Glass carboy with hole on top

Seeing the ingenuity of this, can it be completed with a Better bottle?? I think it's more realistic for the rest of us to drill a hole in to plastic than glass. I don't think I have the patience to drill through 1/2" glass.

 

Keep in mind that dropping the yeast still won't work even with a Better Bottle. There's just a basic flaw to the whole design.

 

ok we get it, thanks for reiterating.

 

I do think Denny knows of which he speaks.

 

Hmmm. So maybe the sides aren't right. Maybe the wort will core right through the trub. Maybe it whirlpools a bunch of trub into the wort.

Maybe tilt the bottle. I'm picturing it and thinking that may make it worse. We have clarifiers at the plant. The walls are designed 'just so' to prevent water from corning or coning through the sediment. And while some are laid with a slope, they're not cockeyed in the ground.

Hey, whatever happens, as long as it still holds wort, it still works. He can access it through the bottom now top instead of the top now bottom. And, and, he has a carboy that can be washed through from both ends.

And the commode on wheels stand. That could have all kinds of uses.

 

At the very least used for a secondary ferm. I bet bottling straight from this would be that much more beautiful.

Hell maybe this is the birth of a new design glass carboy. With steeper necks, and a threaded plug for just these reasons. I'm mean someone is still cranking out the old ones right.

I don't really brew to save money on my beer budget. I would totally spend extra on a new design of glass carboy. And this looks damn cool.

 

I don't see anything wrong with this for dumping trub. True you won't get to drop all the yeast out the bottom because of the shoulders...but if you give that thing a whirlpool 24 hours into fermentation you should be able to drop out 90% of the trub.

 

I bought one of the Fermentap units 15 years ago. When I used it, I wondered what I was doing wrong. Then I heard from others who told me it was a design flaw. I'm speaking from experience, here.

 

You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. I tried many different ways to get it to work before I gave up on it.

 

Soooo, plastics ARE used in brewing...

 

Give the guy a little credit for coming up with something he thinks is cool enough to share with the rest of us! If you don't like it, well opinions are like a** holes, everyone has one! Good luck and please show us how it works out for you!!!!

 

It's not an opinion, it's a fact based on my experience and that of many others. All the congratulations and wishful thinking in the world won't change that. Being realistic is not the same thing as being negative. I have said that I admire the OP's ingenuity, but maybe if he had done some research first he would have discovered that it doesn't work.

 

This is the thing. Denny is speaking from experience and just trying to keep others from having unrealistic expectations for a design that will not perform like hoped. This thread has over 12,500 views, so imagine if even a fraction of those people viewing, decided to do the same thing. That's alot of disappointed people who have just ruined a $20+ carboy that now can't even be used the way it was designed to. There's no reversing a giant hole in the bottom of your carboy.

 

Wow, you must be an expert that has experienced everything to do with brewing! I have been a homebrewer for 27 years, tried many things to simplify my brewing, some worked, some didn't. I have always applauded home brewers ingenuity. A little positive criticism is one thing, but to bash an idea because of your "experience" is another.

 

You seem to be misinterpreting things. I'm not bashing anything, I'm simply trying to help people by relating my experience. And I'm not alone in that experience. I'm sorry you take help and realism to be negativity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously, I have not experienced "everything", but if someone is posting about something I HAVE experienced, don't I owe it to them to tell them?

 

Denny isn't bashing. He is speaking from experience...

 

I'd relate it to people telling me how they feel about my brews. I'd rather someone tell me what is wrong/off in the beer, than just hear them say it's good to spare my feelings. With being told and knowing what's wrong, at least you can attempt to fix the problem (or in this case realize the idea just won't work as expected)

 

And they all stink at times.

 

Man I love message boards.

People will always find a reason to argue.... No matter what the topic of conversation... they seem to really enjoy arguing. That's the one single truth about message boards.

 

No, they won't!

[sorry - couldn't resist!]

Reminds me of a Monte Python skit...

Cheers!

 

You cracked me up.... thanks for the laugh my man.

 

I think this parrot is dead...

 

All I get from this thread now: Denny says it won't work so don't waste your time. I understand the guy has a huge rep in the home brew world, but home brew is all about innovation and experimentation. Just because Denny says it can't work doesn't mean someone else can't make it work or at least have some fun trying.

Rock on OP. if it works for you, that's all that matters.

 

Sorry of I sound harsh. I've been on enough forums for enough years to know that there is always some experts who will tell you they've already been there, done that.
Well, my opinion is try it out and have some fun. Maybe you can make it work. Just because someone else couldn't, doesn't make it impossible.
Nothing is in stone, even if the resident experts say it is.

 

I agree. Just because an expert says it can't be done doesn't mean someone won't have a break through. Had a professor in college tell us we couldn't push 10 L through our tiny ultrafiltration membrane. Guess what we did...

 

Do some research...it's not because I say it doesn't work (note that I said doesn't...that means I've tried it. I'm nor guessing). Dozens, maybe hundreds, of people who have tried it say it doesn't work. If you used something other than a carboy, it might work. But the slope of the carboy shoulders isn't steep enough to drop yeast. That's not naysaying, that's not opinion, it's a fact.

 

I remember those units that have obviously angered you so much you are still pissed 15 years later. Yeah you're right, I've never heard anyone say they worked properly with a standard carboy. Let it go man, are you still mad the beatles broke up? Have a brew, a handful of xanax and take a deep breath. Then try and imagine a demijohn in that Fermentap contraption.

 

While i believe Denny's experience in the matter i will encourage the OP to experiment with it, you have nothing to lose at this point.
It's not like it will make you produce a bad beer, it just might work as you planed, one way to find out.
Please keep us posted and good luck.

 

The only thing I'm even vaguely upset about is that people take experience and consider it opinion.

 

I think if Denny would have bothered to back up his experience with some actual Google hits you get by entering "using carboy as conical", this thread would have been 7 pages shorter. Go ahead, try it. Found that thread (from 2007) quite easily.

Let the OP try it. Hell if he finds a way to make it work we'll all applaude and join the bandwagon.

Let Denny say it won't work, because he tried it, and has seen other try it and fail.

Just stop posting until the OP reports. Please. I subscribed to this thread to get news on actual DIY, not to get my inbox spammed by people arguing over this and that.

(And here I am not shutting up. Oh well...)

 

That's exactly what I've gotten out of this.

 

Put some sort of baffle in it.


\ /

 

(.)(.)

. \/ and how would this baffle work?

 

I see what you did there...

 

But how would it work?

 

I'm working on it. Create an artificial slope inside the fermenter. Pics to come. Not high on my to do list, so don't hold your breathe.

 

Carry on

 

So, in all likelihood, once the cone unfurls within the carboy, it's never coming back out. I imagine cleaning and sanitizing that would be an iffy proposition...

Cheers!

 

Neither does ignorance, but it's still ubiquitous.

 

You could simply saw off the entire bottom of the carboy so you would have easy access to take the cone out to clean it. Then you could put rubber gasket(s) on the sawed off glass with some latches so you could attach it back on.