Conical HLT/BK/fermenter idea.

So now that I have my AG setup working nicely I'm already setting my sights on the next project.

I always said I'd never go 10gallon batches but some of my beers just can't stay around long enough with my friends. With going 10g this would essentially make my 5 gallon AG setup obsolete. So here's my idea:



I based this off the Blingman 14.5 conical, but if anyone else knows of cheaper Conicals let me know. Basically it's going to serve as my HLT, BK and Fermenter.

Once boiling is done I'll use a Immersion chiller to bring the tempature down. This will require me to build a new and much larger one too. I suppose I could also look into this no-chill method.

Here's my cost estimate:

Blichmann Conical 14.5 g.......................................... $799
2 -5500w Elements ................................................ $120
.5" of copper pipe.................................................. $95
Welding cost ........................................................ $250
Total: $1265


What you guys think, will this work?

So, are you thinking of using the conical as an HLT, then collecting runoff in buckets? Then dumping wort back in the the conical for boil, chilling and fermenting in it?

That would be correct.

I think the idea is to use the conical as a Hot Liquor Tank, mash in a separate container, boil wort in the conical again, cool and ferment. That's an interesting idea. I'm not sure I would spend the $800 on a conical to experiment on it, but if you got the money, honey...

Actually I just had a thought.

I really don't need to use a Conical. I think the bling of the whole conical took over...

I have a empty Keg sitting around in my basement. I could just convert that to do the same thing and save a **** load. Not sure how I would go about creating an air tight seal on the keg though once I'm done boiling. Any ideas?

I think I would likely pass out punching a hole in the side of a Blichmann conical for a heating element... but I have read of people fermenting in their BK. One nice thing would be being able to dumb trub/hot beak out the bottom. No need to filter out all that stuff.

A big downside for me would be having to wait for one batch to finish before starting a new one. I have 5 carboys, and had them all full until this last weekend. Kegged 2 batches this past weekend to free up a couple for big brew next weekend. How often do you brew?

Right now ,since I'm 5gallons, I need to brew every weekend. Unfortunatly I don't always have time to do that. Going 10g was also another way of alleviating that.

You don't have to get an air tight seal. Lots of people do open fermentation. Think about all the threads here where people fermenting in a bucket don't see any airlock activity. Eventually someone points out the bucket is not sealed. This doesn't make bad beer. I think as long as it is covered entirely you are fine. There are some other people here I know fermenting in their boil kettle. I think its a great idea if you don't need to use the boil kettle again before the ferment is done.

I would obviously change my Fermentation schedule down to 12 days though. Once I hit 12 days I would rack to a secondary for 2 weeks. That should free up my BK for a batch every other week.

Biggest concern I would think of is that the base of the heater element would be rust and beer sitting on that for several weeks. I think it would be ok for brief contact like when you boil in a BK or heat in HLT. And chiming along, I don't think I'd want to spend upwards of 500 on a perfect fermenter to ruin it by drilling into it.

Sorry to bring up a somewhat dormant thread, but this seems like a pretty neat idea. Instead of drilling into the side of the conical for the heating element though, how about putting it at the end of a 12x2" pipe and attaching that to the dump port at the bottom? At the end of the boil, just close off the dump valve and remove the heating element. Only issue I can see is that there might be an issue with heat distribution. Anyone with a better understanding of such things care to comment?

Also, there's the potential to leave the immersion chiller in there during the ferment to control temperature (pump hot or cold water through the coil as required).

fluxgame said:

Sorry to bring up a somewhat dormant thread, but this seems like a pretty neat idea. Instead of drilling into the side of the conical for the heating element though, how about putting it at the end of a 12x2" pipe and attaching that to the dump port at the bottom? At the end of the boil, just close off the dump valve and remove the heating element. Only issue I can see is that there might be an issue with heat distribution. Anyone with a better understanding of such things care to comment?

Also, there's the potential to leave the immersion chiller in there during the ferment to control temperature (pump hot or cold water through the coil as required).

Click to expand...

I really like this idea, though the heat distribution thing I think is a pretty likely problem. Also trub and hops falling down and getting trapped in the heat tube and scorching. Though you could get a mesh screen tri clamp gasket which might be enough to prevent that, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785KWMBX/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I just got a conical fermentor and may give this a go after testing it with water.

Another option I like is using a bucket heater and just dropping it into the conical from the top. I love the idea of a portable heating source.

Hotrod from brewhardware.com is THE solution. I am using it with Spike CF10. Can’t be more satisfied.

I tried attaching a dead-end RIMs tube to the bottom of the conical - starting hearing loud popping sounds after a few minutes so I turned it off. Guessing just the steam going up vs. the weight of the water causing that: https://imgur.com/Pb9XX8c