KB1138 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:11 pm
I'm not sure if either are really what you need based on what you've described here. Glycol chillers are great for any fermentation, not just lagers, so is that an area you need to improve in your system as it stands? What are you doing for temp control right now? The other question is one of head space as Geoff brought up. Are you going to be filling a 14 gallon fermentor with a 5 gallon GF?
To start: Merry Christmas, Kevin!
You know my house setup, so you can understand there are several things to take into consideration.
I store my brewing gear down stairs, however I pull it all upstairs on brew days... that way I am either on the patio (when it's nice outside) or in the kitchen. I transfer the wort to the FV, bring it back downstairs and start the fermentation process. Then clean and, once again, return everything downstairs.
One issue is that when the GrainFather is full of wort, there is no way that I can lift it to cart it downstairs. However, since the Unitank has no handles, if I transfer the wort from the GrainFather to the Unitank while upstairs, then there is no way I can get the Unitank downstairs. So... leaves me to consider brewing downstairs, which at this point is just not a solid option.
I like the idea of a glycol chiller... issue is that it would only work on the one FV I have, since everything else is fermented in carboys, which I place in a second fridge for cold-crashing (the SS Brewtech FV will not fit in the fridge). So as much as I see benefit, I also see a CHUNK of coin going into someone that I can only partially use. Further, with the FV, I can do closed transfers to a keg and then I'll use that to cold-crash.
I do quite like the idea of being able to carbonate a beer with more expediency, and consistency, than force-carbing in a Sanke keg via my kegerator. Hence the somewhat fascination with a Unitank and/or BBT.
So I am considering another 7gal FV and a 10gal BBT, which would be about the same cost as the single Unitank.
Or I can also just buy the FV, and save the coin for a glycol chiller, as I would at least then have two FVs I can use it on.
Thoughts?