Vortex Brewer

[Theoneandonly Z]

post em up, love different views on diy brewers! start a thread.Z

 

[Seamaiden]

Well after looking at quite a few posts I decided to make my own small vortex brewer. I used an 8 gallon bucket with 3/4 PVC and I used a rubbermaid 20 gallon trash can upside down as a stand. I was amazed it actually works quite well. If any one is interested including the stand and not including my air pump it cost about $60. If you want me to post some pics let me know.


Slap

Absolutely! There's more than one way to skin that tea-brewin' cat.

I am curious, if you used a bucket, does it qualify as a vortex brewer? Is it the vortex, or the cone, or both, that make it a vortex brewer?

 

[GanjaAL]

Got a question for some of you hydro users.... how do you apply your tea on tea days?

My schedule will be feed feed tea feed feed tea so on the tea days I was going to put in a rez and use a small pump for those days and water as I would my other nutrients. Sorry to get a little off the subject.

 

[squiggly]

Absolutely! There's more than one way to skin that tea-brewin' cat.

I am curious, if you used a bucket, does it qualify as a vortex brewer? Is it the vortex, or the cone, or both, that make it a vortex brewer?

Really its the vortex and the air lift in conjunction that make it what it is. The cone merely aids in this.

 

[slap14]

Well here is my DIY brewer. I used 3/4" PVC along with a 3/4" bulkhead, i'm going to redo it with 1" PVC and a 1" bulkhead. I think that will allow for a better mixing rate. It seems to mix real well and leaves a lot less film than what my bubbler did. Thanks guys:)

Slap

 

[ttystikk]

Seamaiden, the vortex in the brewer is the swirly toilet bowl flushing action that sucks air down into the water. The cone is necessary, but apparently the length of the pipe below is important, too. If it sucks like a toilet, it's right. A little swirl in water just going around is not the same, by far.

 

[SuperCan]

Seamaiden, the vortex in the brewer is the swirly toilet bowl flushing action that sucks air down into the water. The cone is necessary, but apparently the length of the pipe below is important, too. If it sucks like a toilet, it's right. A little swirl in water just going around is not the same, by far.

A better way to say this is that the surface of the water has to be concave. It doesn't have to actually have a vortex pulling the air down to maintain the dissolved oxygen level that you need if the water only spins around you are right that is not good enough but even a slightly concave "vortex" is enough to pull enough oxygen into the water. Recently marine biologists were confused about why the reefs were breaking down so quickly because it did not follow their model well for how much CO2 should dissolved into the water at the current air concentrations but they found out that this gentle 'vortex' action in the atlantic was to blame and it was more like a 'very' slightly concave circular flow than a vortex. As you can see in the image above your post there is a vortex in this DIY bucket brewer which shows clearly that you do 'not' need the cone shape the cone shape does increase your efficiency for dissolution because of Bernoulli's principle which says that "for an inviscid flow, an increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid's potential energy". In regular people speak that means that as the shape of the container narrows the velocity of the vortex increases and this can pull a lot more oxygen in but for compost tea applications you only need to come and stir a few times a day to keep enough oxygen in unless you are doing a 72 hour + brew. The bucket brew above has air cycling through the system there is more than enough agitation going on there to keep oxygen high enough.

 

[ttystikk]

Dude, it's about the definition of 'vortex tea brewer'. Either it has a vortex that sucks air down into it, or it's NOT A VORTEX TEA BREWER.

I get that your solution may be adequate to the task. The point is, if you're going to build a 'vortex tea brewer', that's what you build. You want to build a swirling 5 gallon bucket that works just as well, fine and dandy- but that doesn't make it a vortex tea brewer, any more than changing the badge on a Corvette to say F150 allows it to carry any more manure.

The larger point that I'm trying to make is that we have to be careful with our terms and definitions. If meanings get blurred, understanding fails. This is why many professions guard their specific jargon, terms and definitions so carefully; no one wants any chance of a misunderstanding when dealing with high tension power transmission, or cancer drugs or medical care. We must endeavor to do the same.

 

[fishwhistle]

A better way to say this is that the surface of the water has to be concave. It doesn't have to actually have a vortex pulling the air down to maintain the dissolved oxygen level that you need if the water only spins around you are right that is not good enough but even a slightly concave "vortex" is enough to pull enough oxygen into the water. Recently marine biologists were confused about why the reefs were breaking down so quickly because it did not follow their model well for how much CO2 should dissolved into the water at the current air concentrations but they found out that this gentle 'vortex' action in the atlantic was to blame and it was more like a 'very' slightly concave circular flow than a vortex. As you can see in the image above your post there is a vortex in this DIY bucket brewer which shows clearly that you do 'not' need the cone shape the cone shape does increase your efficiency for dissolution because of Bernoulli's principle which says that "for an inviscid flow, an increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid's potential energy". In regular people speak that means that as the shape of the container narrows the velocity of the vortex increases and this can pull a lot more oxygen in but for compost tea applications you only need to come and stir a few times a day to keep enough oxygen in unless you are doing a 72 hour + brew. The bucket brew above has air cycling through the system there is more than enough agitation going on there to keep oxygen high enough.

Good morning squiggs!

 

[slap14]

Well I can tell you if i throw a blade of grass in the brewer you can watch it spin around go down the vortex and back out the main uptake every 30 seconds or less. I don't have a dissolved oxogen meter but with size pump i'm using on that size bucket i would hope that it is feeding more than enough oxogen to the water.

The best thing is it is much easier to clean than my bucket with just air running it. Also the spout makes it much easier to get the tea into the next bucket, saves my back. I have a strainer that's made as an insert in 5 gallon buckets that fits right on top and strains my tea as it pours from the spout to the bucket. :)

Other than the pump it was fairly inexpensive and I feel effective;)

Thanks for all the comments

Slap

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

Slap, great brewer! Thanks for sharing

 

[SuperCan]

Good morning squiggs!

 

[slap14]

Slap

Well here is my DIY brewer. I used 3/4" PVC along with a 3/4" bulkhead, i'm going to redo it with 1" PVC and a 1" bulkhead. I think that will allow for a better mixing rate. It seems to mix real well and leaves a lot less film than what my bubbler did. Thanks guys:)

Slap

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Hey guys just an update re-did my brewer using 1.5" PVC with a 1" up spout and she works like a charm. I would recommend this set up for anyone doing small brews at a time. Easy to build and fairly cheap. Just make sure you use the larger PVC. You will love the clean up compared to a bubbler, much easier.

Slap

 

[masshole61]

My tea brewer

built that table out of a sheet of PVC left I've from a job I did. And my cellar is a shithole right now....

 

[masshole61]

There's a hole with a uniseal at the bottom of the bucket that is attached to a 5-way. The 5-way is attached to the PVC pipes that run up the sides of the bucket and re-enter the top of the bucket at a 45 degree angle. In the top of these I drilled a hole for a quarter inch air line that goes to the bottom of the PVC running up the sides. Those 4 airlines are attached to an active aqua 70 ltr air pump.
Now I've played with a couple different ways of using this from adding a 4" disk air stone to using my wife's nylons for the EWC and guano. But the best way so far is to just dump everything in the water and let her rip. I think the Oxegen added to the water in the uplift benefits the development of biology more so than the vortex created in the middle but it sure looks cool, doesn't it?
I also attached a T and a ball valve at the bottom of the elbow of the uplift so I can empty the tea into another 5 gallon pail.

 

[slap14]

Nice Mass, that looks like some nice tea brewing there. Really like the unit you put together might have to give that a try. I bet those trees of yours love the AACT. Do you use some of the Rev's tea recipes of something else?

Slap

 

[masshole61]

Haven't used a shitload of teas but I've been using about two cups ofEWC, 10 tablespoons of molasses, 5 tablespoons ofJamaican bat guano ( yeah mon) with caps root pack and foliar pack as instructed. I kept it simple with the teas as I'm feeding heavy with fish and seaweed feet and I didn't want to over do it.

 

[murdergrow]

hey masshole i like the idea of the 5way fitting youre using. seems like it would work well with those air lines youre using. is that air line the standard aquarium line? also what size pipe are you using? is your uniseal the same size as the pvc youre using? and lastly how deep into your bucket does the pvc go with the uniseal?

slap i think im going to take some ideas from you too. i like the 90 attached to your ball valve, will def make emptying the brewer a lot easier i cant believe i didnt think of it before. if you havent already may i suggest def increasing from 3/4in pipe?

im a little crunched on time right now but ill get some pics of my brewer up here shortly. i use an ecoplus commercial 3 for my pump. i got rid of the barbed brass fitting and use a hose clamp to attach my braided hose to the outside of the outlet for more air(since i can use a larger hose). the water flow from my airlift is much better w/o the barbed nipple, i read somewhere that by using that fitting you lose something like 20% CFM and i dont have an exact measurement but i def have more water flowing w/o it

 

[slap14]

Whats up guys

Finally found some time to upgrade my Vortex Brewer. I'm running a 1.5" bulkhead to a 1" tee reducer and all other PVC is 1". I'm using a 7 gallon bucket and the same pump as above. This generation runs quite a bit more water through the system and is still real easy to clean:)

The finished unit, I like to use the trash can as a stand because it is very durable and light weight.

Screen inserts into 5 gallon bucket

Flowering Tea Mix

Brewing up some tea

 

[Seamaiden]

That is VERY clever.