33 gallons of fermentation space!

[huaco]

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Today I went to my LHBS and picked up (3) 15 gallon malt drums he had been saving for me. I was not sure if all 3 would fit in my chest ferm chamber because I had laid them out with cardboard last week and it looked like they would over lap and be too tight with three drums in there. Well... to my surprise, they all fit in there with no shoving. I plan to pump directly into the sanitized fermentor from my chiller so I will NOT be lifting these drums over the top of the chest. Likewise, I plan to push the beer out with CO2 when racking to kegs. I need to pick up a bung wrench to remove the large bung plugs.

The way I figure it, if I brew 10.5 to 11 gallon batches, I can ferment all in one container. I will have to run blow-off tubes all the time because I don't have head space above the tops of the containers.

[perogi]

I did something similar with some Curtec 55L drums. They work great!

http://www.curtec.com/en/products/drums/wide-neck-drums/detail/wide-neck-drum-55-litre

Looks like you got a way better deal than I did Good luck bud!

edit: that being said, I got myself one of these bad boys for a graduation present (M.S. in Computer Science!) - http://morebeer.com/view_product/10776//14_Gallon_Conical_Fermenter_-_Heated_and_Cooled?a_aid=theelectricbrewery

Needless to say I'm pumped!

(Edit: Link updated to support this website. Thank you! - Kal)

[huaco]

WOW. Nice! Are you running that in an indoor environment? I have looked at those. (for sometime further down the road of life)
My brewery is in my garage right now and I just don't see it doing very well with Texas summers and ambient garage temps what they are.

[perogi]

Yeah I ferment in my basement. In the winter/Spring/Fall I use a large tub of water and aquarium heaters to keep temps. Summer is usually not too bad but I want precise temp control.

[huaco]

I will revisit the idea of those controlled conicals when I get an indoor brewery.

BTW... Congratulations on the recent graduation! What an awesome gift to give yourself!


On another note...
I'm thinking of pumping straight from my wort chiller through a long tube (10-15 feet) and into these carboys. I am trying to never have to lift them with liquid in them.
I will place the ferm chamber in an "L" configuration to the Left of the brewery. My BK is already on the Left side of the brewery so this may be a shorter length of hose.

I don't have much height in this chamber above the carboys so I plan to just use a blowoff tube jammed down into the bung opening. That is great for fermentation, but I need to figure out how to rack out of these by pushing it with CO2. I think I have figured out how to get gas into the carboy... I plan on taking the large bung caps and fitting them with a gas input post from a corny keg. That would be a nice clean and simple connection. In the smaller bung cap, I need to make some type of gas-tight racking cane. This is where I'm lost. Anyone have any suggestions?

[sincere01]

[huaco]

Looking to build something a bit more robust than stoppers.
Thought of this just now and sketched it out... Should be able to push CO2 in through the Ball Lock Gas post and push beer out through the racking cane -- All while using just the small bung.
Now, I will see if I can source all the parts. Stainless for parts that touch beer. Brass for the rest.

[perogi]

[huaco]

I've never seen anyone do this. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here.

I picked up a nylon 3/4" barb and will use that as my blow off. I can't have a bubbling
air lock because of height clearances. I will just take out the blowoff barb and install the pressure/racker.
One note: I was able to bushing down to 1/2" fittings between the bung and tee. There is still plenty of room for the CO2 to flow. I will need to drill out the compression fitting to full bore though. There is a shoulder in there stopping my racking cane from slipping down through it. That shouldn't be too hard to accomplish on a drill press.

Also, I may switch out the tee to a cross and put on an adjustable prv set to 3-4 psi or so. I don't want to accidentally build too much pressure and blow the whole thing out. THAT would suck!

[perogi]

[huaco]

Yeah, I just need to pick up a cross, prv, and the ball lock gas hardware. Will be VERY convenient to just pop on a ball lock gas line to push this with!

[huaco]

So I wanted to come up with some way to pump directly into my fermentation vessel from my chiller, while not having to lift anything in or out of the chest... The following is how I am doing it. (well, for now anyway...)

I ordered enough 24" long thermowells from www.stainlessbrewing.com to accommodate one for each fermentation vessel. In my case, I have three. They are 1/2" OD x 24" long http://stainlessbrewing.com/Long-Thermowell_p_131.html with a compression cap on the end. Also, I ordered three [URL="http://stainlessbrewing.com/SS-Comp-x-MPT-Bore-Through_p_56.html"]full bore compression fittings[/URL] for the thermowell. As well as three [URL="http://stainlessbrewing.com/Hex-Bushing_p_14.html"]3/4"x1/2" reducing bushings[/URL]... I drilled out the center depression in the bung cap to 1/2 inch and it was a nice tight fit. Not air tight, but tight enough to stabilize the tubing and not rattle around.


Here you can see I used tape on all the threads to help seal it up and make it air tight. I threaded the bushing into the center of the 2" standard bung cap that came on the malt drum. (quite handy to realize those threads were there.)


I realized that if I had a compression fitting on both ends, my bung cap would be trapped... I set the compression rings aside and opted for the double stacked o-ring setup. Just slide on two o-rings and add the compression fitting and thread down.


Here it is assembled and adjusted to it's lowest profile possible. I don't have but just a few inches clearance above the malt drums and I don't want to build a collar for a ferm chamber, so I am very glad this proved to be low-profile enough to use in the chamber.
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[huaco]

Kind of a useless picture, but here it is being installed in the malt drum carboy.


All buttoned up and tightened down. Side Note: I found out later that using a CHEAP pair of channel locks with no insulation on the handles makes for a PERFECT bung wrench. Stick the ends of the handles in the recesses and turn like a huge screw driver.


As the carboy would be sitting while chilling and pumping directly to it, as well as fermenting.


Here, I purchased 8 feet of [URL="http://www.reptilebasics.com/12-heat-tape"]12 inch heat tape[/URL] from Reptile Basics (4 feet per carboy). I also purchased 2 sets of [URL="http://www.reptilebasics.com/thg-amp-wireset"]power cord kits.[/URL]


Here I wrapped the carboy in a spiral wrap. I plugged the heat tape into the "Heating" side of the STC-1000 controlled receptacle and set my temp. I have 11 gallons of Dusseldorf Altbier in this carboy and it is holding right at my setpoint of 55*F while the glass carboy in the chamber is actually laggering at 38*F right now.

[huaco]

Now... on to the transfer side of this project.

I ordered a Stainless [URL="http://stainlessbrewing.com/SS-Racking-Cane_p_43.html"]1/2"ODx36" long racking[/URL] cane from Stainless Brewing. This is a custom length, so make sure you ask him for a quote on a custom length of 36" to the top of the bend. I wanted to make SURE to reach above the freezer and this is plenty of height to accomplish that. Also, you will need a brass 1/2" Compression X 1/2" MPT fitting from the hardware store. (this will be modified) Also, pick up a 1/2" brass tee, 1/2" x 1/4" reducing bushing, 1/2" close nipple and 3/4" MPT x 1/2" FPT reducing bushing.

Here, I noticed there was a shoulder in the compression fitting because it is not full bore like the Stainless fittings I got from Stainless Brewing. A dremmel with a 1/4" grinding stone makes quick work of the shoulder to allow complete pass-through of the SS Racking Cane.


I assemble the contraption and added a[URL="http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=376_1_3_260&products_id=1146"] Ball Lock Keg adapter[/URL] that threads right into the bushing on the side of the Tee. It really is a nice product because it has an integrated O-Ring and all you do is pick up a matching Gas-In Keg Post from you LHBS and thread it on hand tight.


Finished product...


Overall Finished product. Unfortunately the racking cane tip purchased from Stainless Brewing did not fit inside the 3/4" bung opening. I had to remove it.

[huaco]

Now, to the actual transfer...

I installed the Pressure-Racking assembly in the 3/4" bung and slid the Racing cane all the way to the bottom. I marked the cane and moved it up 1 3/4" to make sure to clear the trub/yeast layer on the bottom of the carboy.


Crank down on the compression fitting and lock that elevation in. If I want to use the stacked O-Ring method later I could cut the brass compression collars off and install some O-Rings, but for now I will just stick with the set height for my three malt drum carboys.


Simply hook up a gas line and start pushing the beer out.
[COLOR="Red"]IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SAFETY[/COLOR]
Do NOT put a control valve or any obstruction down stream of the racking cane... This is pressurizing a vessel that is not "designed" for pressure. I would not feel comfortable applying any more than 4-5 psi to these drums. They may take quite a bit more than that, but I won't risk it. I think it goes without saying... [COLOR="Red"]SHUT THE REGULATOR DOWN TO ZERO AND CLOSE ALL GAS VALVES ON THE REGULATOR OR DISTRIBUTION BLOCK PRIOR TO PRESSURE-RACKING.[/COLOR]


I put somewhere around 11 gallons of water in this carboy and closed it up to "Proof the Concept". I racked 10 gallons out of the carboy with the regulator set at 4-5 PSI in less than 5 minutes. Yes, I am using a little CO2 gas in the process, but I have 2 bottles and refills on bottles are MUCH cheaper than a wine transfer pump. (which I don't have) Regular 1/2" silicone tubing simply slides over the racking cane. I installed it all the way to the bend to make sure it stayed on. It worked great in this application because there is no pressure. I will be racking into sanitized and purged corny kegs. (not 5 gallon buckets... lol)


Here you see it set up inside the Chest Fermentation Chamber.

[Kevin59]

Very nice design and implementation huaco!

[huaco]

[Kevin59]

So our 7 cu ft chest freezer in the basement has now been re-purposed as a fermentation chamber!!! SWMBO decided it was in her way in our storage room, so all I had to do was move it to the corner of my shop...

I'll be copying your setup sometime down the road, once I have a couple of those barrels from the LHBS! Have you made any tweaks/changes since your pics?

[huaco]

NOPE!
EDIT: Ok... so I have and will make a few changes!

Only thing I may change is to find a silicone o-ring for each bung and replace the white rubber gasket. Also, it helps if you shave off the vertical shoulder around each bung cap. It is part of the blue drum but just gets in the way in my application. I think it originally is supposed to protect the bung cap because when tightened, the caps sit down into a little recess...

[huaco]

Oh... and also. I am probably going to be changing the elbow for the blow-off tube to a larger diameter. probably a 3/4x3/4 barb 90. I had my first actual blow-off on this last batch (IIPA). I think the small 3/8" tube I'm using for blow off was causing too much pressure to form and thus, forming too much krausen and that lead to a blow-off.
I had 3 gallons of head space!