Conical owners question????????????

I have only fermented at home in carboys and now a large Brute trash can. I used to brew for Hub City Brewery in Lubbock and got to play with the big toys like 15bbl jacketed SS conicals. I bought a TMS hopper and am about to build my own conical but.... I have a question.

Will the yeast completely dump out (with the exception of the krausen ring in the top of the fermenter) of the conical if> My design for the conical before adding anything won't have a racking arm or anything but a lid and a 1" mpt union. I plan on a temp probe coming through the lid (easy application) so that it remains vertical and won't catch yeasties (again with exception of the krausen ring). I will install a 1" butterfly or full port ball valve to the union on the bottom and then attach to the valve a machined part that will allow me to hook up a beverage bottle to the valve. This machined part is already drawn up and I simply need to get the time to machine it. Ok, now more on the part. I planned a CO2 fill valve and a release valve into this bottle adapter so I could purge my bottle before opening the valve to the fermenter. I am wondering if this will work for first the collection of cold break, and then the constant collection of repitchable yeast. My thinking is that since so many bottles have the same type of threads. One could move from a small bottle, like a whitelabs yeast vial to collect break and junk, to a larger 12-16 ounce bottle to start your yeast collecting. Also, during the ferment you could fill your hydrometer container from the release valve to check gravity (same as we did at the brewery only with a little SS valve and spout). My thinking is that since the bottom is always open the yeast will fall to the bottle and when done you can transfer to keg out of the same bottom port. I am doing large batches and understand this wouldn't be logical for smaller batches. Beer goes fast around me and my friends so I brew 24-31 gallons sometimes (in multiple brew days of course). What are you conical owners opinions on my idea? I am planning on using a crown royal bag that is insulated to keep the light out of the bottom bottle as well as keeping its temp low. I need some criticism here fellow brewers so I can start this puppy. :rockin:

Sounds like it could work...but I'm having a little trouble picturing exactly what you want to do concerning the beverage bottle. What I'm picturing sounds like it may isolate some of the yeast from the bulk of the beer. The part itself, though sounds ingenious, and it may offer you some options when it comes to collecting yeast in the end.

Also, I'd recommend a racking port. The majority of the yeast/trub will drop out of the dump valve, but some of it tends to stick to the sides of the fermenter. So you'd be collecting all of your beer through a "ring" of trub - not necessarily ideal.

Didn't think about the yeast not completely falling. As far as the majority of the yeast being isolated from the beer, it will be open to the bulk of the beer during fermentation and only removed afterwards. The only time I plan on removing anything is the first droppings of cold break and very little yeast, then insert another bottle-purge-and open valve until done fermenting. The little yeast that remains won't bother me that much as I will use it for primary only and tranfer to keg with a few points left to go and spund it for natural carbonation.

The part concerning the beverage bottle is only a "connection" to the valve (I know of nothing in bottle threads that also has 1" mpt). The valves on the part are only to purge O2 and to obtain beer to read your gravity. Basically it is identical to the V-vessel only that has no way of purging the O2 so it stays on the whole ferment.

I use a 24 gallon TMS hopper with an inch and a half tri-clover dump and a rotating racking arm. I have the same experience as Yuri with a good bit of yeast sitting on the side of the cone. I use a strap on vibrator (fish tank pump) when I want to knock it down but some remains. With the racking arm, you can rotate down to the yeast and pull everything clear off of the top. I tried racking from the bottom dump valve several times but found I lost a fair ammount of beer trying to remove enough yeast/trub to get clear beer. Even then, little spurts of yeast would pass through the racking hose as the level dropped.
Long story short, I would go for the racking arm and the biggest bottom dump valve you can.
Cheers,
EMB

I don't understand the O2 purging...fermentation provides ample CO2 to fill even a very large headspace. You don't need to worry about oxidation unless you intentionally aerate your beer after fermentation has begun...

Perhaps I'm still a little confused about your idea...a drawing might help...

I am talking about this same idea, no different except for the fact mine will be stainless and way bigger, and will have a way to purge the collection bottle or air before you open the valve again to your fermenter. Here you guys go, just like this only stainless.




Notice how the yeast goes into the collection reservoir? I was thinking I wouldn't be racking any more yeast through the bottom port than a racking arm would if all the yeast is below my valve and in the collection bottle. Once removed, and a transfer tube is in place, the amount of yeast stuck to the sides of the cone (like you guys said) would be there racking arm or no. In step 2 (b) I would purge the collection bottle of any air with CO2 and then open the valve. I wish I had a picture of my design right this sec but it is out of town on a different computer.

Ok, found my drawing and had one heck of a time scanning them (I forgot to save the photoshop files), but here they are. They are for a different type of hookup to the valve (sanitary fitting with clover clamps), but you still get the idea. The other picture was for a aeration device using the same principal of easy removal and swap-ability between the two types of devices.




After talking to you guys I am thinking of going back to this original idea since the opening was much larger and sanitary fittings are easy to swap (well easier than manually unscrewing the different connections). Hope this helps you guys know exactly what I am wanting to do so I can get some really good feedback.

I wondered if a scrap fridge compressor and its coils along with good air movement would cool the stainless efficiently enough to get down to 32*F? Is something like this even work? I had an alternate idea of everything on/through the lid. There could be a stainless probe going down through the lid almost to the bottom of the fermenter that houses the evaporative coil submerged in everclear. The evap coil could be separated from the lid via grommets, and then you could do the same theory of heat removal as above only it would be on the lid. Are these even plausible? I would really like a large free standing conical, but cooling is a must.

The first "capsule" idea seems like an awfully complicated solution to a simple problem. Really, you could just fit a large diameter (1" or so) hose to the dump valve and direct it into the container of your choice.

The fridge parts scavenging idea seems to have some merit. See what you can dig up and we may be able to help make it work for you.