comparisons of different fermentation set ups

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TheSumOfAllBeers
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Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by TheSumOfAllBeers » Mon Jul 17, 2017 12:00 pm

I made plenty of rubbish beer with my chronical- shiny won't automatically improve the beer. It turns out that temp control is really critical when you site your FV in direct sunlight.

I get certain key features with my chronical that are not well advertised.

Big dry hops, and dry hop dumping.

Lower O2 pickup during dry hopping, adding finings or sampling.

Tomp
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Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by Tomp » Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:01 am

Temperature control during fermentation is absolutely vital - specially this time of year. I'm blessed with a cellar - means I can brew pretty much all year round.


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vacant
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Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by vacant » Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:47 am

Tomp wrote: It sits in the cellar and I don't do lagering, I have no need to cool it. Just a brewbelt round the outside and an insulating jacket to maintain fermentation temperature.
Are you sure you want an insulating jacket? If the wort starts off at the right temperature, along comes the vigorous fermentation and temperature is raised a few degrees for quite some time. You want that lost as quickly as possible. I'd add the jacket when things have died down.
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Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by Tomp » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:08 pm

vacant wrote:
Tomp wrote: It sits in the cellar and I don't do lagering, I have no need to cool it. Just a brewbelt round the outside and an insulating jacket to maintain fermentation temperature.
Are you sure you want an insulating jacket? If the wort starts off at the right temperature, along comes the vigorous fermentation and temperature is raised a few degrees for quite some time. You want that lost as quickly as possible. I'd add the jacket when things have died down.
The jacket is only used in the winter, as it gets down to very cold in the cellar in the winter. About 10 degrees last year. Certainly not on today - although I've used it in the summer with ice bottles inside to keep the fermentation down to 20 ish.


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Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by vacant » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:38 pm

Tomp wrote:The jacket is only used in the winter, as it gets down to very cold in the cellar in the winter. About 10 degrees last year. Certainly not on today - although I've used it in the summer with ice bottles inside to keep the fermentation down to 20 ish
That makes sense. Lacking a cellar, I gave in and built a fermentation fridge as I missed brewing through the summer.
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DaveGillespie

Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by DaveGillespie » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:22 pm

I've been mulling a similar question for a while now; I currently use plastic fermenters in a brewfridge and am happy with my results. I'd like an option that would allow me to transfer under pressure and possibly ferment under pressure too. The SS Brewtech Brewbucket doesn't seem to be ideal for this, as well as coming in at well over £200 by the time you add the pressure fittings it's only rated to 2.5PSI I believe. A keg would seem a better option but fermenting in a standard 19L Corny would reduce me to ~15L batches which is a no go for me. I liked the look of this:

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.p ... uctId=2458

But it's 50 litres and out of stock anyway. 25 would be my sweet spot.
Similarly, a pointy FV will not really result in noticeably better beer unless there is some problem with the current FV or process; it is again mostly about practicalities IMO. A conical can offer really great convenience if you would use the facilities, or else it can be unnecessarily cumbersome, expensive and more to clean if you wouldn't. You can dump initial rubbish if you have any getting into the FV, selectively harvest clean yeast slurry, and later dump old settled yeast and possibly pellet hops. Some people aren't interested in these things, or have other methods of achieving them - so a flat-bottomed equivalent may suit them better (the other attributes many conicals have, such as being stainless, having hygienic bulkheads, sealing lid and so on are available without the cone part).
Kev - what are the options you speak of?

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Kev888
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Re: comparisons of different fermentation set ups

Post by Kev888 » Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:13 pm

Brewbuilder does a stainless flat bottomed fermeter in 33L, 50L and 100L, which has the triclamp bulkheads and clip-down lid that people often buy conicals for. There are intermediate/quality plastic types as well, such as the Brouwland style, IIRC these may be sold over here as the Brupaks brand. You can use hop sacks or filters instead of dumping hops, transfer to secondary FVs (or not worry) instead of duming crud, and you can top crop some yeast types or decant a little fermenting wort to a separate bottle and treat it like a little starter.

TBH I wasn't thinking of pressurised vessels though. That said, you only need a small amount (and a safety valve) for modest up-hill transfers and some people have done this with the plastic type I mentioned. Not sure about the stainless brewbuilder type but it does seal airtight so could be worth asking if it can do this.

I can't claim to have done much with highly pressurised fermentation myself. I suppose at your size, a 30L sankey keg may be worth looking at if this is your intention. Kammac used to sell some on ebay too but seem to have no items at the mo; could be worth a call as IIRC they were cheaper. The narrow neck isn't ideal for fermenting but if you use good cleaning potions it would be okay - there are threads on american forums with people converting such things to FVs. SS do a ~38L brite tank which looks very nice indeed, though is in a different price bracket it isn't ridiculous compared to conicals.
Kev

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