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After re-stumbling on Rubbertoe's old Solera thread from a few years back, I was motivated to build my own. The lack of sours in Halifax gave me the ambition to break my almost 1 year brewing hiatus.

I've got most of the parts, just waiting on a few kegs before I can build them. I'm going for a design similar to the one below - the main difference being that my racking cane will have a triclover fitting at the top so that it can be left in place and capped when not being used for a transfer. The side port can be used to attach a blowoff tube, or to attach a ball lock fitting for pressurized transfers.

Parts List (To build exactly what is shown in the bottom picture):

Qty 1 - 1.5" Triclover "T"
Qty 1 - 2" to 1.5" Triclover Reducer
Qty 1 - 1"/1.5" Tri Clover Compatible X 1/2" Compression Adapter (https://www.brewershardware.com/1-1-5-t ... apter.html)
Qty 1 - Triclover Ball Lock Fitting (https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/tc15blg.htm)
Qty 1 - 2" Triclover Clamp
Qty 1 - 2" O-Ring (To seal between keg & Triclover reducer)
Qty 1 - 36" Stainless Racking Cane w/1.5" Triclover (https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/ ... lover.html)
Qty 3 - 1.5" Triclover clamp
Qty 3 - 1.5" Triclover gasket

You'll also want to add one or two ball or butterfly valves to control air in/liquid out, triclover barbs to connect your liquid in/out to, etc.



This is the racking cane that I'll be using. 36" in length with triclover fitting for transfers/capping:

Got my missing pieces today and threw together the first fermenter.

I'll likely be installing a valve on the "t" to easily turn off flow/bleed pressure when pressure transferring. The ball lock fitting will be replaced with a tri clover hose barb for blowoff while aging, and the racking cane can be raised/lowered to transfer from various levels within the keg.



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Hey, I just had an idea for the blow off tube. Just use a ball lock fitting with the hose going to a jug.

That looks great, btw.

looks slick! how does the racking cane seal at the top of that assembly? i can see a nut but that's about it...

@RubberToe I think that's a decent idea, but i've also had ball locks get clogged with hop particulate. i like jimmy's idea of just swapping out the triclover hose barb - few extra dollars, but less chance of clogging

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:looks slick! how does the racking cane seal at the top of that assembly? i can see a nut but that's about it...

@RubberToe I think that's a decent idea, but i've also had ball locks get clogged with hop particulate. i like jimmy's idea of just swapping out the triclover hose barb - few extra dollars, but less chance of clogging

Rob's idea should work in this application - I'm planning to primary ferment in my conical before transferring to the keg, so there shouldn't be that much activity in there.

The racking cane is running through a tri clover compression fitting (see below), using o-rings to seal rather than the metal inserts



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This is very cool. I may need to put this on my list of projects, I have a new found love of sours and funky beer.

Did a full clean on the whole system last night. I recirculated hot PBW from the conical, in through the racking cane, out through the "t", and back into the conical.

Filled the Solera with my first go at a Flanders Red.

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Hi all,

First post on the site!!! Woohoo!!

We just wondering whether you have a chance to post the parts list on this build. Looks awesome.

Cheers,
Crafty.

Crafty Brewer wrote: ↑

Mon May 07, 2018 8:04 am

Hi all,

First post on the site!!! Woohoo!!

We just wondering whether you have a chance to post the parts list on this build. Looks awesome.

Cheers,
Crafty.

Hey - I've updated the original post with a parts list!

Jimmy wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 29, 2017 2:42 pm

Did a full clean on the whole system last night. I recirculated hot PBW from the conical, in through the racking cane, out through the "t", and back into the conical.

Filled the Solera with my first go at a Flanders Red.

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Hi Jimmy,

Sorry to revisit an old post, but how do you clean the keg with the solera setup in place or does this process clean the keg at the same time?

I have built something similar without the TC's and am trying to work out how to CIP.

Cheers,
Crafty.