New Anvil Bucket Fermentors

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murphyslaw said:
Not really. I mean, sure, they're not essential, but that doesn't mean they're a waste of money. There are plenty of functional reasons to prefer this over a bucket. To come on a thread and just say everyone is wasting their money doesn't add much to the discussion, IMO. :Cheers:
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Yeah, yeah, he's just a bucket snob. LOL. [emoji12]
 
murphyslaw said:
Not really. I mean, sure, they're not essential, but that doesn't mean they're a waste of money. There are plenty of functional reasons to prefer this over a bucket. To come on a thread and just say everyone is wasting their money doesn't add much to the discussion, IMO. :Cheers:
Click to expand...
Stainless is easier to clean and doesn't get stained over time. Hence the name. My two 8.5 gal brew buckets are stained yellow. They're both 12 years old. They also have scratches that need to be scrubbed with a tooth brush. Mine just needed to be replaced.

I got these since I always wanted stainless and I like how they look. I also brew frequently, so why not. They make for nice decor for my brewery.

I also like not having to use my auto siphon. Drain right to the keg.

20180430_232658.jpeg
 
Hmm only 1-2 psi in the fermenter not too good. Is that all it needs going out the bottom? I gas transfer from my glass carboys and it takes about 3.5-4 psi to go out the top. Mostly holds.
Was also wondering if you can turn the pickup tube down to harvest yeast? Or is it too high or too small?
 
WESBREW said:
Hmm only 1-2 psi in the fermenter not too good. Is that all it needs going out the bottom? I gas transfer from my glass carboys and it takes about 3.5-4 psi to go out the top. Mostly holds.
Was also wondering if you can turn the pickup tube down to harvest yeast? Or is it too high or too small?
Click to expand...
What do you mean about 1-2 psi is no good? It doesn't need any to drain via gravity. The 1-2 psi is just enough to keep a blanket of O2.

I don't subscribe to that oxygen barrier fears. Been brewing long enough to not consider it an issue. I drain to a keg three weeks after pitching, the co2 comes out of solution and leaves a blanket of on top of your beer anyhow. Then hit it with gas. It's no problem. The beer is gone in another three weeks. I'm never really concerned about about oxidation, using this over an auto siphon is a big improvement.

As for collecting yeast. It's too small in my opinion, I wouldn't want it getting clogged. Then have to resort to using your autosyphon. You can get yeast out just like you would in bucket fermenter. Dump to a large jar with distilled water and wash.

I use dry yeast nearly all the time since liquid yeast isn't at my LHBS. I'm not even thinking of it for that.

If you make starters, you can culture yeast quiet easily so that it's not much of a concern. Every time you open a smack pack at add an eye dropper of it to test tube. You can build up a big collection. Then all you need is a small starter and a inoculation loop one dip from the test tube to your starter and your in business, let it rip in your small starter on a stir plate and step it up once and week later your good to go. Test tubes of yeast can last years, especially if you use one drop at a time.
 
I got used to pushing the beer out of glass carboys with gas, was a great way to leave all the trub behind and was fun. I guess its not really needed with this bottom drain. someone mentioned above that it would only hold 1-2psi before it started leaking out of the lid, I thought it would hold more. maybe its handy if you want to push beer up or didn't want to pick it up. I'll just wash yeast like from the old bucket. no big deal
 
Has anyone had any luck doing pressure transfers with a large dry hop bill? 8oz+?

With my first batch, I had 2oz of dry hops. I cold crashed for 48 hours to 36 degrees, and the valve clogged after about half of the batch was transferred. It was an open transfer and I only had the valve open half way. I assumed the barb was standard 1/2" and would fit a 1/2" hose with no need for a clamp, but I was wrong. I needed to dial back the valve to avoid sucking in air. I fixed this for my second batch and was able to open the valve 100% during transfer.

So again... if I want to brew a NEIPA with an 8oz dry hop bill... what should I do to avoid problems during transfer?
 
ryanj said:
Has anyone had any luck doing pressure transfers with a large dry hop bill? 8oz+?

With my first batch, I had 2oz of dry hops. I cold crashed for 48 hours to 36 degrees, and the valve clogged after about half of the batch was transferred. It was an open transfer and I only had the valve open half way. I assumed the barb was standard 1/2" and would fit a 1/2" hose with no need for a clamp, but I was wrong. I needed to dial back the valve to avoid sucking in air. I fixed this for my second batch and was able to open the valve 100% during transfer.

So again... if I want to brew a NEIPA with an 8oz dry hop bill... what should I do to avoid problems during transfer?
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If you can find a stainless steel strainer that might be the ticket.

I use this on my one mash tuns. You can pull it off a new toilet tank fill line. Just cut the ends off, pull out the liner, and then hose clamp it on the pick up and plug the other end with stainless threaded plug and another clamp.

SINGLE%20BRAID.jpeg


.
 
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Or turn the pick-up down into this stainless scrubber.... You'd need to do this before adding your wort.

I use one on my keggle pick-up when I whole hop.

I also shove these into outboard prop exhaust to keep the mice out of the motor when I winterize the boat. Meeces don't like chewing on stainless steel.
[emoji4]
stainless-steel-scrubber-250x250.jpeg
 
That looks awesome, but I have a couple of concerns.
#1 you are using PBW right? Is that going to eat your pond powerhead?
#2 how much better the sprayball and loop than just filling the thing up and letting it soak?
 
Lumenbeing said:
That looks awesome, but I have a couple of concerns.
#1 you are using PBW right? Is that going to eat your pond powerhead?
#2 how much better the sprayball and loop than just filling the thing up and letting it soak?
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  1. Yes -- PBW. No -- I'm not using a pond pump here. I'm using my regular wort pump. But the PBW won't eat a pond pump either... I used a pond pump to pump PBW and starsan through kegs. No problem.
  2. Same reason why commercial breweries don't fill their 10, 20, 30+ bbl tanks to the top to soak. A CIP ball is way more efficient and usually only requires a very little amount of cleaner. Plus, it's completely hands off and takes a lot less time. Just listening to the CIP run inside the tank on 1 gallon of cleaner made it sound like a pressure washer was blasting the inside of the tank. It was great.
I'm all about the rotating CIP sprayer... I need to put a TC ferrule on my boil kettle lid.
 
Schlenkerla said:
Or turn the pick-up down into this stainless scrubber.... You'd need to do this before adding your wort.

I use one on my keggle pick-up when I whole hop.

I also shove these into outboard prop exhaust to keep the mice out of the motor when I winterize the boat. Meeces don't like chewing on stainless steel.
[emoji4]
View attachment 578634
Click to expand...

Hopefully not the same scrubbies you use in your kettle. ;)
 
fourfarthing said:
Do these fit in the beverage refrigerators that some people use for fermentation temp control?
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with some Tetris-level creative arranging, i can just fit 2 buckets in my kegerator. one is on the "floor" of the fridge while the other is on the hump so they're vertically offset. i need to use some wood blocks to support the other side of the bucket riding the hump. my kegerator is a standard upright, freezer-on-top fridge. i'll post a pic next time i have this set up, likely in about 2 or 3 weeks (brewing this weekend, i use this setup to cold-crash two buckets at once).
 
ryanj said:
Has anyone had any luck doing pressure transfers with a large dry hop bill? 8oz+?

With my first batch, I had 2oz of dry hops. I cold crashed for 48 hours to 36 degrees, and the valve clogged after about half of the batch was transferred. It was an open transfer and I only had the valve open half way. I assumed the barb was standard 1/2" and would fit a 1/2" hose with no need for a clamp, but I was wrong. I needed to dial back the valve to avoid sucking in air. I fixed this for my second batch and was able to open the valve 100% during transfer.

So again... if I want to brew a NEIPA with an 8oz dry hop bill... what should I do to avoid problems during transfer?
Click to expand...
other than the scrubbie/filter idea, have you been rotating the racking arm?

my last NEIPA has a little over 6 oz of dry-hops and I managed to transfer clear wort (as clear as can be expected with a NEIPA :D ). I started my transfer with the pickup tube pointing straight up and once the liquid was flowing out, I rotated it until it was horizontal. apologies if this is an obvious point...
 
murphyslaw said:
If you're transferring from a fermenter with a spigot, you can attach a hose from the spigot to the liquid out post. That presents two problems. First, assuming you've purged the serving keg with co2, you've got positive pressure in there and the beer won't flow. Second, as the beer leaves the fermenter, air fills the headspace, potentially oxidizing the beer. If you look at Kingmatt's picture, he solves #1 by venting the keg, and #2 by sending CO2 from the tank into the fermenter headspace.
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murphyslaw said:
What I propose is that you take Kingmatt's setup, but remove the CO2 tank and instead connect that gas line to the gas post on the keg. Now when you open the valve on the fermenter, the beer will flow into the keg via gravity, and the gas in the keg will flow into the fermenter headspace.

The benefits I've found are that I (1) save some co2; (2) don't have to monitor the pressure in the fermenter that's not rated for pressure; (3) simplicity--one less piece to deal with (the co2 tank).
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question for the folks who do this non-pressurized, closed-loop transfer: do y'all have any problems starting the flow? is there a trick about how much pressure should be in the keg, or what order to hook things up? something else?

on my last batch I tried the closed-loop thing and I had problems getting the transfer to start. worked perfectly once I got flowing, but on one of my 3 buckets I gave up completely and ended up transferring with an auto-syphon.
 
another question about transferring: does anyone have a good way of knowing what the level of the liquid inside the bucket is?

when doing closed transfers, i can't see how much beer is left. I only want to turn the pickup as far down as necessary so would be useful to know where the top of the beer is.

there must be similar solutions for knowing how much beer is left inside a keg? maybe something with a floating magnet inside the keg and an magnetically-held indicator on the outside?
 
sweetcell said:
another question about transferring: does anyone have a good way of knowing what the level of the liquid inside the bucket is?

when doing closed transfers, i can't see how much beer is left. I only want to turn the pickup as far down as necessary so would be useful to know where the top of the beer is.

there must be similar solutions for knowing how much beer is left inside a keg? maybe something with a floating magnet inside the keg and an magnetically-held indicator on the outside?
Click to expand...

If post cold crash, you could use exterior condensation as a gauge. Maybe weight if you have the right scale.
 
fourfarthing said:
If post cold crash, you could use exterior condensation as a gauge. Maybe weight if you have the right scale.
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weight is an interesting idea, something along the lines of "buckets weighs 5.5 pounds when there are 2 inches of beer and trub left" (those numbers are completely made up). not quite as good as a real-time reading of what the liquid level is, but certainly better than no info.

condensation doesn't seem to work. as i'm draining the bucket, condensation doesn't form/disappear fast enough.
 
sweetcell said:
another question about transferring: does anyone have a good way of knowing what the level of the liquid inside the bucket is?

when doing closed transfers, i can't see how much beer is left. I only want to turn the pickup as far down as necessary so would be useful to know where the top of the beer is.

there must be similar solutions for knowing how much beer is left inside a keg? maybe something with a floating magnet inside the keg and an magnetically-held indicator on the outside?
Click to expand...

There's these.

https://ballandkeg.com

You still won't know exactly where the trub starts but it would probably still help.
 
kingmatt said:
I love my 7.5gal fermenter. I really feel it has helped me brew better hoppy beers, especially NEIPAs, by being able to close transfer to a keg with no oxygen pickup.

Below is a pic of how I avoid oxygen pickup through my airlock when transferring to my keg. The output hose on my C02 tank fits perfectly into the top of my airlock so I set my regulator as low as it will go and let it run for the entire transfer. The c02 isn't pushing the beer to the keg (it is gravity fed) it is just getting sucked in by the displaced beer. Works like a charm!View attachment 570013
Click to expand...

How did you get from anvil spigot to beer disconnect? It looks like you have a different barb than I do. I just got a 1/2" to 1/4" barb reducer to help me a little but feel like there's got to be a better way than hose from the anvil to the reducer then another hose from reducer to beer line and it looks like you have it.

Edit: Can't delete so I'll leave this but it looks like you must have this guy

http://shop.greatfermentations.com/...MI_Z-1qtG43AIVzlYNCh0o-wlhEAQYBCABEgKA0PD_BwE

looks like I'll be ordering one!
 
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muledogus said:
How did you get from anvil spigot to beer disconnect? It looks like you have a different barb than I do. I just got a 1/2" to 1/4" barb reducer to help me a little but feel like there's got to be a better way than hose from the anvil to the reducer then another hose from reducer to beer line and it looks like you have it.

Edit: Can't delete so I'll leave this but it looks like you must have this guy

http://shop.greatfermentations.com/...MI_Z-1qtG43AIVzlYNCh0o-wlhEAQYBCABEgKA0PD_BwE

looks like I'll be ordering one!
Click to expand...
i managed to frankenstein myself a connection set-up, i'll post pix tonight... no fancy parts required, i just used hoses and parts i had sitting around.
 
My June order is now delayed until late August. i'm just gonna ride it out since it doesn't look like there is anything better available around that price
 
Completed my first closed transfer with my Anvil. Everything went pretty well. Got stuck about half way through, I think I got a little over-zealous with turning the dip tube and got a little too much trub that clogged it up. I quickly blew the valve out with co2 and it started flowing again. The gas post I drilled into my lid needs some work. When pressure was building due to the clog it was definitely leaking around the seal.

A few questions for those who do closed transfers regularly:

When purging your keg (I filled with star-san then pushed it all out with c02) How much pressure are you doing that with? and do you leave the tank on the whole time or do you shut off and on as needed? and if different than above, how much pressure would you say you have in the keg when it's time to transfer beer?

Using the method above, is it still necessary to purge the headspace in the keg after filling? I don't really see why it would be but I'm no expert.

IMG_0181.JPG
 
muledogus said:
When purging your keg (I filled with star-san then pushed it all out with c02) How much pressure are you doing that with? and do you leave the tank on the whole time or do you shut off and on as needed? and if different than above, how much pressure would you say you have in the keg when it's time to transfer beer?
Click to expand...
how much pressure depends on how rushed i am. if in a hurry, i'll crank up the pressure pretty high (like 10-15 psi) at first then ease back - don't need 10 psi the whole time. but generally i go pretty low, 2-4 psi, and just wait it out. it's not like i don't have 1,001 things to clean and sanitize while i wait...

muledogus said:
Using the method above, is it still necessary to purge the headspace in the keg after filling? I don't really see why it would be but I'm no expert.
Click to expand...
depends how full of sanitizer the keg is. if it's full to the very top, can't possibly fit a drop more, then no - not much use in purging.
 
sweetcell said:
with some Tetris-level creative arranging, i can just fit 2 buckets in my kegerator. one is on the "floor" of the fridge while the other is on the hump so they're vertically offset. i need to use some wood blocks to support the other side of the bucket riding the hump. my kegerator is a standard upright, freezer-on-top fridge. i'll post a pic next time i have this set up, likely in about 2 or 3 weeks (brewing this weekend, i use this setup to cold-crash two buckets at once).
Click to expand...
in case anyone cares, you can see my kegerator in the first pic above. unfortunately i forgot to take a pic when the buckets were inside the fridge. next time...
 
sweetcell said:
question for the folks who do this non-pressurized, closed-loop transfer: do y'all have any problems starting the flow? is there a trick about how much pressure should be in the keg, or what order to hook things up? something else?

on my last batch I tried the closed-loop thing and I had problems getting the transfer to start. worked perfectly once I got flowing, but on one of my 3 buckets I gave up completely and ended up transferring with an auto-syphon.
Click to expand...
i'm still looking for any insights on how to successfully and consistently get a closed transfer started.

a few nights ago i transferred 2 buckets, and everything went great with the saison but i completely failed on the IPA (dammit). after struggling with the damn thing for 15 mintues, i ended up just using a straight hose into the open keg... i.e. an open transfer. t'was very, very frustrating.
 
sweetcell said:
i'm still looking for any insights on how to successfully and consistently get a closed transfer started.

a few nights ago i transferred 2 buckets, and everything went great with the saison but i completely failed on the IPA (dammit). after struggling with the damn thing for 15 mintues, i ended up just using a straight hose into the open keg... i.e. an open transfer. t'was very, very frustrating.
Click to expand...

I've only done the one and maybe I got lucky but I'm pretty sure after my hoses were all ready, I did the following.

1. Connected one end of my gas line to the keg, left the other disconnected but it had a disconnect on it so the line was sealed off. With your setup, you probably have to do gas line to the fermenter airlock first, leaving the keg side disconnected.

2. Hooked my beer line up to the fermenter and then to the keg.

3. Opened the ball valve on fermenter.

4. Hooked the gas line up to the fermenter quickly (not sure if speed really mattered). And with your setup this is where you'd connect the gas line to the keg instead.

Started right up. Are you making sure the dip tube is turned enough so it's out of the trub? Maybe that's giving you problems.
 
muledogus said:
I've only done the one and maybe I got lucky but I'm pretty sure after my hoses were all ready, I did the following.

1. Connected one end of my gas line to the keg, left the other disconnected but it had a disconnect on it so the line was sealed off. With your setup, you probably have to do gas line to the fermenter airlock first, leaving the keg side disconnected.

2. Hooked my beer line up to the fermenter and then to the keg.

3. Opened the ball valve on fermenter.

4. Hooked the gas line up to the fermenter quickly (not sure if speed really mattered). And with your setup this is where you'd connect the gas line to the keg instead.

Started right up. Are you making sure the dip tube is turned enough so it's out of the trub? Maybe that's giving you problems.
Click to expand...
thank you for your insights, i'm going to try that order next time i transfer.

dip tube is definitely out of the trub, that at least i'm certain of :mug:
 
WESBREW said:
Has anyone that pre-ordered one in June receive them yet?
Click to expand...
I got mine last night, ordered it July 1st... Unfortunately I'm seeing issues similar to Roman. Some vertical scratches on the inside, and a ring of scratches near the base. I sent in a ticket last night, hopefully I can get this resolved soon. Anyone else seen anything like this? I'm wondering if this is a side effect of attaching the base.

I'm not sure if it's something I could buff out, but I feel like I shouldn't have to. Kind of feeling like I should have spent the extra money for the SS brewtech, the finish on that is much better. I'm not a fan of the racking cane o-ring design on that one, but not a lot of options out there right now.
AnvilFermentorScratchesBaar.jpeg
 
I just got notice they finally shipped. hoping for the best. are those scratches something you can feel or lighter marks. I dunno, definitely don't want to see any of that tomorrow
 
WESBREW said:
I just got notice they finally shipped. hoping for the best. are those scratches something you can feel or lighter marks. I dunno, definitely don't want to see any of that tomorrow
Click to expand...
It's pretty easy to feel. Most the bucket isn't terribly polished to begin with, but this is a pretty dramatic difference.
 
sweetcell said:
i'm still looking for any insights on how to successfully and consistently get a closed transfer started.

a few nights ago i transferred 2 buckets, and everything went great with the saison but i completely failed on the IPA (dammit). after struggling with the damn thing for 15 mintues, i ended up just using a straight hose into the open keg... i.e. an open transfer. t'was very, very frustrating.
Click to expand...
If your line is getting clogged, it may help to take the insides out of the QD on the keg.

But then you've got to take the poppet out of the keg post too. Maybe not a big deal, but it means you've got to switch keg posts twice--once before and once after--which sort of goes against the whole "closed" thing.
 
willbaar3 said:
I got mine last night, ordered it July 1st... Unfortunately I'm seeing issues similar to Roman. Some vertical scratches on the inside, and a ring of scratches near the base. I sent in a ticket last night, hopefully I can get this resolved soon. Anyone else seen anything like this? I'm wondering if this is a side effect of attaching the base.

I'm not sure if it's something I could buff out, but I feel like I shouldn't have to. Kind of feeling like I should have spent the extra money for the SS brewtech, the finish on that is much better. I'm not a fan of the racking cane o-ring design on that one, but not a lot of options out there right now.View attachment 584660
Click to expand...

I posted pics of mine on an Anvil thread I hijacked in the equipment forum. I didn't have any of those vertical scratches but do have the horizontal stuff at the very bottom. I assume that is to do with assembling the sides and bottom. It doesn't seem like much to worry about. mine look great. I would send back if I had a long scratch like you have in the above pic though, or get them to knock some money off for you to buff it out.
 

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