1.5" TC racking arm

[TJC]

Hi all,

Hoping someone has encountered this problem before. Recently started brewing on an old PUB Systems 7 bbl system. Its the complete brewpub package they used to offer (copper combi brew house, 4 Uni's). The fermenters are proving to be my biggest nemesis. First problem is that they appear to only have a 45 degree cone so harvesting and settling are not so great. The other problem is that the tanks have no racking arms in the racking port. I found plenty of racking arms online and purchased this one

https://morewinepro.com/products/15-triclamp-rotating-racking-arm.html

Problem solved, right? Nope.
The racking port on the tank is unnecessarily long, not allowing the sharp bend of the pipe to make it through. The last place I worked had DME tanks with nice, gradual, continuous curved racking arms. I would love something like this, and figured I'd see if anyone knew of any short of contacting DME directly.

Thanks in advance!

[TJC]

Thanks for the reply prostarter

I guess I should have mentioned in the first post that the real problem is with hoppy beers with large amounts of dry hops. These tanks were made long before these hopping rates were popular. Harvesting yeast is not a problem (usually) but transferring our ipa's has become an issue since we are a 1) a brewpub, 2) our brites serve as serving tanks(with no standpipes), and 3) we do not filter.

As far as seeing whats going on and cleaning, I've always used a sightglass off of the racking arm and rotate downward at the beginning of transfer until hitting the yeast/hop/sludge bed, and then kick it back up immediately, allowing only a small amount of solids by.
Cleaning them never seemed to be a problem for us, take them out while running the caustic loop and soak em, then soak in sani, then replace before sani loop closed tank.

Anyone else?

Thanks!

[mmussen]

I've had some racking arms made in the past. I'd say check for a good machinist in your area and see what they can do

[brewmaster 2011]

Thanks for the reply prostarter

I guess I should have mentioned in the first post that the real problem is with hoppy beers with large amounts of dry hops. These tanks were made long before these hopping rates were popular. Harvesting yeast is not a problem (usually) but transferring our ipa's has become an issue since we are a 1) a brewpub, 2) our brites serve as serving tanks(with no standpipes), and 3) we do not filter.

As far as seeing whats going on and cleaning, I've always used a sightglass off of the racking arm and rotate downward at the beginning of transfer until hitting the yeast/hop/sludge bed, and then kick it back up immediately, allowing only a small amount of solids by.
Cleaning them never seemed to be a problem for us, take them out while running the caustic loop and soak em, then soak in sani, then replace before sani loop closed tank.

Anyone else?

Thanks!

i use bio fine clear from BSG to clear out all my beer. 100 ml per bbl and let it sit for 3 days while i carbonate it with head pressure. depending on house much yeast and hops you pull during transfer you might have to pull 1*5 gal of yeast and hop and the bottom of your bright before you get crystal clear beer.

[Bainbridge]

We had a racking arm fabricated for a brite tank that didn't come with one. It was a 1.5" port, so we had to do a 1" arm, but it works like a treat on the rare occasions we need to use it. (Most beers are filtered now.) Basically some 1" diameter spool, with 1.5 TCs on either end. Length of bent pipe welded on to one end. Bit of metal tacked on the spool as a handle. Insert, cut to fit, super easy. We had Marks Design and Metalworks do it when they were delivering a tank anyway, but it's totally something a local fabricator can easily do.