Brewhemoth conicals?

[cfrazier77]

Lookup the GPM rating on any electric pressure washer out there, they are all around 1.3-2GPM.

Take it or leave it, I'm just suggesting a pump with actual temp and PSI ratings that work with CIP balls for $75. pump self primes to 11' vertical as well.

You have to consider the output of a spay ball vs. a pressure washer. The pressure washer has a 1/16" hole. A spray ball has a lot more nozzle area.

There are a couple of different kinds of pumps out there.
1 High flow low psi. You can tell this by high gallon per minute but not much lift capacity.
2 Low flow high psi. The pump is geared to produce high pressure but not as great volumes. This pump has high lift and low GPM.
3 High flow high psi. This pump has both high GPM and high lift.

I used to be a fire fighter and we had a lot experience with all of the above pumps. The pump in question is low flow high psi. It does not produce the gpm that the spray balls being looked at require.

 

[Jukas]

I need to update my beer smith equipment profiles. Anyone calculated loss to the fermenter with these conicals?

I also need to go find a aquarium pump for the IC, is there a desired minimum gph for circulating coolant through the IC?

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

I need to update my beer smith equipment profiles. Anyone calculated loss to the fermenter with these conicals?

I also need to go find a aquarium pump for the IC, is there a desired minimum gph for circulating coolant through the IC?

Not sure what you mean by calculated loss... I know what mine is but I'm sure the wort left in my lines would not translate to your system.

 

[thatjonguy]

I think he is asking how much beer is lost to trub/yeast/transfer.

 

[Jukas]

Not sure what you mean by calculated loss... I know what mine is but I'm sure the wort left in my lines would not translate to your system.

I'm not worried about the wort in lines as that will be different from everyones system.

However any fermenter will always have some loss, you never get 100% of the beer out. For example in my current profile based around better bottles, my trail and error estimates show I lose roughly .25 gal transfering from the fermenter to the keg.

In the brewhemoth it'll be the amount of beer left in the portion of the cone below the racking port.

 

[cfrazier77]

In the brewhemoth it'll be the amount of beer left in the portion of the cone below the racking port.

I asked them about this when I ordered mine. The cone below the racking port holds one pint of liquid, according to Brewhemoth. If there is yeast in the cone it will be less.

 

[variverrat]

Anyone heard of upcoming sales for the Brewhemoth? Looks like they usually have one this time the past couple years.

 

[-MG-]

Anyone heard of upcoming sales for the Brewhemoth? Looks like they usually have one this time the past couple years.

I am interested as well if there is a sale.

 

[StMarcos]

The racking port is too low imo. The yeast cake has always been above that level for me. On the flip side, I used a cobbled yeast catcher last time - 1.5'' to 3'' concentric reducer, then a 4'' long 3'' straight tube with an end cap. I removed it at the end of fermentation, and it managed to hold all of the trub/yeast. I figure the volume of the catcher is between a pint and a quart. In this regard it worked well. The problem is that I killed all my yeast somehow. I removed the catcher at the end of a ferment at 7psi, capped it, and put it in the fridge. Two weeks later, I opened it and pitched into an 8L starter - not all of it, but a half cup or so. The yeast smelled autolyzed, and the starter didn't take off. I junked it. I'm thinking that it was the removal of the catcher after closing the bottom butterfly valve. The pressure drop might have popped the cells. That batch of beer was fantastic btw. Maybe I need to ferment closer to 0psi.

Wouldn't dumping yeast from the bottom of a 14' fermenter be equivalent to what I did? How come they don't have this problem at breweries with larger fermenters?

 

[Jukas]

Hooked up and tested my CIP system for the first time today.. I definitely cannot use oxyclean in this.. way too much foaming Guess I'm going to have to go get some PBW.

The Hemoth didn't come with any documentation or care info.. do I need to do anything to passivate the stainless steel?

 

[erikrocks]

Hooked up and tested my CIP system for the first time today.. I definitely cannot use oxyclean in this.. way too much foaming Guess I'm going to have to go get some PBW.

The Hemoth didn't come with any documentation or care info.. do I need to do anything to passivate the stainless steel?

I'm going to ask the obligatory, "WhIch CIP pump did you end up going with" question...

 

[cfrazier77]

Hooked up and tested my CIP system for the first time today.. I definitely cannot use oxyclean in this.. way too much foaming Guess I'm going to have to go get some PBW.

The Hemoth didn't come with any documentation or care info.. do I need to do anything to passivate the stainless steel?

1 What water temp did you use? I use 130 degree water with one scoop per gallon. It is a small scoop, Sun brand generic from Walmart, The soak rate is scoops per gallon. With one scoop, heaping, I do not have a problem and I use a orange homer bucket too. If I go to 2 scoops I get foam problems. 1 scoop gets everything clean though.

They told me that they passivate them after all welding. You are good to go.

 

[Jukas]

I'm going to ask the obligatory, "WhIch CIP pump did you end up going with" question...

I used the ebay pump linked by cfrazier77 a few pages back. Honestly though, if I had to do it again, I'd probably go snag one of the 1hp dirty water sump pumps from Harbor freight and snag their $9 warranty on it.

1 What water temp did you use? I use 130 degree water with one scoop per gallon. It is a small scoop, Sun brand generic from Walmart, The soak rate is scoops per gallon. With one scoop, heaping, I do not have a problem and I use a orange homer bucket too. If I go to 2 scoops I get foam problems. 1 scoop gets everything clean though.

They told me that they passivate them after all welding. You are good to go.

Hrm, I used approximately 1 level scoop per gal. My Oxyclean is the brand name, bought in bulk from Costco. I had 3gal +/- and approximately 3 level scoops and it foamed everywhere. My concern about cutting the solution further is in cleaning power which is why I was thinking of picking up some PBW.

I just used hot tap water from my kitchen sink.. thermometer says it's right about 133F.

 

[cfrazier77]

Hrm, I used approximately 1 level scoop per gal. My Oxyclean is the brand name, bought in bulk from Costco. I had 3gal +/- and approximately 3 level scoops and it foamed everywhere. My concern about cutting the solution further is in cleaning power which is why I was thinking of picking up some PBW.

I just used hot tap water from my kitchen sink.. thermometer says it's right about 133F.

I have been using 1/2 the soaking recommendation for all my brewing cleaning for quite a while. Corny's, car boys, buckets, kettles, conical. I have never had a problem with not getting cleaned. I have not had an infection either.

 

[Naz]

Ok, so I went ahead and finally ordered mine on Monday. Their website says there's a 20 day lead time. About how long has it taken those that have one for theirs to arrive?

 

[Jukas]

I have been using 1/2 the soaking recommendation for all my brewing cleaning for quite a while. Corny's, car boys, buckets, kettles, conical. I have never had a problem with not getting cleaned. I have not had an infection either.

I ran another test with 3gal of hot water, and 1.5 scoops of oxy. It foamed right to the top of the bucket but never went over. So at least for the first real cleaning attempt I'll try oxy, hopefully at .5 scoop per gal it's strong enough to remove the krausen ring/ferm residue

Ok, so I went ahead and finally ordered mine on Monday. Their website says there's a 20 day lead time. About how long has it taken those that have one for theirs to arrive?

I ordered mine late december and received it late Jan. I didn't bother to count, but it was extremely close to 20 business days. I never received a shipping email or tracking # just had a fedex guy show up with it one day.

 

[fakr]

Once you order one, they build it then ship it. Once they ship it, it's not long. The ones I ordered arrived within a couple of days after being shipped. Much sooner than I expected.

 

[thatjonguy]

And get ready to spend! All kinds of cool toys to go with your new Brewhemoth...

 

[fakr]

Hey Guys, pride aside, I want to mention that the shurflow pump I mentioned above just doesn't push enough to really clean the inside of the brewhemoth very well. I don't want anyone ordering one because I didn't update this thread. Cfrasier77 is correct about the GPM rating being too low.

I ended up going overboard and bought a flowtec 1/2HP high output sump pump that moves 4680GPH. it works very well, but wasn't a bargain buy kind of pump. Roughly $190.

 

[hellfaucet]

I ordered mine last Monday and am piecing together all my accessories from brewershardware.com right now before it ships.

Couple questions:

• I got an extra tri clover fitting right above the racking fitting, above the bottom cone. I was hoping to put a thermoeter on that fitting. Does anyone have any suggestions of which thermometer to use for this? I didn't want to run a super long thermowell from the top down, and was also hoping to use an analog thermometer, not digital. What's my best option?
• Is a sight glass worth it as a yeast collector?

 

[fakr]

I ordered mine last Monday and am piecing together all my accessories from brewershardware.com right now before it ships.

Couple questions:

• I got an extra tri clover fitting right above the racking fitting, above the bottom cone. I was hoping to put a thermoeter on that fitting. Does anyone have any suggestions of which thermometer to use for this? I didn't want to run a super long thermowell from the top down, and was also hoping to use an analog thermometer, not digital. What's my best option?
• Is a sight glass worth it as a yeast collector?

I also had them add an additional 1" port on mine for a thermowell.
If you're dead set on using a analog thermometer, you could always buy one of their 1" TC fittings with a 1/4" female NPT thread. with that you could screw in a petes plug, which is used in geo thermal systems as a pressure\temperature port. Just jam the end of your thermometer through it for a reading. http://greenwayenv.com/geothermal/geothermal-products/

 

[hellfaucet]

I also had them add an additional 1" port on mine for a thermowell.
If you're dead set on using a analog thermometer, you could always buy one of their 1" TC fittings with a 1/4" female NPT thread. with that you could screw in a petes plug, which is used in geo thermal systems as a pressure\temperature port. Just jam the end of your thermometer through it for a reading. http://greenwayenv.com/geothermal/geothermal-products/

That's a neat product, though sanitation of it concerns me as it's essentially a plug.

Probably best case scenario would be to buck up, get a thermowell and attach a probe and digital thermometer to it?

 

[fakr]

yeah, I'd be concerned with sanitation as well, though the same type idea works well with mash tuns.

Personally, if I was you, I would buy either

1. A TC thermowell (http://www.brewershardware.com/Tri-Clover-Thermowells/) and add temp sensor later or
2. a 1" TC with 1/2" FPT thread (http://www.brewershardware.com/1.5-Tri-Clover-X-1-2-Female-NPT.html)and a standard 1/2" MPT threaded brewmometer (http://morebeer.com/products/blichmann-brewmometer-12in-npt.html), which would be analog like you want it, but negates the whole purpose of TC fittings as there are exposed threads, or
3. a 1" TC flange mount temp sensor which uses a 10kohm thermister (http://www.brewershardware.com/BCS-Tri-Clover-Flange-Mount-Temperature-Sensors/). it comes pre wired for hookup to a temp controller. The temp controller will tell you the liquid temp inside the fermenter whether it's powering anything or not, but that's digital, not analog like you're looking for.

Hope that helps.

 

[hellfaucet]

yeah, I'd be concerned with sanitation as well, though the same type idea works well with mash tuns.

Personally, if I was you, I would buy either

1. A TC thermowell (http://www.brewershardware.com/Tri-Clover-Thermowells/) and add temp sensor later or
2. a 1" TC with 1/2" FPT thread (http://www.brewershardware.com/1.5-Tri-Clover-X-1-2-Female-NPT.html)and a standard 1/2" MPT threaded brewmometer (http://morebeer.com/products/blichmann-brewmometer-12in-npt.html), which would be analog like you want it, but negates the whole purpose of TC fittings as there are exposed threads, or
3. a 1" TC flange mount temp sensor which uses a 10kohm thermister (http://www.brewershardware.com/BCS-Tri-Clover-Flange-Mount-Temperature-Sensors/). it comes pre wired for hookup to a temp controller. The temp controller will tell you the liquid temp inside the fermenter whether it's powering anything or not, but that's digital, not analog like you're looking for.

Hope that helps.

This helps A LOT. Option #1 seems like the best bet for me honestly for right now, and then upgrading to #3 once I have the $$$/time to automate my brewing process more. The only real issue I had with digital was the price.

 

[erikrocks]

Does anyone know how to clean the spunding valve? Mine seems a bit clogged. I just shot an email off the the Brewhemoth folks, but I'm wondering if someone on one of these 77 pages has done it before...

 

[fakr]

The only suggestion I have for you is to mix up some rinseless sanitizer, like starsan, in the brewhemoth with the spunding valve attached to the dump or racking port. Turn the pressure knob to 0psi, and pressurize the fermenter. It will blow starsan through the spunding valve and clean it up. Not ideal, but it works.

Personally, with previous spunding experience in kegs, I built my own spunding valve with an inline pressure regulator, and attach it to a "blow off" keg. So the blowoff hose on the brewhemoth attaches to a corney keg, and then attach the spunding valve to the other port on the keg. You have to remove the long liquid dip tube and and replace it with a short gas dip tube. All the krausen falls into the bottom of the keg and not through the spunding valve.

This is the only way I've been able to keep spunding valves nice and clean.

Hope that helps.

 

[fakr]

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about..it doesn't show the port on the top of the brewhemoth but you get the point.

 

[fakr]

Inline regulators, like in the pic, typically bleed off excess pressure from kegs when you adjust the pressure down...and that's exactly what a spunding valve does.

The bonus about using a quality inline regulator is it's precision. Very accurate. I used to use a twist out spunding valve like the style brewhemoth sells, but once they get clogged up with crap (if you don't use a blow off keg) they build up pressure above what you want, and then blow off pressure lower than you want...just not accurate...constant tweaking.

 

[hellfaucet]

Anyone not using a pump to transfer cooled wort into the conical? Not sure how I'm going to lift 10-15 gallons by myself.

 

[StMarcos]

My boiler's up on a platform so I can gravity drain into the fermenter. I then roll it on a dolly into the ferm chamber.