old grundy tank question

[jtalley]

I have 5 (mangel sheuermann & oeter) top opening grundies and 5 front. me and my local stainless welder are planning on retro-fitting them with new PRV's, spool assemblies, and a spray ball i can move from tank to tank. Do replacement parts exist for these tanks or should i just try to rebuild them locally? i have one leaking gas from the top manway/gasget pretty bad.
i tried this buisness at 215-674-5500, but they were disconnected.
thanks for any help or leads,
cheers
Jenny
Squatters Pub Brewery
801.598.0499

[grassrootsvt]

This company, Mangel Scheuermann, is now out of business. Bernie Black was the contact there - he was probably up into his 80s last time i talked with him. Not sure what happened to him and the company...
We had a grundy tank explode a few months ago - leaking top- manway grundies are dangerous! Definitely be cautious! Pugsley at Shipyard is a potential source for information on retrofitting these tanks - personally, welding sounds like a great idea.
shaun e.

[Moonlight]

I'm guessing it was a clamp-style that blew the lid? They take care and/or skill. The bolt top ones seem bullet proof, at least in low calibers.

[fuckenbrewer]

Nothing spins me up more than the Grundys they are the scurge of the craft brewing industry. Ill not rant any further on that and stay on topic.

I was faced with this dilemma in my brewery. Mangel Scheuermann is off the map so that solution is out. this is a plus those valves are made from materials that should not be on a keg let alone a large tank.

You could have triclamp fittings welded to the tank with separate sprayball arm on each tank this requires either your welder coming to weld when you have a tank empty or transferring from on tank to the next and having him or her standing around while you CIP and transfer beer.

Or you could have triclamp fittings welded to a male thread then add PRPV valves and a gage and your all set. Have a separate CIP unit you can use on all your tanks

What kind of manways do you have bolt or clamp? If there bolt you can heat the lid with hot water and set the lid on the gasket it will make it more pliable as your bolting it in place tighten each bolt a little bit at a time in a criss cross pattern watch out not to get a muffler burn from the hot lid.

If you need some parts fabricated and sent to you call

I can email photos if you like.

Thomas Beck
W.T. Beck Specialty Co.
696 Mayflower Street
Duxbury, MA 02331

781.585.1783
wtbeckone@aol.com

[Moonlight]

Clamp top sealing problems are often from the corroded aluminum ring inside the gasket not being smooth. This corrosion also causes the lid to blow off ungraciously, as well as causing a swearing brewer to overtighten the bolt, damaging it or the clamp or their bodies. Replace this with a stainless one made by your local fab shop and you will be a happier camper.
If you need to heat the bolt-on lids, that doesn't sound like the way they were designed. Perhaps a new (spongier) gasket would keep you from stripping the studs out of the tank, or at least stripping the skin off your knuckles. The original gaskets were slightly wedge-shaped in cross section, but I have used flat ones without problem and not had trouble tightening to seal. Using a socket driver I usually start tightening ever other, then repeat with the other ones, alternating sets until they are all snug. I routinely take mine to 40 psi without leaks-but this is not a recommendation!
These tanks have been used a billion times. They work. Spend the money to get the right parts instead of killing somebody or pissing yourself off; unless you like being pissed off.

[jtalley]

I think i am going to go with Definox PRV's. Does anyone know what the grundy tanks are rated for? the stocked PRV springs at Definox are 14, 19.6 and 25.2 lbs. i am pushing 77 CO2/ 23 N2 at 22lbs to make it up a flight to my towers and keep my carbonation in line. I want to use the 25.2 lb springs but are my tanks "rated" for this? thanks for all your replies this should really help me and my stainless guy troubleshoot this next week. we are attacking the first tank on tues. and then knocking them out one by one as soon as they empty.

i am 8.5 months pregnant and hope my little brewer doesn't finish aging untill my tanks are re-fabed and my GABF is hand bottled and shipped! wish me luck, i might be back with more questions, thanks again.
cheers
Jen

[fuckenbrewer]

Jen, best wishes to both you and your baby. There very well may be a test pressure and working pressure stamped into your Grundy's. If there painted you may have to give a close inspection. There are so many different tanks out there there is no telling what they might take. All of my tanks have a 14 PSI working pressure tested to 30 PSI. I push all my beers at 15 PSI stout at 24 but I keg it as soon as I have enough kegs to do so. here are the pictures of what we came up with for our Grundys.

Again Best Wishes