Made New Vortex Tea Brewer Today

[Capulator]

@oscar169

Hooked it all up to an alita80 air pump, and it has a vortex but the air pump itself is making hissing noises and the water is sputtering out not really a smooth flow. Is this normal?

 

[Chronic Monster]

All I can say is HOLY FUCK !!! I should have built one along time ago,8 Gallons RO,poured in 3 Red Solo cups of EWC, 5 TBSP of each pack of Caps, put in 300 ML of Hi Brix, foamed in like .00001 seconds never seen anything like it........:D:D:D:DView attachment 332978

great thread oscar!
2 quick simple questions..
what is that black hose/fitting called that is attached to your pondmaster(size?)
what is the name ofthe fitting it connects to on the vortex?
thank you for sharing!

 

[oscar169]

@oscar169

Hooked it all up to an alita80 air pump, and it has a vortex but the air pump itself is making hissing noises and the water is sputtering out not really a smooth flow. Is this normal?

Did you use 2 inch PVC?, When I first test it with a smaller air pump the water really was only sputtering out, then I put the AP 100 on it, also I have a long peace of 2 inch with a 45 inside the vortex, I'm going to say it sounds like its to much water for that air pump, with that 2 inch pvc riser its a lot of water to push up it to the tank, that AP 100 with a full batch witch is about 12 gallons b/c of foam, will blast water out the top if you take the pipe of the bulkhead inside of the tank.

great thread oscar!
2 quick simple questions..

what is the name ofthe fitting it connects to on the vortex?
what is that black hose/fitting called that is attached to your pondmaster(size?)
thank you for sharing!

It's 3/4 inch, soft line that I got at the Hydro store, its used to run EB N Flow buckets, I had to warm it with a Heat gun to get it to slip over the output of the AP-100, then I used 3/4 rubber heater hose to run the air into the Vortex, you could use anything that what I had laying around.
You need a 3/4 barb TEE to 1inch Npt then that is clued to the end of the brewer. Here is a PIC

 

[Capulator]

Plumbed it the exact same way. I have an AP100 I will try that one instead.

 

[oscar169]

Plumbed it the exact same way. I have an AP100 I will try that one instead.

@Capulator Make sure you are using a 3/4 hose right from the Ap-100 all the way to the 3/4 barb to 1inch Npt, you want a SHIT LOAD of air volume to move all that water up the riser...;)

 

[oscar169]

@Capulator make sure you always have the air pump higher then the brewer, in case of power loss,..:p

 

[TheCoolestMan]

Brilliant @oscar169 !! Was going to use this kind of design for mine:
http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/turbo-vortex.htm

 

[We Solidarity]

@ Capulator When I dump everything into the Vortex I use this, they snap onto 5 gallon buckets and they are 400 micron, you don't want anything smaller then 400 micron, If I use the tea bag then, there is very little stuff that needs to be strained, but you have all them pumps, so you have to decided it you want to strain every time, here is a link to the bucket tops,

They make these for 55 gal barrels/tanks too...pretty awesome. I notice better diversity in tea with the compost spread along the surface as oppoosed to sunk into the tea...I'd recommend one of these if you're doing a 5 gal tea, I can't wait to use mine next springon my veggie crop :)

 

[oscar169]

@Capulator Just fired her up today, for my weekly ACT . Did you get yours up and working with the AP-100, takes a ton of air to get all that water moving up the riser pipe. This Batch

11 Gallons RO Water
7 TBSP of all 3 Packs OG-BioWar
500 ml Hi-Brixs
100 mL Liquid Kelp
1 Cup EWC dumped into Brewer

 

[Capulator]

It seems as though the feed has to be positioned properly in order to obtain a proper vortex, and if it submerged a bit then it does really well. LIke in you pic above, I would add another 45* fitting at the end of the straight shot to really push the water in the right direction.

 

[oscar169]

It seems as though the feed has to be positioned properly in order to obtain a proper vortex, and if it submerged a bit then it does really well. LIke in you pic above, I would add another 45* fitting at the end of the straight shot to really push the water in the right direction.

I have thought about that, just been to Lazy to go the Hardware to pick up a 45, Take some pics of your brewer in action you get sometime, sure Is better then pay up 2k for real Vortex...:cool:

 

[Seamaiden]

Oscar, I can't recall, have you used other types of brewers? I find myself wondering just how important achieving the vortex is.

 

[CelticEBE]

Initially I made mine with 1.5" PVC and had the same issues @Capulator.....then I swapped that out for 1" and she took off.....bigtime! Granted this is on a tiny unit that I only have 3 gallons in.

@Seamaiden I have brewed in both and I can tell you that the Vortex definitely is better when it comes to oxygenating things. I don't have a scope so I couldn't tell you if I am getting MORE bacteria. Reading microbeman's stuff is what convinced me to give it a shot.

 

[Capulator]

@CelticEBE ,

Mine looks exactly like @oscar169 now. I am getting a nice froth and everything looks fine. I think a smaller pipe may work better... but I ain't gonna fuck with it anymore.

 

[Ladyv]

So I'm going to build one of these.....do you think I should go with 1.5 instead of 2" on the pipe @Capulator ?

 

[oscar169]

Oscar, I can't recall, have you used other types of brewers? I find myself wondering just how important achieving the vortex is.

Yes I have used the 5 gallon pail with air stone, I also used a home made Vortex out of a Culligan Water Bottle, to may parts, to much messing around to clean also wanted something with more capacity, sea you could also by the 100 gallon tank and build the same thing just larger scale if ya needed..;)

@Ladyv You will need less air to go up the riser, if you use the 1.5" . I would not go any smaller then 1.5 " or you may run into problems with all the EWC and other stuff plugging up the riser, you have to remember all the materials + water+air have to be able to rise up the pipe, one little thing stops and you screwed its plugged, I recommend to anyone to Use this Brewer with the AP100, I have ran 4 red solo cups of EWC, Accident Forest, 2 Solo Cups of Alfalfa Meal all in the same Batch, Plus all the other stuff and it blast out the pipe and out the top if the lids off. Also I put all the scopes of Caps Bennies straight into the brewer. The AP100 will blast anything you can throw into the brewer up that 2 " riser pipe..:p

Here is that last batch just under 25 hrs brew time, I need to get a scope, but as you can see there is a nice foam setting on top, even with that powerful Vortex Pulling right under it.:cigar:

 

[CelticEBE]

Yeah...the foam is insane in the Vortex. If I don't add Vegetable oil.....I have a BIG MESS to clean up. I get my 15 gallon tank on Monday. Super stoked to get it set up. @oscar169 do you think the AP-60 would be undersized in this application?

 

[oscar169]

Yeah...the foam is insane in the Vortex. If I don't add Vegetable oil.....I have a BIG MESS to clean up. I get my 15 gallon tank on Monday. Super stoked to get it set up. @oscar169 do you think the AP-60 would be undersized in this application?

I hate to say that the ap 60 would be big enough and then have u find out it's not, I tried several differnt one and with the 2"
Riser pipe the Ap100 was the only one that really got the job done IMO. The one I. Bought was new off e-bay cheap , I will look tomorrow for that sellers info.

 

[Capulator]

So I'm going to build one of these.....do you think I should go with 1.5 instead of 2" on the pipe @Capulator ?

The tank is 2" so I used 2". You could always use a reducer. 2" works fine though and the fittings aren't expensive.

 

[Seamaiden]

Yes I have used the 5 gallon pail with air stone, I also used a home made Vortex out of a Culligan Water Bottle, to may parts, to much messing around to clean also wanted something with more capacity, sea you could also by the 100 gallon tank and build the same thing just larger scale if ya needed..;)

I guess my question wasn't so much with regards to capacity as it was specific to creating that vortex. I have a 45gal brewer, I use a square rolling trash can and then configured my PVC manifold so that almost the entire bottom of the trash can emits air vigorously. So, I'm wondering if what I've got going is ineffective, or what. I don't think it is, but I am, as ever, curious. I can't test DO at this time, only scope through a student scope.