Clear beer from a conical

[Jtvann]

Ive got a fast ferment conical that I’ve never exactly figured out how to use. It was also one of the reasons I bought a brew bucket instead of a chronical.

When I comes time to keg my beer, am I supposed to drain everything through the bottom port? It always seems like I’ve still got some trub yeast or hops stuck to the sides of the conical that doesn’t want to come out.

With the brew bucket I rack clear beer off the top of the yeast cake.

Is there something in my process that I can try to get a cleaner flow when trying to keg.

Thanks

 

[Jtvann]

Nobody?

 

[bransona]

Cold crash it, add gelatin, and then rack via the spigot. Anything that gets pulled through the spigot will settle out in the keg and come out in your first pour.

 

[DHomebrews]

I’m a new home brewer, so take this as what I learned before I kegged for the first time.

I don’t have a Fast Ferment, but I do have a Catalyst. Before first using it I had the same question, then I realized they had a sampling port/racking arm attachment. I installed that and fermentation and kegging is a breeze.

I see there is a spigot for Fast Ferment you can buy. As long as you empty your trub and don’t let it build too high, I would think kegging from the spigot would be easy, as with the sample port on the Catalyst. Install it slightly above where any trub might be. Cold crash and gelatin and, in my experience, even the residuals on the side will drop and you won’t have to worry about them.

 

[rthensley]

I have the 3 gallon Fast Ferment. I lay a butter knife beside it. When I walk by it, or think about it, I gently tap the bottom of the fermenter where the yeast sticks. This will dislodge pretty much everything and allow it to fall into the jar.

 

[Jtvann]

So the fast ferment comes with a bottling attachment at the bottom of the cone. In my experience the cone gets clogged with yeast and trub without regular dumping. With regular dumping I lose quite a bit of total volume.

I understand using a racking tube through the spigot or other attachment, but I don’t believe that was the idea behind the design. I agree that a racking port would work fine, as that’s what I do with my ss Brew Bucket.

My question is how do people use their conical, ss brew tech chronical included, to keg beer through the bottom of the conical. Do you have to dump regularly. How do you deal with oxygenation.

 

[John Eberly]

So the fast ferment comes with a bottling attachment at the bottom of the cone. In my experience the cone gets clogged with yeast and trub without regular dumping. With regular dumping I lose quite a bit of total volume.

I understand using a racking tube through the spigot or other attachment, but I don’t believe that was the idea behind the design. I agree that a racking port would work fine, as that’s what I do with my ss Brew Bucket.

My question is how do people use their conical, ss brew tech chronical included, to keg beer through the bottom of the conical. Do you have to dump regularly. How do you deal with oxygenation.

I've never questioned that the bottom of the conical had a large valve to dump trub and yeast. There is another valve on the side to rack beer. That's how they work - the gunk settles in the bottom, and the cone makes for a smaller area of contact between the trub and the beer.

 

[BrewInspector]

You can add the spigot / sample port to the fast ferment. It does not come with it, it's an add on accessory. The standard FF uses the valve as the packaging port once the collection ball is removed.

When I fermented in a bucket I would dump the boil kettle of chilled wort debris and all into the fermenter.

That creates too much trub for the fast ferment. I now siphon only the clear wort into it. If there is significant trub accumulation during fermentation I may need to empty the collection ball. Normally I do NOT and only remove the collection ball when I am ready to package / keg. Even then the ball is rarely completely full. Since I am kegging, the small amount that may cling to the cone is insignificant and settles to the bottom of the keg.

When I first started using the FF I would allow too much debris into it and occasionally clog the narrow valve connection to the ball or need to empty it a few times. I didn't like the clogging, beer lost and oxygenation so I began paying more attention to what I allowed in the fermenter.

 

[Jtvann]

The spigot is a sampling port, not a racking port. It does not have a racking arm on the inside. I understand that you technically can rack beer out of the sampling port, but that’s not the design.

The bottling adapter in itself lets you know that the intention of the design was to rack beer from the bottom of the conical.

Maybe I’m just asking a theoretical question here. It looks like the design of the fast ferment is poor for it to be effective. It would be much more effective to include or add a racking port above the trub line.

On a larger scale ... 1bbl, 5, 10, 30 ... I dont imagine there is a weldless racking port on the side of the fermenter. On that scale, do they rack beer out the bottom of the conical.

What is the cut off line for small scale that makes racking out of the bottom of the conical effective. If it can be done with the fast ferment on a 5 gallon batch, I’m wondering how.

Not trying to be difficult, but I have no intention of adding another racking port to the side of the conical. I’ve already added one. I want to keg clear beer using the bottom dump.

 

[mongoose33]

Not trying to be difficult, but I have no intention of adding another racking port to the side of the conical. I’ve already added one. I want to keg clear beer using the bottom dump.

The only way I can think of to do that is to dump all the trub and yeast until you have clear beer, then drain the beer into your keg or whatever you're using to bottle.

The issue may be one of finding fittings that allow you to easily transfer the beer to whatever you're packaging with.

 

[Jtvann]

I can reduce the line from the conical to the keg. I just don’t want a bunch of yeast sluffing off randomly where I couldn’t get it all cleared out.

I’m wondering how the big boys do it with their conicals.

 

[BrewInspector]

My FF has no sampling port. I have seen videos of others using what appeared to be a "sampling" port to fill bottles or kegs. I suppose it depends on where you place the port on the cone. So what if it has no arm... there should be no trub at any point in the cone. All of that should have fallen to the ball and been removed allowing any additional trub to fall below the level of the port. The tap the fermenter when you think about it or pass buy helps eliminate any that might cling. This port would be no different than the one on the typical bottling bucket.

The attachment for bottling/kegging provided with the FF is simply a screw on adapter to a large "ish" hose placed where The collection ball was. The hose came with one of those clamp type hose crimps. Obviously the intent is to bottle with this hose attached to the bottom of the fermenter. (The directions indicate this as well) If you are accumulating trub above the ball then it needs to be emptied more often or prevent the introduction of materials that accumulate to such a degree.

I fill kegs with the attached hose (a longer length than was provided) and have had ZERO issues with clinging trub in the cone. I do not tap the fermenter. Once I minimized adding hop and break material to the fermenter I no longer had any issues with removing the collection ball more than once or with the connector becoming clogged. I drain clear beer into the kegs A bit of floating yeast that had not dropped but that's it.

If you have a "sample" port there is nothing preventing you from re- naming it as a "racking port", "bottle filler hole" or "above the trub drain" and using it as such.