Fermenting 100+ Litres

[perryni]

I currently brew 20-40 litre brew lengths that sit nicely in my fermentation fridge.

I want to move up to 100+ litre brews but don't know how I can control the ferment temps as a 100L fermenter will be too big for a fridge.

Any one out there managing to do this or has anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

Nick

[50quidsoundboy]

i manage cooling on my two 240L stainless fermenters using maxi chillers + microbore copper tubing wrapped around the outside, with camping mats for insulation. for heating, i just have a fan heater plugged into the heat socket of my STC-1000.

[Kev888]

The best way IMO would be to buy a second hand beer/shelf cooler. These make a cold reservoir of water (normally used to cool beer being dispensed) and some can also recirculate the water (normally to keep the beer/python lines cool). If you get one with such recirc/python lines its relatively easy to send the cool water through cooling coils immersed in the wort or some sort of external jacket or coil.

The maxi 110 is a good one, which I'd recommend for a small 100L FV, the 210 and 310 are bigger and so have more umph but also progressively noisier and heavier. Note that they can come with or without the python/recirc pump though so take care. Quite a few people have done conversions using a thermostat such as the STC-1000 or similar to control the recirculation pump as and when needed.

You can also extend the fridge with wooden frame and insulation board. I did this previously and it worked so its an option, but air isn't as good as water at conducting heat and as the fermenter gets bigger the volume/surface-area ratio gets worse too, so crash cooling in particular can be quite slow. The cabinet also needs to be quite big especially if you want to leave headroom to access the lid etc.

[gobuchul]

I just use standard 23l FV's in 2 tall fridges. I can ferment 100 litres at a time.

I prefer stick to the 23l FV's as larger ones become difficult to move around and you have to start using pumps and stuff.

[Kev888]

Yep, 100L is too much to lift safely IMO, even if you can (I can't). Unless you have a pressurise-able FV its preferable to pump the wort up into bigger FVs and then rack the beer by gravity; the height needed to do that is another reason why insulated cupboards can become large..

[hazelbrew]

100l is a huge weight. 100kg plus weight of the vessel itself. Call it 110. You are not moving that without help. 16 stone in old units.

Surely at that volume everyone is using pu.PS to move it round? Eg from mash tun to boiler to fermenter?

[50quidsoundboy]

100l is a huge weight. 100kg plus weight of the vessel itself. Call it 110. You are not moving that without help. 16 stone in old units.

Surely at that volume everyone is using pu.PS to move it round? Eg from mash tun to boiler to fermenter?

here's how i do it:

HLT -> Mash Tun: mini mag pump
Mash Tun -> Kettle: gravity
Kettle -> Fermenter: Chugger pump
Fermenter -> kegs: CO2 pressure

[barneey]

Easiest way is to control the temps with a maxi + heat tube, or get a commercial fridge.

[perryni]

thanks for all the replies, I think I will look into the maxi cooling solution.

Cheers
Nick