You SS conical fermentor owners (bastids)

Ok, so there's been a lot of talk about these recently so I figured I'd ask a few questions:

1.) Are they really worth the price?
2.) How do you sanitize such a huge(I imagine heavy) fermentor?
3.) How do you do secondary/clearing stages?
4.) Do you have a spare one you want to "donate"?

omniscientomar said:

Ok, so there's been a lot of talk about these recently so I figured I'd ask a few questions:

1.) Are they really worth the price?
2.) How do you sanitize such a huge(I imagine heavy) fermentor?
3.) How do you do secondary/clearing stages?
4.) Do you have a spare one you want to "donate"?

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1. absolutely
2. put the star san in, pipe in the hot water, let sit, drain before you brew
3. just bleed the yeast out the bottom dump--low and behold, its automatically in secondary-- no racking
4. Sorry. I wish I had at least one more.

I have to disagree with biermann on #1 but it sure is one cool piece of equipt.
And if you have the money to spare I'd consider getting one.

Just for the record I don't think much of anything you can buy now days is worth the money.
Is Gas worth $2.50 a gal?
Is 16 oz of bottled water worth $1?
I saw a 12 pack of cokes "on sale" last week for $3.50 for pete sake.

Have you priced houses lately?

But I sure am glad inflation is under control

omniscientomar said:

Ok, so there's been a lot of talk about these recently so I figured I'd ask a few questions:

1.) Are they really worth the price?
2.) How do you sanitize such a huge(I imagine heavy) fermentor?
3.) How do you do secondary/clearing stages?
4.) Do you have a spare one you want to "donate"?

Click to expand...

1. Yes! ...and it's not that heavy...
2. Use 1 or 2 gallons of sanitizing solution, splash it around to cover all surfaces, let it sit while brewing. Drain and use it to sanitize tubing/chiller/etc.
3. Dump the yeast/trub out of the giant dump valve at the bottom. Save/wash yeast for future batches.
4. For about $500-$600 I'll build you a 21 gallon version in a few months.

Yuri_Rage said:

.
4. For about $500-$600 I'll build you a 21 gallon version in a few months.

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Now that is worth the money!

I own one. Daym glad all i have in it is 225 bucks. Built mine from a TMS cone and lid. Same company as Blichmann and others use, just in case some didnt know that....

Pluses...
1. They are cool to look at.
2. You get 1 volume to pitch into instead of multiple fermentors.
3. Easy to clean and sanitize.

Minuses
1. Dont believe that dumping yeast is as simple as opening the bottom dump. Yeast loves to cling on the sides of the cone. The weight of the beer blows a hole in the cake when cultivating. So you have to use a rubber mallet and bang the sides. To cultivate all the yeast, you will need to do this over a couple of days.

2. Cost to much to look cool.
3. Temp control is difficult.
4. If you do decide to use it for secondary, the batch takes up fermentor space and puts me behind for volume brewing.

My conical is the last fermentor i grab if i have a choice of fermentors. My first choice is my 14g pressurizable blue barrels, which only cost a few bucks in comparison, temp control is easier, yeast cultivation is a snap. I pretty much just use my conie for Belgians where i pitch and ferment at rate of rise and use my heat pad and Ranco to capture and maintain the top end. But hey, i can do that w/ my blue barrels as well.

With all that said, im glad i only have 225 to look cool and have the same exact supposed benefits as the commercial versions......

Blktre said:

My conical is the last fermentor i grab if i have a choice of fermentors. My first choice is my 14g pressurizable blue barrels, which only cost a few bucks in comparison, temp control is easier, yeast cultivation is a snap. I pretty much just use my conie for Belgians where i pitch and ferment at rate of rise and use my heat pad and Ranco to capture and maintain the top end. But hey, i can do that w/ my blue barrels as well.

With all that said, im glad i only have 225 to look cool and have the same exact supposed benefits as the commercial versions......

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If I may ask, what is your source of said blue barrels.....or are they something only you can get?



Gedvondur

Gedvondur said:

If I may ask, what is your source of said blue barrels.....or are they something only you can get?



Gedvondur

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We buy these barrels from a guy in Iowa when we get our annual ball lock order. They are just like the USPlastics 14g open head nestables, but since we buy in bulk, the money is cheaper. Shipping is a little high from USPlastics. I still have some 4-sale, but the ones i have left have a few small ridges on the side on the inside. Then again, they are only 10 bucks per....
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/va...ory_name=25&product_id=15691&variant_id=74208

Pic of co2 racking on the same plane


My conical and link to build.......
http://www.brewcommune.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=65

Thanks, I appreciate it!




Gedvondur

1.) Are they really worth the price?

I hope so!

Brewpastor said:

1.) Are they really worth the price?

I hope so!

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umm... wow....

Do you find that you lose much when you can no longer see the beer? That's one of the things I enjoy the most about using glass carboys.

I personally don't see the value in conicals. Since I brew 28 gallon batches the price of a conical would be way too much so I just built 35 gallon cornies to ferment in for about 1/3 the price of a conical.

Blktre said:

We buy these barrels from a guy in Iowa when we get our annual ball lock order. They are just like the USPlastics 14g open head nestables, but since we buy in bulk, the money is cheaper. Shipping is a little high from USPlastics. I still have some 4-sale, but the ones i have left have a few small ridges on the side on the inside. Then again, they are only 10 bucks per....
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/va...ory_name=25&product_id=15691&variant_id=74208

Pic of co2 racking on the same plane

My conical and link to build.......
http://www.brewcommune.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=65

Click to expand...

Blktre,

I own some of those barrels, probably from that same 'guy in Iowa'. I've only used mine for storing grain, but have wondered about fermenting in them.

Have you had any problems with them?

Thanks,

drost

Monster Mash said:

I personally don't see the value in conicals. Since I brew 28 gallon batches the price of a conical would be way too much so I just built 35 gallon cornies to ferment in for about 1/3 the price of a conical.

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Yea, those are nice setups for sure.....

Heres our other conicals..we have 2 of these....double jacketed!

Good link. This looks pretty cool, too.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...SPlastic&category_name=20366&product_id=20757

drost said:

Blktre,

I own some of those barrels, probably from that same 'guy in Iowa'. I've only used mine for storing grain, but have wondered about fermenting in them.

Have you had any problems with them?

Thanks,

drost

Click to expand...

Nope. Not at all. They work awesome. Heres a link to co2 racking that i do for going to secondary. I just setup a solid stopper that i drilled 2 holes into 1 for a thermowell, the other an airlock. Then when i rack, i remove those things and replace them w/ a racking cane and a short peice of hard tubing for a gentle constant 2-3psi co2 push...
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n239/blktre/Co2Rack/

Blktre said:

Yea, those are nice setups for sure.....

Heres our other conicals..we have 2 of these....double jacketed!

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Very nice. How are you cooling them?

Brewpastor said:

Very nice. How are you cooling them?

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These are double jacketed. The cone jacket is seperate from the body. We have the jackets looped togther on each conical. The main run from the gycol chiller is "T"ed w/ a solenoid in front of each conical. A conical needs some lovin' that solenoid kicks in. This way each conical can be set at different temps. We use one to ferment in the other to condition in. The one we condition in we replace the sample port w/a TC carb. stone.....These were custom built by Specific back in 98".

Brewpastor said:

Very nice. How are you cooling them?

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Wow. Really nice. I need to show this to SWMBO-- she's beginning to think I'm obsessed-- this will put me back into perspective. I'd like to have one of those though.

As a side note-- just did my taxes today-- found out I'm getting a big return-- SWMBO said if she gets to buy new bedroom furniture, that I'd get a new conical.

SWEET.

Biermann said:

SWMBO said if she gets to buy new bedroom furniture, that I'd get a new conical.

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You lucky SOBEAC! I know EXACTLY how that works.

I'm pouring the foundation for the brew hut next week. Gotta make sure there is room for conicals and a walk in cooler. Congrats!

SOBEAC!!!! I love it!!


Blktre. I'm in love.

I want a conical SO bad. I hate glass carboys....

EdWort said:

You lucky SOBEAC! I know EXACTLY how that works.

I'm pouring the foundation for the brew hut next week. Gotta make sure there is room for conicals and a walk in cooler. Congrats!

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You are going to post pictures of the construction in progress, right??