StMarcos
Well-Known Member
Just about done with this. I've been using a 120qt cooler with a braid, which in general worked fine, but I became frustrated with the long-narrow geometry. I batch sparge and aim for equal runnings of a little more than 10gal. Boiloff 3gal, thermal contraction about a gal, leaving 16.5 in the fermenter, easily giving me 15.5gal to fill a sanke. The cooler just took too long to get the last couple of gallons out. Hopefully this system will work - might be testing on Thursday!
The heart is a Ronco 30gal cone-bottom tank with about a 20degree bottom slope and a 5'' flat area. I ordered a lid with it. I installed a 1/2'' pp bulkhead. The tank has graduations. Pic makes it look taller and narrower than it really is.
The stand is 2x3 fir and 3/4plywood. All joints were screwed and glued with polyurethane glue. There are eight oak triangles that will support the tank. The flat part of the bottom will be floating by about 1/4''. I thought that it would be too tricky to make it rest on both, so opted for the triangles. I left the glue fillets on them for extra strength. These too are glued and screwed from underneath. The stand received 4 coats of outdoor polyurethane.
The insulation is 2'' polycyanurate foam board. Was hoping to use the armaflex stuff, but ran out of funds for the project, and already had the board. I made razor slits 90% of the way through from the outside, and snapped the rest. Wrapped around the tank and filled the gaps with insulating foam. Trimmed these with a razor and then a rasp. The top has a circle of foam board as well. I wrapped the whole thing in foil tape. Not terribly happy with this finish but there you go. Maybe upgrade later to some of that truck-bed liner that some people have been using. Pulling it firmly, the insulation shell leaves about a 1/2'' gap. I think I'll hold it with velcro. Not sure if I'll put some weatherstripping in there or leave it open to see the graduations. I usually just stir well and check with a thermapen, but would consider installing a thermometer. I usually hit target temps pretty well, and I think this thing is going to hold the temp pretty well.
False bottom is 16gauge stainless, with the standard 3/32 - 5/32. It's only 12''... to make it the full 18'' would have been too much $$ for the time being. I cut it with a dremel tool. We'll see how it works. Remember I batch sparge. It sits about 1 & 3/8'' from the flat part of the bottom. There are 2-56 size machine screws to support it. I should probably upgrade to larger standoffs, although the 16gauge perf. sheet seems pretty rigid. I ordered some silicone edge gasket to fit around the FB, which is totally flat, but the bottom of the tank waves a bit, leaving a gap certainly larger than 3/32'', maybe 3/16'' Hopefully the weight of the grain will help seal it up.
I drain the MT into 6-7gal buckets and then dump these into the BK. Pretty rustic technique but it works well for me. I scoop the spent grain into buckets with a 1gal pitcher and compost it with rice straw.
Hope it works!
The heart is a Ronco 30gal cone-bottom tank with about a 20degree bottom slope and a 5'' flat area. I ordered a lid with it. I installed a 1/2'' pp bulkhead. The tank has graduations. Pic makes it look taller and narrower than it really is.
The stand is 2x3 fir and 3/4plywood. All joints were screwed and glued with polyurethane glue. There are eight oak triangles that will support the tank. The flat part of the bottom will be floating by about 1/4''. I thought that it would be too tricky to make it rest on both, so opted for the triangles. I left the glue fillets on them for extra strength. These too are glued and screwed from underneath. The stand received 4 coats of outdoor polyurethane.
The insulation is 2'' polycyanurate foam board. Was hoping to use the armaflex stuff, but ran out of funds for the project, and already had the board. I made razor slits 90% of the way through from the outside, and snapped the rest. Wrapped around the tank and filled the gaps with insulating foam. Trimmed these with a razor and then a rasp. The top has a circle of foam board as well. I wrapped the whole thing in foil tape. Not terribly happy with this finish but there you go. Maybe upgrade later to some of that truck-bed liner that some people have been using. Pulling it firmly, the insulation shell leaves about a 1/2'' gap. I think I'll hold it with velcro. Not sure if I'll put some weatherstripping in there or leave it open to see the graduations. I usually just stir well and check with a thermapen, but would consider installing a thermometer. I usually hit target temps pretty well, and I think this thing is going to hold the temp pretty well.
False bottom is 16gauge stainless, with the standard 3/32 - 5/32. It's only 12''... to make it the full 18'' would have been too much $$ for the time being. I cut it with a dremel tool. We'll see how it works. Remember I batch sparge. It sits about 1 & 3/8'' from the flat part of the bottom. There are 2-56 size machine screws to support it. I should probably upgrade to larger standoffs, although the 16gauge perf. sheet seems pretty rigid. I ordered some silicone edge gasket to fit around the FB, which is totally flat, but the bottom of the tank waves a bit, leaving a gap certainly larger than 3/32'', maybe 3/16'' Hopefully the weight of the grain will help seal it up.
I drain the MT into 6-7gal buckets and then dump these into the BK. Pretty rustic technique but it works well for me. I scoop the spent grain into buckets with a 1gal pitcher and compost it with rice straw.
Hope it works!
