30g Plastic Conical "Build"

Hey guys. I know there have been a few threads on these before, but I still have a few questions before I get started.

These just came in early last week:



I'm about to pull the trigger on some 1/2" stainless ball valves for the racking port, but I'm still not quite sure how to affix them to the inside of the conical. I'm guessing some kind of nipple w/ silicon o-rings on both sides, but what would you use on the inside surface to hold things together?

I'm also not sure how to do the bottom dump. There are 1 1/2" threads in the mouth of the conicals and after looking at 1 1/2" ball valves there's no freaking way I'm spending that much. I was thinking of using a 1.5 to 1" reducing nipple (LINK), but I can only seem to find plastic. They appear to be polypropylene...would this be ok?

Any other random thoughts/comments are greatly appreciated!

 

To drop from 1.5" to 1" you *could* use a bushing and nipple combo from buyfittingsonline.com. Granted, it adds a little extra in terms of threads that will need to be disassembled and cleaned, but if you want stainless cheap, that's what I'd do. (They don't seem to have a reducer in the size you want, from 1.5" they're going to 1.25") They also stock 1" ball valves (as well as 1.5")

Personally, I'd go with the 1.5" valve. Less chance of crap buildup during dumping, although a $40 price difference isn't to be sniffed at (although less than that, since I suppose you wouldn't have to buy the reducers)

 

If you point those to the front, then stand between them... You might understand how that poor, helpless BMC in your avatar feels....

 

Plastic conicals, why bother with SS fittings? Does not make much sense to me.

This http://suburb.semo.net/jet1024/Rotating Racking Arm.htm should give you ideas for your racking arm.

 

Hell I'd trade places with it in a second.

Well the ball valves I found are only like $10 off ebay, and I figured I could always use them later so why not? I may just go ahead and use the plastic reducer though as long as polypropylene won't cause any problems.

 

Oh and I just ran into a new (big) problem. Just got back from Lowe's and it doesn't look like any of the upright freezers are going to be deep enough unless I ghetto-rig up a new door somehow. Anybody have other ideas for fermentation control?

 

Can't you just put a "collar" on an upright like everyone does on keezers?

 

Time to build a cold room

 

Wind some copper tubing around it or hang a stainless steel coil from the lid. You'll need some way to circulate water and/or glycol.

I often think of such a system but haven't done anything yet. Not sure of the volume of liquid or flow rate of the pump needed. There are a couple threads on this sorta thing but I've never seen any details on reservoir/pump sizing.

 

Yeah this is what I'm starting to lean towards. If that doesn't work out somehow, I think the collar would work fine also. Glycol would be awesome, but I'm sure it's the most expensive option and I'm not all that technically inclined.

 

You can buy a plastic 1 1/2 ball valve for the bottom from mcmaster carr I for got what I paid for mine I also put a elbow and a nipple in side with silicon tubing for my racking arm. Pat

 

Well I ended up going w/ the plastic reducer and a 1" ball valve for the bottom dump. Just ended up being cheaper in the end which was sort of the point of going w/ the plastic conical in the first place. We'll see how it works soon I guess!

lehr, how did you build the bulkhead for the racking port?

 

Pat, I'm rather disappointed in you!! I'd have expected your conical to be a custom fabbed one made of titanium!

 

its pretty easy to rig the freezer door, I did it to my upright freezer. There were a bunch of screws all around the door, under the weatherstriping stuff on the door. Take them all off and mark your holes on a sheet of plastic cut to the same dimensions. I got a piece of 1/8" plastic from the back of tap plastics free! (fell off a forklift and had a broken corner-cut around it)

It looks clean and gives me an extra 6"+ of space.

 

It's just a weld less fitting with a o-ring and a big washer on the inside.

Ubermick I still working on my argon chamber so I can weld that Ti. conical.

Pat

 

Check out this link. http://www.northchautauquahomebrewers.com/ferment/ferment.htm
Hope it helps.

 

Thanks, that helps a lot!

Now the only thing left is figuring out the best way to temp control this beast.

 

Let me know what you figure out for temp control. I am interested in building one of these.

 

Here are some pics of a 15 gallon conical I built about a year ago. It's a NORWESCO tank & I used polypropolyne valves for the dump & port. All bought at a local farm store for < $100. I built the cart with scrap wood. Last labor Day I built the Fermentation chamber. It's 6' tall, 4' wide & 3' deep. I use a Ranco Controller & a Haer 5250 AC unit. The fan on top blows the warm air from the AC out into another room. The conical & fermentation chamber work great!!!

 

Pat, is that a heating or cooling jacket? I've considered these plastic conicals as well, but temp control would be my largest issue as well.

 

For temp control in these plastic conicals, get a submersible pump and a bucket of glycol and then make a 20' coil of stainless tubing and plumb it in the conical. Temp control so that the submersible pump kicks on and circulates the chilled glycol through the tubing to cool the fermenting beer. There was a thread on here somewhere about a microbrewery using 6bbl versions of these with the immersion chiller setup for glycol.

The plastic should help insulate the beer some.

 

If you have a basement that stays in the low 60's year round is temp control an issue or is it that 15 - 20 gallons of fermenting wort heats up enough that you need lower temps?

 

I live in Texas, so no basement.

 

Charlos,
How are these conicals working? Do you like them?
Thanks

 

That fermenting wort will def throw off a fair amount of heat. The ambient temp of the room really wont help much. I've got four pf those big plastic conicals but only use them for big oak barrel brews... and for those, there is usually so much other stuff a little off flavors from temp fluctuation durig primary isnt a huge deal. For "regular" brewing, you really wanna temp control them somehow.

 

have you looked for liquor stores/grocery stores that are getting rid of soda fridges? you know, the kind that you slide the door open and grab a bottle of coke from. Hess brewery in sd does that with their conicals. i am unaware of the size of their conicals but i can assure you they are much larger than yours. problem is, i have no idea how much one would be. but if you can find a place going out of business.... it may not cost too much more than an upright freezer.

 

though this ad on craigslist will probably expire soon, take a look at this soda fridge.

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/app/2206326673.html

this is what im talking about. it LOOKS like it'd fit your set up. but it'd be better to get one that twice as big as that one. you know, sliding doors on it and stuff. just an example.

 

Been a lot of life stuff going on lately, so I actually haven't gotten to use them yet. Haven't had a chance to brew at all really.

Sort of. Seems like prices are all over the place, but that def looks like it would work. Pretty cool looking too

 

The guys at Hess Brewing us the same conicals, and they use soda refrigerators to keep their beer cold. Check it out.

http://hessbrewing.blogspot.com/2010/06/conicalus-for-restivus.html

 

yeah sucks because we don't have them either, not sure why as they would be a great escape from the heat in the summer. AZ sure has lots of good basements

 

I have two of these conicals as well. I procured some 1.5" - 1" bushings, nipples, and ball valves. So a barb is all I need for the bottom.
For a racking valve, would a regular 1/2" weldless kit mounted up 6-8 inches from the bottom work? It'd be easy to dismantle and clean, I'd think.