Conicals made the US

[malador]

I'm thinking about buying a conical, and I would prefer it to be made in the USA. I've found two, does anyone know of any other US made conicals? Here are the two I've looked at so far.

Spike Brewing conical:
It looks like a nice conical, soild with thick walls and good price. But it's an odd size, 12.5 gallons. You couldn't do a 10 gallon batch in there, so your stuck doing 5 gallon batches or second half full corny.

Brewhemoth
Again, a nice looking conical. But it's a little too tall for my fermenation fridge. That, and the acssess port is pretty small for cleaning.

 

[dfess1]

Spike Brewing conical:
It looks like a nice conical, soild with thick walls and good price. But it's an odd size, 12.5 gallons. You couldn't do a 10 gallon batch in there, so your stuck doing 5 gallon batches or second half full corny.

that's 2.5 gal of headspace. What's the problem there? Hook up a blow off tube, and you're set.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

2.5 gallon should be enough headspace. If you scale that down it is like putting 5.25 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy.

Where are brewers hardware made? I know stout is china. Glacier tanks?

 

[reefriot]

Glacier tanks are made in the US. so is Toledo metal spinning.

 

[malador]

that's 2.5 gal of headspace. What's the problem there? Hook up a blow off tube, and you're set.

I try my best not use blow off tubes; my opinion is that you're blowing off your most active and healthy yeast. Right now I do 10 gallon batches in three 6 gallon carboys.

 

[Renegades_Brew]

That seems quite excessive on the headspace. I've only had one instance where I needed a blowoff tube and that was because of a miscalculated starting gravity from fresh pears I was using. I have never had to have a 60/40 split for fermentation headspace. To me that sounds like a waste of good fermentation space.

 

[malador]

That seems quite excessive on the headspace. I've only had one instance where I needed a blowoff tube and that was because of a miscalculated starting gravity from fresh pears I was using. I have never had to have a 60/40 split for fermentation headspace. To me that sounds like a waste of good fermentation space.

It is, but if I put 5.25 to 5.5 gallons of wort in 6/6.5 gallon there isnt enough head space for higher gravity beers like ipas and stouts.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Little advise on looking for conicals made in the US. If it's polished ten odds are it's made in China. The polishing process is super time consuming i.e. very expensive.

20% head space should be more than enough for any 10gal batch. We have people do 11 gallon batches in them (using a blow off tube).

-SB

 

[tootal]

We ended up with a Morebeer 14 gal. conical. I believe it's made in the USA but didn't notice them saying that on their web page. They have a 1.5" butterfly valve and you can pressurize it. It's awesome for kegging. The diptube is adjustable so you can rotate it down until you see trub then raise it slightly to pull off all the clarified beer. Connect to your out spout on the keg and fill from the bottom with a blanket of CO2 over it. It was a great investment and the quality was much better than the Chinese ones. The lid has a 3" opening so you can fill and put the lid on then airate and toss your yeast. There is an adapter from 3" to 1.5 for a blow off tube. All tri-clamps for easy cleaning. It's the closest thing we could find to a professional conical at the time. There are newer companies that weren't around then so I can't attest to them.

http://morebeer.com/videos/5

 

[malador]

Little advise on looking for conicals made in the US. If it's polished ten odds are it's made in China. The polishing process is super time consuming i.e. very expensive.

20% head space should be more than enough for any 10gal batch. We have people do 11 gallon batches in them (using a blow off tube).

-SB

Thanks for the tip about the polishing. I know you could do up to 11 gallons in a 12.5, but I really do believe its not optimal. The spike Conicals were my first choice, the price is awesome, they appear to be the most robust, and they would match my spike brewing kettles. But for my personal preference/system I want either a couple 7 gallon Conicals, or 14+. Unless you want to make me good a deal on two........ Which I know is unlikey because it doesn't look like you have much a mark up.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I try my best not use blow off tubes; my opinion is that you're blowing off your most active and healthy yeast. Right now I do 10 gallon batches in three 6 gallon carboys.

If you're that concerned about it, then just use some anti-foam agent like fermcap-s.

 

[malador]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I'll be surd to let you know what I get and do a review with pictures

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I have been leaning towards brewhemoth because of the price, location of production, and the fact I brew 15-20 gallon batches. If I brewed smaller I would get the spike conical.

 

[malador]

I emailed blichman, glacier tanks, and morebeer about the origin of their Conicals. Morebeer makes their own Conicals in California. Still waiting to hear back from the others.

 

[meadowstream]

Blichmann's fermenters are US made.

 

[Ajgeo]

Another option is ebay user americanhomebrewing. American made, polished, and usually sells on ebay for $150-200 less than the spike conical.

 

[malador]

Another option is ebay user americanhomebrewing. American made, polished, and usually sells on ebay for $150-200 less than the spike conical.

That is a nice looking conical, with better looking valves than Spike. But in fairness the spike conical ships for $675, so i'm not sure the Americanhombrewing one would be cheaper. I'm definitely going check and see if he sells larger than 12.5 though.

 

[tootal]

As I mentioned earlier, the More Beer can be had with a butterfly valve. No matter which one you get I would recommend the
1.5" butterfly valve. Sanitary welded ports are better than screw and gasket. Units you can pressurize are great for filling kegs.

 

[malador]

As I mentioned earlier, the More Beer can be had with a butterfly valve. No matter which one you get I would recommend the
1.5" butterfly valve. Sanitary welded ports are better than screw and gasket. Units you can pressurize are great for filling kegs.

I wasnt aware any were screw and gasket. I'll be sure to double check that.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

That is a nice looking conical, with better looking valves than Spike. But in fairness the spike conical ships for $675, so i'm not sure the Americanhombrewing one would be cheaper. I'm definitely going check and see if he sells larger than 12.5 though.

In our opinion, our valves are better. That racking port valve is a 2 piece. Not easy to clean. Many people talk about the butterfly valve on the bottom being better because that's what pro breweries use. However for the homebrewer we think the ball valve is better. It's very hard to control the flow of a butterfly valve.

I wasnt aware any were screw and gasket. I'll be sure to double check that.

The Blichmann conicals have the gasket (weldless) version

-SB

 

[malador]

Blichmann emailed me back, they are made in the US. But I think I'll rule them out, based on recent advice. That extension options they had looked pretty neat though.

 

[milldoggy]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/291119025413?nav=SEARCH
Made in Abington pa

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Same as earlier. It is made in Ohio, sold out of pa.

 

[milldoggy]

Same as earlier. It is made in Ohio, sold out of pa.

My bad

 

[Cathedral]

Same as earlier. It is made in Ohio, sold out of pa.

Regarding this one, I can say that it truly is made in Ohio, not just assembled here. TMS forms the lid and the body of the conical, but they contract out for most of the fittings and attachments--to the shop I work at. We make all the ferrules and barbs and threaded fittings (for the ones that have it.) The only thing we don't make are the bands and ball valves and unfortunately I can't tell you where those are sourced from.

 

[boat_eggs]

After their initial Kickstarter round gets delivered (waiting for my 3 14g fermentors) you might consider these guys:

http://www.bru-gear.com/home-brewery.html

During the Kickstarter they changed the design a bit to all TC and a 3" TC on the top for airlock/blowoff/spray ball for CIP. If you can wait a bit and bru gear can actually delver for the price it will be such a good deal.

Spike has some good stuff from what I have read but without a CIP TC I could not consider it without further-further modification. I know it is odd but with an immersion cooling coil (adding these) hand cleaning is out of the question for me.

I cannot say where bru gear source their materials but they are made in Arizona...if you can tolerate that, ha ha

 

[Doctor_M]

After their initial Kickstarter round gets delivered (waiting for my 3 14g fermentors) you might consider these guys:

http://www.bru-gear.com/home-brewery.html

During the Kickstarter they changed the design a bit to all TC and a 3" TC on the top for airlock/blowoff/spray ball for CIP. If you can wait a bit and bru gear can actually delver for the price it will be such a good deal.

Spike has some good stuff from what I have read but without a CIP TC I could not consider it without further-further modification. I know it is odd but with an immersion cooling coil (adding these) hand cleaning is out of the question for me.

I cannot say where bru gear source their materials but they are made in Arizona...if you can tolerate that, ha ha

You have more faith than I with cip spray balls then, I considered it as an option since I already had to buy a spray ball (brewershardware) seeing as how my brewhemoths only have a 4" opening but I don't think I'd trust it to be able to hit the bottom most points of my chilling coil effectively. I use a talI rubbermaid office trash can I bought at home depot and use it for both pbw and starsan.

Bru gear does look very promising though ( I'm still kicking myself for not buying their 2bbl brew house during their Kickstarter) however I'll bet they will do just like ssbrewtech and Jack the prices up once word gets out.. If not they very well might get my business soon.

 

[boat_eggs]

You have more faith than I with cip spray balls then, I considered it as an option since I already had to buy a spray ball (brewershardware) seeing as how my brewhemoths only have a 4" opening but I don't think I'd trust it to be able to hit the bottom most points of my chilling coil effectively. I use a talI rubbermaid office trash can I bought at home depot and use it for both pbw and starsan.

Bru gear does look very promising though ( I'm still kicking myself for not buying their 2bbl brew house during their Kickstarter) however I'll bet they will do just like ssbrewtech and Jack the prices up once word gets out.. If not they very well might get my business soon.

You bring up something I have been thinking about a lot: will a spray ball work to clean an immersion chiller. I think I will take it slow and only chill one at first and see how well that works

 

[meadowstream]

I doubt an immersion chiller would be verified by riboflavin testing to have full coverage by a spray ball.