Fermentation (5 gallon in 14 gallon Conical)

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magoo646

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I usually brew 5 gallon batches and ferment in a glass carboy.

I am looking at buying a stainless steel conical fermenter and have been pricing 7.5 gallon conicals...

The 7.5 and 14 gallon fermenters are pretty much the same.

While I mostly brew 5 gallon batches, I plan on moving up to 10 gallon batches eventually.

Instead of buying a 7.5 gallon conical now, and a 14 gallon later...I was curious.....

Is there any issue if I ferment 5 gallon batches in a 14 gallon conicals, so I only have to buy one?

Thanks for the help
 
Fermenting 5 gallons in a 14 gallon fermenter is not a problem.

Once is starts fermenting, the CO2 produced by fermentation will blanket your fermenting wort. As long as you keep the lid closed and don't muck around with the fermenting beer, you will be fine. If for some reason you were to leave the lid off for an extended time after fermentation is complete or near complete, you would probably want to add CO2 from your keg setup (if you have one) to ensure you don't oxidize the beer.

In my commercial brewing experience, we routinely put 20 bbl of wort in 40 bbl fermenters with no ill effects.

Cheers,

John
Stout Tanks and Kettles
www.conical-fermenter.com
 
Hello Mago646,

You will run into one problem fermenting a 5 gallon batch in a 14 gallon fermentor and that is dumping your trub and yeast after your primary fermentation is complete. You may not have enough pressure to push your trub and yeast of the lower cock without beer loss. I found that dumping from the lower cock more often will solve this problem if you don't have CO2. John pretty much has the best plan of action though and that is adding the excessive airspace with CO2 to prevent against oxidation and aid you in your dump.
 
jawsbc said:
Fermenting 5 gallons in a 14 gallon fermenter is not a problem.

Once is starts fermenting, the CO2 produced by fermentation will blanket your fermenting wort. As long as you keep the lid closed and don't muck around with the fermenting beer, you will be fine. If for some reason you were to leave the lid off for an extended time after fermentation is complete or near complete, you would probably want to add CO2 from your keg setup (if you have one) to ensure you don't oxidize the beer.

In my commercial brewing experience, we routinely put 20 bbl of wort in 40 bbl fermenters with no ill effects.

Cheers,

John
Stout Tanks and Kettles
www.conical-fermenter.com
Click to expand...

Your guy's prices are awesome. $475 for a 14.5 gallon conical? Morebeer charges much more than that.
 

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