Conical For Yeast Washing

[milldoggy]

All,
I have access to some free schedule 80 CPVC, so I had an idea. What about a mini conical for washing yeast. Dump in entire trub from a carboy, let settle, dump out the bottom trub to leave the yeast, and viola, clean washed yeast. Here some of the pieces. Still need to get a 4" 1 ft piece and a screw cap for the top.

 

[djsethall]

Or, for $35 you could have this

 

[milldoggy]

Link did not link to an item. What is it?

 

[djsethall]

http://cynmar.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=11520082

 

[emjay]

http://cynmar.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=11520082

The link still doesn't go to a specific item, just the homepage for me. But since it's on a lab supply page, I'm assuming you're talking about a separatory funnel? I don't see one on the site, but I can't think of what else you might be referring to. Am I correct?

 

[Atl300zx]

just do that site, and search for this number

11520082

 

[milldoggy]

That would be to easy and I like homemade projects. Thanks for the link, pretty cool.

 

[djsethall]

With your current rig, I see a lot of joints where little nasties can hang out and contam your yeast. The link I provided is a fully sterilizable setup. Can even be autoclaved.

 

[DrJerryrigger]

Or, for $35 you could have this

Or you could just buy some beer and give up brewing. Thanks for posting in the DIY forum!

Sure you need to be more careful sanitizing it, but bleach is cheap. Lab ware and an autocave is not. I'd like to have a bunch of lab ware, but I don't. And I like to see people coming up with home made stuff. So thanks for the post, keep it up!

 

[djsethall]

Or you could just buy some beer and give up brewing. Thanks for posting in the DIY forum!

Sure you need to be more careful sanitizing it, but bleach is cheap. Lab ware and an autocave is not. I'd like to have a bunch of lab ware, but I don't. And I like to see people coming up with home made stuff. So thanks for the post, keep it up!

+1, I do love the DIY aspect of homebrew. When it comes to my beers, I don't take risks of contamination though. I haven't purchased a seperatory funnel yet, but have moved up to using a microscope and a hectacytometer for cell counts and bacteria checks.

 

[emjay]

Or you could just buy some beer and give up brewing. Thanks for posting in the DIY forum!

Sure you need to be more careful sanitizing it, but bleach is cheap. Lab ware and an autocave is not. I'd like to have a bunch of lab ware, but I don't. And I like to see people coming up with home made stuff. So thanks for the post, keep it up!

Why would you need an autoclave for the purchase to be considered? Whatever way you plan to sanitize, it'd work better with the glass separatory funnel, due to both theii geometry (smooth, and very little spaces for crud and microbes to hide) and the material itself - bleach (like every other chemical method) is far from guaranteed to adequately sanitize CPVC, and it just takes one unfortunate infected batch of yeast to render the CPVC useless.

And there's no need to be so rude to the guy, he was just trying to help you. Many people DIY in order to9 avoid paying WAY too much for identical functionality (at least for those functions one actually uses.) Other people (like me) DIY for the sheer enjoyment, but when DIYghhju means taking considerably higher risks with potential contamination, they really need to re-evaluate both the pleasure derived and monetary savings, and whether it's worth it.

In this case, the DIY is very short-lived, seems to involve little more than screwing a few pieces together, and saves you $30 at most, yet results in a vastly inferior product.

Nobody can force you to buy the funnel, but it should seem like a total no-brainer to most people, and one would easily assume that you were simply unaware that such a thing not only existed, but is quite inexpensive. So jumping on the guy with the smartass comment that this is the DIY subforum as if he didn't know, and then comparing his suggestion to saying that one should forego brewing and just buy their beer, was completely uncalled for.

 

[orangehero]

You can sterilize a sep funnel in the oven.

 

[djsethall]

You can sterilize a sep funnel in the oven.

Or, you could use a poor mans autoclave aka pressure cooker. I picked up a nice one for about $10 plus shipping from ebay. Garage sales usually have them if you look.

 

[trigger]

I think that the sep funnel is a good concept, but I really don't think that it will work particularly well in this application. I use them regularly in the lab and the passage in the stopcock is very narrow. I imagine it will easily become clogged with protein or thick yeast. They are made to separate aqueous and organic phases, and the narrow passage allows a better resolution of the interface between liquids.

Also, the sep funnels we commonly use are 500 or 1000 mL. They cost much more than $35. I haven't seen the cynmar product, but in lab glass usually cheaper means less durable. These things are quite delicate to start with, and due to the volume involved and the nature of its use I would make sure to get a high quality product.

Finally, you will need a stand to hold the funnel upright. You could buy or fabricate one, but you will need to design it in such a way that it is securely supported and allows you to visualize the interfaces. In the lab we use appropriately sized rings on ring stands, and wind them with pipe cleaners to protect the glass from the metal of the ring.

 

[milldoggy]

So I tested it out tonight. Will post pics of the final product. It seals nicely with no glue. So I can take the whole thing apart, sanitize and reassemble. I sat it upright for 30 minutes, turned the dump valve, nice think stuff came out. We will see tomorrow after it settles.

 

[day_trippr]

Can't really tell the size of that CPVC setup - what do you think it's volume capacity might be? I'm trying to picture whether the roughly ~1/3 gallon of yeasty hoppy trub settled at the bottom of one of my 6.5 gallon carboys after primary could fit...

Cheers!

 

[milldoggy]

It is 4" schedule 80 with a 4x1 reducer. I have about a 12" piece going into the reducer with a cap. I will get a full pic tomorrow. It held around a 1/2 gallon.

 

[day_trippr]

It is 4" schedule 80 with a 4x1 reducer. I have about a 12" piece going into the reducer with a cap. I will get a full pic tomorrow. It held around a 1/2 gallon.

Excellent! That'd work perfectly, I believe. Be interested in how you think the first run results turn out.

Cheers!

 

[milldoggy]

Well the settling does not look promising. I did one batch by jar, one by conical. Maybe I switched them, not sure. Will have to wait for the next washing. Going to dump more and let settle longer