new ss brewtech chronicals

[Secla]

Has anyone see the new revised "brewmaster" chronicals from ss brewtech ?
I had one of the first chronicals and although the quality was great i had a few issues with the design that didnt really make it suitable for my setup
They seem to have addressed all these issues and added some interesting new bits, although the price is a little higher now they look pretty nice bits of kit

[Matt in Birdham]

That looks really nice, and the price at the MaltMiller is actually less than what they are charging in the US - although still a lot for a fermentor of course. Not sure about the built in cooling coil (could be a pain to clean?) although it could also be very neat if you could rig up a suitable hot/cold water bath and pump and get rid of the fermentation fridge. I'd be interested to see what sort of temp control solutions people come up with - I'd definitely need warming as well as cooling, but that's probably the easier bit. How would you cool water for the pump in a compact way?

[Secla]

You can Adapt a maxi cooler to do the job.
My main annoyance was having to use a flat lid which took away some internal space, considering the American gallon Is already smaller than uk

[Matt in Birdham]

Yeah - I still think sticking the whole lot in a fridge + tube heater and controller would be neater. The older model also seems to have a domed top tho? The brew bucket also takes the domed top apparently, but you'd have to buy it separately. I'm half tempted by one of those, I must admit.

[Secla]

Yes the older one had domed lid but to fit the cooling coils you needed to fit the flat lid as they were mounted from the lid not the side like the new ones.
If your doing 23l batches using the flat lid loses you a couple of litres of head space

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

I was thinking of a bucket with an aquarium heater in to regulate water temp. Then pump this via some form of pump around the coil. Would this work do you reckon?

[Secla]

If it's indoors your more likely going to need to cool it than heat it.
And cooler with ice water and a pump probably the easiest way but you would have to keep topping up with ice

[Aleman]

Maxi chiller with an STC conversion . . Or spend on the FTSS from Brewtech . . But that means you need cooling.

One of the reasons for me going to a conical was to have a minimal of gubbins on the inside. I was going to use a planispiral chiller and heater belts with an STC but mounting the coil in the lid was problematic. So I went the fridge route.

[bochgoch]

I was thinking of a bucket with an aquarium heater in to regulate water temp. Then pump this via some form of pump around the coil. Would this work do you reckon?

Certainly will work - heating with an aquarium heater is easy, chilling with blocks of ice can be a pain unless you have a dedicated freezer (or a least a drawer in one) for freezing all the ice you'll need.

[Matt in Birdham]

I was thinking of a bucket with an aquarium heater in to regulate water temp. Then pump this via some form of pump around the coil. Would this work do you reckon?

Certainly will work - heating with an aquarium heater is easy, chilling with blocks of ice can be a pain unless you have a dedicated freezer (or a least a drawer in one) for freezing all the ice you'll need.

I think any solution that involves a separate water bath and a pump is going to be a bit messy (IMO, of course), unless you really make an effort to do it right. My brewing is all in the garage, so heating and cooling are both going to be required at different times of year, or even different times of day. A fridge/freezer chamber is really a very neat and effective solution for both, and cheap as well if you source something free or second hand. I also like the fact that the FV is protected from accidents/kids, dust and, to some extent, airborne nasties, when sealed away in a fridge. One of these chronicals in a nice glass fronted fridge would be great, I reckon, but I think I'd actually prefer the version without the internal coils.

[guypettigrew]

Here's a picture of how mine works. The insulated cool box next to the chronical holds water which is either heated with an aquarium heater, or cooled with loads of plastic bottles of frozen water. The latter can be a bit fiddly as the bottles need replacing every now and then. But it's nothing too problematic.

Guy