darkdog50
Member
I did a search on this forum, to see if anyone had posted comments on Morebeer's improved conical, but came up dry. I received my 14.5 gal. unit last tuesday, and did my first 10-gal. IPA batch in it friday. It is too soon to judge the final results (still fermenting at 69 deg. F). I did run into two problems when filling the unit, that I am hoping the vendor's rep on this forum can home in on, & give me some advice on proper procedure.
The first problem was excessive foaming, when pumping the wort into the conical's side ( racking ) port, at the rate of 2.75 quarts/minute. Before the transfer was completed, the foam reached the top of the tank, and started oozing out through parts of the neoprene seal. The second problem occurred when I tried to stop the oozing, by tightening the clamp down further ( by hand, per instructions ). When tight enough to stop the leaks, I saw that part of the seal was slightly puckered at the gap in the clamping-band, and the band did not appear to form a "uniform circle" around the lid. When I intially fitted the band to the lid & gasket, I was barely able to connect the end of the band together, & the initial tightening also resulted in considerable unevenness. Perhaps I should have removed the insulating foam first ( though that was not indicated in the instructions ).
Any comments from the experts will be appreciated. In any event, I think I will do future fills through the blow-off port, as that will more closely approximate the routine I used with the carboys ( it also helps aerate the wort ).
The first problem was excessive foaming, when pumping the wort into the conical's side ( racking ) port, at the rate of 2.75 quarts/minute. Before the transfer was completed, the foam reached the top of the tank, and started oozing out through parts of the neoprene seal. The second problem occurred when I tried to stop the oozing, by tightening the clamp down further ( by hand, per instructions ). When tight enough to stop the leaks, I saw that part of the seal was slightly puckered at the gap in the clamping-band, and the band did not appear to form a "uniform circle" around the lid. When I intially fitted the band to the lid & gasket, I was barely able to connect the end of the band together, & the initial tightening also resulted in considerable unevenness. Perhaps I should have removed the insulating foam first ( though that was not indicated in the instructions ).
Any comments from the experts will be appreciated. In any event, I think I will do future fills through the blow-off port, as that will more closely approximate the routine I used with the carboys ( it also helps aerate the wort ).
