Cooling my Anvil SS 7.5 bucket FV - is this going to work?

[sixstring]

I don't know how many brewers here are in Phx, AZ area, but trying to get beer fermented at the right temp isn't the simplest thing. So I'm looking into picking up the following, but need some feedback on whether it's worth proceeding this route or not.
Initially I was going to get a fridge, but then I thought about it and realized that in order to properly control the temp on both my FV's, I'll need either two fridges or something else. I don't want two more fridges. So I started looking at alternatives and found that Anvil do an attachment to their fermenting buckets to put a cooling pipe inside the FV and a stopper with 4 holes in to put a thermometer bit in, the airlock and the cooling pipe. So I thought that I could get two each of these and then just get a couple of aquarium coolers.
Would be cool if I only had to buy a single cooler though, since they're not exactly cheap either. But then I'd need some way to shut off the water to each FV to make sure that they maintain temp correctly.

So here's what I'm looking at getting:

2 x 12" thermowell: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-thermowell
2 x cooling coil: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-cooling-coil
2 x 4 hole stopper: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-7-4-hole-stopper

Then some tubing to connect the cooling coils to the aquarium cooler.
But now is where I'm stuck. Are the cheaper aquarium coolers going to let me take the temp down far enough to cold crash in the fermenter? Not sure what to look for in terms of these and hoping that someone out there has some good experience with these and which one would work best (or two possibly in my case).
I would prefer not to spend too much on these though. If possible, I'd like to get away with less than $200. But I really don't want to just buy something cheap and find it won't do the job.

I had thought about just getting the coils, etc and then just buying some ice brick molds and just dropping some in a cooler each day and then just regulating with inkbirds to shut the pump off or switch it on as needed. However, I don't know how long the ice would last (the bricks would be about 12lb each). This would be far cheaper overall, but I don't want to do this and then wish I'd gone with the aquarium cooler after all.

If there's other options, then I'm open to reading them. The glycol chiller option seems to be more spendy than aquarium coolers so I'm not really interested in that option. Plus water is easy to clean up if it makes a mess. No idea what glycol is like to clean up, and wouldn't want to find out.

Thanks for any and all info provided and your time you take to reply. It's always appreciated. (also I hope i've posted this to the right forum, if not, please feel free to move it)

 

[madscientist451]

Get a small chest freezer and a temp controller. When the next big pandemic hits, use the freezer for a freezer and stock up on food. With the temp controller you can also use it as a second 'fridge to store fresh food you find on sale or put kegs in there. It doesn't take up much space and they are pretty cheap. If you take a break from brewing or quit altogether, you can sell it or use it for the above purposes.

 

[sixstring]

Get a small chest freezer and a temp controller. When the next big pandemic hits, use the freezer for a freezer and stock up on food. With the temp controller you can also use it as a second 'fridge to store fresh food you find on sale or put kegs in there. It doesn't take up much space and they are pretty cheap. If you take a break from brewing or quit altogether, you can sell it or use it for the above purposes.

Yeah, I had thought about this too. But it falls into the fridge department. I've got enough freezers/fridges for food already. Would prefer not to have any more.
Hence the reason I started looking into the other options.

 

[Whisky River]

I didn’t see how big your batches are but if they are 5 gallons or more I don’t think there’s any way you are going to be able to cold crash them with that coil. Even the spiral coils which have much more surface area in contact with the beer will struggle to cold crash unless they are fed with a lot of really cold water or glycol. Also don’t forget to insulate your fermenters. It will help reduce the thermal load you will need to get them cold and stop some of the condensation (if it’s humid enough there for that to happen).
Don’t mean to sound negative, but getting good cooling on the cheep has been sought after by almost every brewer and most people eventually fork out for a chiller or adjust their expectations a little.
Good luck though and if you just want to maintain ferm temp that opens up a lot of creative options.

 

[sixstring]

I didn’t see how big your batches are but if they are 5 gallons or more I don’t think there’s any way you are going to be able to cold crash them with that coil. Even the spiral coils which have much more surface area in contact with the beer will struggle to cold crash unless they are fed with a lot of really cold water or glycol. Also don’t forget to insulate your fermenters. It will help reduce the thermal load you will need to get them cold and stop some of the condensation (if it’s humid enough there for that to happen).
Don’t mean to sound negative, but getting good cooling on the cheep has been sought after by almost every brewer and most people eventually fork out for a chiller or adjust their expectations a little.
Good luck though and if you just want to maintain ferm temp that opens up a lot of creative options.

Yup, 5 gallons every time.
Ok, so with a cold crash out of the equation, that helps make life easier I'll just cold crash in the kegerator if I need to then. I can pull one of the kegs out for 24 hours, no worries.
So do you think that I could use this set up to brew lager or am I stuck with ale until I get a freezer/fridge? If i'm just stuck with Ale, that's fine, I love ale more than anything else, just wanted to try brewing some lagers.
Mostly I want to just maintain temp, as our coldest room is at 70F right now. So I don't have much options.

So maybe my question should be:
If a freezer/fridge is not on the menu, can I get a chiller that would allow me to maintain good temps and also potentially brew lagers and possibly allow me to cold crash (this last part is less of a concern since I know my anvils will fit in the kegerator)?
If yes, would anyone have recommendations on what ones are worth while? Aquarium before Glycol if possible.

 

[sixstring]

ok, after another night of reading, watching videos and researching, I've ordered the following:

2 x 7.5 Gallon Bucket Fermenter Jacket: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/7-5-gallon-anvil-fermenter-jacket
2 x 12" thermowell: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-thermowell
2 x cooling coil: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-cooling-coil
2 x 4 hole stopper: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-7-4-hole-stopper
2 x Inkbird ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller
1 x pond pump (as I don't currently have a second)

Then I sourced some big 8LB silicone molds for making ice bricks and I've got a cooler and 1 pump already.

This video was a deciding factor in what I went with as he seems to just keep things straight forward and down to earth. His setup seems to be working nicely for maintaining temperature. Ok, I'm not going to cold crash on it, but I'll have some time to spend experimenting with temps and see what I can get out of it


It looks like I can lager if I get a cooler that'll fit my Anvil (which funnily enough he was using too). So it's not pretty, but I think it'll do the job.
All in all, turned out pretty cheap for two anvils to be covered.

If it maintains a good temp, that's better than my current "stuck at whatever temp the room is (about 72F right now and will only increase during summer)" setup anyway. If it doesn't, then I'll return it all and go back to the drawing board. Be fun either way.

 

[Snuffy]

I don't know how many brewers here are in Phx, AZ area, but trying to get beer fermented at the right temp isn't the simplest thing. So I'm looking into picking up the following, but need some feedback on whether it's worth proceeding this route or not.
Initially I was going to get a fridge, but then I thought about it and realized that in order to properly control the temp on both my FV's, I'll need either two fridges or something else. I don't want two more fridges. So I started looking at alternatives and found that Anvil do an attachment to their fermenting buckets to put a cooling pipe inside the FV and a stopper with 4 holes in to put a thermometer bit in, the airlock and the cooling pipe. So I thought that I could get two each of these and then just get a couple of aquarium coolers.
Would be cool if I only had to buy a single cooler though, since they're not exactly cheap either. But then I'd need some way to shut off the water to each FV to make sure that they maintain temp correctly.

So here's what I'm looking at getting:

2 x 12" thermowell: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-thermowell
2 x cooling coil: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-cooling-coil
2 x 4 hole stopper: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-7-4-hole-stopper

Then some tubing to connect the cooling coils to the aquarium cooler.
But now is where I'm stuck. Are the cheaper aquarium coolers going to let me take the temp down far enough to cold crash in the fermenter? Not sure what to look for in terms of these and hoping that someone out there has some good experience with these and which one would work best (or two possibly in my case).
I would prefer not to spend too much on these though. If possible, I'd like to get away with less than $200. But I really don't want to just buy something cheap and find it won't do the job.

I had thought about just getting the coils, etc and then just buying some ice brick molds and just dropping some in a cooler each day and then just regulating with inkbirds to shut the pump off or switch it on as needed. However, I don't know how long the ice would last (the bricks would be about 12lb each). This would be far cheaper overall, but I don't want to do this and then wish I'd gone with the aquarium cooler after all.

If there's other options, then I'm open to reading them. The glycol chiller option seems to be more spendy than aquarium coolers so I'm not really interested in that option. Plus water is easy to clean up if it makes a mess. No idea what glycol is like to clean up, and wouldn't want to find out.

Thanks for any and all info provided and your time you take to reply. It's always appreciated. (also I hope i've posted this to the right forum, if not, please feel free to move it)

I have that setup with the Anvil bucket, cooling coil rig, submersible aquarium pump and Inkbird temp controller. It works fine but you have to keep the ice rotating into the cooler with the pump. Doesn't sound like a problem, but it keeps you babysitting the rig the entire fermentation. I froze water in plastic bottles and dropped them in and out. If you don't keep it swapped regularly, every 4 hours or so, the pump runs a lot. It can easily keep your fermenter in the 50s but it's a PitA. I used it a few times and now it's relegated to the dreaded Stockpile of Misfit Brewtoys. If I were to get serious about temp control beyond the low 70s, I would buy a chest freezer and wreck the controls so I could just put the whole fermenter in there and get back to living life in the wide open spaces, untethered from ogling stick-on thermometer strips and manipulating the states of water for thermal transfer.

 

[Deadalus]

ok, after another night of reading, watching videos and researching, I've ordered the following:

2 x 7.5 Gallon Bucket Fermenter Jacket: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/7-5-gallon-anvil-fermenter-jacket
2 x 12" thermowell: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-thermowell
2 x cooling coil: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-cooling-coil
2 x 4 hole stopper: https://www.anvilbrewing.com/anvil-7-4-hole-stopper
2 x Inkbird ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller
1 x pond pump (as I don't currently have a second)

Then I sourced some big 8LB silicone molds for making ice bricks and I've got a cooler and 1 pump already.

This video was a deciding factor in what I went with as he seems to just keep things straight forward and down to earth. His setup seems to be working nicely for maintaining temperature. Ok, I'm not going to cold crash on it, but I'll have some time to spend experimenting with temps and see what I can get out of it


It looks like I can lager if I get a cooler that'll fit my Anvil (which funnily enough he was using too). So it's not pretty, but I think it'll do the job.
All in all, turned out pretty cheap for two anvils to be covered.

If it maintains a good temp, that's better than my current "stuck at whatever temp the room is (about 72F right now and will only increase during summer)" setup anyway. If it doesn't, then I'll return it all and go back to the drawing board. Be fun either way.

That's an especially weak coil. I was able to lager with it (50s F) barely and I was using a 6.5 gallon carboy wrapped in a customized foam cozie and using my glycol chiller. It's a smaller diameter coil than most (3/16").

The Temp Twister coils aren't too pricey and are larger diameter.

 

[Deadalus]

And you could build a foam cozie out of a camp sleeping mat and duct tape for ~$20. It would be a cylinder with a top and bottom. Way better than the neoprene.

 

[Deadalus]

I have that setup with the Anvil bucket, cooling coil rig, submersible aquarium pump and Inkbird temp controller. It works fine but you have to keep the ice rotating into the cooler with the pump. Doesn't sound like a problem, but it keeps you babysitting the rig the entire fermentation. I froze water in plastic bottles and dropped them in and out. If you don't keep it swapped regularly, every 4 hours or so, the pump runs a lot. It can easily keep your fermenter in the 50s but it's a PitA. I used it a few times and now it's relegated to the dreaded Stockpile of Misfit Brewtoys. If I were to get serious about temp control beyond the low 70s, I would buy a chest freezer and wreck the controls so I could just put the whole fermenter in there and get back to living life in the wide open spaces, untethered from ogling stick-on thermometer strips and manipulating the states of water for thermal transfer.

I had a friend who would use frozen soda bottles and blankets to lager with it. If you have to keep icing things, I agree, you'll be babysitting it over time.

If wanting to temperature control cheaply and not babysit, a regular size side by side fridge would likely hold two Brewbuckets stacked. The freezer side could be used for kegs. I still have three minifridges, those will also stack. You could build a rack if uncomfortable stacking right on top of one another.

 

[sixstring]

And you could build a foam cozie out of a camp sleeping mat and duct tape for ~$20. It would be a cylinder with a top and bottom. Way better than the neoprene.

I'll look into this and return the anvil jackets if this works better. Thanks. Since you have done this too, any recommendation on a sleeping mat?

That's an especially weak coil. I was able to lager with it (50s F) barely and I was using a 6.5 gallon carboy wrapped in a customized foam cozie and using my glycol chiller. It's a smaller diameter coil than most (3/16").

The Temp Twister coils aren't too pricey and are larger diameter.

Problem was the temp twister wouldn't fit without lid modification I don't think. If i could maybe bend the temp twister in/out pipes to fit through a rubber stopper then that might work.
I'll give what I have a shot and see what it's like first. Then maybe go for a different cooling coil once I know I can do what I want with this setup.

I have that setup with the Anvil bucket, cooling coil rig, submersible aquarium pump and Inkbird temp controller. It works fine but you have to keep the ice rotating into the cooler with the pump. Doesn't sound like a problem, but it keeps you babysitting the rig the entire fermentation. I froze water in plastic bottles and dropped them in and out. If you don't keep it swapped regularly, every 4 hours or so, the pump runs a lot. It can easily keep your fermenter in the 50s but it's a PitA. I used it a few times and now it's relegated to the dreaded Stockpile of Misfit Brewtoys. If I were to get serious about temp control beyond the low 70s, I would buy a chest freezer and wreck the controls so I could just put the whole fermenter in there and get back to living life in the wide open spaces, untethered from ogling stick-on thermometer strips and manipulating the states of water for thermal transfer.

The trick to not needing to babysit the temp is to get bigger bricks of ice from what I can see. I work from home, so checking my temp on a daily basis is easy and I'm fine changing ice out once a day as needed too. So hopefully this method works out for me and I don't end up with a dreaded stockpile

 

[Deadalus]

The 1/2" blue foam I think is the largest closed cell foam cheaply available.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Tr...D880DAA7477486E3AF&conditionGroupCode=1&gQT=1
Cozie looks like this. I suppose one could use the neoprene too but I wouldn't pay to do that.

Any coil through the bucket lid would need two holes. I mention the temp twister but you would need compression fittings or some other way to seal the tubing through the lid. Rubber grommets might work but maybe not suitable for low pressure transfer if wanting to do that. The coil kits are pricey for the SS buckets, not sure costwise whether DIY works out or not. I opted to keep my minifridges for my SS Brewtech mini-buckets, lagering, and on deck keg storage. I modified one minibucket so far to have a TC port and I put the thermowell through the stopper hole with a threaded fitting. Down the road I might convert to coils. I only bought the Anvil coil to try to use my carboys with the glycol chiller. More of an experiment as I have two 7 gallon unitanks.

As far as glycol, they make valved disconnects so spillage can be minimized. Just drops with those. Larger spillage is like cleaning up spilled soda. Condensation is more volume than the little bit of glycol. Perhaps not so bad in AZ!

 

[Snuffy]

The trick to not needing to babysit the temp is to get bigger bricks of ice from what I can see. I work from home, so checking my temp on a daily basis is easy and I'm fine changing ice out once a day as needed too. So hopefully this method works out for me and I don't end up with a dreaded stockpile

If you have a source for block ice, I'd think it may last longer. The thing is, you're not only pumping cool into your fermenter, you're pumping the warm back into your cooler so the ice melts faster than you expect it to. Plan on adding ice morning and afternoon and when you get up to pee at night. I was using a relatively large cooler and ambient was about 74F.

 

[sixstring]

The 1/2" blue foam I think is the largest closed cell foam cheaply available.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Tr...D880DAA7477486E3AF&conditionGroupCode=1&gQT=1
Cozie looks like this. I suppose one could use the neoprene too but I wouldn't pay to do that.

Any coil through the bucket lid would need two holes. I mention the temp twister but you would need compression fittings or some other way to seal the tubing through the lid. Rubber grommets might work but maybe not suitable for low pressure transfer if wanting to do that. The coil kits are pricey for the SS buckets, not sure costwise whether DIY works out or not. I opted to keep my minifridges for my SS Brewtech mini-buckets, lagering, and on deck keg storage. I modified one minibucket so far to have a TC port and I put the thermowell through the stopper hole with a threaded fitting. Down the road I might convert to coils. I only bought the Anvil coil to try to use my carboys with the glycol chiller. More of an experiment as I have two 7 gallon unitanks.

As far as glycol, they make valved disconnects so spillage can be minimized. Just drops with those. Larger spillage is like cleaning up spilled soda. Condensation is more volume than the little bit of glycol. Perhaps not so bad in AZ!

That's quite a nice cozie. I have already ordered my anvil jackets, so I'll see how they behave. I'm not unhappy with the current cost of the gear I just got to get this handled as I'm about done buying stuff now (yes I'm sure there's people now chuckling about that and thinking how wrong I am haha). The only thing I really need after this little lot is a bigger kettle and something to cook on that's not the kitchen glasstop cooker. My wife's not a fan of the brewery smell that the kitchen takes on during brew days haha.

If you have a source for block ice, I'd think it may last longer. The thing is, you're not only pumping cool into your fermenter, you're pumping the warm back into your cooler so the ice melts faster than you expect it to. Plan on adding ice morning and afternoon and when you get up to pee at night. I was using a relatively large cooler and ambient was about 74F.

If my ice block molds aren't big enough to last a day then I'll get a bigger plastic box and freeze that up. The homebrew 4 life guy makes a 32lb block of ice that seemed to work for almost 3 days in his garage. So I'm guessing my 8lb blocks should at least last half a day (i got 4 of them so i can freeze while i cool with the others).

Looking forward to getting all of this hooked up now for the new brew day

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I’m in the Southeast. Our temperatures are running upper 70°’s to low 80°’s now. I just started a 10 gallon batch yesterday using the Temp Twister coil; set temperature at 63.5°. I’m using a 10 gallon water cooler with 4 frozen ½ gallon juice bottles inside. I used it to get my fermenter down to pitching temperature from 86°, then take it down to set point. I changed out the jugs.
This morning, it’s still sitting on set point, and the water in the cooler is still at 50°. I will check again this afternoon, but probably be able to get by until this evening before swapping out the jugs.
I have had no problems keeping temperatures in the mid 60°’s to 70°. When it gets really hot, I just go with a kveik and heat wrap!

I have never attempted a cold crash with the chiller coil as I assumed that would be futile.

By the way, Williams have their cooling pump package, on sale right now.

Cooling pump kit

 

[sixstring]

I’m in the Southeast. Our temperatures are running upper 70°’s to low 80°’s now. I just started a 10 gallon batch yesterday using the Temp Twister coil; set temperature at 63.5°. I’m using a 10 gallon water cooler with 4 frozen ½ gallon juice bottles inside. I used it to get my fermenter down to pitching temperature from 86°, then take it down to set point. I changed out the jugs.
This morning, it’s still sitting on set point, and the water in the cooler is still at 50°. I will check again this afternoon, but probably be able to get by until this evening before swapping out the jugs.
I have had no problems keeping temperatures in the mid 60°’s to 70°. When it gets really hot, I just go with a kveik and heat wrap!

I have never attempted a cold crash with the chiller coil as I assumed that would be futile.

By the way, Williams have their cooling pump package, on sale right now.

Cooling pump kit

Wish it was low 80's here It's already been over 100 several times.
Sounds like what I've got will work like yours then, which I'm glad about. Be great to have a fully maintained temp to work with instead of trying to make sure I find the coolest room at any given time.
Homebrew 4 Life cold crashed in his cooler with some ice water and it seemed to do the job nicely. I've also got room in the kegerator to cold crash the anvil if i take a keg out (which I'm fine doing for 24 hours). So I'm not worried about the coil to cold crash now.
Should have it all here by Wednesday. Need to drill some more stoppers though as I've got another plan for connecting some carbonation caps to use for my airlocks so I can transfer under pressure when ready without needing to remove the bung. Just need to wait to get the coil and all that so i can fit the right drill bit and not make the holes too big.

Drilled some holes in the top of the cooler to run the water pipes through so I can close the lid of the cooler nicely too. Should help conserve the ice blocks.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

We hit 86° today; so not too bad. My Kölsch started perking this morning and I hooked up the receiving keg for purging this afternoon. I changed out the 4 hall-gallon frozen jugs this morning and that carried it all day. Fixing to go out and change them for the night.

 

[sixstring]

ok, I got my Anvils in their wet suits (well one of them, the other is busy fermenting an English Pale Ale which I'm looking forward to (first attempt at transfer under pressure), kegging it on friday).
I made a little modification to the 4 hole stoppers. Instead of putting the thermowell in the hole it was meant to go in, I put it in the airlock hole instead so it's tight (not letting any gas out), and put a carbonation cap with some tubing around the barb so it fits perfectly in to the thermowell hole. Then to test it wasn't leaking gas, i hooked up the C02 tank and started pressurizing it (not a lot, just enough). Not a single bubble around the rubber stopper or from any of the holes in it.



I think I'm going to hot knife the side of the carbonation cap off though so it sits better.

So when I cold crash with one of these ball locks, do I just take the blow off tube off with my QD it's on and then stick it in the fridge without anything there? I saw that brewhardware sells some cool gadget - Cold Crash Guardian. Do i need one of those? Or is that more of a nice to have since it will provide C02 as back pressure rather than possibly sucking oxygen through the ball lock? I know it won't arrive before I cold crash what I have, but more of a should I get one or two in advance for the next batches?

 

[Whisky River]

Without a cold crash guardian or some other method of introducing gas, your fermenter could possibly implode or burst its seal when you cold crash. It will NOT suck gas back in through the ball lock disconnect and it will remain a sealed container.
You could leave the blow off in place and let it suck in oxygen or sanitizer.

You could try to build a mylar balloon co2 recapture system or something like the Jaybird co2 harvester kit with things you have around the house.

You could also try to top up the fermenter with co2 from your tank as it crashes. You would have to stay on top of checking it and add a little at a time though out the crash but it should work. The amount of effort kind of depends on how much pressure your fermenter can hold. I can push 15lbs into my unitank and not worry about it loosing a few pounds during a crash, but if yours can only hold 1-2lbs you will just have to check it and top it up more often. Also it’s generally accepted that the regular co2 gas regulator can not be relied on to regulate 1-2lbs so you can’t just keep it hooked up and set on 2lbs and let it do its thing. Some people have used low psi propane regulators with success but you would have to look up how to build a system like that.

Congrats on the cooling coil install. Looks great.

 

[sixstring]

Without a cold crash guardian or some other method of introducing gas, your fermenter could possibly implode or burst its seal when you cold crash. It will NOT suck gas back in through the ball lock disconnect and it will remain a sealed container.
You could leave the blow off in place and let it suck in oxygen or sanitizer.

Ok, so I have this clear before I do something bad:
If I do not leave the blow off tube on the ball lock when cold crashing, then I risk my FV crushing itself due to negative pressure? Yes/No?

If I leave the blow off tube connected, then it's going to suck up some starsan mixture from the bucket.

With that said, if I use distilled water instead of starsan mixture in the bucket for the blow off tube and it sucks it back into the fermenter, then this won't really hurt the beer will it?

Hmm, I think I have an idea. I wonder if there's a way to connect a QD to a normal Double airlock. So I can just connect that for the cold crash. That'll do the job. Time to hunt around my little collection of bits and bobs

You could try to build a mylar balloon co2 recapture system or something like the Jaybird co2 harvester kit with things you have around the house.

You could also try to top up the fermenter with co2 from your tank as it crashes. You would have to stay on top of checking it and add a little at a time though out the crash but it should work. The amount of effort kind of depends on how much pressure your fermenter can hold. I can push 15lbs into my unitank and not worry about it loosing a few pounds during a crash, but if yours can only hold 1-2lbs you will just have to check it and top it up more often. Also it’s generally accepted that the regular co2 gas regulator can not be relied on to regulate 1-2lbs so you can’t just keep it hooked up and set on 2lbs and let it do its thing. Some people have used low psi propane regulators with success but you would have to look up how to build a system like that.

The Anvil barely holds about 3psi I think it is. So it's not going to work I doubt. If I can't figure out my DIY airlock attempt (see above) then I'll probably just buy one of the Cold Crash Guardians and then just use a blow off tube in distilled water for this cold crash.

Congrats on the cooling coil install. Looks great.

Thanks. Made a little adjustment to the ball lock blow off/airlock to make it fit better (fun with a hacksaw).

 

[sixstring]

ok, figured something out:

Just grabbed some tube I had, a ball QD and a double airlock. Now I can just prop that up on the Anvil while i cold crash it. And It should work as a blow off in a bucket when I'm not cold crashing.

 

[sixstring]

ok it seems like it worked. Only problem was the QD was the wrong one for the ball lock I had So made a quick switcheroo and now it's all hooked up and getting cold in the fridge. Took a quick sample and it's bang on 1.010. Turned out at 4% and tastes great. Just gotta get it kegged in a few days now so I have something for the weekend.

Thanks for all the advice on here. Been a great learning experience for me.

 

[sixstring]

Ordered some cold crash guardians too, so I can use those later. As I think they'll be worth it in the long run and will help prevent any potential starsan mixture going back into the beer. I'd rather have them than not and wish I did one day

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Ordered some cold crash guardians too, so I can use those later. As I think they'll be worth it in the long run and will help prevent any potential starsan mixture going back into the beer. I'd rather have them than not and wish I did one day

Good idea. I may misunderstand the setup you cobbled together, but even though it eliminates pulling StarSan out of the blowoff bottle, and protects your fermenter from a vacuum collapse, you’re still drawing in outside air which could lead to contamination and/or oxidation. Again, maybe I didn’t quite follow you.
In any case, the guardians will solve all the issues. Cheers!

 

[sixstring]

Good idea. I may misunderstand the setup you cobbled together, but even though it eliminates pulling StarSan out of the blowoff bottle, and protects your fermenter from a vacuum collapse, you’re still drawing in outside air which could lead to contamination and/or oxidation. Again, maybe I didn’t quite follow you.
In any case, the guardians will solve all the issues. Cheers!

So my cobbled setup was just some distilled water in the double airlock connected to the ball lock QD on the fermenter. So if it sucks down the distilled water, then at least it's not starsan and I can just keep topping that up easily with more water. Which hopefully won't hurt the beer and prevents oxygen getting in.
Does that make sense? Or am I just talking bollocks (does this one get filtered i wonder?) and just better off getting the cold crash guardians in place asap?

 

[Closet Fermenter]

So my cobbled setup was just some distilled water in the double airlock connected to the ball lock QD on the fermenter. So if it sucks down the distilled water, then at least it's not starsan and I can just keep topping that up easily with more water. Which hopefully won't hurt the beer and prevents oxygen getting in.
Does that make sense? Or am I just talking bollocks (does this one get filtered i wonder?) and just better off getting the cold crash guardians in place asap?

If I understand correctly, this will allow oxygen back in. Just think of the bubbler working in reverse. It will bubble outside air in through your water instead of venting CO₂ out as during fermentation.
Yes, I would use the guardian asap. Perhaps if you are already past active fermentation, you can put a little pressure on your fermenter that will fill up the bladder. I don’t have any experience with them, so maybe someone else can jump in here.

 

[sixstring]

If I understand correctly, this will allow oxygen back in. Just think of the bubbler working in reverse. It will bubble outside air in through your water instead of venting CO₂ out as during fermentation.
Yes, I would use the guardian asap. Perhaps if you are already past active fermentation, you can put a little pressure on your fermenter that will fill up the bladder. I don’t have any experience with them, so maybe someone else can jump in here.

Thanks for that. Now I understand it better.
Well, the CCG's are on the way. Whoever runs brewhardware.com, major shout out to them for how prompt they handle everything i've ever ordered from there. It's always out the door the next day and barely takes any time to arrive.
I'll make sure I have one hooked up for my next brew after the initial fermentation period is done. Next batch should be spot on with the new cooling system and all of this fun stuff to use. Looking forward to brew day (Sunday) and guessing I will have the CCG here before long.

 

[sixstring]

Cooling is holding steady at 68F all day and night. I've got some gallon jugs of water frozen up to maintain temp in the water. One in the morning lasted me for about 12 hours. I can handle switching these out every 12 hours. So far, really happy with this setup. Got some adjustments to make, but I'm hoping that this stabilized fermenting period coupled with the oxygen free transfers to the keg will improve the final product in a noticeable way. If it doesn't, well, at least I know it's not going to get too warm when fermenting

 

[sixstring]

Cold Crash Guards arrived early. Thanks @Bobby_M, Got one hooked up already to my FV and the bag is filling up nicely with C02.

 

[Bobby_M]

Excellent

 

[sixstring]

Just a little tip for keeping your cooler water cool without letting ice melt into the water directly when trying to keep your FV at a certain temp:
The gel ice packs are great, but they're small, so they're thawed pretty fast when you're trying to cool down beer using a cooling coil in a fermenter.
So I switched to freezing water in gallon plastic water jugs. However, that is another problem since those plastic jugs will get holes punched in them or crease and crack as the water freezes. So don't fill them all the way, squeeze the air out so that the jug can expand again as the water freezes. I've had so many freeze and crack that I've stopped using them.
So then I decided to try something else. Ziplock bags (double bag for safety and make sure you get the ones with the double ziplock (freezer bags)). They won't crack. If you have the big 2 gallon bags, then you can fill one up with a huge amount of water that'll create a great big brick of ice. Let that sit in your cooler for a day easily and it'll be fine. My cooler water now stays under 48F all day and night now thanks to this one. And as long as you seal the bags up proper, they will stack so you can freeze several at a time.

 

[sixstring]

The 2 gallon bags may not be strong enough to hold all that ice water Mine sprang some leaks through both bags.
I'm trying some 1 gallon bags now instead.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I use half gallon juice jugs. I fill them nearly full. When they freeze, the flat sides or even the bottom may expand outwards, but I have never had one crack. I use them over and over. Three or four will keep mine in the 40’s to low 50’s all day. They can, of course, be switched out twice a day to keep things cooler if necessary.

 

[sixstring]

I use half gallon juice jugs. I fill them nearly full. When they freeze, the flat sides or even the bottom may expand outwards, but I have never had one crack. I use them over and over. Three or four will keep mine in the 40’s to low 50’s all day. They can, of course, be switched out twice a day to keep things cooler if necessary.

I might try those instead. The water jugs just seem to develop leaks every few uses. So I'll go buy some healthy juice and drink those up and try them instead. Maybe their plastic is a bit thicker.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I might try those instead. The water jugs just seem to develop leaks every few uses. So I'll go buy some healthy juice and drink those up and try them instead. Maybe their plastic is a bit thicker.

Purchase ten ½ gallon jugs of Concord grape juice (no preservatives), 8 lbs of cane sugar, and a pack of Premier Classique wine yeast. Then, you will have everything you need for 5 gallons of red wine and 10 jugs for cooling your fermenter!

 

[Whisky River]

The small Gatorade bottles are really strong and work well. But I have no idea what you can ferment their contents into?

 

[sixstring]

Just another little find to add here...
I moved my bucket to the kegerator to cold crash it. Well, the cold crash guardian C02 bladder was so full it wouldn't fit in the fridge Hoping I haven't squeezed out too much that things go bad. But just an fyi for others that may be trying something similar to me. If you have a smaller kegerator (mine only fits my bucket and 1 5g keg and c02 tank or two 5 gallon kegs and the c02 tank).
It may fit better if you stick the bladder in first, behind the bucket, as there's some excess room there. However, i foolishly didn't have a long enough tube, as i cut mine rather short when i got them Probably need to buy some more tubing and make some adjustments now haha.
This wasn't the fault of the place I purchased them from btw. This was _my_ fault for not leaving enough tube connected
Luckily the second one has plenty of extra tubing on it. So I'll see how that fits when i move the second bucket in to crash (although I am tempted to try and bring it down as low as I can without the fridge and see how far I can get it first. Will add an update to this thread about it when I do it, and see how far I can cool it)

 

[IslandLizard]

Well, the cold crash guardian C02 bladder was so full it wouldn't fit in the fridge Hoping I haven't squeezed out too much that things go bad.

I don't think you'd need a whole full bladder to make up for cold shrinkage of a 6.5 7.5 gallon bucket containing a 5-5.5 gallon batch of beer. Most of the temp-related shrinkage will occur in the headspace gas, though.

 

[sixstring]

I don't think you'd need a whole full bladder to make up for cold shrinkage of a 6.5 gallon bucket containing a 5-5.5 gallons batch of beer.

Hope not I'd say there was still about half a bladder full. Made me chuckle when i tried to squeeze it all in the fridge though

 

[IslandLizard]

Hope not I'd say there was still about half a bladder full. Made me chuckle when i tried to squeeze it all in the fridge though

Yeah, I can only imagine what that looked like...

I've modified my original reply, refining it, but it's basically the same message.
Half of that bladder volume should suffice, yes.

I use a mylar party balloon, with EVA-barrier tubing off course!
The most difficult part was pushing the tubing through the balloon's valve system, it was darn tough and resistant. I could not find any online instructions on how to do that, let stand doing it elegantly.