Conical Use Question/Advice: Drop Yeast or No

I finally decided to use my 6.5 gallon conical I got many years back (long story). It is set up and seems to be quite nifty, but as I understand it one of the main advantages is to be able to 'dump yeast' out of the cone when the major part of active fermentation is over. I've got a version of EdWort's Haus Ale in there and on day four the Notty has pretty much dropped out and I can see it in the cone. Now my question is if I decide to drop this yeast cake out how do I vent the thing so I don't pull air lock liquid back in? Take the air lock off for a minute, vent the cap, or? Secondly does this lead to a risk of infection up through the now beer covered ball valve? Or would I be better off just waiting to drop the yeast right before I keg in a week or 10 days? TIA.

How I would do it is close off the airlock then dump the yeast and leave the airlock closed.

I am assuming you allowed for a diacetyl rest...right? You can leave the yeast in there for a few days to make sure it cleans up with no ill effects as well.

Nightshade said:

How I would do it is close off the airlock then dump the yeast and leave the airlock closed.

I am assuming you allowed for a diacetyl rest...right? You can leave the yeast in there for a few days to make sure it cleans up with no ill effects as well.

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How easy is it going to dump. When you close the airlock off and open the valve on the bottom you will create a vacuum if anything comes out.

My guess is that you need a gas valve on the top where you can put some low pressure CO2 into the fermentor and help the yeast come out. Or you can stop the airlock and let pressure build near the end of active fermentation.

I dump at packaging time and just pull the air lock when I drain it. If there's a racking valve off the side of the cone that I can't see, you will want to drain the beer before you dump the yeast.

SC_Ryan said:

I dump at packaging time and just pull the air lock when I drain it. If there's a racking valve off the side of the cone that I can't see, you will want to drain the beer before you dump the yeast.

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Thanks. As I wrote this thing is over 10 years old and I have never used it as I stopped brewing for a while. It is the early model of this conical and has no other valves, everything has to come out the bottom ball valve, thus the semi urgency of my request for advice. Also the top cap is plastic just stretched over the port and there is no way to build up any pressure in there or add CO2 as the others suggested.

Originally I think it was meant to double as a secondary with the thought at the time to dump the yeast and leave in a single vessel for secondary. With the current method of leaving it on the yeast for longer periods I guess the prudent thing will be to just leave it on the yeast until kegging. Otherwise there would be no way to remove yeast without introducing some room air into the fermenter. Does that make sense?

befus said:

With the current method of leaving it on the yeast for longer periods I guess the prudent thing will be to just leave it on the yeast until kegging. Otherwise there would be no way to remove yeast without introducing some room air into the fermenter. Does that make sense?

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Exactly.

Maybe rigging something like this in place of the air lock to drain the valve.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16797/102363/Sanitary_Filter

BxBrewer said:

Maybe rigging something like this in place of the air lock to drain the valve.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16797/102363/Sanitary_Filter

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Excellent, thanks.

Brewmech said:

How easy is it going to dump. When you close the airlock off and open the valve on the bottom you will create a vacuum if anything comes out.

My guess is that you need a gas valve on the top where you can put some low pressure CO2 into the fermentor and help the yeast come out. Or you can stop the airlock and let pressure build near the end of active fermentation.

Click to expand...

No pressure needed at all, gravity works every time and the weight of the beer on the yeast is going to force the yeast out.

I do this on 3bbl conicals just about every day.

I think he is more worried about pulling the air lock liquid into the wort. Or worst yet takeing the air lock off and sucking un sanitized air in. The filter i linked would work perfect.

BxBrewer said:

I think he is more worried about pulling the air lock liquid into the wort. Or worst yet takeing the air lock off and sucking un sanitized air in. The filter i linked would work perfect.

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Or just seal the airlock and then dump the yeast which should work fine with no chance of air getting in.

Nightshade said:

No pressure needed at all, gravity works every time and the weight of the beer on the yeast is going to force the yeast out.

I do this on 3bbl conicals just about every day.

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BxBrewer said:

I think he is more worried about pulling the air lock liquid into the wort. Or worst yet taking the air lock off and sucking un sanitized air in. The filter i linked would work perfect.

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Thanks to both.

Nightshade, do you worry about infection up from the ball valve after dumping? Guess not, huh? And BxB, ^ that, and the possibility of oxygenation were my worries. Heck, I never used a conical of any kind in over 16 years of brewing; old dog trying to learn new tricks....

befus said:

Thanks to both.

Nightshade, do you worry about infection up from the ball valve after dumping? Guess not, huh? And BxB, ^ that, and the possibility of oxygenation were my worries. Heck, I never used a conical of any kind in over 16 years of brewing; old dog trying to learn new tricks....

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No worry but I also spray it with a sanitizer mix (Purisan and water) from a spray bottle both before and after dumping yeast to make sure no nasties grab hold.