Heavy Lifting etc

[Nathan]

So with the new conical fermenter proudly waiting to be used (Cheers Nick) I have a slight issue

I rely on gravity for liquid transfer in my brewing setup 

So I used to lift the BK up onto a stand after the boil and drain into my fermenter then place fermenter into temp controlled fridge this stand is about half a meter high which is just manageable but the new conical sits way higher I cant lift 30l plus keggle weight any higher than what i do now, Thats my first issue

Next is coming kegging time I used to lift full fermenter up onto kitchen bench and let er flow now I thinking I also wont be able to lift a full conical that high also

I need to buy a new fermenting fridge to suit said conical anyways so I'm looking at fridges that have the freezer part below to lift it up a bit higher to suit the kegging issue  but how do I get cooled wort into fermenter etc safely without the risk of infections 

Ideas please?

Cheers

 

[Cain Harland]

You could just sanitize our old fermenter or biggest stock pot or cleanest bucket then catch the beer and tip/ siphon / drain with tap if it as one it into keg or fermenter. 3 lifts of 10L + light vessel is a lot easier than 1 lift of 30L + keg. Also at kegging time I'm guessing you would get a keg full of beer into a standard plastic fermenter on the floor and be well under the tap on your conical.

I always have to drag my keg fermenter with 40+L of beer up onto the deck the night before bottling or kegging to get it high enough, what a pain. Sometimes I think about making a shelf to put the fridge on but then I would just have to lift it on brew day instead. I have a pump but brew too far from the fermentation chamber for that to help. Maybe one day I will build a flash rig on wheels then I can have the fridge up a bit higher and just wheel it over the the fridge and pump the beer in.

[Nathan]

Yeah I like the idea of 3 small lifts vs one back breaking one and if my fermenting fridge is high enough i can just drain from that to keg rather then risking oxidising the fermented wort

[Paul Rogers]

Hey Nathan I had the same problem. This is how I sorted it (see pic's). Basically put some d-bolts on the edge of my BK then built a crude rolling gantry with a $55.00 chain block. Going to use the same system with my new 60ltr when Nick lets me have it.

[Nathan]

Nice work, I reckon im gonna go with the small lists and have my fermenting fridge on a stand to get it high enough to keg straight out from, Failing that I could just brew and keg at your place then bring kegs to my place for serving hahahahahaha

If you come across any fridges that will suit a 30l conical let me know 

[Cain Harland]

The other option would be a food grade pump. It probably wouldn't have to be an expensive magnetic drive one if you were pumping cold wort. I've seen little 12v and 24v ones on trade me, I don't imagine they use a lot of power so you could probably butcher a power supply form an old hard drive or cordless phone or something.

[Nathan]

Yeah I'm looking into pumps but reckon id need it on a remote switch so I can shut er down in an instant if needed