how to use a conical fermenter

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smatson

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i am looking into getting a conical fermenter. i already know all of the pros and cons, i am just a little more curious how to use it. i have been trying to find some definite answers on this website, but haven't found a page just about how to use one. some of my questions are...

1. do i still remove the trub from the wort while brewing, or can i just leave it in and drain it from the fermenter later?

2. when should i remove the trub from the fermenter?

3. how often do i need to remove the trub?

4. is there a good book on this subject? i can't find anything in papazian

can somebody help???
 
Sure! I'll have a go.

1. Yes. I think it's beneficial to remove as much vegetable matter and break material as possible. Some brewers will let cold break enter the fermenter; it's pretty much impossible to prevent if you're using a counterflow chiller, unless you use a separate whirlpool.

2. My rule of thumb is day 3. Depends on when I get round to it, but never longer than seven days.

3. Until you've removed enough to satisfy you. I realize that's a cop-out answer but it's true. I generally do it twice - once on day three, then once before I start to chill the tank.

4. Not that I know of. Home-brewing conicals are still pretty new technology. The information I gave you above is based on my professional experience; I don't have a conical at home. :)

Cheers!

Bob
 
Here are my thoughts:

1. do i still remove the trub from the wort while brewing, or can i just leave it in and drain it from the fermenter later?

You can do either, or both. Just like Bob said, you can whirlpool and force most of the trub to the bottom of your brew kettle, and then carefully siphon the wort out. Or, you can remove it from the fermenter. Or both.

2. when should i remove the trub from the fermenter?

Before adding the yeast, I let the wort settle for about 30 minutes after I put it in the fermenter, and then drain out of the bottom outlet on the conical. I get trub and hop particles out then. After that, I add my yeast.

3. how often do i need to remove the trub?

Once you start fermenting, you risk losing yeast and stalling your fermentation if you dump out of the bottom outlet. I wait until fermentation is about done, then I'll dump again two or three times (separated by a day or two) before racking.

4. is there a good book on this subject?

Not that I know of.

One more thing. Be sure to sanitize your valve each time you use it. Keep a spray bottle handy with a non-bleach sanitizer to spray up there before and after you use the valve. Hit it enough times to make sure you get all of the residual trub/yeast out when you are done.

Cheers,

John
 
thanks for the reply John, the more information i can get the better
 
SO, I just pulled my first batch through a conical.

Some 'things' i encountered, primarily based on the (possibly flawed) perception that the conical can 'do it all'.

1. Anyone use their conical to house s starter? Seems that I sure could ...just pitch chilled wort right on top?

2. I get the removal of bottom trub; i pulled that out after 45 mins after the wort was in the conical, then again after fermentation. This time I did not save any yeast for washing, but I will next time. What about the krausen on the top - I realize that is 'cast off' - but by draining some liquid out of the bottom, the beer wasnt touching it anymore - the portion still caked around the edges .... should a scrape that off too?

3. Is there still a benefit to racking to a new vessel for secondary once the trub is out of there? I did move it just in case, but seems like i could easily leave the beer in there ...?

Appreciate your thoughts.

-j
 
If you remove the trub, you do not need to use another vessel for secondary... unless you plan on racking the beer on top of something. You may also consider transferring to a smaller carboy if you plan on dry hopping since your conical may have a lot of head space.

I do have one question though... I have not actually been able to remove the trub from my conical successfully... when I open the valve it will just sit there and do nothing. I have waited for up to 30 minutes at which point I became annoyed and said forget it. The LHBS store said to use a sanitized knife to get up in there and agitate... All this did was create a hole for the fermenting wort to flow through and the trub remained put... lost about a gallon of beer attempting this multiple times.

I have not used my conical for beer since... I have pretty much given it to SWMBO for wine and cider making and I bought two carboys for myself.
 
I've been pumping my wort directly to the conical without any deliberate whirlpooling or separation. Lately I've had to let the fridge chill it down from 75 to 65. When it finally reaches pitching temp, I'll blow out about a pint of break material/trub and then pitch.

Some hints... Don't try dumping from the bottom port or racking port while the blowoff tube is submerged. It needs to take in some air.

If you can't get it to dump yeast/trub after fermentation is settling down, odds are the dump valve is too small. This is a problem I have with my cheap China connical. It's got a nice 2" triclover on the bottom of the cone but the stupid valve is 9/16" ID. It plugs up hardcore. I've been snooping for a 1.5 or 2" TC ball valve on Ebay for a while.
 
Have you used the conical to house the starter? Secondary??

The problem with using it as the place to make the starter is that you can't stirplate it nor can you decant off the wort prior to pitching. Also, if I had the starter in the conical, I couldn't delay pitching while I cool the wort further and dump the break material. The conical IS the secondary. After fermentation has subsided, I dump another pint of trub/yeast. I'll start cold crashing it to about 32F at about 10F per day. Once it sits at 32F for 24 hours, I dump another pint and then rack the beer to keg. If I really want ultimate clarity, I'd wait another few days at 32F or stir in some gelatin.
 
I can not find instructions from fastrack. I emailed them and they advised me to post my question here. Nothing on their Web page or printed materials.

What have you done?
 
If you remove the trub, you do not need to use another vessel for secondary... unless you plan on racking the beer on top of something. You may also consider transferring to a smaller carboy if you plan on dry hopping since your conical may have a lot of head space.

I do have one question though... I have not actually been able to remove the trub from my conical successfully... when I open the valve it will just sit there and do nothing. I have waited for up to 30 minutes at which point I became annoyed and said forget it. The LHBS store said to use a sanitized knife to get up in there and agitate... All this did was create a hole for the fermenting wort to flow through and the trub remained put... lost about a gallon of beer attempting this multiple times.

I have not used my conical for beer since... I have pretty much given it to SWMBO for wine and cider making and I bought two carboys for myself.


in most of my beers, the trub falls out after a few seconds. Do you have the ability to put a little CO2 on it? I've used it to help push when it was stuck, just a couple psi, you don't want to blast it out!
 
So I have a question around the conical. There are 2 ports of them. One on the bottom of the conical and one on the top of the conical. I understand the role of the bottom to be a trub/yeast dump port. I know that the one at the top is a good place to pull clean beer for sampling. My question is for racking or transferring, which port do you use? My gut says use the bottom port since the beer is clear and that will use all beer in the conical. If you use the top port you have dead space from the pickup arm to the bottom of the conical. But if that's the case what is the use for the top port besides sampling?
 
Here are my thoughts:

1. do i still remove the trub from the wort while brewing, or can i just leave it in and drain it from the fermenter later?

You can do either, or both. Just like Bob said, you can whirlpool and force most of the trub to the bottom of your brew kettle, and then carefully siphon the wort out. Or, you can remove it from the fermenter. Or both.

2. when should i remove the trub from the fermenter?

Before adding the yeast, I let the wort settle for about 30 minutes after I put it in the fermenter, and then drain out of the bottom outlet on the conical. I get trub and hop particles out then. After that, I add my yeast.

3. how often do i need to remove the trub?

Once you start fermenting, you risk losing yeast and stalling your fermentation if you dump out of the bottom outlet. I wait until fermentation is about done, then I'll dump again two or three times (separated by a day or two) before racking.

4. is there a good book on this subject?

Not that I know of.

One more thing. Be sure to sanitize your valve each time you use it. Keep a spray bottle handy with a non-bleach sanitizer to spray up there before and after you use the valve. Hit it enough times to make sure you get all of the residual trub/yeast out when you are done.

Cheers,

John

Great post John, i follow these methods of trub-dumping for the same reasons.
 
So I have a question around the conical. There are 2 ports of them. One on the bottom of the conical and one on the top of the conical. I understand the role of the bottom to be a trub/yeast dump port. I know that the one at the top is a good place to pull clean beer for sampling. My question is for racking or transferring, which port do you use? My gut says use the bottom port since the beer is clear and that will use all beer in the conical. If you use the top port you have dead space from the pickup arm to the bottom of the conical. But if that's the case what is the use for the top port besides sampling?

Go here and watch the video titled "sampling & racking beer to a keg": http://www.ssbrewtech.com/collections/fermenters/products/7-gallon-chronical
 
I've been pumping my wort directly to the conical without any deliberate whirlpooling or separation. Lately I've had to let the fridge chill it down from 75 to 65. When it finally reaches pitching temp, I'll blow out about a pint of break material/trub and then pitch.

Some hints... Don't try dumping from the bottom port or racking port while the blowoff tube is submerged. It needs to take in some air.

If you can't get it to dump yeast/trub after fermentation is settling down, odds are the dump valve is too small. This is a problem I have with my cheap China connical. It's got a nice 2" triclover on the bottom of the cone but the stupid valve is 9/16" ID. It plugs up hardcore. I've been snooping for a 1.5 or 2" TC ball valve on Ebay for a while.

I found one on morebeer.com on sale and it works really well.
Here is a photo for comparison.

image.jpg
 
If you are going to get a 1.5" or 2" valve, just go for a butterfly valve - they're easier to clean and probably cheaper than a ball valve at that size. And easier to find.
 
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