Brewhemoth Upgrade

[StMarcos]

There's a couple of things that I've never liked about this vessel and was considering selling it and getting a glacier tanks 1/2bbl or the like. Couldn't quite justify the funds, so I took another route and altered the brewhemoth to make it better suit my preferences.

The rack port is too low and the cone angle not steep enough. I've never liked rotating racking elbows. You tilt 'till you see yeast pickup and I consider that too late. If you dump the yeast from the brewhemoth a lot, and clear the racking line, you will still transfer way too much yeast to the keg. What happens is that as the level of beer fall during transfer, yeast that is stuck to the walls, and cone especially, becomes dislodged and subsequently sucked into the racking port. I solved the problem by basically making a static racking pipe that extends a few inches up into the bottom of the cone. When the beer is finished and the pipe cleared, there is no way for more yeast to be pulled into the line. I have the length set to be well above the larges amount of trub I expect to be in there. The tube is just a bit smaller than the id of the racking TC, and a very short section of silicone hose serves as a seal. Sorry no pictures of this.

I never harvest yeast anymore - it's just not worth the savings for me. I like to pick a new yeast each go, so the conical part of the vessel doesn't give me any benefit. I like the size, that it's stainless, has TC fittings, and can hold pressure.

I can't fit my arm inside to clean. CIP has worked well enough over the years, but I actually think manual cleaning is easier and faster. There's nothing like a smidge of elbow grease with a scrubber and PBW. With the CIP I'd have to drag out the sump pump and also make sure the pump and line are totally clean each use. So, I cut off the top and had a 10'' TC welded on. I can now easily reach in for cleaning. I might even consider polishing some of the interior welds that are likely not 4D sanitary or whatever the term is. What an upgrade. It's like having a whole new conical. The 10'' plate is actually a reducer to 4'', and another reducer brings things down to 1.5''. Here's a couple of pics moments before filling with 18gal of oatmeal stout. Don't worry - I did remember the shut the dump valve.....

 

[Drumminguy81]

That is awesome! I have 2 brewhemoths that I absolutely love! I agree the larger port would be nice for cleaning however I have a cip spray ball from brewers hardware that works excellent, I usually just do a quick wipe around the top to get the ring of gunk out and run my cip. So far no issues getting them clean. As far as the yeast goes I haven't had issues getting yeast into my kegs.. I cold crash at 35* and carbonate in my brewhemoth for a few days before kegging and that seems to work greatI don't tilt the fermenter at all and get every bit of good beer out of it with nothing but yeast/trub left. I brew 20 gallon batches not sure if that makes a difference.. I also harvest a good amount of yeast but not from every batch.. wish they hadn't gone out of business I really do love their products!

 

[StMarcos]

I too used CIP for many years. I'd say it worked fine other than the occasional stubborn krausen ring. I just think that a manual wipe is a lot faster and easier.

I crash to the low 30s as well. I don't transfer under pressure any more now. I usually set a spunding for a couple of psi at the end of fermentation to keep positive pressure during temperature fluctuations during conditioning. I'd often release all pressure during transfer and look down through the top as the level drops. I could see yeast/trub stuck to the side in every instance, which would dislodge as the level would get to the cone.

Overall I've been very happy with the vessel. The walls are thicker than anything else in its class. I bought mine back when they were only $400 with free shipping. Solid product but could have done with a few upgrades off the shelf. Can't complain for that price though. The glacier tanks and brewershardware 1/2bbl are better designed but more $$ obviously.

In general I like to get 17gal in there so I can dump once or twice and still fill a sanke.

 

[StMarcos]

Just kegged the stout and heating up some cleaner. Surprisingly, I had to use a wrench on the 10'' clamp to avoid CO2 leaking out when I pressurized at 2psi at the end of the ferment prior to cold crashing. Would have figured finger tight as I have always done with other sized clamps, but there you go. Only an extra turn or so with the wrench.