15 gal conical I put together

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pen25 said:
i would think a sheet of ply with the diameter of the conical about 5" up from the bottom of the conical and another the diameter of the vertical sides of the conical. would slide in and out for cleaning. you could also use flat steel strapping from homedepot. bent around the conical and use like clamp.

kinda like this. for the clamp strap type setup.

2792278832_351f77cf11_o.jpg
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Why do we want conicals again?
 
TerapinChef said:
Was just thinking that it might be a good idea to find some kind of gasket to go around the hole in the stand. I think over time you might get a bit of wear on your fermenter from sitting in there all heavy and stuff with that raw wood rubbing on your tank. Just a thought.
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You could split some 5/8" tubing (or whatever size fits) lengthwise & fit it around the circumference of the wood opening.

-d
 
Hey Issac, what part of the big island are you on? I'd love you check this out first hand, pm me if your still around here.
 
FWIW...

I just looked at the Chemical Resistance Chart for the large (>200gal) PE cone bottom tanks from US Plastic. It specifically mentions being beer resistant, as well as 100% ethanol.

It also lists butter, coffee, cola concentrates, corn oil, dextrose, milk, molasses, shortening, vanilla extract, vinegar, water, wines, and whiskey as other uses. So I guess there's no doubt that they're food-grade.

I see 2-3 of these in my near future...
 
I got my 15 gallon tank and have assembled a valve and drilled the hole for the airlock. When I opened it, I noticed a REALLY STRONG plastic smell. I washed it out and let it soak with oxy clean for a day, no change! I have read that a mixture of vinegar and baking soda with water and soaking for 48 hours will fix it. I will advise but I would NOT buy one of these until a fix is determined. I would have to say as-is we would be brewing a "plastic pail ale" :cross:
 
nfarrell1 said:
I got my 15 gallon tank and have assembled a valve and drilled the hole for the airlock. When I opened it, I noticed a REALLY STRONG plastic smell. I washed it out and let it soak with oxy clean for a day, no change! I have read that a mixture of vinegar and baking soda with water and soaking for 48 hours will fix it. I will advise but I would NOT buy one of these until a fix is determined. I would have to say as-is we would be brewing a "plastic pail ale" :cross:
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When I purchased my first plastic conical (30 gal) from US Plastics I did notice some off gasing from the plastic. I left the tank outside for a few days and then soaked it in Starsan for a week. After the Starsan there was no "plastic smell" off gas at all. Since then I've had not problems at all with the conical.

If there was one problem with the 30gal version it's that it's too big to fit in my temp controlled fridge. Jan/Feb/March lagers are fine but after that it's fire and forget ales.
 
eta525 said:
I have a couple of these plastic conicals that i bought off someone in my homebrew club who never used them, so I'm not sure which manufacturer they came from.

As for the CO2 leakage though, when I first used them I also had problems with the CO2 leakage and having nothing coming up through the airlock. The beer turned out fine, but I was still concerned. So I got a tube of food grade lube and put a large bead around the top of the conical tank and screwed the lid down into it. So there's a slick mess around the rim, but none of it gets into the tank, and effectively seals the lid shut, so the airlock bubbles and nothing gets in. Hope that helps!
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This works great! Second batch is bubbling away nicely. Thanks for the great tip!
 
Got my tank today....was trying to sort out a part list for the valves....pretty clear on what i need for the bottom to release trub...but not quite certain for the added valve for bottling.

NM i got it..looks like 1/2"
 
Has anyone done anything to the inside of these at the outlet port? Mine has the huge plastic nut on the inside that creates a pretty big lip for the yeast to settle into, I was thinking of filling it with food grade sealant?
 
I reposted my blog post on the valves and use of the cones at www.hessbrewing.blogspot.com. Look for the post, Conicalus for the Restivus.

Has anyone done anything to the inside of these at the outlet port? Mine has the huge plastic nut on the inside that creates a pretty big lip for the yeast to settle into, I was thinking of filling it with food grade sealant?
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the bottom port, or side port? If you bought the right version (FD - full draining, see my write up) there is no huge plastic nut at the bottom. If you are talking about the sideport, the round washer that holds the port in place (p/n is in the write up), there is no issues with build up and any sealant is overkill and unnecessary.

We have been using the cones for almost a year and have put over 75 batches through the conicals with ZERO contamination issues (or any other issues for that matter).
 
Mine looks like this, just like the one at the beginning of the thread. Yeah I am talking about the dump port. Looks like I didn't get the best option (sigh). Any ideas to improve what I have? It's an Ace 15 gallon.

image-2951287540.jpg


image-1321312376.jpg


image-1014043074.jpg
 

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