maybe get some sort of coil in there to regulate heat.

I tried that and it did not turn out so well...YMMV.

I would set it up for fermenting in. Looks like a breeze to clean and you could pressure transfer so you would not even need an auto-siphon. Since you have 2 you could run some yeast experiments with controled wort Like LME and Warrior hops, so you know what different yeasts add to flavors other than what the discription of said yeast reads.

IMO those would be perfect to use with a hacked Miller/Coors home draft kit(s)...

 

[rhamilton]

I think the real question is what are they supposed to be used for?

The ports are used to add chems to the bioreactor without them mixing with each other directly.

I good example would be mixing bleach and vinegar into a water solution -- mix the vinegar and bleach directly and you get chlorine gas (bad!) -- mix them separately and you are OK.

 

[rhamilton]

Yea, I think the best think I could do was use a few ports for probing and another for pressure transfers. Man I wish those ports were at the bottom

 

[kh54s10]

A carboy with 5 airlocks!!!! :rockin:

 

[rhamilton]

A carboy with 5 airlocks!!!! :rockin:

Das Über Bubbler!

 

[MyNameIsPaul]

Yea, I think the best think I could do was use a few ports for probing and another for pressure transfers. Man I wish those ports were at the bottom

Flip it over! make a wooden stand with a hole big enough for the neck to stick out through and you've got ports on the bottom now. WooHoo!

 

[rhamilton]

Wouldn't I need to port the top to vent CO2?

 

[Revvy]

I would just like to see four airlocks on it going to town. Maybe with 4 different tuned whistles hooked up to them.

 

[Homercidal]

4 airlocks to ignore??

IMO you can't go wrong with more probing.

(Actually, if you could put one of those small whistles on top of an airlock, it might make noise each time the bubbles broke loose. It would have to be a very small whistle to be effective I think.)

 

[morehpperliter]

Randall

 

[Smashing]

4 straws and 3buddies - drink up!

 

[rhamilton]

I think I'm going to try to convert it into some type of automated racking system this winter what will fit in my fermentation chamber.

Carboy #1:

Port1 (in): Star San Injector
Port2 (out): Waste
Port3 (out): To carboy #2
Port4 (out): Airlock
Main Port sealed -- except when filling with wort. Possibly aeration?

Carboy #2:

Port1 (in): Star San Injector
Port2 (out): Waste
Port3 (out): Bottling wand.
Port4 (out): Airlock
Main Port sealed.

Make the carboy transfer tube removable so you can clean it between transfers.

 

[EarthBound]

IMO you can't go wrong with more probing.

That's what she said!