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conical fermenters

CornyKegs 728
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Could you fill the voids in the weld with Solder? Seems like that would be easier than welding in a bad position. Easy to clean up with a rolock.

I have some pits in my keggle and have wondered if Solder would work.
 
RonRock said:
Could you fill the voids in the weld with Solder? Seems like that would be easier than welding in a bad position. Easy to clean up with a rolock.

I have some pits in my keggle and have wondered if Solder would work.
Click to expand...

You are talking to a guy that has lead poisoning from anther hobby. NO solder for me. Maybe lead free solder, or silver solder... Hmmm that would be easier. Silver solder with a tig torch.... Hmmm.. I think you are onto something. Lower heat input too.

I'm going to put the bottom of the fermenter in a pot of boiling water before I use it.

Waiting for a response from the seller.

David :)
 
Many thanks for the in depth review David, very helpful. That bottom weld looks quite a bit different from the one on the ebay listing!
 
Here was my response from the Ebay seller

***********************************************************
Hi David, yeah they all have some evidence of welding, however you have to clean and sanitize before every batch anyway. Nothing will become infected in a clean enviroment. Don't woory, you will NEVER have a bad tasting beer from the conical. I've been using mine for 9 years.....Test it out and you will see.
FYI : After cleaning always fill with a little idafor and water....let stand 15 minutes then drain. Most important...let it air dry, then fill with wort.

**************************************************************

I'm taking it to work today and going to hit it with the silver solder. I have the stuff to do the job right, even a tool (positioner) that will hold and turn the whole unit for me while I weld it.... Its what I do. Stay tuned for more pictures :)
 
Well, I totally muffed the job and ended up cutting 1/2" off the bottom and making a new one. It looks fine now. Going to put it into service tomorrow morning. While working on it, I took the thermometer out and found out it can be calibrated, so I did. I matched it with my digital fluke meter and temp probe. I ended up turning it down one degree.

It'll be full tomorrow. The lid takes a #7 stopper for the airlock, my #6 was too small.

David :)
 
We brewed today. I made an english bitter 11 gallon batch. When done, I drained half of the wort into a cube. The other half I drained hot into the fermenter so it would be sanitized one more time.

I cleaned and cleaned because I was mucking around with the bottom of it. I even took the ball valves apart and cleaned them. I then sanatized with Star san, but wasn't totally comfortable, so I decided to chill the wort in the fermeter. It worked great so far.

Wort was 185*f or so. this was to sanitize it one more time. I then put the sanitized chiller in the fermenter until the big easy to read thermometer was down to 68*f or easier to read yet, 20*c. Yeast is pitched.

It looks nice sitting in my bedroom. Tomorrow I can drain off the trub. Website recommends 8 ounces. I am not going to save the yeast this time. This is my first time with Safeale S-04. Next batch will be with liquid yeast and I WILL keep and wash that.

From my figures, 1/2" in the fermenter is 1 quart. 2.5" down from the top should be 5.5 gallons. I am getting a blow off hose for next time and will put 6 gallons in it.

What a Blast!
David :)
 
Well, the worst thing I could have done was let my wife look over my shoulder while I was reading this post. I haven't gotten a birthday present in over 25 years. I buy my wife a birthday every year because it is important to her. I prefer to simply forget my birthday because it is just another reminder along with my gray hair that I have reached my 50's and I am getting older. My birthday is at the end of this month and yesterday my wife hands me a PayPal reciept for two of these blasted conicals. Mind you, this is the first birthday gift since we have been married 25 years ago. I wonder what she wants?:confused:
 
she wants ONE during the divorce! lol just kidding.. Let us know how the welds turn out on yours.

Sawdustguy said:
Well, the worst thing I could have done was let my wife look over my shoulder while I was reading this post. I haven't gotten a birthday present in over 25 years. I buy my wife a birthday every year because it is important to her. I prefer to simply forget my birthday because it is just another reminder along with my gray hair that I have reached my 50's and I am getting older. My birthday is at the end of this month and yesterday my wife hands me a PayPal reciept for two of these blasted conicals. Mind you, this is the first birthday gift since we have been married 25 years ago. I wonder what she wants?:confused:
Click to expand...
 
I understand. One year for my bithday My then wife let me buy a maltmill. I don't remember which birthday, but I've had it a long time and it works like the day I bought it.

Congratulations on the twins!

I drained some yeast off, got a 2 cup measuring cup and drew off 8 oz. Buncha stuff...

I pitched the yeast satruday afternoon. Its close to done. The temp of the beer climbed from 67 or 68 to 70 to 71. Yeast sez its good to 75*f, but I don't want to find out. The air conditioner is cranked now. Yeast is Safeale S-04

There is no yeast on top, only some trub floating, in small spots. Just a layer of big bubbles. If this works, I can leave it there for 2 weeks and into the keg. The next batch I am using liquid yeast and going to harvest it for the first time.

Edit: This takes my sanitation to a new level.
David :)
 
Droot said:
I understand. One year for my bithday My then wife let me buy a maltmill. I don't remember which birthday, but I've had it a long time and it works like the day I bought it.

Congratulations on the twins!

I drained some yeast off, got a 2 cup measuring cup and drew off 8 oz. Buncha stuff...

I pitched the yeast satruday afternoon. Its close to done. The temp of the beer climbed from 67 or 68 to 70 to 71. Yeast sez its good to 75*f, but I don't want to find out. The air conditioner is cranked now. Yeast is Safeale S-04

There is no yeast on top, only some trub floating, in small spots. Just a layer of big bubbles. If this works, I can leave it there for 2 weeks and into the keg. The next batch I am using liquid yeast and going to harvest it for the first time.

Edit: This takes my sanitation to a new level.
David :)
Click to expand...

I hope everything works out well for you David.

I knew there had to be a catch. She hit me with it at supper tonight. My wifes hobby is showing Labradors. We have a male well on his way to his championship. I don't mind her dog hobby, as a matter of fact, it gives me brew time when she is away at dog shows. She now wants another puppy to develop for the show ring. Well, $1500 for the dog, food, training and all the other extras, I think I should grab for the KY jelly.:eek::(
 
I put in my next batch with Wyeast 1056. Gonna be a yeast farmer (rancher?) tomorrow after work. I purchased some 8 oz canning jars.

Same procedure as last time. I drained off the hot wort into the fermenter, cooled it to 65*f, added 02, and pitched the yeast. I"m liking this thing so far.

24 hours after pitching, I have a pancake on top of "stuff". Nothing out the drain in the bottom, just a little bit of hop stuff almost no trub. I will skim it today and discard.

Just a note. The lid seals much better when I put the gasket on the fermenter, not the lid.

David
 
Just throw in the chiller that has been in the brew pot for more than 15 minutes.

50' 1/4" copper. I have a well. The water is worthless for beer, but its cold and free.

Here it is after the 1st day. I skimmed this and put the lid back on.

top.jpg

Putting HOT (195*f) wort in the fermenter gives me a warm fuzzy feeling the fermenter it totally sanitized. Now I can harvest my yeast in peace.

I thought the whole idea of a conical was to harvest the yeast from the bottom.

David

Beautiful aint it?
 
Can anyone give the overall dimensions of these conicals? Want to see if I can fit two in my design for the fermentation chamber/keezer.
 
Droot said:
I skimmed this and put the lid back on.
Click to expand...

Why would you do that?

Droot said:
I thought the whole idea of a conical was to harvest the yeast from the bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes, when it settles in the cone of the fermenter, you collect it by opening the dump valve on the bottom.
 
This is my first time with a conical. The first batch I used S-04 and it all went to the bottom. I harvested it, but did not keep it. This is 1056 and seems to hang around the top. I'm still figuring it out.

I skimmed the first batch of stuff and tossed it yesterday. I have some 8 oz mason jars boiling to try to harvest and wash the yeast.

Going to skim it again for the yeast.

Am I supposed to wait till its done? Anything I have read said to skim.

All advice will be read and taken into consideration. I even posted a question in general techniques but got one response.

David :)
 
Droot, thanks for sharing your experience. As I haven't used my conical yet (still be being built), I guess you could say that I'm talking out of my ass, but here's how I see it...

Since you chilled the wort in the fermenter, you could dump the cold break/trub out of the bottom before you pitch your yeast, but many people ferment on the trub without any problems. After you pitch, wait a few days and dump the solids (sleepy yeast and remaining trub) and then perform your washing steps. Wait a few more days and do another dump. Then a few more for a 3rd dump, saving the yeast as you desire. Then you should be good to let it age in the conical in a nice, clean environment. To me, that seems like one of the main benefits of a conical. If you had to open it up and skim it, you might as well use a bucket instead.

Since the 1056 yeast you're using is low-medium in flocculation, it might take a bit longer to settle to the bottom of the cone...not sure.

Experts (or someone with actual experience :)) feel free to chime in.
 
Well, I got almost nothing from the top. and some from the bottom. Its gassing like crazy right now, so its just working hard in solution.

I think I won, I got this from the bottom.

0720091718.jpg

I am going to let it settle then take the yeast off the bottom and put it in a jar with boiled and cooled water. Star San IS OUT in full force.

This is my first ever harvested yeast. I had 4 jars ready....

I have one quart of canned wort, then first one of those too.

David . . . Yeast Rancher....

Edit, I took the trub off the top and bottom of the fermenter yesterday, so its gotta be all yeast.

More edit: Next time I'll put the jar right under the valve. Its 8 oz.
 
Julohan said:
Are conicals any good for adding stuff to it, like you would use for a secondary?
Click to expand...

Once you remove the trub and yeast from the bottom, your primary is now a secondary. No moving the beer.

If I had more than one of these.......

David :)
 
Does anyone know if he is still selling these? I have checked his listing and see that he is not currently selling anything at all. I'll try to contact him to find out and I'll let everyone know if he responds.
 
I am thinking about another one. I Emailed him about a week ago. More will be available in early sept. Send him a message from Ebone.

I still brew 11 gallon batches, so I guess I need another one. :)

David
 
I did send him a message today to see what the dealio is. Haven't heard back yet but I'll forward any info I get.
 
Sawdustguy said:
I don't think they are available just yet. I read in another thread that they should be available soon.

Posted on 7/31
Click to expand...

I think you are talking about a different conical. These are the conicals sold by homebrewhousediscount on ebay. I believe you are discussing a chinese manufactured conical similar to these but slightly more expensive that Chi.com is looking to sell. Is this correct?
 
To those of you that have used this conical. Are you able to transfer under pressure using CO2? I realize the build quality on these is not like other conicals but I was wondering if the top seal is well enough that it can hold the pressure for transferring.
 
I have no need to transfer with pressure. I just pick it up by the handles and set it on the counter or a chair. The lid seals for me.

I guess you could..... No pressure relief, so once it reaches its limit something has to go... Hopefully the lid gasket.

David
 
mnm129 said:
I think you are talking about a different conical. These are the conicals sold by homebrewhousediscount on ebay. I believe you are discussing a chinese manufactured conical similar to these but slightly more expensive that Chi.com is looking to sell. Is this correct?
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. BTW, I did buy two of those fermenters off ebay. I guess I was lucky because the internal welds weren't too bad. I do not transfer under pressure.
 
Sawdustguy said:
Sorry about that. BTW, I did buy two of those fermenters off ebay. I guess I was lucky because the internal welds weren't too bad. I do not transfer under pressure.
Click to expand...

Are you happy with those fermenters? I can't understand why you can't fill those tiny holes from a bad weld with pipe grade (lead free) solder. Would that not work?
 
mnm129 said:
To those of you that have used this conical. Are you able to transfer under pressure using CO2? I realize the build quality on these is not like other conicals but I was wondering if the top seal is well enough that it can hold the pressure for transferring.
Click to expand...

There is NO way you would be able to transfer under pressure, the seal at the lid is just not that great. For example I was able to break the seal with the amount of pressure I could generate by blowing into the fermenter. The lid seals great under 0 pressure but when there's positive pressure you're up a creek.
 
No transferring under pressure, but the welds were fine, just had to put thread tape and tighten the thermomoeter to fix a very small subtle leak....used it for EdWorts Beecave Hefeweizen and was able to salvage a great amount of yeast for later use.....I love it!!!! (and it looks cool next to my glass carboys and plastic buckets) lol
 

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