Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical -- REVISITED

grndslm · May 5, 2012

HIGHLIGHTED POSTS

from this original thread, on a "Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical"....

sgoncalves said: ↑

Hey guys, just wanted to update my yeast catcher build. My parts for the quick disconnect came in today so no more threading issues.

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EarthBound said: ↑

The designs of my conical stand and my fermentation chamber went hand-in-hand. Because the stand is fairly short, I can't fit so much of a "vertical" yeast catcher as everyone else has, so I designed a more "horizontal" one.

The ball valve is 1". Below the ball valve, the diameter goes from 1" to 2", then to a 2"x3"x3" tee with cleanout adapters on both sides and cleanout plugs screwed into the adapters.

I welcome any questions, comments, suggestions, criticism, etc.

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EarthBound said: ↑

1) I plan to fill it after it's moved into the ferm chamber and drain it while it's in there, as well; so, it won't be moved around much while it's full. Maybe I should weld some handles near the top of the stand.
2)Yep!
3) I agree with you - all you need is a quart jar. However, after reading all of spottedog's posts in both this thread and his thread, I decided to emulate his technique. Building and implementing this yeast catcher is, as you say, Easy Peasy... and it's an interesting concept that is worth trying, IMO. If I don't like it, maybe I can turn it into a bong or a planter or something...

I guess I should've mentioned those first two things already. Cheers!

Here ya go.

I'll be sealing it like that guy... silicone for the ring and weatherstripping to seal the lid. I plan to add a bulkhead fitting on top, as well, for not just blowoff and CO2 but also for filling it with wort. This way I won't move it when it's full.
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SpottedDogBrewing said: ↑

I like the yeast catcher my main reason for creating a catcher at the bottom was to catch all the junk that collects at the bottom of a fermenter after fermentation and secondary!! The more junk that stays out of the fermenter gives you more beer in the end, at least what I believe! My process is:
1) attach catcher to bottom of ballvalve with ballvalve open!
2) poor cooled wort into fermenter and add yeast
3) after 5-7 days or after fermentation is done close ballvalve and remove catcher. Harvest what u want if you like. Clean and sanitize and reattach catcher for the secondary fermentation process!
4) during secondary fermentation some more junk will collect in catcher!
5) keg or bottle your beer

Your design looks great, easy to clean!
I'd get a nipple that goes from bottom of fermenter to ballvalve! idea is good!
Enjoy the new fermenter

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk
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allclene said: ↑

Simple really took some rubber "D" weather strip took screws out put the weather strip on the inner edge of ring and ran a bead of silicone around outer edge next to weather strip and reinstalled with scews. Then used same weather strip on lid edge to seal when closed. Since its rubber and non porous no worries with cleaning it. Then installed valve on lid for air lock hose that goes into bucket or to the c02 tank. Took about an hour to put whole thing together including racking port ect. I plan on putting casters on stand so i can role it around.
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sebring96hbg said: ↑

I bought a 13 1/2" inside diameter (-456) red 70 euro FDA silicone o-ring from orings-online.com to fit on the lid assembly. It costs $9.87 each plus shipping. No nasty airborne particles - flying, crawling or otherwise - are going to get inside!. The lid itself seems to tighten on the assembly well enough on its own.

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l3asturd said: ↑

Well, today I received everything. Booo. The Tank I got with the 2" drain had way too many nooks and crannies to use. I remember other people on here saying the same thing but couldn't find it. I'm hoping the full drain version, which I just reordered, has a lot less places for things to hide at the drain. The other unfortunate thing is that all the hardware I ordered has to also be sent back as it's for the 2" drain. Too bad it took me 10 days to find all this out. I've got some honey brown ingredients that are screaming to be cooked up!
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brewmasterorr said: ↑

Got my stand done tonight. I also need to test it for leaks. I have not added the racking port yet since I am not sure where I want it to go.

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allclene said: ↑

Ok guys i broke cardenal rule and opened my conical for a pic so here you go.
1. Remove screws by hand that hold the lid ring on.
2. Put a ring of the rubber "D" shaped weatherstrip around flat surface as close to inner wall as posible. If you did this right you should still see part of the holes for the screws.
3. Use silicone and run a descent bead around lip next to weatherstrip covering screw holes with it.
4. Set ring into place and hand screw your screws back in. Do not use screw gun you will strip the holes out.
5. Use finger and smooth off acess around outside that squished out from the lip.
6. Put 2 seperate rings of weatherstrip around contact surface of lid be sure to put seams 180 degrees out from each other for better seal

7. screw lid on as tight as you can and let sit for a day to compress it a bit. I used a long screwdriver between lid handles to tighten it with
8. Attach your hardware to your conical for racking and air lock etc. I use a bucket with water and a hose from the top for airlock
See pics for parts etc.
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allclene said: ↑

Here are sku from ace for supplies
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whis121surfing said: ↑

Tri Clover connections on my 15 gal conical fermenter.
This is prob a little more expensive using the TriClover connections but I chose them for 3 reasons.

1. THEY LOOK SWEET!
2. Super easy to work with and clean.
3. Very sanitary.

Derrin from BrewersHardware.com was great helping me out with my order. Below is the list of items I got.

Induction tank I bought: http://www.ruralking.com/15-gal-full-drain-inductor.html
Fitting on tank- 1 1/2" FPT BOSS $61.00 with FREESHIP

Brewershardware.com items
SKU / Product Item / price / Quantity / Total
TC15M15 1"/1.5" Tri Clover X 1.5" Male NPT $19.00 2 =$38.00
TC15CAP 1"/1.5" Tri Clover Cap $3.00 2 =$6.00
TC15CLAMP 1"/1.5" Tri Clover Clamp $6.00 4 =$24.00
TC15VBFVPT 1.5" Tri Clover Butterfly Valve - Pull Trigger $51.00 1 =$51.00
TC15GASSIL 1.5" Tri Clover Gasket Silicone $1.25 5 =$6.25
TC15SG 1.5" Tri Clover Sight Glass $54.00 1 =$54.00
Subtotal: $179.25
Shipping cost: $14.95

Total: $194.20 + $61(for induction tank)= $255.20

Racking Arm is next once I get some more fun money.
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Neopol said: ↑

OK... per a request from a fellow HBT member Apoxbrew and since no one has yet to explain their racking arm solution, I will show what we did to install a rotating racking arm to the 30 gallon fermenters. I wont address the Tri-clover fitting setup.This has been done ad nauseam, and I duplicated exactly what others have done before me.

The center of the hole was drilled 6-1/2 up from the where the angle begins at the 1-1/2 FPT extension. When drilling the hole, we used a step drill bit. When we got close to the final size, we removed the bit from the drill and finished the hole by hand (using the bit). The plastic was soft enough to allow quick work. We slightly undersized the hole to allow the threads on the fitting to cut threads into the plastic. BE CAREFUL! Could easily be an oops! The seal is really on the o-ring. We just wanted the secondary protection.

I used fittings from BargainFittings.com:
1. the "new" Keg Weldless Bulkhead with the standard coupling, SS 2-piece ball valve, and the 1/2" Male NPT to 1/2" barb.
http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=178
and
2. the Side Pickup weldless version Drain/Dip Tube SS kit with the standard compression fitting option.
http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=46&product_id=157
and
3. 6ft. of 1/2" I.D. silicone tube.
http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=52&product_id=122
Total cost was in the neighborhood of $70.00 plus shipping.

Racking Arm horizontal, with slight tip upward to allow air to escape, when filling

Racking arm rotated 90 deg downward, leaves a measured amount of a little less than a quart when vacuum breaks on the siphon.
Depending on the wall thickness of your specific conical you may have to Dremel and fine tune the area at the hole, as this weldless fitting only permits about 2 threads to extend into the interior of the conical, which was plenty for the fitting to fasten to on one of ours. Also this is why we decided to use the Silicone O-ring in lieu of the silicone flatwasher that the fitting came with. So far we have done several runs on each conical and no leaks, racking works beautifully as it only needs to rotate once and 90 degrees. Cleanup and disassembly is a breeze, I only tighten as tight as I can with my hands, no tools required.

I am happy to answer any specific questions and edit this thread should this not be clear, or if I have left something out.
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Neopol said: ↑

Well after seeing that the trub flowed out like drywall mud when draining it off (but when it breaks it flows), I figured that using the sightglass would let me make a little less of a mess when I purge the trub.
So my process is once I get to my target gravity and plan to rack it off.
I purge the trub, close the valve when I see the buttery colored yeast start into the glass.
Remove, dump, clean, sanitize, reassemble and install end cap loosely to purge air out rather than into your tank.
Open butterfly and collect one cylinder of "Middle Layer" yeast, and pour into a flask for washing/harvesting.
Reassemble and drain the rest of the yeast off for dumping (this is at least a quart or more of yeast and trub on 20+ gal).
(This is the hard part it requires...P..A..T..I..E..N..C..E..)
Clean and reassemble and let it rest for a couple more days to continue floccing and allow what may have stirred up to settle again before moving the process to to racking arm alone.

You have a little less moving parts, its all about what works for you and your process. The above takes me about 15-20 Minutes on a Wed night for a Sat racking.
Hope that helps! Sorry if its overly wordy.

Amazon, it is 18 x 24 with a basket, handle and casters I dont recall the brand but there was only a couple options that were reasonable about $80. Very convenient to move 200lbs of liquid around and for cleaning, different ferm-temps etc...next project is to figure out an exterior pex tubing jacket or internal SS coil for isolated temp control.

Sir, you are very welcome!

I owe a big thanks goes to all those who worked, innovated and shared ideas from the beginning of the thread.

It is truely amazing how well an open source of idea sharing can work to the benefit of many .. now if only our congress would quit throwing sand and crapping in the sandbox and cooperate...I know wishful thinking...

In Beer We Trust!
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Sacdan said: ↑

I recommend a 1.5 to 2qt yeast catcher. Mine is 2qt and it is the perfect size for the yeast and trub I get.
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whis121surfing said: ↑

First brew, Zythos IPA, in Conical! THANK YOU to all that have helped along the way. I LOVE this thing. :rockin:

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sebring96hbg said: ↑

I made a yeast catcher out of PVC as shown in this thread. It fits to the conical via an NPT to triclover adapter and has a volume of one quart.

I do 11.25 gallon batches to fill a firkin. Using S-04 yeast, I collect about 1.75 quarts per batch. I save the middle layer which is collected from the droppings of the butterfly valve and from the neck of the yeast catcher from the first yeast dump.

If the sight glass form factor is a must, it would be cheaper to copy this....

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/new-conical-set-up-what-do-you-think-279614/index2.html#post3480471

A 16.5" length of 1.5" diameter tubing would have a volume of 16 ounces.
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anonymousbrew said: ↑

Conical arrived last night - squeezed it into the gutted fridge.

Had an old fridge that used to be my kegerator and part time fermentation chamber. It's been replaced with a keezer. So I gutted it to see if I could fit the conical in. With some mods (removed freezer/fridge divider, coil shroud and moved the stat and fan) I can squeeze the conical in.

The stand is a patio table from garden ridge for $20 and I needed to extend the legs for my fittings - 1in sch40 and we're in business. Popped the glass out of the table and it is the perfect size for the tank.

I'll pretty it up a bit later, but tomorrow it'll have it's first brew in it!

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Interesting Links...

- http://www.northchautauquahomebrewers.com/ferment/ferment.htm
- http://www.norwesco.com/page.cfm?menu=63
- http://newstore.vvessel.com/proddetail.php?prod=VVS001

dongemus · Nov 7, 2012

Thanks!

maussy · Nov 8, 2012

Thanks

MedicMang · Nov 9, 2013

.

DuffyBros · Jan 26, 2014

I saw a really simple way to seal the lid of these on probrewer.com forums:
http://discussions.probrewer.com/showthread.php?26572-Plastic-Fermenter-setup

DuffyBros · Jan 26, 2014

This was the link for the gasket they used.. Only $9.99:
http://conical-fermenter.com/Lid-Gasket-for-15-Gallon-Conical-Fermenter-with-Ring-Clamp.html

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