conical fermenters

[HellenicHomeBrewer]

BAH.. It's not about being the seller, but being the seller without admitting it seems a little underhanded if you know what I mean. And I'm with you, seems like he's selling the sh!t out of them!

How was drilling it out? Did you fab your own sightglass?

 

[Droot]

I finished a big job, so I went to order the fermenter. They were all gone, so I sent the seller an Email.

I called the Local Homebrew shop to see what they had and it was the bri...man. Price was 8 something. More than I wanted to spend.


When I got home from work today, I got a response that they had more up for sale. I ordered it. Brewing on the 4th of July, so I can tell you how it works out.

I was brewing 10+ gallon batches, but I don't drink that much beer, so I was going to go to 5 gallon batches for more variety. I will report how it works.

THANKS FOR THE LINK!

David <~~~~Insert big cheesy grin here.

Edit: I also was fermenting in an open Sanky with a lid on it. After hanging out here for a short while and reading a LOT, I decided I wanted to go back to closed ferment.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Please let me know how the conical turns out. I am very interested as the seller lives nearby and said I could do a local pick up if I wanted. I am waiting for him to get his brew kettles back in stock to go all grain.

The only other person I could find who has used the conical was a blogger in Austin who used the conical once, got it mighty infected with some sour yeast and never got it going again. His subsequent experience with it was pretty bad and had trouble keeping a seal.

As an introduction, yes, this is my first post, no I am not the seller, lol. I have only been brewing for about 6 months now and have been lurking for several months. This is the best forum I have found, very helpful and the search button is an amazing learning tool.

 

[thedailybrews]

I've used mine twice and found that it works fine. I love it. Might buy another and a BK.

 

[Droot]

The fermenter should be here tomorrow by USPS. I am brewing a boddingtons type beer on July 4th. I'll take pictures. Don't worry, I 'll look it over closely, I'm a weldor.

Getting kind of fired up to use it. Got a gallon of sanitizer mixed up.

David

 

[HellenicHomeBrewer]

I just the BK for the first time recently.. Was very good with the except of I was curious and removed the weldless thermometer and I had a slow drip from there during the boil.. Not much I could do about, I haven't gotten around to resetting it, but I'm contemplating putting a SS coupler on there to solve all issues..

 

[Ewalk02]

I received my fermenter in the mail 2 days ago and here's what I have found:

First off this thing is a great deal for the price, with 90% of the functionality of anything else out there (no racking arm) its only 50% of the price!

Welds leave a little to be desired, they don't leak but I can see a few spots where bacteria might like to hide, I might try grinding these down myself though.

Everything is stainless except the brass nut that holds the thermometer to the side. This nut was actually inside the fermenter so I replaced it with a stainless steel nut that I had lying around.

The lid seals up really nicely and holds a small amount of pressure, not nearly enough to carb up a batch but enough to ensure a good leak free seal.

The fittings are all regular stainless steel ball valves which I have no problems with.

The thickness of the stainless steel used is adequate, you don't feel like your going to dent the thing just picking it up and setting it down.

2 extra o-rings were included for the thermometer.

All tubing used for the frame/legs have been capped with a plastic cap so that there aren't any sharp areas to cut yourself on.

All in all, would I buy another one.....Absolutely!

 

[Droot]

Acording to the tracking, mine is at the post office right now! I get it tomorrow.

Ewalk02, use a flap wheel, not a grinding wheel to dress the welds.

When mine gets here, look for pics. Its gonna sit empty till Saturday.

David

 

[Ewalk02]

Flap wheel it is, thanks Droot!

 

[Droot]

It came today, double boxed. Looked pretty sweet when I opened it up. Ball valves are 1/2" thread. In the box were 4 silicone lid gaskets and 2 "0" rings for the thermometer.

Thermometer is huge and easy to read. I checked it with my 2 mash thermometers and all three are within 3 degrees f. This one reads the highest, but... Its still One degree from the average of the 3.

I inspected the welds and all looked good except the one in the bottom.

Next I took it to the kitchen sink and filled er up. It holds just under 6 gals 3 quarts. When it had 6 gallons in it, I had 1.5" of head space left. I will be buying a blow off hose so I can put 6 gals in it when I want.

The space between the racking valve and the dump valve holds exactly one half liter, or almost 3 cups.

I took a pic next to a corny keg for size comparison. My son was trying to jewel the keg. Its looking pretty good.
I washed it out with C brite and inspected the bottom weld better. It has POROSITY. I do some food grade welding and this aint it. I am going to boil the base of the fermenter so I can use it on Saturday, but will probably re weld the one in the bottom so its smooth. I did try to clean it up with roloc discs, but the holes in the weld are too deep. I can see stuff staying in there and causing problems.




Lid and gasket. It looks like it will be fine. If you look close the screw is on a bit of an angle. This affects (effects?) nothing. The hole for the bung is bigger than my #6 stopper. Its going to need the next size bigger. I bought some 1" OD blow off hose. Its too small, I need 1 1/4" OD.



I don't know how well you can see the holes in the weld. Here is a pic.


the rest of the welds look good. This is the worst spot for a sh*t weld.

You decide. I am going to write to the seller and see if all are like this.

Cleaning it and filling it on Saturday with a Boddingtons clone. Lots of heat will make me sure its clean for this use. Ad says can be returned for any reason even if you use it. The worst thing that could happen is I would cut out the bottom and weld it back in.

I will let you know what the seller says.
David

 

[RonRock]

Could you fill the voids in the weld with Solder? Seems like that would be easier than welding in a bad position. Easy to clean up with a rolock.

I have some pits in my keggle and have wondered if Solder would work.

 

[Droot]

Could you fill the voids in the weld with Solder? Seems like that would be easier than welding in a bad position. Easy to clean up with a rolock.

I have some pits in my keggle and have wondered if Solder would work.

You are talking to a guy that has lead poisoning from anther hobby. NO solder for me. Maybe lead free solder, or silver solder... Hmmm that would be easier. Silver solder with a tig torch.... Hmmm.. I think you are onto something. Lower heat input too.

I'm going to put the bottom of the fermenter in a pot of boiling water before I use it.

Waiting for a response from the seller.

David

 

[HarkinBanks]

Many thanks for the in depth review David, very helpful. That bottom weld looks quite a bit different from the one on the ebay listing!

 

[RonRock]

Certainly use a Lead Free. I was thinking Stay Brite.

The Harris Products Group - Brazing, Soldering & Welding

 

[Droot]

Here was my response from the Ebay seller

***********************************************************
Hi David, yeah they all have some evidence of welding, however you have to clean and sanitize before every batch anyway. Nothing will become infected in a clean enviroment. Don't woory, you will NEVER have a bad tasting beer from the conical. I've been using mine for 9 years.....Test it out and you will see.
FYI : After cleaning always fill with a little idafor and water....let stand 15 minutes then drain. Most important...let it air dry, then fill with wort.

**************************************************************

I'm taking it to work today and going to hit it with the silver solder. I have the stuff to do the job right, even a tool (positioner) that will hold and turn the whole unit for me while I weld it.... Its what I do. Stay tuned for more pictures

 

[Droot]

Well, I totally muffed the job and ended up cutting 1/2" off the bottom and making a new one. It looks fine now. Going to put it into service tomorrow morning. While working on it, I took the thermometer out and found out it can be calibrated, so I did. I matched it with my digital fluke meter and temp probe. I ended up turning it down one degree.

It'll be full tomorrow. The lid takes a #7 stopper for the airlock, my #6 was too small.

David

 

[Droot]

We brewed today. I made an english bitter 11 gallon batch. When done, I drained half of the wort into a cube. The other half I drained hot into the fermenter so it would be sanitized one more time.

I cleaned and cleaned because I was mucking around with the bottom of it. I even took the ball valves apart and cleaned them. I then sanatized with Star san, but wasn't totally comfortable, so I decided to chill the wort in the fermeter. It worked great so far.

Wort was 185*f or so. this was to sanitize it one more time. I then put the sanitized chiller in the fermenter until the big easy to read thermometer was down to 68*f or easier to read yet, 20*c. Yeast is pitched.

It looks nice sitting in my bedroom. Tomorrow I can drain off the trub. Website recommends 8 ounces. I am not going to save the yeast this time. This is my first time with Safeale S-04. Next batch will be with liquid yeast and I WILL keep and wash that.

From my figures, 1/2" in the fermenter is 1 quart. 2.5" down from the top should be 5.5 gallons. I am getting a blow off hose for next time and will put 6 gallons in it.

What a Blast!
David

 

[HellenicHomeBrewer]

Good write up man!!


I could not get the weldless thermometer to stop leaking on the BK.

 

[Sawdustguy]

Well, the worst thing I could have done was let my wife look over my shoulder while I was reading this post. I haven't gotten a birthday present in over 25 years. I buy my wife a birthday every year because it is important to her. I prefer to simply forget my birthday because it is just another reminder along with my gray hair that I have reached my 50's and I am getting older. My birthday is at the end of this month and yesterday my wife hands me a PayPal reciept for two of these blasted conicals. Mind you, this is the first birthday gift since we have been married 25 years ago. I wonder what she wants?

 

[HellenicHomeBrewer]

she wants ONE during the divorce! lol just kidding.. Let us know how the welds turn out on yours.

Well, the worst thing I could have done was let my wife look over my shoulder while I was reading this post. I haven't gotten a birthday present in over 25 years. I buy my wife a birthday every year because it is important to her. I prefer to simply forget my birthday because it is just another reminder along with my gray hair that I have reached my 50's and I am getting older. My birthday is at the end of this month and yesterday my wife hands me a PayPal reciept for two of these blasted conicals. Mind you, this is the first birthday gift since we have been married 25 years ago. I wonder what she wants?

 

[Droot]

I understand. One year for my bithday My then wife let me buy a maltmill. I don't remember which birthday, but I've had it a long time and it works like the day I bought it.

Congratulations on the twins!

I drained some yeast off, got a 2 cup measuring cup and drew off 8 oz. Buncha stuff...

I pitched the yeast satruday afternoon. Its close to done. The temp of the beer climbed from 67 or 68 to 70 to 71. Yeast sez its good to 75*f, but I don't want to find out. The air conditioner is cranked now. Yeast is Safeale S-04

There is no yeast on top, only some trub floating, in small spots. Just a layer of big bubbles. If this works, I can leave it there for 2 weeks and into the keg. The next batch I am using liquid yeast and going to harvest it for the first time.

Edit: This takes my sanitation to a new level.
David

 

[Sawdustguy]

I understand. One year for my bithday My then wife let me buy a maltmill. I don't remember which birthday, but I've had it a long time and it works like the day I bought it.

Congratulations on the twins!

I drained some yeast off, got a 2 cup measuring cup and drew off 8 oz. Buncha stuff...

I pitched the yeast satruday afternoon. Its close to done. The temp of the beer climbed from 67 or 68 to 70 to 71. Yeast sez its good to 75*f, but I don't want to find out. The air conditioner is cranked now. Yeast is Safeale S-04

There is no yeast on top, only some trub floating, in small spots. Just a layer of big bubbles. If this works, I can leave it there for 2 weeks and into the keg. The next batch I am using liquid yeast and going to harvest it for the first time.

Edit: This takes my sanitation to a new level.
David

I hope everything works out well for you David.

I knew there had to be a catch. She hit me with it at supper tonight. My wifes hobby is showing Labradors. We have a male well on his way to his championship. I don't mind her dog hobby, as a matter of fact, it gives me brew time when she is away at dog shows. She now wants another puppy to develop for the show ring. Well, $1500 for the dog, food, training and all the other extras, I think I should grab for the KY jelly.

 

[Droot]

I put in my next batch with Wyeast 1056. Gonna be a yeast farmer (rancher?) tomorrow after work. I purchased some 8 oz canning jars.

Same procedure as last time. I drained off the hot wort into the fermenter, cooled it to 65*f, added 02, and pitched the yeast. I"m liking this thing so far.

24 hours after pitching, I have a pancake on top of "stuff". Nothing out the drain in the bottom, just a little bit of hop stuff almost no trub. I will skim it today and discard.

Just a note. The lid seals much better when I put the gasket on the fermenter, not the lid.

David

 

[doggage]

How do you cool it in the fermenter, Droot?

 

[Droot]

Just throw in the chiller that has been in the brew pot for more than 15 minutes.

50' 1/4" copper. I have a well. The water is worthless for beer, but its cold and free.

Here it is after the 1st day. I skimmed this and put the lid back on.



Putting HOT (195*f) wort in the fermenter gives me a warm fuzzy feeling the fermenter it totally sanitized. Now I can harvest my yeast in peace.

I thought the whole idea of a conical was to harvest the yeast from the bottom.

David

Beautiful aint it?

 

[doggage]

Ah...Thanks. Very nice (and tempting).

 

[BrewSpook]

Can anyone give the overall dimensions of these conicals? Want to see if I can fit two in my design for the fermentation chamber/keezer.

 

[freddyb]

I skimmed this and put the lid back on.

Why would you do that?

I thought the whole idea of a conical was to harvest the yeast from the bottom.

Yes, when it settles in the cone of the fermenter, you collect it by opening the dump valve on the bottom.

 

[Droot]

This is my first time with a conical. The first batch I used S-04 and it all went to the bottom. I harvested it, but did not keep it. This is 1056 and seems to hang around the top. I'm still figuring it out.

I skimmed the first batch of stuff and tossed it yesterday. I have some 8 oz mason jars boiling to try to harvest and wash the yeast.

Going to skim it again for the yeast.

Am I supposed to wait till its done? Anything I have read said to skim.

All advice will be read and taken into consideration. I even posted a question in general techniques but got one response.

David

 

[Droot]

Can anyone give the overall dimensions of these conicals? Want to see if I can fit two in my design for the fermentation chamber/keezer.

16 X 33 are the general dimensions.

David