15 gal conical I put together

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issack

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Location
Big Island Hawaii
Well my good friend wants to brew, and has limited funds so i told him he could buy his own grain and brew at my place and ferment in my room.

So he gave me 200 bucks and off i went online searching for the right deal.

I use the mini brew polyethylene plastic conicals and have been having great success with them. So I found these Bio diesel storage tanks that are made of polyethylene as well.http://www.watertanks.com/category/82/
I know some others have done this too on here as well. But mine will have different fittings.

Cost of the tank. 56.00
Shipping 110.00 ( I know its complete rape, but i am in Hawaii and nothing is cheap to ship.:mad:)
2" to 1/14 polypropylene reducer 8.80 http://www.fastfittings.com/page/85678202
I found a set of two Stainless 1 1/4 Ball valves on Ebay for 40 bucks (got one for myself so i can make another if i like it)
I'm going to use a 1/2 SS wieldless fitting for the racking arm 20.00
and found another set of two 1/2 SS three piece Ball valves on Ebay for 33.00.
I'm just going to drill a hole on top and pop the S lock bung in there.
And of course i have to build a stand. ( well he is anyway)

Pretty good deal i think. thought i would share.

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I want Pictures of Brew Day, AND the day it comes out of there. I've been thinking of this exact setup, as I work for an Ag Chemical company, and my cost for one of these tanks would make you **** yourself If I posted it.....I just want to make sure it'll work first.
 
Just e-mailed my supplier...I will have a current price Monday Morning....I will see what shipping will do to us, and if there is a volume discount....we may all have a plastic conical if we're not careful.
 
Hahaha.. I'm sure i would **** myself if i knew the price. I'm so used to getting slammed with shipping it doesn't faze me anymore..

I will for sure post up on brew day and progress as it is fermenting. I'm guessing i will be brewing a batch for this tank in two weeks (I brewed 14 gal today actually. I'm tired.. lol) Waiting on the 1/2 ball valve from ebay. It will be here next week.
 
Just e-mailed my supplier...I will have a current price Monday Morning....I will see what shipping will do to us, and if there is a volume discount....we may all have a plastic conical if we're not careful.

hey if you can beat 110.00 for my shipping to Hawaii, i will snatch another one from your supplier for sure.. :mug:

You guys in the States will pay less than half of what i had to pay..
 
nice. even at 150 with shipping thats allot cheaper then anything else comparable.
 
I wonder if you could cut a panel (say 24" tall x 16" wide) out of a 5 gallon bucket, and use that as a stand? I know it's sort of low rent, but it would help keep that cost down.
 
I wonder if you could cut a panel (say 24" tall x 16" wide) out of a 5 gallon bucket, and use that as a stand? I know it's sort of low rent, but it would help keep that cost down.

i would think a sheet of ply with the diameter of the conical about 5" up from the bottom of the conical and another the diameter of the vertical sides of the conical. would slide in and out for cleaning. you could also use flat steel strapping from homedepot. bent around the conical and use like clamp.

kinda like this. for the clamp strap type setup.

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I like the design and price of that conical. The fact that lid screws right into the tank instead of an attached collar is great. My conical has been sitting in the closet waiting for the temps to drop so I can use it.:( You might want to think of reducing the valve size so when you go to dump the yeast you don't dump several gallons of beer also. I reduced the 1 1/4 opening in mine to 1/2" for better flow control. I'm looking forward to seeing your cooling method. Mine consists of a drilled ring that sits on top of the conical and fed by a small pump.
 
i would think a sheet of ply with the diameter of the conical about 5" up from the bottom of the conical and another the diameter of the vertical sides of the conical. would slide in and out for cleaning. you could also use flat steel strapping from homedepot. bent around the conical and use like clamp.

kinda like this. for the clamp strap type setup.

That's a good Idea Pen.

I'm going to due something with plywood since i have a arsenal of it under my house. Going to make a table to fit two of these then just cut out a hole so it can just slide in and out

I like the design and price of that conical. The fact that lid screws right into the tank instead of an attached collar is great. My conical has been sitting in the closet waiting for the temps to drop so I can use it.:( You might want to think of reducing the valve size so when you go to dump the yeast you don't dump several gallons of beer also. I reduced the 1 1/4 opening in mine to 1/2" for better flow control. I'm looking forward to seeing your cooling method. Mine consists of a drilled ring that sits on top of the conical and fed by a small pump.


I have 1" Ball valves on my two 8 gallon conical tanks right now and it's a perfect size for my yeast drop. i don't think 1/4 inch more will make much difference. I don't open the valve all the way right off the bat ether. I go slowly and have never had a splash. I would worry that 1/2 inch on yours would be too small. for the yeast cakes up at the bottom and gets tough sometimes..

My cooling method is that my fermenting room stays at 68 70 deg year round.. :D
 
I will for sure post up pics when i put some wart in that puppy.. a few weeks and it will be up and running.

I'm actually very lucky. I live 2.200 feet elevation and it stays cool up here.. my 9x12 room i have the windows blacked out and it stays 68/70 all the time.. lucky me cause no way would i run an A/C with my electric bill already being crazy.
 
Just had a simple idea. The diameter of that tank is 19". The diameter of a basketball hoop is 18". Could mount it right on the wall. heheh
I see a Slam Dunk Ale coming someday...
 
OK....We're looking for a different supplier.
These things were $25 last summer, they are $147 now.

Guess I'll be ordering from the online suppliers.

Thanks to HomeBrew and Bio Diesel. Too bad. For $25 I would have jumped on board. To date, I have had no real interest in a conical. Mostly cause I'd have to change my setups (upright fridge for cooling etc..).
 
This one of the four 40 gallon conicals I use. Got them from US Plastics....

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Works great and easy to clean....:mug:
 
This one of the four 40 gallon conicals I use. Got them from US Plastics....

Works great and easy to clean....:mug:

I'd be interested in how you have that setup, I almost ordered one of those awhile back. I got skittish about getting it working and got carboys instead, which is a pain.
 
This one of the four 40 gallon conicals I use. Got them from US Plastics....

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Works great and easy to clean....:mug:




4 40 gallons.? wow man.. that is awesome.!! what is your boil pot size.?

I hear ya.. once you go Conical, carboys are just a thing of that past. no racking into secondary.. Just pore your wort in and bleed off some yeast every 4 days and on the 22nd day bottle or keg and done.. easy to clean and just a hell of alot less hassle..

So i picked up this 8 gallon Uni tank last night from a friend who never used it.. got it for 180 bucks.. that makes three of these 8 gallon uni tanks i have now.. plus the 15 gal, and i'm ordering one more next week.. Wooo Hoo..lol.

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I should be brewing in the 15 in the next two weeks.. I'll post up how everything goes..
 
I'm not sure if I'm drooling, or just choking on beer looking at this porn.
issack - If you ever see any good deals with shipping out here, please let me know. I'm kind of tire of being shafted without being kissed first.
 
I think I would have bought one last night if shipping wasn't ridiculous. Would it be cheaper if a few people from Utah ordered 1-2 each then we split up shipping? Oh, that would mean I would need friends that brew in Utah. Also, where do you find a 20 gallon Kettle? I don't think that would even fit on my burner. How do you lift 20 gallons of boiling wort? mmm... maybe I like 5 gallon brews for now... But someday.
 
Look on instawares.com for large pots, I got my 30 gallon for $115 (aluminum). You'll want to add threadless ball valve and perhaps thermometer. There really is no way to lift that much weight, very dangerous. I used two cinder blocks under each leg of my burner to raise it up high enough to gravity feed into my carboys. I'm figuring with a conical you'll want a pump (a simple aquarium pump like a mag12 or mag18 since the wort is cooled first) to move wort to the fermenter, just need a long enough hose and most likely quick disconnects to make it easier. At least this is my future plan one of these days. ;)
 
blaze379,
You've one upped me, perhaps I need to order a bigger pot and use mine as a HLT. :D

FSR402,
One with a s**tload of BTUs?! :D I would think you'd need at least 300k BTUs to boil 50 gallons in any sort of reasonable time. There is bound to be a calculator somewhere that will give you an idea of time to boil for x gallons with x btus at x ambient temperature. I know my cheap turkey burner takes an hour to boil 20 gallons on a normal day.
 
blaze379,
You've one upped me, perhaps I need to order a bigger pot and use mine as a HLT. :D

FSR402,
One with a s**tload of BTUs?! :D I would think you'd need at least 300k BTUs to boil 50 gallons in any sort of reasonable time. There is bound to be a calculator somewhere that will give you an idea of time to boil for x gallons with x btus at x ambient temperature. I know my cheap turkey burner takes an hour to boil 20 gallons on a normal day.

I was thinking 3 banjo burners would do it. I guess I had better buy 4 just to be sure.
 
Man, I was about to order a new Squeezebox boom, but this might be money better spent.
 
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