Conical Fermentors

[Alex Daniel]

Does anybody know if there is someone who makes conical fermentors on the homebrewer scale in nz? or does anyone have expereince with ordering these from overseas? what sort of prices etc

[Horace]

For those of you that have one of these nice shiny toys I have two CIP spray heads that I don't require. Both are brand new/ unused. $45 each if you rinterested. Just send a PM.

[Liam Callaghan]

Sorry for the big delay, more issues than the NZ Herald here...  Looking to get things on the road in January once I collate all the feedback and make sure the changes have been made to the product.  

Watch this space :p

Liam

[Karl Hayes]

Hi Liam. I've just had a read of this thread. Well done - good effort.

If you are keeping a list of prospective customers, can you add my name to it?

[Liam Callaghan]

Yes I am Karl, added you as a friend and noted.

[Liam Callaghan]

Quick update, been absolutely flat out on this the past two weeks, averaging about 17 hours a day and feeling the burn but keep waking up with new ideas...

So far we are moving with the 35 and 70 litre tanks, hopefully available in two weeks time, details pending.  I still need to talk to a few people, Grant and Pete especially.  I have partially written up the documentation which I am looking to finish this weekend and was hoping I could give a copy to each of you to check and give us some feed back?  Speak to you on Friday or Saturday once I am not at work :p

Both fermenters can be sealed and put under pressure, testing is next week once we have confirmed the locking mechanisms.  Fittings are all sourced and regular sizes so you can use a local fitting if you want. 1 1/4" dump port is the bomb for dumping the yeast slurry and leaving your beer to condition.

New jet ejection system to draw the beer out and keg or bottle direct using co2 to flush first.  All stainless so easy to sterilise.  Quite a few other fittings as well which I hope will be useful tools.

Two cooling systems on offer for both tanks and very affordable along with thermal jackets.  Coling systems can be run on multiple fermenters using common fittings that a lot of brewers will already have (fridge, temp controller etc.) so should be cost effective.  Cooling unit will also be available to fit onto kegs and conventional fermenters so you can condition kegs outside of the fridge and use your normal plastic fermenters if you dont want to go for conicals.

Website is almost up and running, another couple of weeks while I load all the prodcuts and confirm all the settings for payments, shipping etc.  I'll link eventually once its up and running (if I am allowed to do that?  Will have to ask I guess).

I'll run up a blog as well so I can keep updates clear, once you guys get your hands on them I'm sure there will be room for changes and more versatile products.

I also looked at encouraging people to start cultivating their own yeast, reducing the hassle for making starters and managing sterility, early days but looking very promising.  Hoping to have custom lab made slants available at low cost and small pet bottles of starter mix.  Just working through the recipes and costs now.  The recipes are important as we are looking to provide some bacterialogical protection in them for new users so we can reduce losses from mistakes.  No good for you lacto brewers but I'm sure we could accomodate you if there was a need.

I'll also be looking at kegging, gas manifolds, one stop shop for lab equipment etc.

Wife reckons if I am going to have to pay for the space I might as well make it work for us, frankly its not worth arguing!

We'll also be looking at retail through Brewers Coop in Auckland and a few others up and down the country hopefully.  Bit unexpected for me from the retailing side that they need to be a total package.  Open the box and use it kind of thing.  Which wasn't what I started out to do, so its been a long haul.  For anyone thats handy though you buy what you need and make the rest.  Could be as little as $200 for a fermenter and cooling system then fit it up yourself.

Future designs have been made and shelved for the time being for 100 and 200 litre fermenters, 35 and 70 litre top cropping open fermenters, 100 and 200 litre mash tuns (but I am still unhappy with the thermal capacity of these unless I dual line them which makes them more expensive than a cooler bin - but look way cooler and a fully geared up for brewing).  The first two tanks and all the additional fittings is going to blow our budget so these will have to go on the back burner until its making enough money to stand on its own two feet!

On another positive note, I have 175 litres of beer bubbling on my bench ready to keg this weekend!  Now I just need some down time to do it and then some time to enjoy drinking it!

Liam

Ps.  Big thank you to Damian for all his help on the webbyshit, really appreciated mate!  Anyone looking for a pro web designer he is the man!  He could even explain it to me, which is going some, I am not very techy.

Pps.  Just looked at this, its a big update...

[Ralph]

Feckin awesome mate. Cant wait to see the webby up and running. $200 for a fermentor and cooling system sounds like an awesome deal!

I hope you are going to retail some fittings as well. It is hard finding good stainless fittings to suit brewing online here in NZ, and I dont get much time during the week to go out and shop for stuff like that. Keg fittings would be awesome as well, especially the small bits like John Guest fittings and beer/gas line. It is a pain in arse having to order it from Australia simply because that is where I can find an online shop that will deliver the stuff.

[Liam Callaghan]

Thanks Ralph!

Just got a price back for the cooling system so might blow that $200 out of the water but still reasonable, questing further afield now or might have to set up my own workshop if it works its probably worth it.

Sort of pulled together all the stuff thats hard to find at a good price, or that I found hard to find anyway.  Just got to work out about shipping and stuff now, might end up living at the post office...

[Ralph]

Shipping is about getting a good deal with a courier company... but dealing with couriers can be an absolute pain in the arse. In my experience Castle/Post Haste/Fastways are pretty useless to deal with as courier companies. Courierpost are pretty onto it though. Buying the trackpacks for small stuff and getting their tickets for larger stuff seems to work ok. The other one I had reasonable luck with was Toll Ipec service, which might be good for larger items?

[Liam Callaghan]

Thanks mate, still a little while off arranging that but will start with Courierpost based on that

[Grant R Baker]

Yeah, I look forward to giving the Doco a read.

I am getting better with my dumping schedule and was extremely happy with the clarity of the last beer.

 

I got a little carried away with the beer making lately (so many brew variations to try), thus one of them is going to sit in the conical for a few weeks extra until I drink enough bottles free (it is a hard life.)

The cooling systems sounds interesting too. I was planning the lager beer brewing in winter.. but I have been itching to try a Baltic Porter.

 

Maybe when you website is up you should take a poll on what other equipment brewers would like to see, but I think good immersion and counter-flow chillers may prove popular.

 

BTW I had a brain fart the other day about using an Immersion chiller to control and raise the temp inside a mashtun (instead of direct heat below a mushtun). Hot water from yer HLT or Kettle could be pumped through the coil to bring the heat up. So single stage infusion mushtun could then be capable of a few extra heat steps). A temp controller could be used to activate the pump or leave it as a manual switch.

This would heat the mash throughout since the coil covers a large area within the mashtun.

Just an idea.

[Liam Callaghan]

Hey Grant!

Will definitley go with a poll for stuff people are looking for, so long as I can still service it.  Currently I have stuck to a single area based around the conicals and yeast cultivation as they are the bits that are difficult and expensive to source.

Mash tuns are really tricky little things to manage I reckon and I am still not convinced about the immersion or external heating as they both have a focussed area of heat so you would have a localised heating of the grain which could cause damage to the enzymes. 

I just don't know enough about the mechanics and chemical reactions of it to be fair, its an area I am looking to do some formal training in though so I can understand it from basic principles and work up.  I have shelved the mash tuns for the time being while I get to grips with this.

My gut feeling is to recirulate the water running through the mash bed and an inline heater would be the most efficient and less issues.  Easy to control too using components a lot of brewers already use.  The more I can utilise everyday brewing equipment the more cost effective it is for the brewer.  Probably doesn't make me any money though haha! 

I have irons in the fire for immersion chillers in stainless, should have prices this week I hope.  I am developing them along with all the brewing fittings, tank fittings and hosing.  Not such a quick job as people seem to want everything or nothing, so have to get the whole system in place before I look to test any of it.  Thankfully lots of people happy to test which is awesome.  It never stops amzing me the difference in the way people approach things!

 

Hope you had a cracking weekend mate and managed to get a beer or two down you!

I managed a few this weekend and looking to make beers for myself this weekend!  Nice malty blonde... Cant wait!

L.

[Grant R Baker]

Yep a very nice weekend down here. Even went so far as to have a swim in the river with the dogs.

 

I have seen a few commercial brew mashtuns that use piping on the outside of the mastun, the pipes carry steam which then heats the whole outside of the mashtun. I think they then use a pump to ensure the whole mash is heated to the same temp. Uber complicated.

 

btw nice work on the engineers... once they get hooked on good beer there is no going back.