Conical Techniques

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dsmithpdx

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Hi everyone,

So I purchased one of the eBay stainless steel conical fermenters. I haven't received it yet, but I wanted to ask those of you with conical fermenters what your general practices are. Specifically:

-How often do you dump trub?
-How often do you take a sample for gravity measurement/tasting?
-Any other suggestions?

Thanks, and I look forward to participating here (I'm new)!

Doug
 
Let your wort settle out after filling the Conical then you can dump the trub. Pitch yeast. After a week you could take a sample if you like and dry hop if you like. Let it go another 10 days and keg or bottle. Take a taste from the side port any time you like. Remember that unless you keep the temperature at the yeasts recommended fermentation temperature you are not going to get the best results possible. Use sanitary practices when using any the ports. I use Starsan in a spray bottle to keep them sanitary. Breweries use grain alcohol if they are cleaning before a yeast dump but they make sure it is dry before the dump. Starsan is very effective in my opinion before doing a yeast dump. You can put foil over the ports to keep off any unwanted dust or spills when accessing the top opening.
 
Should you wait to long to dump then it will become clogged. I would dump when the fermentation is winding down, then again before racking to keg if you want to harvest the yeast.
 
Thanks for the tips! One more thing I forgot to ask: how do you prevent "suckback" from the airlock when you do a dump? Should I just remove the airlock before the dump and then replace it afterwards? That seems like the obvious answer, but I thought I would at least ask. :)

Doug
 
I have 3 conicals with silicone blow off tubes into 2 liter coke bottles, I dump when co2 is very light bubbling in bottles, lift the tube just out of liquid but still in bottle filled with co2 blow off.
 
I usually do the first dump between 3-5 days after the first signs of fermentation, assuming that at that time fermentation activity has already slowed. I have a 1.5" dump through a 1" valve and if you wait to long the yeast can clog the port easily. I have adapted to gently tapping the side of the cone with a rubber mallet as I slowly open the dump valve. This ensures the yeast slide down the cone walls easily and keeps a steady flow of thick yeast instead of any beer escaping. The moment I see even a little beer come shooting through I close the valve. Normally, I don't get the dump valve fully open unless the yeast is acting very thick. Be cautious, the beer can suddenly break through the yeast layer and start draining quickly. After that I dump every two days, a little, until it appears that no more yeast are really settling out. With all of this, very little liquid volume is actually leaving the fermenter. I shoot for 5.3-5.5 gallons of wort into the fermenter, unless I am doing a lot of dry hopping, then I shoot for 6. With that I usually have a solid 5 gallons into the keg or bottles.


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