My Poly Conical Fermenter Build Out

[BrewMasta]

Just thought I would share my joy with my two new conicals. After looking at what was available on the market and what the pricing was on pre fabricated poly, or stainless conical fermenters I found the prices to be sky high. Trust me, I would be the first to buy a stainless fermenter if they were more affordable, and even the poly fermenters that are pre built are extremely high priced in my opinion. I purchased these two 17 gal. poly fermenters and stands from USPlastics for $305.00, not including the $100.00 shipping charge. These FDA approved bulk storage tanks came with either a 1.5" bulkhead on the bottom, or 2" bulkhead, and can be factory outfitted to your specifications for extra money. I decided to get the necessary hole saw, and outfit them myself. With the purchase of about $70.00 worth of various parts including, valves, bulkheads, barb fittings, etc, and with rustic construction of the wooden base I can now ferment up to 30gal. of beer at once.

I positioned the beer racking bullhead at the .5 gal. Mark so after secondary the the beer can be racked directly to my kegs as is depicted in this picture. Next summers DIY project will be to construct a insulated modular wall system with a front viewing window, and a side mounted AC unit to help maintain fermentation temps in the hottest summer months, which is only a minor issue for me as most of the year my basement maintains about 66-68 degrees. This new chill box will be modular so it can be bolted together for use only in the summer months, and deconstructed for the rest of the year.

 

[BrewMasta]

I would just like to add that I installed a pass through "Beer Port" that runs directly from my garage into the corner of the basement where the fermenters sit so all I have to do is pass the beer line that comes off my plate chiller, through my beer port (which is a 2" PVC pipe that I installed through the floor joist between the basement and the garage) into my fermenters, as I monitor the cooling of the plate chiller with my home made thrumometer from the garage above. I also use a digital thermometer to help keep an eye on cooling the wort.