thermopot fermentor

[mrlard]

Fil,

Correct me if I`m wrong but the 10mm swags wont be a good fit for the coil which is going to be 9.5mm so however much tightening you do it will still leak. I wouldn't trust it myself to keep a seal.

personally i would ditch the furrels and use silicone o rings - garanteed seal everytime- and saves a whole load of hassle and worry

[Fil]

And an oring seal would accommodate a nominally thinner tube too, will check that out tomorrow...

[Fil]

the stc arrived but as i was brewing i didnt have the time to play with it, so i used the tun lid on the fermentor. and will refine the temp control device before fitting..

she is full thats the important thing

[Fil]

Testing underway

Bad news, air bubbles in the line comming out of the coil, none going in, i think that indicates a micro leak, 2 x 2 possible weak points, the brass 1/2" sockets i used to join onto the back of the SS thru the lid fitings and also attach the Brass 1/2" to 10mm reducer isnt wide enough to accommodate both threads fully so the fittings but up against each other inside the short sockets And i fudged the coil tube diameter with a sleeve so the 10mm swaglock fitings would seal ;(. hmmm

Due to the minimal holes ive cut, access inside the lid cavity is very limited so one or more fittings are not gonna survive the removal.. so fun n games ahead..


However the quick test was an overall success, i had the coil lid on the mashtun thermopot and dangled the probe for the stc inside with the lid dropped on top, the temp inside started at 15C and was raised to 18C in a short while, about a 1/3rd of a mug of T before my curiosity got the better of me..



when i have sorted the leak i feel confident to do a water test to see how the thing performs and confirm it wont overheat the water bath ??

[Fil]

Removing the thru the lid fittings was a bit more of a challenge than fitting them in the first place, 2 brass components didnt survive .. but after a 2nd test with the coil in jiggered fittings it worked with no micro bubbles in the return feed so I have installed the lid ready for a 2nd in situ test.

in order to accommodate the longer SS male thread in the brass sockets i used to join the external water in/out feeds to the internal coil fittings, i cut of most of the brass thread fitting into the sockets and sealed them with an epoxy, providing lots of socket depth for the thru the lid SS fittings.



i need to file out the thermopockets mouth as the stc probe sticks going in and out but once past the mouth drops down nicely..

I need to pull out the seal for cleaning lots of cooling oil (wd40) from the hole drilling ran into the seal depression, any tips on re-seating it?

[Fil]

It works, did a lid leak test with it running with tissue wrapped round all possible leak areas, -all bone dry after an hour of pumping...
so filled with water, and tested it chilling a large volume.... a 2C drop within the hour..

so time to put it together for real now.. i will fit the tube heater bellow the liquid level in the waterbath to ensure its always full and fit insulation to the feeds.. im also considering fitting a thermal cut out to stop the pipe heater rising above 40C 50C??

still not sure about pulling the lid seal for a degrease clean??

[BrewerBen]

Hi Fil, How is the fermenter working out?

I've just been doing a search on thermopot fermenter and this thread came up. I'm thinking about doing something very similar with a 60L thermopot, a cooling coil linked to a shelf chiller and to keep it simple a small immersion heater. All controlled with a STC1000 with a temp probe in a thermowell.
I've been allocated some brewing space in the parents garage (once it has a roof) but i need to make the brewery as small a footprint as i can so with a thermopot type fermenter i can sit it on top of a kegerator with the chiller on a shelf above taking as little space as possible. Hopefully the insulation would also help with all year round brewing without using too much power for heating/cooling. I would also like to brew the odd lager with this system.

[Fil]

tbh its a project on hold atm as im now brewing shorter lengths and im using the lil brewfridge to ferment in mostly. the thermopots make Vgood fermentors imho, and a shelf chiller is a good chilling method so it has got legs, go for it.