Brew outside conical in basement?

[gregkeller]

So I just got me a 15 gallon conical. Woohoo. Got my first batch of IPA fermenting hard in it. So psyched.

Here is my question I want to solve. Can anyone give me an idea on how to get the chilled wort from my plate chiller into the conical? I brew outside and the conical is in the basement. For the first batch and next few I just run off the cools wort into two sanitized buckets then bring those through the house and into the basement to pour into the conical. I'd love to streamline this process but am not sure of the best way to do it.

I thought about just buying a 30-40 foot length of hose but then wondered about whirlpooling which I need to do to help with chilling in summertime, clearing that length of line so I don't waste a gallon of wort in my lines.

Here is what I was thinking, a tee with two ball valves or a three way ball valve coming off the chiller, on branch goes to a short hose that can be used for whirlpool and the other is my long hose and inline oxygen into the basement through a window. The end of that hose would be attached to the bottom valve of the fermenter so I don't have to worry about the hose coming loose. Ideas?

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Here is what I was thinking, a tee with two ball valves or a three way ball valve coming off the chiller, on branch goes to a short hose that can be used for whirlpool and the other is my long hose and inline oxygen into the basement through a window. The end of that hose would be attached to the bottom valve of the fermenter so I don't have to worry about the hose coming loose. Ideas?

Add a solid method for running sanitizer through the long line and any involved fittings/valves, and you're in business.

And not the first - I recall a thread a few years back by someone who installed a ball valve and disconnect fitting on the side of his house and ran a long hose to his fementors in the basement...

Cheers!

 

[bcrawfo2]

I have a friend who is thinking about this. I suggested running a second line in parallel. This way you could run a cleaning/sanitation loop.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I would just get a few cam locks and a length of silicon tubing long enough to get you to the conical. I'd rather have one long length of hose to clean than a three way valve and a tee. Do your whirlpool and knock your temp down, swap to your sanitized transfer hose and rack it. I would put the o2 near the conical as that's where I'd want to be once you begin the transfer. That way if you have an issue with a leak your there to catch it rather than walking into a half bbl of wort on the floor

Your going to be pulling a vacuum with the drop in elevation so you should get a complete transfer. I'd set it up with the valve on the conical closed and open it when I got downstairs. I'd also turn on my o2 at that point in the process so you have control. You'll need a way to control your flow so you can dial in your wort temp for pitching and I'd use the valve on the conical to control that. You may want your chilling water at full volume and a way to measure your temps post chiller by the conical. That would allow you to adjust the flow of your wort to help control your wort temp

 

[jonnyv]

I've been doing this for a little over a year now. I brew outside of my basement door. When it's done I use a pump (gravity just isn't fast enough) through a HopRocket when needed, through 11 feet of hose into my half barrel conical at the bottom of the steps. I attached the conical to a furniture dolly for easy movement. Move it to the shop sink for chilling then over to its home until it's done. Not a single issue with this setup yet.

 

[gregkeller]

Interesting, so you don't cool outside but once it gets in the basement? I could do that as I use a plate chiller and could just hook it up to the slop sink in the basement. I guess I wouldn't have to be as worried about sanitizing 30+feet of silicon tubing if I was passing boiling or near boiling wort through it. Just more to think about I guess