looking to get a 1BBL Herms system and not sure how will I carbonate. Trying to save some money without having to buy a Bright tank with glycol system. I was wondering if there's another alternative that would be cheaper?
Cheers!
Cheers!
1BBL Carbonation system
- Thread starter Pdaigle
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sandyeggoxj
Well-Known Member
Is this for home use or for a small nano setup? You can just carbonate in the kegs. How are you going to ferment?
sandyeggoxj
Well-Known Member
If it's for home why not carbonate in the kegs?
BitterSweetBrews
Tim Trabold
Try building an in-line recirculating carbonator.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=600006
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=600006
sandyeggoxj
Well-Known Member
Inline recirculating would be the fastest. Keezer would be the easiest.
You do a diy glycol and then make brights out of 1/2bbl sanke kegs. The diy glycol is cheap and easy. I use one for my conical. Works great.
You do a diy glycol and then make brights out of 1/2bbl sanke kegs. The diy glycol is cheap and easy. I use one for my conical. Works great.
madscientist451
Well-Known Member
Seems like there are two questions here, one about avoiding a glycol set up, the other carbonating 1BBl of beer.
For keeping everything cold, depending on how much beer you have at once, you can build a cheapo walk in cooler with a window A/C and a coolbot.
Using freezers with temp control units may be cheaper than that, but it depends on the total beer volume you want to keep cold at one time and some other factors.
If you are using 1/2 BBL Sanke kegs, lifting them up and then bending over to lower them in to a freezer is going to get old pretty fast. Maybe some kind of a hoist system? If you have a walk in, you can use a hand truck to wheel the kegs in. You can put your taps right through the wall of the walk in and have the storage and serving kegs all in one place.
Sanke kegs also have their own challenges when it comes to cleaning them.
A buddy of mine has a side business auctioning used restaurant equipment. Used commercial walk in units come up for sale all the time, and some go pretty cheap. You usually have to go to the restaurant and disassemble and get it out of there and there's usually a deadline. Note that some run on 3-phase power, some don't, so you have to look at that if you go that route.
Do you really need to carbonate 1BBL of beer at a time? As others have said, why not just transfer the beer to corny kegs and carb up 2 at a time as you need them?
As the kegs get kicked, you can have them to refill with the next batch, compared to having a 1BBL or 1/2 BBL brite tank sitting there practically empty.
I've seen some 10 gallon brite tanks for about $500, Sabco has 1/2 BBL Brite tanks for $380. Three 5 gallon corny kegs used would be like $150?
For keeping everything cold, depending on how much beer you have at once, you can build a cheapo walk in cooler with a window A/C and a coolbot.
Using freezers with temp control units may be cheaper than that, but it depends on the total beer volume you want to keep cold at one time and some other factors.
If you are using 1/2 BBL Sanke kegs, lifting them up and then bending over to lower them in to a freezer is going to get old pretty fast. Maybe some kind of a hoist system? If you have a walk in, you can use a hand truck to wheel the kegs in. You can put your taps right through the wall of the walk in and have the storage and serving kegs all in one place.
Sanke kegs also have their own challenges when it comes to cleaning them.
A buddy of mine has a side business auctioning used restaurant equipment. Used commercial walk in units come up for sale all the time, and some go pretty cheap. You usually have to go to the restaurant and disassemble and get it out of there and there's usually a deadline. Note that some run on 3-phase power, some don't, so you have to look at that if you go that route.
Do you really need to carbonate 1BBL of beer at a time? As others have said, why not just transfer the beer to corny kegs and carb up 2 at a time as you need them?
As the kegs get kicked, you can have them to refill with the next batch, compared to having a 1BBL or 1/2 BBL brite tank sitting there practically empty.
I've seen some 10 gallon brite tanks for about $500, Sabco has 1/2 BBL Brite tanks for $380. Three 5 gallon corny kegs used would be like $150?
How long do you want to carbonate is the question. You could naturally carbonate with dme or higher pressure a longer time both at 70 degrees.
If you aren't storing the keg's cold (no cold room) then why do you need to carbonate them cold? As mentioned above all forms of carbonation can happen at room temperature. If you force carbonate, then you need to use a higher pressure at room temp than at serving temp. There are calculators out there to tell you what pressure to use for your desired carbonation level and the temp the beer is at when you are carbonating it.
Another option is to buy a unitank for your fermenter(s). These are rated for higher pressures. You could then ferment under pressure and cap off towards the end, which will give you fully carbonated beer right out of the fermenter. Then you just counter pressure transfer to your serving kegs and call it a day.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=44344
Another option is to buy a unitank for your fermenter(s). These are rated for higher pressures. You could then ferment under pressure and cap off towards the end, which will give you fully carbonated beer right out of the fermenter. Then you just counter pressure transfer to your serving kegs and call it a day.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=44344
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