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  • Yeast Brink Recommendations

    I'm looking for a simple solution for transporting and storing yeast between batches. I'll usually be pulling 1-2 barrels of yeast. The White labs ferm flasks look cool, but they are a little bit overkill and expensive, especially since I would need multiple kegs. I have a few sanke select kegs that work ok but I tend to use those for other things and they are also not cheap. Another friends just uses a few stainless dairy containers, but I don't think those are air tight.

    What is everyone else using?

  • #2
    In full disclosure, I worked for WL. The Ferm-Flask is the best out there for the size. It's way too expensive to justify for most breweries. GW Kent makes a 1/2bbl keg with 1.5" bottom outlet and DBT makes a 50L keg with a 1.5" outlet. I know GW is still a bit expensive, and I think the DBT's ran me about $290 each.

    2 BBL is a lot of yeast if harvested properly. You must be making quite large batches if 70-100 lbs of yeast (1/2bbl keg) isn't enough for a pitch (30-50bbl tank size). At that point, the best solution would be to buy a 3bbl propagator vessel. Something with an agitator, oxygen inlet and glycol jacket. Then you can also grow up your initial pitches, saving more money.

    Dairy tanks are the old world standard, and work fine. They are not airtight, but you should not store yeast under pressure anyhow. My concerns are with the sanitary aspect of transfers.

    Cheap, sanitary, and durable do not often come together. Cheap - 20l Nalgene bottles, or cornies, sanitary and durable - keg brinks, best option - propagator vessel.

    Big fan of keg brinks for versatility. Use them to push chemicals through the canning line, add fruit to beer, store and pitch yeast, and used to use one as a grant back in the day.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by OneMoreBrewer View Post
      In full disclosure, I worked for WL. The Ferm-Flask is the best out there for the size. It's way too expensive to justify for most breweries. GW Kent makes a 1/2bbl keg with 1.5" bottom outlet and DBT makes a 50L keg with a 1.5" outlet. I know GW is still a bit expensive, and I think the DBT's ran me about $290 each.

      2 BBL is a lot of yeast if harvested properly. You must be making quite large batches if 70-100 lbs of yeast (1/2bbl keg) isn't enough for a pitch (30-50bbl tank size). At that point, the best solution would be to buy a 3bbl propagator vessel. Something with an agitator, oxygen inlet and glycol jacket. Then you can also grow up your initial pitches, saving more money.

      Dairy tanks are the old world standard, and work fine. They are not airtight, but you should not store yeast under pressure anyhow. My concerns are with the sanitary aspect of transfers.

      Cheap, sanitary, and durable do not often come together. Cheap - 20l Nalgene bottles, or cornies, sanitary and durable - keg brinks, best option - propagator vessel.

      Big fan of keg brinks for versatility. Use them to push chemicals through the canning line, add fruit to beer, store and pitch yeast, and used to use one as a grant back in the day.
      Thanks for the reply, I actually have a 5bbl propagator, but have been using it for small batch beers that make more money and are a little more fun than yeast propagating I've checked out the GW kent kegs and might go that direction. They are a little cheaper than the Sanke Selects.

      We rarely pull 2 bbls, just when I'm splitting the yeast into two or more batches and that is with leaving headspace in the containers. Generally we are using <1bbl of yeast per 30 bbl batch.

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      • #4
        I am looking into getting one of the keg brinks as well for a new startup I'm working on. The firm-flask is awesome and has everything that I want but is WAY to expensive to justify. The one thing I really like about it is the stir paddle and dip tube it comes with. Have people had good results with the GW Kent version? What is the best way to clean one of these? I really appreciate any information anyone could give me on this!

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        • #5
          Well this my homemade yeast keg
          Click image for larger version

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          One of my own kegs a 4" TC Clamp on top lets me take a look inside or add dry yeast easily. On the bottom a 1 1/2 TC fitting and on the inside of the keg a 90* bend allows the wort to circulate to force all the yeast out. So I fill up the keg from the bottom of the cone pack it tight then connect the wort hose from the wort chiller to the bottom fitting and the hose to the fermenter comes from the top. Works like a dream. Not as fancy as some others but has never let me down.
          Mike Eme
          Brewmaster

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          • #6
            Thanks for the response! So you let the entire batch of cool wort pass through the keg on its way to the fermenter? Did you fashion the 90 on the inside yourself? That sounds like a really good way making sure that all the yeast gets out. When you go to clean/sanitize the keg do you just do a soak?

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Bavbier View Post
              Thanks for the response! So you let the entire batch of cool wort pass through the keg on its way to the fermenter? Did you fashion the 90 on the inside yourself? That sounds like a really good way making sure that all the yeast gets out. When you go to clean/sanitize the keg do you just do a soak?
              Yes, the whole batch of wort flows thru the yeast keg. I gave some thought about putting a "T" in line so I could just flush it out then bypass it but it seems to work just fine this way. All of the weld on parts including the 90 came from GW Kent. Cleaning time I just connect it into my kettle spray ball line or I have a overhead SS line to get the wort from one end of the brewery to the ferm tanks on the other in I have connected it in line to that also. No bad batches yet so I guess things are clean. Just make sure you get it to a qualified sanitary welder
              Mike Eme
              Brewmaster

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              • #8
                Originally posted by beerguy1 View Post
                Yes, the whole batch of wort flows thru the yeast keg. I gave some thought about putting a "T" in line so I could just flush it out then bypass it but it seems to work just fine this way. All of the weld on parts including the 90 came from GW Kent. Cleaning time I just connect it into my kettle spray ball line or I have a overhead SS line to get the wort from one end of the brewery to the ferm tanks on the other in I have connected it in line to that also. No bad batches yet so I guess things are clean. Just make sure you get it to a qualified sanitary welder
                Thanks for the input Mike!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Bavbier View Post
                  Thanks for the input Mike!
                  We use something quite similar to Cheboygan, 1/2bbl and 1/4bbl keg brinks. But ours has a pressure gauge and co2 quick disconnect and bleed valve on the 6" ferrule on top. So we can see what pressure is in there and vent if needed during storage, or apply pressure to push the yeast out the bottom valve into a T in the wort stream. The brinks fit on a 440lb scale so we can pitch by weight. (The bigger one needs a support plate to stay stable on the scale though.) Also mounted on some good casters, our rolly little R2D2 units! We had our fabricator knock them together for us and we supplied the kegs.
                  Russell Everett
                  Co-Founder / Head Brewer
                  Bainbridge Island Brewing
                  Bainbridge Island, WA

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                  • #10
                    Just keep in mind--if you go welding fittings to a keg, it's no longer a certified pressure vessel--unless you're a certified boiler welder and intend to hydro-test the keg. Most Sanke-style kegs are rated at 60 psi, which means they've been tested to 300 psi. If you're keeping the pressure in the keg to 1 bar or less, it might be safe. Or not.

                    Also, if you're not an experienced sanitary welder, "sugaring" of the metal inside the keg at the weld will probably make the keg almost impossible to sanitize, and be a potential source of iron contamination.

                    Download the Keg Safety checklist (.pdf) Below are some basic safety cautions to keep in mind when handling kegs: Safety inspection 1. Keg exterior – Sharp edges from cracked drain-holes or s…
                    Last edited by TGTimm; 02-11-2016, 01:37 PM.
                    Timm Turrentine

                    Brewerywright,
                    Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                    Enterprise. Oregon.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
                      Just keep in mind--if you go welding fittings to a keg, it's no longer a certified pressure vessel--unless you're a certified boiler welder and intend to hydro-test the keg. Most Sanke-style kegs are rated at 60 psi, which means they've been tested to 300 psi. If you're keeping the pressure in the keg to 1 bar or less, it might be safe. Or not.

                      Also, if you're not an experienced sanitary welder, "sugaring" of the metal inside the keg at the weld will probably make the keg almost impossible to sanitize, and be a potential source of iron contamination.

                      http://www.probrewer.com/library/kegs/keg-safety/
                      Good point. Couple years ago somebody, and it might have been New Belgium(?), posted a video where their crew had left a yeast brink keg out in the warehouse over the weekend in the summer and they came back to find the pressure gauge maxed. So they carefully wheeled it outside and recorded one of the brewers opening a co2 vent on the top...and running.

                      The yeast geyser went a good two stories high.

                      Can't find the vid for the life of me. Argh.
                      Russell Everett
                      Co-Founder / Head Brewer
                      Bainbridge Island Brewing
                      Bainbridge Island, WA

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                      • #12
                        HAHAHA I found it! https://www.facebook.com/newbelgium/...2014771651649/
                        Russell Everett
                        Co-Founder / Head Brewer
                        Bainbridge Island Brewing
                        Bainbridge Island, WA

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Sabco makes a nice Yeast storage tank similar to the one posted.

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                          • #14
                            Deutsche Beverage tech makes them, and the price is much better than GW or Sabco. They are $150 and come with caps, gaskets, and clamps. Only downfall is they are 50L instead of 1/2 bbl.
                            Attached Files

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                            • #15
                              I have been using the gw kent ones and have just been pushing directly into the fermenter after transfer is complete. I hook up the racking port and pitch by weight. Any reason why the T would be better? Thanks.

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