50 litre Fermenter

Comment by Paul Wicksteed - another1 on September 1, 2011 at 11:23am

My new 50ltr fermentor care of Chris Banks, awesome

Comment by jt on September 1, 2011 at 12:20pm

Looks good, when are you going to give it a run ?

Comment by Paul Wicksteed - another1 on September 1, 2011 at 1:01pm

got to plumb it all up, and hook up PID's for the new Kettle, and HTL. Also waiting on 50ltr Mash tun to arrive, so hopefully by the end of the month the first brew will be done.

Comment by FatD on November 30, 2011 at 4:31pm

how much one of those cost?

Comment by Paul Wicksteed - another1 on December 1, 2011 at 9:47am

heaps, there are a lot of stainless fitting in this fermentor, and it was a prototype that required quite a bit of fabrication, specifically the corny connects into the 4" tri-clover. Some of the parts I sourced directly from US and passed on the Chris for the build so the total cost is around the $700 mark. 

Comment by Evan Davies on January 16, 2012 at 2:48am

Hi Paul, I am gonna get one of these babies made when I return to NZ, just wondering how yours works and would you change anything, looking at the SABCO one I reckon the pickup tube could be slightly larger as not to get blocked. Are they as good as a conical( or better if you read Sabcos blurb) love the unit you bought, but cant stretch the budget that far without chance of divorce lol

 

Comment by Paul Wicksteed - another1 on January 16, 2012 at 9:23am

Hi Evan, the fermentor works great, only thing I would change is the size of the tri-clover on the top, from a 4" to a 6". I have also removed the sample tube (a lot of the initial fabrication cost), and replace it with just a ball valve, being all tri-clover its really easy to interchange with all of my other parts. I will add another image of what it looks like now.

The fermentor was based on the Sabco design, since we have a Sabco Brew-magic setup, but we havn't brought any Saboc fermentors, as the one that Chris built works perfectly. As for conical vs keg, there is a big thread on this forum about it, but my personal opinion is that conicals simply make it easier to harvest your yeast after/during fermenting. The top pickup on my fermentor ends before the turb, so once emptied the yeast can be saved anyway.

Comment by Evan Davies on January 16, 2012 at 4:19pm

Thanks for that Paul, I was wondering about the sightglass tube thing, and now it makes sense that it was a sample tube, much cheaper to just drain into a hand held sampler I will guess. I was initially gonna make two stackable 30lt kegs with 4" openings, but are going to sell my 30lt brewery when I get back and fabricate a 50lt setup, so will be making a 50 lt fermenter, and have priced up 6" openings. Can you show us what you did for a pickup tube, I am thinking to go around the 15mm I.D and 1" O.D the same system as Sabco just bigger. I will be looking at making these to sell as cheap kegs become available so need to nail a working model. The brew magic looks awesome, JEALOUUS Speak soon

 

Comment by Paul Wicksteed - another1 on January 17, 2012 at 11:20am

Hi Evan, the design details are Chris's IP, he did all of my fabrication based on an initial sketch I gave him, and more importantly his experience in building brewing equipment. So to protect his full-time business as a Brewing Hardware Manufacturer, they aren't mine to really give away.

Hope you can appreciate that I'm not trying to be all secretive about it, it is that I just have a loyalty to Chris who has done a lot of work for me and is a mate.

Comment by Evan Davies on January 17, 2012 at 12:00pm

No worries Paul, I am in touch with Chris directly and are trying to source some cheaper bits and bobs for him, will run with my version of the Sabco pickup just bigger, happy brewing.

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