Chronicles, Bright Tanks, Unitanks OH MY!!!!

[speavler]

Beer troll asking is this pressure transfer..? What is the white thing on the liquid side in?Explain how you are pushing with the gas in this pic.? Asking because my pic is also a transfer...with the recieving corny keg has spunding...just asking to learn different approach...

the CO2 in the keg is evacuated back into the fermenter. the white thing is a filter housing for a screen filter which i have used to help breakup or catch any hop particles before they clog up the quick disconnect.

 

[brewman !]

Imho a non pressurable conical is a waste as it doesn't really have any advantage over a plastic bucket.

^^^ This.

About the only benefit you get with a non pressurable conical is the yeast can be dropped out the bottom.

I'm going with keg based uni tanks.

 

[edwarski]

I had made the decision to get an SS Brewtech Chronicle BME but have not done any brewing in almost a year. Winter's here, getting back into it, and now I see these Unitanks and Bright Tanks are clouding my decision making. Doing extract/steeping grains stove-top now, the occasional all grain and I can't take the carboys and need to simplify. I also need better temperature control so liked the Chronicle for that reason. Broke my second carboy yesterday and thank God it only had Star San in it but I had wort boiling, what a pain in the butt. I can't get the answers I'm after by searching threads and get some conflicting information. I usually keg my beer (75%) and bottle (25%) but am considering canning. If I have a unitank, do you serve directly from this? Or do you serve directly from a bright tank? Or does a bright tank just settle beer to be bottled or transferred?? On the SS website it says "Bright tanks have some advantages over Unitanks.." but they don't say what they are! I believe that individual components do individual things best (which is why I have separate audio components and use the proper wrench instead of an adjustable wrench and prime lenses instead of zooms in most cases...). In that vein, WILL A UNITANK FUNCTION AS WELL AS A CONICAL FERMENTER LIKE THE CHRONICLE BME? Who really needs a bright tank? And what in the heck is the difference in carbonating with a carb stone and CO2 vs carbing in a keg under pressure in the fridge? I'm sorry to be such an idiot with this question but there seems to be some overlap I can't sort out here. It doesn't show, but I am quite intelligent....at times : )

cheaper temp control for ferm = chest freezer and temp controller. for extract/steeping use buckets or put carboys in milk crates or get nuts and get yourself a conical fermentor. bright tank on a 5 gallon level is overkill. id buy a conical fermentor and rack beer off yeast into corny keg before buying a homebrew bright or uni.

 

[brewman !]

cheaper temp control for ferm = chest freezer and temp controller. for extract/steeping use buckets or put carboys in milk crates or get nuts and get yourself a conical fermentor. bright tank on a 5 gallon level is overkill. id buy a conical fermentor and rack beer off yeast into corny keg before buying a homebrew bright or uni.

I took a hard look at fermentors a couple years back and did nothing. After reading this thread and others, I took a hard look again and have decided that, for me, unitanks are much preferable to conical fermentors.

I am thus in the process of converting several 1/4 barrel Sanke kegs into fermentors. I'm doing this by turning them upside down, so the factory fill TC is on the bottom and then welding (brazing, actually) a 4" tri clamp ferrule on the "top".

I don't intend to use the bottom port to drain off trub or yeast. My wort goes into the fermentor very clean. The bottom port will mainly be used as a CIP drain, though I might get small yeast samples from a fermentor once in a while. The top port will receive a number of different caps, depending on what stage the beer is at.

If I don't like the kegmentors as unis, I'll rack to corny kegs for settling and serving.

I'll probably start a thread on converting Sanke kegs to unitanks at some point.

 

[Blazinlow86]

cheaper temp control for ferm = chest freezer and temp controller. for extract/steeping use buckets or put carboys in milk crates or get nuts and get yourself a conical fermentor. bright tank on a 5 gallon level is overkill. id buy a conical fermentor and rack beer off yeast into corny keg before buying a homebrew bright or uni.

I look at it differently. I feel that spending 500+ dollars on a conical to be able to dump yeast and then still have to transfer to kegs to finish your beer is alot more overkill then spending the little bit more to get a unitank that allows finished beer into the kegs. The conical only has one advantage over a bucket. The unitank has several. No brainer imho. Cheers