SS Brewtech Brite Tanks

[akthor]

Dang it too drunk! Pow!

 

[GJOCONNELL]

No the tank for the glycol chiller is all one temp. You achieve different temp with the pump and temp control you are using for your vessel. The pump goes in the tank.

Example if you have two FTS pumps and controls sets for two fermenters you set your temps and the control cycles the pumps on and off to keep your temps you set.

I do believe the SS Glycol chiller can only do 3 1bbl fermenters tho not 4.

That is pretty good given the price of the glycol chiller....if you have that much beer in fermenters hats off to you my friend!

 

[augiedoggy]

That is pretty good given the price of the glycol chiller....if you have that much beer in fermenters hats off to you my friend!

You can find them used cheap or in my case free as Ive gotten 2 from work for free now... I use one in a very low budget system for 4 smaller conicals. I build, 4 stc1000+ units (soon to be testing an arduino alternative) controlling 4 double pole relays, when the relay is activated to cool it sends 24vDC to a $3 solenoid valve to open and 240v to the main chiller pump which then pumps the glycol water mix through a cpvc manifold on the wall and through any open solenoid valve to homemade blue 1.25" discharge hose like they sell at the home depot wrapped around my conicals and I insulate the conicals with foil bubble wrap insulation like they sell at the home depot. I also use 24v dc heating strips also switched by the stc1000 units.... Total cost not including conicals? about $200

 

[dthompson79]

You can find them used cheap or in my case free as Ive gotten 2 from work for free now... I use one in a very low budget system for 4 smaller conicals. I build, 4 stc1000+ units (soon to be testing an arduino alternative) controlling 4 double pole relays, when the relay is activated to cool it sends 24vDC to a $3 solenoid valve to open and 240v to the main chiller pump which then pumps the glycol water mix through a cpvc manifold on the wall and through any open solenoid valve to homemade blue 1.25" discharge hose like they sell at the home depot wrapped around my conicals and I insulate the conicals with foil bubble wrap insulation like they sell at the home depot. I also use 24v dc heating strips also switched by the stc1000 units.... Total cost not including conicals? about $200

Please share what you speak of arduino based system. Is it Brew pi? I was led to believe it wasn't configured for a glycol system.

 

[augiedoggy]

Please share what you speak of arduino based system. Is it Brew pi? I was led to believe it wasn't configured for a glycol system.

To be fair I was told the same thing.. The software im going to use I will be a beta tester for and I dont believe I could disclose anything about it even if I wanted to at this time due to that fact. Sorry. Only time will tell I guess if the arduino hardware could work well with a chiller/glycol system but I have faith it will.

 

[dthompson79]

To be fair I was told the same thing.. The software im going to use I will be a beta tester for and I dont believe I could disclose anything about it even if I wanted to at this time due to that fact. Sorry. Only time will tell I guess if the arduino hardware could work well with a chiller/glycol system but I have faith it will.

Fair enough, but I fully expect you to disclose the how/when/ and where when the time comes ;-). I will be piecing together a glycol system later this year and standard temperature controller just seem so inelegant. Temp overshoot and what not. plus being able to control and view parameters remotely is neat!!!

 

[NeoBrew]

Fair enough, but I fully expect you to disclose the how/when/ and where when the time comes ;-). I will be piecing together a glycol system later this year and standard temperature controller just seem so inelegant. Temp overshoot and what not. plus being able to control and view parameters remotely is neat!!!

In my experience, which is with a chest freezer fermentation chamber and not a glycol system. PID control and overshoot are not an issue. Because of the amount of beer in a fermenter (I do 5 gal batches) there is enough thermal mass and the transfer of heat from the surface of the fermenter is so slow, the system doesn't need to do much more than shut off when it hits temp. In my case the overshoot was 0.1-0.2 degrees F. The only thing I did end up doing with my arduino based setup was to put a delay on so the condenser didn't flip on and off as it stabilized across that set point.

 

[GJOCONNELL]

You can find them used cheap or in my case free as Ive gotten 2 from work for free now... I use one in a very low budget system for 4 smaller conicals. I build, 4 stc1000+ units (soon to be testing an arduino alternative) controlling 4 double pole relays, when the relay is activated to cool it sends 24vDC to a $3 solenoid valve to open and 240v to the main chiller pump which then pumps the glycol water mix through a cpvc manifold on the wall and through any open solenoid valve to homemade blue 1.25" discharge hose like they sell at the home depot wrapped around my conicals and I insulate the conicals with foil bubble wrap insulation like they sell at the home depot. I also use 24v dc heating strips also switched by the stc1000 units.... Total cost not including conicals? about $200

I am not that handy with electrical and I don't have a ton of spare time to build panels and stuff like that plus it takes me a long time. So paying for a fully built system that is all nice & tidy is nice for me. Even when I do complete my projects it looks like Frankenstein experiment generally...lol

 

[jready]

Looking to buy a couple of these and a glycol chiller I already have two of their BME fermenters. Curious if there are foaming issues when serving from them. How long of a beer line are people using and how do you keep it cold?

 

[user 40839]

I'm a bit intrigued by these as well. Been watching some video reviews, they do seem to do a good job in helping to make really clean finished beer that's ready to go in a fraction of the time after fermentation's done. I've thought about getting a couple of carb lids for my kegs to burst carb that way, but am still running into problems with clogging when pressure transferring to the keg from the conical, as well as that nasty sediment filled first pint or two. Being able to pressure transfer from my chronical directly in here through 1/2" tubing would eliminate a lot of that gunk I can't seem to avoid getting into my cornies, despite how many trub dumps I do, or how long I cold crash.

Plus, since I already have their BME Chronicals as well as the glycol chiller...

Goddamnit.

 

[augiedoggy]

I'm a bit intrigued by these as well. Been watching some video reviews, they do seem to do a good job in helping to make really clean finished beer that's ready to go in a fraction of the time after fermentation's done. I've thought about getting a couple of carb lids for my kegs to burst carb that way, but am still running into problems with clogging when pressure transferring to the keg from the conical, as well as that nasty sediment filled first pint or two. Being able to pressure transfer from my chronical directly in here through 1/2" tubing would eliminate a lot of that gunk I can't seem to avoid getting into my cornies, despite how many trub dumps I do, or how long I cold crash.

Plus, since I already have their BME Chronicals as well as the glycol chiller...

Goddamnit.

are you draining the sediment out of the bottom valve prior to draining the beer out of the side valve? I usually have good luck transferring to kegs without any significant yeast going to my kegs but I use a hop spider and a filter on my boil kettle dip tube to keep solids out of my plate chiller so only clear beer goes into my conicals and I bet thats making a difference as the yeast itself drains pretty well.

BTW as far as the glycol chillers I just picked up a third one for a nano brewpub we are opening, a micromatic 1/3hp I believe from an auction for $225 I looked it up and its a $1700 chiller pump combo...
the deals are out there people if you look. they had glass front tall TRUE fridges that sold for $25 each! yes $25...

 

[user 40839]

are you draining the sediment out of the bottom valve prior to draining the beer out of the side valve? I usually have good luck transferring to kegs without any significant yeast going to my kegs but I use a hop spider and a filter on my boil kettle dip tube to keep solids out of my plate chiller so only clear beer goes into my conicals and I bet thats making a difference as the yeast itself drains pretty well.

BTW as far as the glycol chillers I just picked up a third one for a nano brewpub we are opening, a micromatic 1/3hp I believe from an auction for $225 I looked it up and its a $1700 chiller pump combo...
the deals are out there people if you look. they had glass front tall TRUE fridges that sold for $25 each! yes $25...

Yep, go through the full thing - I don't have a hop spider though, preferring to let the little fellas roam free in my boil, but do use a filter on the kettle's pickup tube. Various dumps throughout the conical cycle as well. Just seems to be oddly unavoidable for me.

I paid full whack for my SS Brewtech glycol, not long after it came out. Was that or the Rapids wholesale unbranded one, and went for SS Brewtech since the potential for repair/warranty work was worth the little bit extra. Of course, now I'm seeing chillers for half what I paid, hence me being gunshy about paying $750 for a brite tank that I don't REALLY need.

True refrigerators are an odd commodity. People either basically GIVE them away, or they think they're made of solid gold around here. I've seen the GD merchandising fridges go on CL for $50. Similarly, the direct draw units (which I really wanted to get for home!) will be beat to hell, caked in rust, need a good week's worth of cleanup and work, and they'll still want a few hundred less than retail.