Awesome build, and equally, if not more impressive write up!
I am thinking about doing this quite seriously. I am not a good carpenter and thought about doing the stand out of metal, perhaps using the frames available for the conicals. I was also thinking about possibly condensing the stand, and the side cart into one assembly, or optionally, just put casters on the individual conical frames and skip the stand, mounting plumbing on a wall.
I have several questions if you please. .
At the height your racking arms are, I assume that is above the level of a standard ball lock keg?
Also, can you fit a standard 5 gal pail beneath the dump valve at the height the conicals rest in the stand?
These two questions are probably the most critical. I don't know how the height would be for these, if I used the metal stands instead, if the heights would be correct as-is. Are you happy with the height of the top of the conicals for working with the lids, etc? If I modify, it seems going higher might facilitate combining the two carts into one, but only if the working height doesn't become to difficult.
Do you notice any issues of rolling the cart with all the casters? If I wanted to roll my stand from a walkout basement onto a patio for some reason, there is a 1" lip of concrete and also smaller metal threshold that I might have difficulty with.
How are you filling the fermenters? I would need a VERY long piece of silicone hose to pump from the brew stand directly through chiller and into the conical, depending on where I put the conical stand. (What is the combined length and width of the two carts ?) I might need to use a pail as an intermediary. I don't know if the march pump could pull off a long run of say 25 -35 feet.
Where do you rest or store the chiller coils when opening the fermenter without loosening the air tight fittings ? Do they stand upright on the base coil? Haven't read the web page on these yet, but was wondering if its covered in there about how to adjust the depth of how far into the wort they will extend.
I think you touched on this already, but could you elaborate please. If doing ales and lagers simultaneously, how has the performance been in terms of temp regulation without overshoot/undershoot?
Do you know what the max temp the plastic conicals can tolerate? 140°? I've been having issues with my plate chiller, and seems it'd be easier to just chill it to what I can manage then use the glycol fermenter to handle the rest.
How easy is it to control flow, such as for dumping yeast, from those butterfly valves, without going full blast. Do these work like a ball valve except with a plate instead? What is the benefit over a standard ball valve?
Thanks!
TD
I am thinking about doing this quite seriously. I am not a good carpenter and thought about doing the stand out of metal, perhaps using the frames available for the conicals. I was also thinking about possibly condensing the stand, and the side cart into one assembly, or optionally, just put casters on the individual conical frames and skip the stand, mounting plumbing on a wall.
I have several questions if you please. .
At the height your racking arms are, I assume that is above the level of a standard ball lock keg?
Also, can you fit a standard 5 gal pail beneath the dump valve at the height the conicals rest in the stand?
These two questions are probably the most critical. I don't know how the height would be for these, if I used the metal stands instead, if the heights would be correct as-is. Are you happy with the height of the top of the conicals for working with the lids, etc? If I modify, it seems going higher might facilitate combining the two carts into one, but only if the working height doesn't become to difficult.
Do you notice any issues of rolling the cart with all the casters? If I wanted to roll my stand from a walkout basement onto a patio for some reason, there is a 1" lip of concrete and also smaller metal threshold that I might have difficulty with.
How are you filling the fermenters? I would need a VERY long piece of silicone hose to pump from the brew stand directly through chiller and into the conical, depending on where I put the conical stand. (What is the combined length and width of the two carts ?) I might need to use a pail as an intermediary. I don't know if the march pump could pull off a long run of say 25 -35 feet.
Where do you rest or store the chiller coils when opening the fermenter without loosening the air tight fittings ? Do they stand upright on the base coil? Haven't read the web page on these yet, but was wondering if its covered in there about how to adjust the depth of how far into the wort they will extend.
I think you touched on this already, but could you elaborate please. If doing ales and lagers simultaneously, how has the performance been in terms of temp regulation without overshoot/undershoot?
Do you know what the max temp the plastic conicals can tolerate? 140°? I've been having issues with my plate chiller, and seems it'd be easier to just chill it to what I can manage then use the glycol fermenter to handle the rest.
How easy is it to control flow, such as for dumping yeast, from those butterfly valves, without going full blast. Do these work like a ball valve except with a plate instead? What is the benefit over a standard ball valve?
Thanks!
TD