american stainless conicals from PA

[TxBigHops]

yes, I wrapped my stout conical in double bubble foil faced insulation and it makes a huge difference...I have 11gallons or Vienna lager fermenting at 51 degrees right now with the conical sitting in a 76 degree room. the chiller does not run much. the yeast activity keeps everything churning.

I have yet to insulate my AHB conical because I'm still experimenting with cooling options like a stainless coil or a discharge hose wrapped around it.. I dont want to spend $100 for 2 of the jackets for one conical and the larger carboy jacket that fits my taller/slimmer stout setup wont fit this conical.

Thanks augie. Yes, I've seen your links to other products you're using, but having trouble picturing exactly what you're doing with them. Any chance you could post some photos, or direct me to other threads that discuss how to do this? So are you saying that in addition to the cooling jacket wrapped around the conical, that you also have insulation wrapped around that? Is it wrapped around the lower cone as well? Sorry if these are ignorant questions. I brew in a carboy and a swamp cooler right now, but would really like to get a handle on ferm temps to make better beer and to be able to brew in warm weather and maybe even take on a lager some day! I've considered spending up to $400 on a used commercial refrigerator, but even then it would still require additional $$ for modifications. $100 bucks for a couple of cooling jackets sounds pretty reasonable in comparison!

 

[iijakii]

The tubing, glycol, insulation, sub pumps, AC unit etc adds up quick -- if you're aiming for a budget then carboys or buckets in a used CL fridge/chest freezer is the way to go.

 

[TxBigHops]

The tubing, glycol, insulation, sub pumps, AC unit etc adds up quick -- if you're aiming for a budget then carboys or buckets in a used CL fridge/chest freezer is the way to go.

I definitely don't have an unlimited budget, if that's what you mean, but don't mind spending some money on my beloved hobby. I do want to move up from carboys to a stainless steel conical, but I want to explore more options than just putting it in a temp controlled fridge. Fridge or freezer takes up a lot of space, whether it's being used or not. Jacketed conical can be stored away more easily when it's not being used. I'm here to learn.

 

[augiedoggy]

well heres my take on it... I lucked out with a free commercial chiller being tossed at work... BUT, you can easily buy a $50 craigslist window ac unit and remove the condenser, set it in a cooler full of glycol/water mixed (right now im only using water but just got glycol 2 days ago to add.) you then can use a $20 aquarium pump from harbor freight or online to circululate the coolant through the cooling coils or jacket. you will also need a temp controller like the $38 inkbird or a diy stc1000 build like I did.

I went a little more nuts and built a control panel with 4 stc1000+ units attached to 4 - $3 solenoid valves that are all plumbed into the same pvc manifold so whichever conical needs to be cooled has its own valve which opens and a common pump for all 4 pumps coolant through the manifold pipe causing just that conical or conicals that the the corespomnding temp controllers are asking for to have coolant flow. I also have 4 band heaters which plug in for each conical that I may need in the winter.

that said you could if your frugal control temps on one conical for under $100 bucks with the diy chiller or even cheaper if you just use frozen 2 liter jugs in an ice water bath for the pump... thats what many do but that method needs maintenance to swap out bottles every day.

Look at this Budget setup...[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OboSC4EI0vs[/ame]

I bought the hose to try this for $10 here... http://www.ebay.com/itm/330900552367?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
and used this insulation which is like 5 times more than needed for one conical its easy to install with foil faced tape and scissors. http://www.ebay.com/itm/251905118937?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

these are the solenoid valves I used http://www.ebay.com/itm/251775467278?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT you do need a 24v dc for them though.


the real advantage to a glyol setup over a freezer conversion is expandibility to add more fermentors to the setup.

 

[milldoggy]

Here is my glycol chiller built from a dehumidifier, you need something like this and a temp controller to turn on the pump to push glycol through the cooling jacket

View attachment 1443232250508.jpg

 

[iijakii]

Nice setup! I just got the bulk of mine done this morning:

Need to try and bend the copper some more so the two units are flush, but think I'll need an extra pair of hands. Then build a base of some sort for them, and maybe a cover for the AC... original one no longer fits with the copper bent up and out. And of course insulation and bulkheads for my pond pump, return.

 

[milldoggy]

Using a dehumidifier made reassembly a little easier

View attachment 1443323939161.jpg

 

[iijakii]

Augie,

Have you made any progress on yours? I wrapped mine with heat tape just now:

Was hoping to get it more towards the bottom but getting it to lay flat on the cone was impossible. Same with the hose:

I haven't attached it, just loosely coiled around. Not working on the cone section. I'll try to get this to work, and maybe with the insulation it'll be fine, but I might have to scrap it and just coil some silicone tubing around and tape it in place. Since I'm planning on still doing 5gal batches a lot of the time in these I don't want to have the cooling just on the top half. But with convection and insulation maybe it'll be fine just applying it to the top. Hell, people do peltiers with just a tiny heatsink...

 

[augiedoggy]

Augie,

Have you made any progress on yours? I wrapped mine with heat tape just now:

Was hoping to get it more towards the bottom but getting it to lay flat on the cone was impossible. Same with the hose:

I haven't attached it, just loosely coiled around. Not working on the cone section. I'll try to get this to work, and maybe with the insulation it'll be fine, but I might have to scrap it and just coil some silicone tubing around and tape it in place. Since I'm planning on still doing 5gal batches a lot of the time in these I don't want to have the cooling just on the top half. But with convection and insulation maybe it'll be fine just applying it to the top. Hell, people do peltiers with just a tiny heatsink...

I just tested my discharge hose setup.... very effective! I used #8 1/2 stoppers jammed in each end with a 2" piece of 3/8" copper tubing as a homemade barbed fitting. and put a hose clamp around the outside to compress everything.

One this though that I kind of thought would happen. The hose blows up when filled quite a bit. I'll have to insulate leaving space for this expansion.

you do not need hose wrapped around the cone area... When fermentation occurs everything churns around.

I only use one thin wrapped layer around the base right above the cone to apply heat tape... I fine a lot is not needed.

my homemade 4 port manifold with the $2.19 solenoid valves works well too!! very excited. I just have to pick up some pipe insulation tomorrow as its sweating pretty bad.


looks like I bought 100ft of 3/8 stainless tubing for nothing

 

[iijakii]

Nice, glad to hear. My worries is that on a 5gal batch it wont be up above the cone too much, but I havent measured how much that holds. Probably only a few gallons and my fears are overblown.

I'll wrap it around just the top and test it out soon. I somehow dont have any 1.2" tubing on hand to test it out. You just using silicone? Not sure if it's worth worrying about what kind of hose can handle single digit temps.

So you leave your pump running at all times and have the manifold open/close? I'm only running two conicals so I might just buy a second pump instead for $20. Probably spend half that on pipe fittings to make a manifold. Then the extra electricity...

Also, definitely happy to hear the hose balloons when filled. I was worried when it was wrapped around it'd constrict too much.

 

[cowboy1]

Augie,

Have you made any progress on yours? I wrapped mine with heat tape just now:

Was hoping to get it more towards the bottom but getting it to lay flat on the cone was impossible. Same with the hose:

I haven't attached it, just loosely coiled around. Not working on the cone section. I'll try to get this to work, and maybe with the insulation it'll be fine, but I might have to scrap it and just coil some silicone tubing around and tape it in place. Since I'm planning on still doing 5gal batches a lot of the time in these I don't want to have the cooling just on the top half. But with convection and insulation maybe it'll be fine just applying it to the top. Hell, people do peltiers with just a tiny heatsink...

Where can I find that heat tape that you are using?

 

[iijakii]

It's called "Flexwatt" heat tape. I bought mine from http://www.bigappleherp.com/

There's other sites as well.. I didn't really shop around to be honest so not sure if that's the best place or not.

I used the 3" wide, 10 ft per conical for 60 watts. I think that's enough, but haven't tested it yet. If I had known I couldn't get it to lay flat on the cone I'd have just gotten a few feet of the larger diameter stuff.

 

[augiedoggy]

Nice, glad to hear. My worries is that on a 5gal batch it wont be up above the cone too much, but I havent measured how much that holds. Probably only a few gallons and my fears are overblown.

I'll wrap it around just the top and test it out soon. I somehow dont have any 1.2" tubing on hand to test it out. You just using silicone? Not sure if it's worth worrying about what kind of hose can handle single digit temps.

So you leave your pump running at all times and have the manifold open/close? I'm only running two conicals so I might just buy a second pump instead for $20. Probably spend half that on pipe fittings to make a manifold. Then the extra electricity...

Also, definitely happy to hear the hose balloons when filled. I was worried when it was wrapped around it'd constrict too much.

no I wired in dual relays which turn the 220v pump on in my chiller every time one of the conicals needs cooling as well as 24v to whatever valve needs to be opened.... and at that time only the open solenoid valves get flow.

 

[iijakii]

I see. Still might go that route over double pumps.

How did you secure the lay-flat? Was wondering on if taping it in place would work or if when it balloons it'd pop it off.

 

[dmcman73]

Why even use the heat tape? You can just heat the water/glycol and pump it through the system as you would to cool it... Unless I'm missing something?

 

[augiedoggy]

I see. Still might go that route over double pumps.

How did you secure the lay-flat? Was wondering on if taping it in place would work or if when it balloons it'd pop it off.

Still working on that the insulation will help but I may sparay something tacky on it so it doesnt drop (at least where the insulation meets the hose.the correct tape will still do this job too.. the hose stays in place fairly well except at the ends.

as far as the heaters... you need them sometimes to ramp up temps or even keep temps at a minimum it the winter months depending on where your brewing... I have used them to warm the yeast a bit during the diacetal rest and it helps the fermentation get going again.

 

[iijakii]

Why even use the heat tape? You can just heat the water/glycol and pump it through the system as you would to cool it... Unless I'm missing something?

What if I want to lager one while having a second at ale temps during the winter?

Just more flexible having the heat tape and glycol just for cooling.

 

[cowboy1]

It's called "Flexwatt" heat tape. I bought mine from http://www.bigappleherp.com/

There's other sites as well.. I didn't really shop around to be honest so not sure if that's the best place or not.

I used the 3" wide, 10 ft per conical for 60 watts. I think that's enough, but haven't tested it yet. If I had known I couldn't get it to lay flat on the cone I'd have just gotten a few feet of the larger diameter stuff.

Thanks for the link I may get some of this when the electric clip-plug units get restocked.

 

[augiedoggy]

So I did some more work and testing on my setup... The connections to the new AHB conical are temporary since I need more hose as well as hose insulation and quick disconnects but I was able to test the cooling capabilities of the discharge hose and I must say it works very well!

I found a 3rd conical (7 g stout clone) on craiglist yesterday sold by a member here. now I only have room for one more, please disregard the mess I have been doing a lot of work to the brewery and things are in total disarray. I also plan on securing the insulation on the top under the silicone ring like I did on the stout so it stays nicely in place and prevents the cold from escaping.

 

[iijakii]

Looking good! And thanks for reporting that the discharge hose works well. I haven't done anything further on mine. Building a ****ty table for them right now. Also working on new control panel.

How did you secure the hose? I tried coiling mine the other day and couldn't get it to stay up with only one pair of hands. Need to have the wife help. Think I'll just do some loose tape until I sandwich it all with insulation.

 

[augiedoggy]

Looking good! And thanks for reporting that the discharge hose works well. I haven't done anything further on mine. Building a ****ty table for them right now. Also working on new control panel.

How did you secure the hose? I tried coiling mine the other day and couldn't get it to stay up with only one pair of hands. Need to have the wife help. Think I'll just do some loose tape until I sandwich it all with insulation.

thats exactly what I did... two strips of the foil tape to keep them in place until insulated.

 

[cowboy1]

well heres my take on it... I lucked out with a free commercial chiller being tossed at work... BUT, you can easily buy a $50 craigslist window ac unit and remove the condenser, set it in a cooler full of glycol/water mixed (right now im only using water but just got glycol 2 days ago to add.) you then can use a $20 aquarium pump from harbor freight or online to circululate the coolant through the cooling coils or jacket. you will also need a temp controller like the $38 inkbird or a diy stc1000 build like I did.

I went a little more nuts and built a control panel with 4 stc1000+ units attached to 4 - $3 solenoid valves that are all plumbed into the same pvc manifold so whichever conical needs to be cooled has its own valve which opens and a common pump for all 4 pumps coolant through the manifold pipe causing just that conical or conicals that the the corespomnding temp controllers are asking for to have coolant flow. I also have 4 band heaters which plug in for each conical that I may need in the winter.

that said you could if your frugal control temps on one conical for under $100 bucks with the diy chiller or even cheaper if you just use frozen 2 liter jugs in an ice water bath for the pump... thats what many do but that method needs maintenance to swap out bottles every day.

Look at this Budget setup...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OboSC4EI0vs

I bought the hose to try this for $10 here... http://www.ebay.com/itm/330900552367?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
and used this insulation which is like 5 times more than needed for one conical its easy to install with foil faced tape and scissors. http://www.ebay.com/itm/251905118937?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

these are the solenoid valves I used http://www.ebay.com/itm/251775467278?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT you do need a 24v dc for them though.


the real advantage to a glyol setup over a freezer conversion is expandibility to add more fermentors to the setup.

What pump are you using to circulate your glycol? I picked up a pond pump off EBay and it crapped out while doing a test on my chiller. I have several different chillers the one I'm testing on is small it is 3/8" tubing in and out.

 

[augiedoggy]

What pump are you using to circulate your glycol? I picked up a pond pump off EBay and it crapped out while doing a test on my chiller. I have several different chillers the one I'm testing on is small it is 3/8" tubing in and out.

Im using the built in pump in my chiller... its an old 240v beer line chiller that was resold as a processor chiller for newspaper imaging equipment so I'm not sure on the model.

 

[cowboy1]

Im using the built in pump in my chiller... its an old 240v beer line chiller that was resold as a processor chiller for newspaper imaging equipment so I'm not sure on the model.

Thanks my big chiller has a self contained pump like yours. I picked up a 1/8th HP submersible from Northern today and will see how that one does.

 

[Toejam792]

Has anybody looked into replacement silicone gaskets for the lid yet. I'm sure their going to need replacing at some point.

 

[augiedoggy]

Has anybody looked into replacement silicone gaskets for the lid yet. I'm sure their going to need replacing at some point.

they send an extra with the conical and they are really thick... thicker than the stout gaskets. they might actually be the same diameter as a stout or even the model spike sells...

 

[augiedoggy]

I got all three of my conicals connected to my glycol chiller manifold and temp controllers.. I actually found some thin walled silicone surgecal tubing to wrap around the smallest 7 gallon stout knockoff I found on craiglist... the tubing works very well to control temps as well! I plan on brewing an american lager tomorrow and the vienna lager is now cold crashing from its diectel rest. It was at 66 degree at 5 pm and now its down to about 44 degrees at 10:15... this is 11 gallons too fyi and the chiller was pretty warm from being off most of today plus I added a gallon of warm glycol at 5 also... I also upgraded and wired up my new all stainless 4500w ripple element from Kal/spike and my enclosure from Bobby..

YES my brew area is a pig stye right now... I need to do some major cleanup.

 

[iijakii]

Lookin good! Hope to finish mine up this week. Still no issues with the layflat version?

 

[augiedoggy]

Lookin good! Hope to finish mine up this week. Still no issues with the layflat version?

no.. it worked very well when I tested it... I dont have anything fermenting in it yet but hope to change that soon.

 

[wasitim]

I've gotten two of these conicals and haven't received an extra gasket with either. Now, maybe I'm just being dense, but it comes with a gasket on the lid and a gasket on the conical itself. I assumed you need to leave both on. Is that not the case?

And FWIW, I've already managed to rip one of them so having extras would be nice. I tried to contact the ebay seller but have yet to get a response.