Spike Conical- observations and best practices

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eric19312 said:
I am trying it now for first time with the valve directly on the cone. I am doing it to try out the yeast brink from Norcal but for your issue just take off the elbow and spray the bottom of the valve till its clean. If you need the elbow later spray the valve again and then attach the elbow.
Click to expand...
Ha!! Duh!!! That was an easy fix!!! AND... can you use the yeast brink without any legs this way?? Or that is- with the only the normal legs?
 
IMG_0541.jpeg

This is the 3 inch yeast brink mounted on the 2 inch butterfly valve on bottom of a CF15 with the shorty leg extensions.
 
eric19312 said:
This is the 3 inch yeast brink mounted on the 2 inch butterfly valve on bottom of a CF15 with the shorty leg extensions.
Click to expand...

Very cool; didn't even know that existed and now I'm very interested. Are you finding the volume of the 3" brink is large enough to get a healthy amount of slurry?
 
eric19312 said:
View attachment 686314
This is the 3 inch yeast brink mounted on the 2 inch butterfly valve on bottom of a CF15 with the shorty leg extensions.
Click to expand...
The brink concept is interesting. I saw the video, and wonder whether you need to slightly "overflow" when filling the site glass with wort to eliminate all air from the system. (The video stopped short, but this may have been just to avoid making a little mess for the video). Also, when injecting the hops, there appears to be a significant residual volume of thick slurry left at the end. Do you need to repeat the process another time or two to get much of the remaining slurry up into the conical?
 
eric19312 said:
I am trying it now for first time with the valve directly on the cone. I am doing it to try out the yeast brink from Norcal but for your issue just take off the elbow and spray the bottom of the valve till its clean. If you need the elbow later spray the valve again and then attach the elbow.
Click to expand...


Agreed. That's what I did my last two batches. If you have anything attached after the elbow, make sure you take the "elbow assembly" off from the top of it or you'll do like I did.......big spill.

As for that brink......I guess you can't use the elbow to dump the trub before racking to kegs can you?
 
Yesfan said:
Agreed. That's what I did my last two batches. If you have anything attached after the elbow, make sure you take the "elbow assembly" off from the top of it or you'll do like I did.......big spill.

As for that brink......I guess you can't use the elbow to dump the trub before racking to kegs can you?
Click to expand...
I'm planning to use the brink to push dry hops into the fermentor. After done dry hopping I can remove the brink and add the elbow. Your efforts with valve above the elbow gave me some confidence this will be ok.
 
Gozie Boy said:
The brink concept is interesting. I saw the video, and wonder whether you need to slightly "overflow" when filling the site glass with wort to eliminate all air from the system. (The video stopped short, but this may have been just to avoid making a little mess for the video). Also, when injecting the hops, there appears to be a significant residual volume of thick slurry left at the end. Do you need to repeat the process another time or two to get much of the remaining slurry up into the conical?
Click to expand...

I will post a vid when I do the dry hops maiden voyage. My plan is to add dry hop to the brink and then loosely attach it to the conical. I will then attach gas and flush the brink with CO2. Then tighten the brink to the conical valve to get a good seal. Then I will put a blow off onto the gas connection and open the valve. The brink should fill with beer. Any "air" in the brink would be CO2. I will wait an hour and then try to push the slurry up into the fermentor and close the valve. That I expect to be the moment of truth. I am prepared for possibility I will need to recharge the brink with beer and push it out again to get most of the dry hop out of the brink and into the beer.

Assuming it works I will be disconnecting the brink, cleaning it and adding another dry hop charge and repeating the process. This beer is getting 2 pounds of dry hops with 1 pound before end of fermentation through the 4" opening and the second pound after fermentation is over. Per previous posts I think half a pound of dry hop pellets should be ok in the 3" brink.
 
danclark714 said:
Very cool; didn't even know that existed and now I'm very interested. Are you finding the volume of the 3" brink is large enough to get a healthy amount of slurry?
Click to expand...

The volume is 26 ounces. On current beer I am more focused on how it works for dry hopping than yeast collection but that seems like a healthy amount.
 
eric19312 said:
I will post a vid when I do the dry hops maiden voyage. My plan is to add dry hop to the brink and then loosely attach it to the conical. I will then attach gas and flush the brink with CO2. Then tighten the brink to the conical valve to get a good seal. Then I will put a blow off onto the gas connection and open the valve. The brink should fill with beer. Any "air" in the brink would be CO2. I will wait an hour and then try to push the slurry up into the fermentor and close the valve. That I expect to be the moment of truth. I am prepared for possibility I will need to recharge the brink with beer and push it out again to get most of the dry hop out of the brink and into the beer.

Assuming it works I will be disconnecting the brink, cleaning it and adding another dry hop charge and repeating the process. This beer is getting 2 pounds of dry hops with 1 pound before end of fermentation through the 4" opening and the second pound after fermentation is over. Per previous posts I think half a pound of dry hop pellets should be ok in the 3" brink.
Click to expand...
Thanks, sounds like a good plan. That's certainly a lotta hop! Look forward to seeing your video, and maybe your recipe as well if you don't mind sharing...
 
I’m wondering about using the yeast brink after the elbow in the horizontal position? I talked with Jaybird about it and he said some users reported better results with it in that position. I’m thinking it would reduce or eliminate the need for a second or third round of filling with beer and pressurizing the residual into the conical.

Could that also be a more versatile setup in the horizontal position?
 
I'm having a hard time visualizing this, as the concept works off of a displacement process, which use gravity...
 
The setup in the video per Jaybird uses displacement with differential pressure. As in, you pressurize the yeast brink to a higher pressure than the conical. This would also be the case in the vertical position as you’re trying to shoot the hops up into the conical. Per Jaybird’s opinion, this may work better in the horizontal position. However I do not have a setup to test this and am only going on anecdotal information.
 
First batch in my Spike CF5 and I'm starting to pressurize to 15PSI after adding 2oz of hops. I get to about 8-10PSI and then the lid seal starts to leak. It seems to hold steady at 8psi. Does anyone else have this issue?

I'm thinking I may be able to remove the lid (after removing pressure obviously) and put some keg lubricant on the rubber ring but that may also introduce contamination. Is it worth it or should I just leave things alone?

The fermentation process was not under pressure so I'm just noticing this leak unfortunately. I do see a little bit of wort splatter around the lid near the clamp.

Also, I put the lid on following these instructions: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshd...rs=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf
 
Fidelity101 said:
First batch in my Spike CF5 and I'm starting to pressurize to 15PSI after adding 2oz of hops. I get to about 8-10PSI and then the lid seal starts to leak. It seems to hold steady at 8psi. Does anyone else have this issue?

I'm thinking I may be able to remove the lid (after removing pressure obviously) and put some keg lubricant on the rubber ring but that may also introduce contamination. Is it worth it or should I just leave things alone?

The fermentation process was not under pressure so I'm just noticing this leak unfortunately. I do see a little bit of wort splatter around the lid near the clamp.

Also, I put the lid on following these instructions: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/35004119206/original/Conical_Lid_Install_Instructions.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS6FNSMY2WD6T3JNC/20200623/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200623T224855Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=2b218f39ed5c88227b4e2d0e2fb4fa421930bcc75fd0e80ce85cdaeede34b8f1&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf
Click to expand...

I was having this issue and I found that just cranking really tightly on the band solved it; I was treating it too gingerly. Not sure if that worked for others.
 
So they say "hand tight". Can I crank it until it's very hard to turn by hand without destroying the ring? The leak is coming from the back corner of the lid which is 180 degrees away from the part I'm hand tightening.

Update: I turned it until it was getting hard to turn by hand and then added pressure again. At 13psi it started to leak but I could hear some buckling as if the seal was adjusting. It's holding at 12-13psi so that's good enough for me. (Thank you for the tip!) It's much tighter than I would have expected. Still hand tight but I turned it until it was getting hard to tighten.
 
Last edited:
I have the same issues with mine. I cranked the f out of it (by hand) till I couldn't anymore. Pressure was holding at 10psi (where I have my spunding valve set).

It could probably went higher but, to be honest, I'm afraid to go higher than 10psi.
 
Fidelity101 said:
First batch in my Spike CF5 and I'm starting to pressurize to 15PSI after adding 2oz of hops. I get to about 8-10PSI and then the lid seal starts to leak. It seems to hold steady at 8psi. Does anyone else have this issue?

I'm thinking I may be able to remove the lid (after removing pressure obviously) and put some keg lubricant on the rubber ring but that may also introduce contamination. Is it worth it or should I just leave things alone?

The fermentation process was not under pressure so I'm just noticing this leak unfortunately. I do see a little bit of wort splatter around the lid near the clamp.

Also, I put the lid on following these instructions: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/35004119206/original/Conical_Lid_Install_Instructions.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS6FNSMY2WD6T3JNC/20200623/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200623T224855Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=2b218f39ed5c88227b4e2d0e2fb4fa421930bcc75fd0e80ce85cdaeede34b8f1&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf
Click to expand...

You could get a SS Brewtech Unitank. They don't have problems with sealing.
:popcorn:

[edited to fix my mistake of referring to the Chronical instead of the Unitank]
 
Last edited:
Fidelity101 said:
So they say "hand tight". Can I crank it until it's very hard to turn by hand without destroying the ring? The leak is coming from the back corner of the lid which is 180 degrees away from the part I'm hand tightening.

Update: I turned it until it was getting hard to turn by hand and then added pressure again. At 13psi it started to leak but I could hear some buckling as if the seal was adjusting. It's holding at 12-13psi so that's good enough for me. (Thank you for the tip!) It's much tighter than I would have expected. Still hand tight but I turned it until it was getting hard to tighten.
Click to expand...
I turn it by hand until I can't. Then I use a towel and turn about 1/4 turn harder.
It WILL seat easily- but using 5 psi and star san (conical MUST be empty!) makes it easy to check!
 
Fidelity101 said:
First batch in my Spike CF5 and I'm starting to pressurize to 15PSI after adding 2oz of hops. I get to about 8-10PSI and then the lid seal starts to leak. It seems to hold steady at 8psi. Does anyone else have this issue?

I'm thinking I may be able to remove the lid (after removing pressure obviously) and put some keg lubricant on the rubber ring but that may also introduce contamination. Is it worth it or should I just leave things alone?

The fermentation process was not under pressure so I'm just noticing this leak unfortunately. I do see a little bit of wort splatter around the lid near the clamp.

Also, I put the lid on following these instructions: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/35004119206/original/Conical_Lid_Install_Instructions.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAS6FNSMY2WD6T3JNC/20200623/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200623T224855Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=2b218f39ed5c88227b4e2d0e2fb4fa421930bcc75fd0e80ce85cdaeede34b8f1&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=Host&response-content-type=application/pdf
Click to expand...
FWIW.... we discussed this a few months back, but... I reccomend:
-Put the gasket in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before you use it. This helps!
-If you can spring for it, get some food grade spray lubricant. Freeze it for 10 minis, Spray it real quick, a final dunk in star san, and voila! no issues for me since!
I assume keglube works as well, but I read that is a mess! Worth the extra bucks for me for a can of spray.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/silicone-spray-lubricant-12-oz.html
 
Fidelity101 said:
So they say "hand tight". Can I crank it until it's very hard to turn by hand without destroying the ring? The leak is coming from the back corner of the lid which is 180 degrees away from the part I'm hand tightening.

Update: I turned it until it was getting hard to turn by hand and then added pressure again. At 13psi it started to leak but I could hear some buckling as if the seal was adjusting. It's holding at 12-13psi so that's good enough for me. (Thank you for the tip!) It's much tighter than I would have expected. Still hand tight but I turned it until it was getting hard to tighten.
Click to expand...

I also found that, just like a barrel ring, tapping around it in a circle with a rubber mallet on a cloth (fairly gently don't dent anything), helped me distribute the pressure more evenly and I got another full turn out of the closure bolt. I've had zero issues with sealing
 
I also think, and no offense intended here to anyone- it is SO easy to forget/ mistake the "flat side down, pointed side up" of these directions! First, they are confusing. It should read- pointed part meets lid to rim or some such thing.
Also, I too have been guilty of this- one of my batches when I was cleaning I had realized i did it the wrong way! I had no issues, but still probably not ideal for the gasket.

Edit- I think this is a flaw of the cf system. It allows for such a crucial part to be affected by human error. Although- how one makes a clamp/gasket system foolproof is beyond me,
 
Nate R said:
I also think, and no offense intended here to anyone- it is SO easy to forget/ mistake the "flat side down, pointed side up" of these directions! First, they are confusing. It should read- pointed part meets lid to rim or some such thing.
Also, I too have been guilty of this- one of my batches when I was cleaning I had realized i did it the wrong way! I had no issues, but still probably not ideal for the gasket.

Edit- I think this is a flaw of the cf system. It allows for such a crucial part to be affected by human error. Although- how one makes a clamp/gasket system foolproof is beyond me,
Click to expand...
Nothing is foolproof - they keep designing better fools
 
Any recommendations on best practices to know the liquid level when filling the fermentor? I pump the wort in through the fermentor port with everything sealed (excess pressure leaves the blow off tube) to ensure a sanitary environment. I have the cooling coil installed so I can't look in through the top so I have to guestimate where I'm at on level by watching the level drop in the boil kettle. I'd be curious if anyone has a low risk method or retrofit to monitor the level in the fermentor or if I should just keep watching the boil kettle drop.
 
danclark714 said:
Any recommendations on best practices to know the liquid level when filling the fermentor? I pump the wort in through the fermentor port with everything sealed (excess pressure leaves the blow off tube) to ensure a sanitary environment. I have the cooling coil installed so I can't look in through the top so I have to guestimate where I'm at on level by watching the level drop in the boil kettle. I'd be curious if anyone has a low risk method or retrofit to monitor the level in the fermentor or if I should just keep watching the boil kettle drop.
Click to expand...

I have never felt the need to actually see how high the wort level is in my CF10. Though, I could easily look after removing the temporary covering on the lid when I'm pitching the yeast and before installing the cooling coil.

My software does an excellent job in determining the estimated volumes in the kettles and fermenter. Plus, I measure everything and take notes on volumes with each brew so as I can refer back to the same previous recipes to compare with if needed. Obviously, if you have your kettles and processes dialed in for the particular recipe, you will know roughly what the various volumes will be at different stages/processes.

Just curious, how are you pitching your yeast?
 
danclark714 said:
Any recommendations on best practices to know the liquid level when filling the fermentor? I pump the wort in through the fermentor port with everything sealed (excess pressure leaves the blow off tube) to ensure a sanitary environment. I have the cooling coil installed so I can't look in through the top so I have to guestimate where I'm at on level by watching the level drop in the boil kettle. I'd be curious if anyone has a low risk method or retrofit to monitor the level in the fermentor or if I should just keep watching the boil kettle drop.
Click to expand...


Not trying to sound like an ass, but if you have 11 gallons (assuming you have a CF10) of brew in your bowl kettle, then you should have that amount in your conical. Maybe subtract a .5 or 1 gallon for the trub if you're leaving that behind in the kettle.

I'm usually between 11.5 to 12 gallons in my CF10.
 
CodeSection said:
I have never felt the need to actually see how high the wort level is in my CF10. Though, I could easily look after removing the temporary covering on the lid when I'm pitching the yeast and before installing the cooling coil.

My software does an excellent job in determining the estimated volumes in the kettles and fermenter. Plus, I measure everything and take notes on volumes with each brew so as I can refer back to the same previous recipes to compare with if needed. Obviously, if you have your kettles and processes dialed in for the particular recipe, you will know roughly what the various volumes will be at different stages/processes.

Just curious, how are you pitching your yeast?
Click to expand...

I'm pitching by removing the chilling coil so I'm definitely exposing the brew. But it's quick compared to having it cracked while it fills. I think you're right though; I'll just continue to dial in my process. I brew 22 gallons and split between two fermentors so it sounds like I'll just have to "tune up" my process. I ended up with 10.5 in one fermentor and 9 in the other
 
danclark714 said:
Any recommendations on best practices to know the liquid level when filling the fermentor? I pump the wort in through the fermentor port with everything sealed (excess pressure leaves the blow off tube) to ensure a sanitary environment. I have the cooling coil installed so I can't look in through the top so I have to guestimate where I'm at on level by watching the level drop in the boil kettle. I'd be curious if anyone has a low risk method or retrofit to monitor the level in the fermentor or if I should just keep watching the boil kettle drop.
Click to expand...
There are sensors, based on sonar or radar ranging, that allow monitoring of the liquid level without having to open up a fermenter but cost considerations aside they don't work very well in our tiny fermenters. If you just want to check the level at the end of transfer you can just hold the transfer line alongside the fermenter with the valve on the fermenter still open and you'll have a temporary sight glass showing you the current fill level. Just remember to close the valve before you remove the hose as it's easy to forget. ;)
 
danclark714 said:
I'm pitching by removing the chilling coil so I'm definitely exposing the brew. But it's quick compared to having it cracked while it fills. I think you're right though; I'll just continue to dial in my process. I brew 22 gallons and split between two fermentors so it sounds like I'll just have to "tune up" my process. I ended up with 10.5 in one fermentor and 9 in the other
Click to expand...

That's a lot of beer! Good for you! You definitely have an advantage by splitting the wort into two fermenters. Your options are endless as you could use different yeast, different hops for dry hopping, different fruits, or different spices in each fermenter. If you can, please upload pictures of your kettles and setup.

FWIW, I keep the top 4" cooling coil port covered and closed when filling the CF10 with wort. After I complete the transfer, I remove the cover; add the yeast; add O2 via an O2 wand; insert the coiling coil; and close it back up again. Looking back at my recipes, the most wort I have transferred into the CF10 has been roughly 11.9 gallons.....
 
I keep one of spike's little plastic caps on my blowoff TC port, and I oxygenate and pitch through that hole. I'll usually take a look down in it to see how high the liquid level is, but you can't read the gallon marks without a dental mirror.

Not sure why anyone is worried about oxidation at this stage since this is the point where it should be added anyway. Infection is also unlikely through a briefly open port, so if you really need to see your liquid level there's nothing wrong IMO with keeping your chilling coil in a nearby bucket of star san and keeping some sanitized foil over the big TC opening and using that as needed.
 
CodeSection said:
That's a lot of beer! Good for you! You definitely have an advantage by splitting the wort into two fermenters. Your options are endless as you could use different yeast, different hops for dry hopping, different fruits, or different spices in each fermenter. If you can, please upload pictures of your kettles and setup.

FWIW, I keep the top 4" cooling coil port covered and closed when filling the CF10 with wort. After I complete the transfer, I remove the cover; add the yeast; add O2 via an O2 wand; insert the coiling coil; and close it back up again. Looking back at my recipes, the most wort I have transferred into the CF10 has been roughly 11.9 gallons.....
Click to expand...

Definitely the reason for going with two was to have fun with recipe variations. Here is the full setup. I use a condenser so no hood is needed.
IMG_20200621_071502.jpg
 
Looking for some suggestions and/or processes folks use for attaching the Spike carb stone to the conical post fermentation. I'm paranoid about oxygen pick-up in this batch as it's a highly hopped IPA. Wondering how folks are purging the tri-clover stone of CO2 in this scenario? (note to self: attach the carb stone during fermentation with the racking valve open next time) Currently, I'm just blasting CO2 in the fitting and then using a gas ball-lock connect to release the pressure several times.
Cheers!
 
V-Twin said:
Looking for some suggestions and/or processes folks use for attaching the Spike carb stone to the conical post fermentation. I'm paranoid about oxygen pick-up in this batch as it's a highly hopped IPA. Wondering how folks are purging the tri-clover stone of CO2 in this scenario? (note to self: attach the carb stone during fermentation with the racking valve open next time) Currently, I'm just blasting CO2 in the fitting and then using a gas ball-lock connect to release the pressure several times.
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Maybe try very loosely attaching the carb stone and pressurize it? If it's loose enough I imagine the CO2 would leak out around the TC connection and then you can tighten it up to make the seal and it's only CO2 at that point.
 
danclark714 said:
Maybe try very loosely attaching the carb stone and pressurize it? If it's loose enough I imagine the CO2 would leak out around the TC connection and then you can tighten it up to make the seal and it's only CO2 at that point.
Click to expand...
Thats what I do. Attach it loosely and you can hear it hissing around the gasket. Let it hiss for a while and tighten until you don't hear any more hissing.
 

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