SS BrewTech Unitank

[Rob2010SS]

So, today is my lucky day and i just won me one of these!

Whos got one?
What accessories do you recommend?
Any tips to using it?

Never used anything like it so any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Bent-Brewer]

Gonna be a little scattered on the suggestions, but here goes:

I ended up pulling the ball valve and replacing it with a 1.5TC x ball lock gas disconnect. Got a barb to MFL for the oxygenation stone for the same reason- easier to hook up to my CO2 lines without needing to actually disconnect tubing. Also looking into getting the casters. I can lift it no problem, but rolling it to the sink is less risky. Just convenience things.

Their FTSs system is pretty nice if you don't have a fermentation fridge. I forget if the giveaway came with it. I stick 1gal jugs of ice in a large cooler and recirculate from there. Usually change them out 2-3x/day the first few days.

Make sure you give it a VERY thorough cleaning before use. Mine had a ton of machining oil and other crud, especially in the welded areas. I mixed up a few gallons of TSP to soak and scrub all the fittings (as always, use gloves) before rinsing and setting aside to dry. Scrub down the conical with TSP, and when you think you got everything, do it again. Once you're positive it is clean, spray it all down with water. It is really important to give it that "first" deep clean. One other bit of advice I heard was to boil the carb stone for 10-15 minutes to help remove any oils (try not to touch the stone since oils can clog it over time- boiling helps clear it).

While it won't always be THAT labor- intensive, it will be a lot more cleaning than a simple bucket or carboy. Before use, I break down the fittings (gaskets included) and make sure I spray all surfaces with sanitizer before putting it back together and sealing it up. After use, do the same but with cleaning solution. First few times took me a lot longer, but now it's pretty streamlined.

If you do choose to ferment under pressure: a sudden pressure drop in the unitank (e.g. when you transfer to a keg) will kick up trub. Before pressure transferring, make sure your keg and unitank are at the same pressure. Pull the relief valve on the keg a second so it is slightly below the unitank, then start the transfer. Side note, I got a 1.5TC x 3/8 barb, 3/8 tubing, and a 3/8 x ball lock liquid connector for pressurized transfers to my keg. You'll want to get an extra 1.5TC clamp and silicone gasket to hook that up. Probably the easiest way to fill from the unitank.

 

[Vale71]

1. Get a good manometer. The one delivered with my Unitank was completely off and as it goes up to 4 bar you don't get accurate readings in the 0-1.2bar range anyway. Get one in the right range.
2. Get the adjustable spunding valve

 

[Rob2010SS]

Gonna be a little scattered on the suggestions, but here goes:

I ended up pulling the ball valve and replacing it with a 1.5TC x ball lock gas disconnect. Got a barb to MFL for the oxygenation stone for the same reason- easier to hook up to my CO2 lines without needing to actually disconnect tubing. Also looking into getting the casters. I can lift it no problem, but rolling it to the sink is less risky. Just convenience things.

Their FTSs system is pretty nice if you don't have a fermentation fridge. I forget if the giveaway came with it. I stick 1gal jugs of ice in a large cooler and recirculate from there. Usually change them out 2-3x/day the first few days.

Make sure you give it a VERY thorough cleaning before use. Mine had a ton of machining oil and other crud, especially in the welded areas. I mixed up a few gallons of TSP to soak and scrub all the fittings (as always, use gloves) before rinsing and setting aside to dry. Scrub down the conical with TSP, and when you think you got everything, do it again. Once you're positive it is clean, spray it all down with water. It is really important to give it that "first" deep clean. One other bit of advice I heard was to boil the carb stone for 10-15 minutes to help remove any oils (try not to touch the stone since oils can clog it over time- boiling helps clear it).

While it won't always be THAT labor- intensive, it will be a lot more cleaning than a simple bucket or carboy. Before use, I break down the fittings (gaskets included) and make sure I spray all surfaces with sanitizer before putting it back together and sealing it up. After use, do the same but with cleaning solution. First few times took me a lot longer, but now it's pretty streamlined.

If you do choose to ferment under pressure: a sudden pressure drop in the unitank (e.g. when you transfer to a keg) will kick up trub. Before pressure transferring, make sure your keg and unitank are at the same pressure. Pull the relief valve on the keg a second so it is slightly below the unitank, then start the transfer. Side note, I got a 1.5TC x 3/8 barb, 3/8 tubing, and a 3/8 x ball lock liquid connector for pressurized transfers to my keg. You'll want to get an extra 1.5TC clamp and silicone gasket to hook that up. Probably the easiest way to fill from the unitank.

Alright couple of questions...

1. When you say carb stone, is this the oxygen stone for aeration?

2. The ball lock you removed is the one that i see on what I'm presuming to be the blow off arm? Forgive me for the noob question but why is that preferred over the ball valve?

3. When transferring out of this thing, do you need to use co2 to push it?

 

[Vale71]

You could do a gravity transfer but then you'd need to raise the tank higher than the keg. If tank and keg are at the same level then you'll need to push the beer with CO2 while slowly bleeding CO2 out of the receiving vessel.
As for the blow-off, personally I kept the ball valve and augmented it with a TC connection (just get a male 1/2 thread to 1.5 inch TC adapter) so that I can attach all sorts of adapters on the fly without having to vent the tank thanks to the ball valve.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Can someone help me understand the carb stone on this thing? When do you use it, how long do you use it for, etc...

 

[Bent-Brewer]

Sorry for the delayed response. And potentially confusing post now that I'm looking back at it...

1. The carb stone and oxygenation/ aeration stone are the same thing. It just depends on whether you're running an air pump to aerate wort (ppm limitations), oxygen tank to oxygenate wort (much higher ppm), or CO2 to carbonate the beer.
2. Correct- I removed the ball valve from the blow-off arm and mounted a gas lock fitting. It isn't necessarily preferable, but I had the extra tri clamp ball lock fitting and was going to use the ball valve on other equipment. It does make it easier to do pressure transfers though (given my personal setup).
3. I use CO2 as a pressure source for all transfers after fermentation is complete to reduce oxygen exposure. It helps reduce oxygen exposure, but to be totally honest, I produced fine beer when I open-air-transferred from a bucket to a keg. Never really noticed it go "bad" even after 3-4 months. If your fermenter is above whatever you're transferring into, you could always gravity transfer (just open the blow-off arm). You'd need a 1.5" tri clamp x barbed fitting to match whatever diameter hose you use, a 1.5" tri clamp gasket (silicone preferred), and corresponding clamp to hook up to the output of the unitank. Put a pin/ball lock beer disconnect on the other side of the tube to hook up to the keg.

The carb stone is supposed to let you carbonate your beer in about 24 hours after fermentation is complete, though it is operating under the assumption that your beer is at serving temperatures. Off the top of my head (probably way off), I think you'd need around 30psi to reach 2.2vol at room temperature. Since the pressure relief valve opens around 18psi, you won't ever fully carbonate your beer unless you're down around serving temperatures (glycol chiller or fermentation fridge required). You could achieve the same maximum carbonation level be dumping trub after day 2 of fermentation then closing off the blow-off arm until fermentation is complete to build up to 18psi head pressure- either add a spunding valve or be 100% sure that your pressure relief valve works first (hook up CO2 and slowly increase it until the valve opens) so you don't accidentally exceed the pressure rating of the fermenter.

I don't recall the recommended pressures/adjustments for using the carb stone to carbonate. If using it to oxygenate before fermentation though, you want to set the tank output pressure low and slowly increase it until you barely begin to see bubbles at the surface. Give it like 20-30 seconds of that then shut it off. Others could probably be more helpful here than I am.

Either way, the stone is a nice-to-have feature and isn't critical for making good beer. Don't worry if you use it or not (but always be sure to clean it!)

 

[Rob2010SS]

Alright. Need some help here...

I didn't do enough research before trying to ferment under pressure. I shut the blow off valve at 1.021 with an expected final gravity of <1.010. I'm at 1.016 and my unitank was reading 18psi. I slowly started opening the blow off to release pressure and get it back down to 0 and i got close to zero and there's now foam coming out of the blow off. The longer i did that, more foam kept coming. I thought about opening the top port to vent it out that way but as i started loosening the clamp, foam started coming out there as well. I was afraid if i took the top off,i would have a volcano...

What do i need to do with this? How do i release all the pressure safely?

 

[Rob2010SS]

Disregard. All good

 

[Bent-Brewer]

Glad to see you got it back under control. When you ferment under pressure, the CO2 is forced back into solution (beer). If you decease that pressure, then CO2 can be released and the beer will rapidly foam up.

Be sure to clean out the blow off tube and ball valve before your next batch!

 

[Rob2010SS]

Glad to see you got it back under control. When you ferment under pressure, the CO2 is forced back into solution (beer). If you decease that pressure, then CO2 can be released and the beer will rapidly foam up.

Be sure to clean out the blow off tube and ball valve before your next batch!

Yeah i was just freaking a bit. I won this fermenter that i can't afford and i was afraid i was going to implode it lol. Yeah for sure on the cleaning. I'll be ripping it apart and doing a full clean after this brew.

 

[Vale71]

Don't worry, there's no way you could create a vacuum in a fermenter that's filled with fully carbonated beer. Even if you attached a vacuum pump to the blow off the beer would just foam violently and make a mess of everything, but you already know that by now...
If you want to start playing around with pressure during primary you should definitely get the calibrated spunding valve, it's a bit pricey but will save you from making a foamy mess in the future.

 

[im322305]

Don't mean to be high jacking the thread but I just bought one of these and have some questions on dry hopping. I haven't been able to find many peoples experience's with dry hopping with an SS unitank but I've heard from some people that they've had issues with the dry hops clogging up the dump valve. Any one have this happen to them? If so, how'd you get around this? Seems like you can just apply pressure with CO2 to force the hops out but can imagine that might spray beer out really fast and make a mess. Also, what are people's procedure with post-fermentation dry hopping in the unitank. I make alot of IPA's and I'm pretty OCD about oxidation. I feel that hooking up CO2 to the blow-off arm when opening the port on top of the tank would help keep positive pressure and limit O2 intake. But I feel this would still let some O2 in and would lead to oxidation off flavors after I'm done dry hopping and cool the beer to carb. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[Vale71]

Regarding oxidation, some people have rigged up a gadget consisting of a 3" butterfly valve, a 3" inch pipe and mounted it to the 3" port with the PRV on top. You just stick your dry hop addition in there, purge with CO2 and then attach it to the tank. You then spund the beer until it reaches desired carbonation and when it's time you open the valve and let the hops fall in without having to de-pressurize. The downside is that the PRV is out of service as long as the valve is closed and that's a potential issue if your spunding valve were to clog.

 

[im322305]

Regarding oxidation, some people have rigged up a gadget consisting of a 3" butterfly valve, a 3" inch pipe and mounted it to the 3" port with the PRV on top. You just stick your dry hop addition in there, purge with CO2 and then attach it to the tank. You then spund the beer until it reaches desired carbonation and when it's time you open the valve and let the hops fall in without having to de-pressurize. The downside is that the PRV is out of service as long as the valve is closed and that's a potential issue if your spunding valve were to clog.

Sounds like a solid set up. Not having the PRV is a bit concerning but couldn't you have the whole set-up attached and valve open during fermentation? When you want to add the hops could you just close the valve, take off the end cap, add hops and purge, reapply cap and then open the valve. Couldn't you keep the valve open for the rest of the time? This would allow the PRV to be in play at all times except when you're adding hops.

 

[Vale71]

Sounds like a solid set up. Not having the PRV is a bit concerning but couldn't you have the whole set-up attached and valve open during fermentation? When you want to add the hops could you just close the valve, take off the end cap, add hops and purge, reapply cap and then open the valve. Couldn't you keep the valve open for the rest of the time? This would allow the PRV to be in play at all times except when you're adding hops.

That could work, but then you would need a second valve and a tee instead of a straight pipe. You need an attachement for the CO2 hose and you need a valve to seal it during fermentation and after it's been purged. This is really starting to sound quite expensive.
It's probably cheaper to just buy a second PRV and attach it to the blow-off arm with a tee placed before the spunding valve.