New Anvil Bucket Fermentors

[LokiM4]

They must have sent me an old one. Darn

Right from Anvil or from another vendor? Recently?

 

[fun4stuff]

Right from Anvil or from another vendor? Recently?

Right from Anvil January 2020. It was missing the o-ring when they mailed it to me. Maybe it was "reconditioned".

Brewed 3rd beer in it today and again came up about 0.5 gal short, which got me thinking. I keep forgetting to check it. But I checked to make sure my kettle was correct when I added the water pre-boil.... and it went from 5.5 gal postboil in kettle to 5 gal in fermenter after transfer.

 

[LokiM4]

... and it went from 5.5 gal postboil in kettle to 5 gal in fermenter after transfer.

Was this still hot? You’ll get something like 4% heat shrinkage between a boil and room temp. Also how much trub and wort did you leave in the kettle? I’ve never seen a kettle without any losses to trub, etc. Half a gallon is pretty reasonable actually for any system.

just trying to eliminate any other possible source of loss in your process, they’re usually the more likely culprit than mismarked commercially marked equipment.

 

[fun4stuff]

Was this still hot? You’ll get something like 4% heat shrinkage between a boil and room temp. Also how much trub and wort did you leave in the kettle? I’ve never seen a kettle without any losses to trub, etc. Half a gallon is pretty reasonable actually for any system.

just trying to eliminate any other possible source of loss in your process, they’re usually the more likely culprit than mismarked commercially marked equipment.

I checked kettle volume after cooling and after taking immersion cooker out. I left very little trub... basically just a coating of solids on the bottom. I’ll double check the fermenter when I’m done fermenting.

 

[WBB]

did anyone ever figure out by how much the volume markings are off on the 7.5 gal version of this bucket? Seems to be off by about 1/2 gallon.

Mine is .25g off. So when the marking reads 5g, I have 5.25g. No biggie, still a great little fermenter.

 

[ihavenonickname]

i wonder if they were trying to account for fermenter dead space volume with those marking?

 

[fun4stuff]

Mine is .25g off. So when the marking reads 5g, I have 5.25g. No biggie, still a great little fermenter.

Yeah, I’m happy with fermenter otherwise. I was just trying to figure out exactly how much it was off by. 0.5 gal was an estimate by me... all these years I’ve always taken final volume in fermenter; so i only had quickly glanced at my kettle volume after cooling. 0.25 gal could be about right.

 

[fun4stuff]

Yeah, I’m happy with fermenter otherwise. I was just trying to figure out exactly how much it was off by. 0.5 gal was an estimate by me... all these years I’ve always taken final volume in fermenter; so i only had quickly glanced at my kettle volume after cooling. 0.25 gal could be about right.

Markings on mine are short 0.25 gal at 5 gal. Verified today after kegging last batch.

 

[carpathia]

What's the actual capacity on one of these? I know that my 7.9 gallon Speidel is actually closer to, like, 10 gallons at the top, which is helpful for slightly larger batches or ones that need a lot of head space.

 

[LokiM4]

What's the actual capacity on one of these? I know that my 7.9 gallon Speidel is actually closer to, like, 10 gallons at the top, which is helpful for slightly larger batches or ones that need a lot of head space.

The markings in mine stop at 6.5 gal with some unmarked space above. Without measuring a gallon’s worth of markings from below and transferring them up I would estimate 7.25 or more likely 7.5 right to the top of the lip of the fermenter. So right as sold, 7.5 gallons capacity but intended for ~5 gallon batches.

 

[sweetcell]

Does anyone know the inside diameter of the stopper hole? I'm thinking about putting a 1.5" TC weldless fitting up there but not sure if it'll fit.

apologies for the late reply: it's a #7.

 

[gib_250]

I can't seem to get the bucket below 47 with the cooling coil using my glycol chiller.

 

[sweetcell]

I can't seem to get the bucket below 47 with the cooling coil using my glycol chiller.

have you tried throwing some insulation around the bucket? sleeping bags work well.

 

[BigFatDad]

Responding to a bit of an old thread, but I just got 7.5 gallon Anvil and am excited to use it this week. An earlier post (#304 by @Schlenkerla ) has almost exactly what I was thinking for CO2 management during fermentation and cold crash/kegging, but flipped the gas line attachment on the keg. The reason I am thinking to have them oriented this way (gas to gas) is to push the last of the sanitizer out of the keg, then also allow the keg to function as a suck back area for cold crashing (see below) Thoughts?

Fermentation
Co2 from fermenter -> gas in post on keg
Liquid out from keg -> to blow off bucket of sanitizer

Cold Crash
Co2 from fermenter -> gas in post on keg
Liquid out from keg -> to blow off bucket of sanitizer
- sanitizer will be pulled into keg (unknown volume)
- after completion of cold crash, unhook gas from keg. Use CO2 bottle to blow out the suck-back from the keg (should still be O2 “free” in keg) and can create slight pressure for closed transfer

Closed transfer
Co2 from fermenter -> gas in post on keg
Liquid out from keg -> to ball valve on fermenter
- unsure how to keep liquid line purged of O2
- End: turn off ball valve, remove gas line, remove liquid line

 

[WesBrew]

For those using the cooling kit, the rubber stopper that came with mine is about 2 years old now. the holes on the stopper have somehow permanently expanded and hardened so that the coil tubes loosely slide in and out. not tight, not sanitary. I had to rig something up with pieces of tubing to get a tight seal.

 

[gunderbuns]

View attachment 659842Aww. They look so cute together.
I just bought a 4 gallon fermenter.
I’m currently brewing a 2.5g batch of Vienna lager.
It’s my first time doing a half batch but I’m excited to start brewing more often!
Next purchase is a 3g keg.
Btw- I purchased the bigger one a few years ago. The fit and finish has improved dramatically.
I love these fermenters! I haven’t modified it yet to do pressure transfers yet.

Would the 4-gallon lid fit on the 7.5-gallon model? I know this is an old thread, but I've been trying to figure this out with little luck.

I ask because my 7.5-gallon anvil bucket will just barely fit in my fermentation fridge. I can't really even add an airlock it's such a tight fit. So if the 4-gallon fermenter lid could shave off something like 0.5-1 inches of vertical clearance, it would be the perfect solution to my problem.

 

[AzOr]

Would the 4-gallon lid fit on the 7.5-gallon model? I know this is an old thread, but I've been trying to figure this out with little luck.

I ask because my 7.5-gallon anvil bucket will just barely fit in my fermentation fridge. I can't really even add an airlock it's such a tight fit. So if the 4-gallon fermenter lid could shave off something like 0.5-1 inches of vertical clearance, it would be the perfect solution to my problem.

Going by memory, I don’t think so. I will double check when I get home though.
It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve used the smaller bucket. It’s great, I just find myself brewing 5g batches.

 

[gunderbuns]

Going by memory, I don’t think so. I will double check when I get home though.
It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve used the smaller bucket. It’s great, I just find myself brewing 5g batches.

Thanks! I appreciate the info.

I've used the bucket for several batches and have really enjoyed how simple it is. If you confirm the lid, I'll be torn: different fermentation chamber or different fermenter?

 

[AzOr]

Would the 4-gallon lid fit on the 7.5-gallon model? I know this is an old thread, but I've been trying to figure this out with little luck.

I ask because my 7.5-gallon anvil bucket will just barely fit in my fermentation fridge. I can't really even add an airlock it's such a tight fit. So if the 4-gallon fermenter lid could shave off something like 0.5-1 inches of vertical clearance, it would be the perfect solution to my problem.

Definitely no. The smaller bucket’s lid is about 10.5 inches from lip to lip. The larger bucket is over 12”. Here’s a pic of the two kids stacked.

 

[refect]

Came across this thread, but figured I'd post this contraption I put together in order to replace the airlock and make closed transfers easier and faster on keg day.

I basically cut off a piece of racking cane, a piece small 1/4 ID thick wall hose, and a stainless steel carbonation cap (See pic of it put together). It fits perfectly snug in the hole where the airlock goes. You can easily attach a ball lock with blow off tube to it and then unplug it and hook up co2 for a low pressure closed transfer.

I took it a step further and use it to purge my keg that im going to transfer into with free co2 from the yeast. I took a small piece of 1/4 inch ID thick wall hose and added ball locks on both ends. One end plugs into the liquid post of the keg (I wanted co2 to flush from the bottom up) and the other end comnects onto the post from the fermenter. I then hook up the gas post from the keg going into a jar of sanitizer. Now once im ready to transfer i just unhook the keg, attach the co2 to the post on top of fermenter, and then attach my hose from the spogot to the liquid post of the nicely purged keg to start my completely o2 free transfer (I sanitize the keg prior to hooking it up for the co2 flush, so it doesn't have to be opened after it's purged). See other pic of my setup in action.

 

[ryanj]

Hey folks. My chest freezer finally gave out so I'm on the hunt for a new fermentation chamber. Aside from just getting another chest freezer for my 7.5 gallon Anvil Bucket Fermenter, has anyone found any particular mini fridges that will fit it? I don't mind doing a little modification.