DIY Conical Fermenter

[Two Dog's Brewing]

Well not to hijack the thread but I found this at work today. I work at a power plant and this was an Emergency Eyewash station. It is SS and in perfect swhape. We had to change styles because of the feds. Anyway It is 36" high and 12" across. Can anyone tell me roughly gallons??


Im thinking a fermentor or something. Any ideas anyone. Im very curious. I love DIYing stuff so this is right up my alley for my backyard brew station.

Thanks everyone. Be Creative Im open minded.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

It is 36" high and 12" across. Can anyone tell me roughly gallons??

Assuming a cylinder with a diameter of 12" and height of 36," you get about 17.6 gallons.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The prototype is done! Well, as done as it's gonna get before I put beer in it for the first time. The lid still doesn't quite seal, even after strengthening it. It's so close, I think if I find a softer, wider gasket material, it'll seal well.

 

[disaffected]

That is beautiful.

Do you think you'll run a risk of contamination from the lack of complete sealing?

When you going to take it for a test ferment?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

It actually takes a few pounds pressure before it starts leaking, so I'm not worried about it. I just can't use the CO2 transfer method until I get the seal to hold (not that I need to - it's up higher than a corny).

I was dead set on brewing this weekend and filling that thing up with 15 gallons of amber ale, but I never finished the brew closet. Broke my heart to put my REALLY healthy starter in the fridge tonight. I think I'll try and brew this week sometime before work.

 

[Brewsmith]

That thing is a beauty. Very nice. Would you ever be interested in selling some? I'd gladly drive to NM and hand you cash for one!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

That thing is a beauty. Very nice. Would you ever be interested in selling some? I'd gladly drive to NM and hand you cash for one!

Actually, that's my plan. I have four more in the works. I'll have a price and details worked out in the next week or two.

 

[Brewsmith]

Cool. You're not exactly close to Los Angeles, but I'm always out to Arizona, so then you're only a state away! That is of course all the way through Arizona first, but it's practically next door...

 

[anon2]

Yuri:

I seem to recall that you're at least thinking about chilling your conical. As I mentioned in my post in brew-stands, here is a link from another tinkerer that built quite a contraption for chilling his conicals.

http://www.brewcommune.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1697

This kind of thing is just up your alley.

Anyhow. Enjoy!

Dan

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I seem to recall that you're at least thinking about chilling your conical. As I mentioned in my post in brew-stands, here is a link from another tinkerer that built quite a contraption for chilling his conicals.

http://www.brewcommune.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1697

Very cool (literally)! I'm building a chilled brew closet, but I'll keep this in mind if I start using more than one conical fermenter. Thanks for the link!

 

[atomrat]

Yuri,

Are those pits on the inside of the cone? or is it just dirt and lighting making it look like it is pitted.

I like your design and will consider building one myself someday. I wish I had seen your posting prior to yesterday, I would be ordering the parts now.

Garry

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Yuri,

Are those pits on the inside of the cone? or is it just dirt and lighting making it look like it is pitted.

I like your design and will consider building one myself someday. I wish I had seen your posting prior to yesterday, I would be ordering the parts now.

Garry

Actually, that's water from a recent leak test.

Thanks for the compliment on the design - I copied a bit from "The Fermenator," but the corny top was my idea. I'm planning on selling a few if you don't want to spend the time making one yourself. Of course, in my book, that's well over half the fun!

 

[Desert_Sky]

Cool. You're not exactly close to Los Angeles, but I'm always out to Arizona, so then you're only a state away! That is of course all the way through Arizona first, but it's practically next door...

Cool, want to pick me up on the way? I may get one of these too.

 

[disaffected]

I'm interested as well, depending on what the final price works out to be.

You game to make more than four of these to sell if there's demand, Yuri?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'm interested as well, depending on what the final price works out to be.

You game to make more than four of these to sell if there's demand, Yuri?

Depends on how the finances work out. I think it'll be somewhat profitable without breaking the bank for the bros here. An early estimate puts the price around $550 + shipping (I think I can ship 'em UPS ground for $30-$40). A comparable sized Fermenator will cost you around $700.

 

[Brewsmith]

That sounds great. You can basically put me on the list for one. It will be a couple of months before I can save up my nickels, and I need to get my temperature controlled fridge up and running first, which will require some electrical modification to the garage. I might actually still opt for pick up. Where are you in NM anyways?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'm in Alamogordo - about an hour east of Las Cruces and a little over an hour north of El Paso. A month or two is a good time frame, as they don't take that long to make, but I'd like to ferment a batch in the one I've completed to make sure I don't have any unforseen issues.

 

[Todd]

You're right about relatively thin - it's 14 ga material, and it has some minimal warping from welding the corny top onto it. I tried four latches tonight, and sure enough, it leaks, but not terribly. I'm going to add that collar you describe - here's my source for the flat bar.

For the rotating racking arm, I kinda copped out and just bought one. Here's the link for that.

YURI I can't find that racking arm, now much was it? I see northern brewer has one for $99

 

[Yuri_Rage]

YURI I can't find that racking arm, now much was it? I see northern brewer has one for $99

The link still works - AHB $49.99.

 

[Todd]

The link still works - AHB $49.99.

That is odd, when I was trying to search it kept bringing back no results, now this morning is works. Oh well, maybe they had a server problem.

Thanks.

did you have any problems with leaks or anything with it?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

That is odd, when I was trying to search it kept bringing back no results, now this morning is works. Oh well, maybe they had a server problem.

Thanks.

did you have any problems with leaks or anything with it?

No problems at all so far! I love it for sampling - no mess, easy to get just the right amount for a gravity reading. I'm about to use it to keg the batch I brewed last week. Yup, I know, green beer. But I have nothing on tap.

EDIT: Just finished kegging - I only kegged 5 gallons, the rest is still in the fermenter. I force carbonated it, and it's clear and tastes pretty good already!

 

[Desert_Sky]

EDIT: Just finished kegging - I only kegged 5 gallons, the rest is still in the fermenter. I force carbonated it, and it's clear and tastes pretty good already!

now thats cool!

 

[Todd]

Is this at 1 week old? What beer did you make? Ever since the guy at troegs told me they only keep the beer in the fermentor for 7-10 days has me curious..

 

[Yuri_Rage]

This is my AG Alton Brown recipe at 9 days. Efficiency was low - beefed up with some DME. It's going to be a great session beer, I think.

 

[JoeRags]

I bought my 24.2 gallon hopper from TMS today! I've still got lots of equipment to procure for my 20 gallon setup, but its getting there! :rockin:

Yuri, you mind giving me some details on your racking tube? At what point are you drawing from? What led you to placing it at that height? You think I could get away with just the vavle on the bottom of the tank?

Thanks!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I bought my racking arms from Austin Homebrew - search their site for "rotating racking arm." I followed their directions and placed it 6" from the bottom of the fermenter. I probably lose less than a pint between the bottom of the racking arm and the bottom of the fermenter. You could certainly just use a single valve at the bottom. I elected to use two so that I could have a massive dump valve at the bottom and a smaller transfer/racking valve for finer control.

 

[justbrewit]

i'm sitting here reading this post for the first time and i got to thinking, i my have a solution for your leaky lid. i work in the medical field fixing medical equipment. dealing with sterilizers, heat and hi pressures, i think the lid lock you need is about 4 to 5 sets of tabs welded to the edge of the lid, the same amount of (this will be hard to explaine) threaded, swing down bolts and a few nuts.

so, you have 5 screws welded to the sides of the fermenter, those swing up to fit between the "prongs" on the lid, then you take the nuts and just screw the lid down until its secure. with that kind of down force on the lid, you will have no troubles pressuring that baby up enough to force carb the entire batch i'm sure.

just my thoughts. also, i was thinking about your airlock, why not just fab a little metal airlock thats all one piece with the screw on attachment at the bottom. then just make a little metal bubbler cup or use one of the ones for the plastic air locks. once again, just my 2 bits. very nice work BTW. gonna have to start buggin my father-in-law to start teaching me how to weld!!!! :rockin:

 

[Yuri_Rage]

the lid lock you need is about 4 to 5 sets of tabs welded to the edge of the lid, the same amount of (this will be hard to explaine) threaded, swing down bolts and a few nuts.

why not just fab a little metal airlock thats all one piece with the screw on attachment at the bottom

I agree that your solution for sealing the lid is a good one...great even. I think I've managed to simplify it, though. After looking at several conical fermenter designs, I think I'm going to secure the lid like the fermenters at More Beer. Those are just a single arm that runs across the top of the fermenter with a big wing nut/screw that applies pressure at the lid center.

I like your airlock idea except that it's a lot of work for little gain, IMHO. I think I'll stick with the ball valve on top that allows the option of attaching a blow-off tube or plastic airlock.

EDIT: Please don't take this as my being dismissive of your ideas...I'd already decided on the lid design, and the airlock would just be too labor intensive to put into practice. Thanks for the input, and please keep watching the thread!

 

[justbrewit]

EDIT: Please don't take this as my being dismissive of your ideas...I'd already decided on the lid design, and the airlock would just be too labor intensive to put into practice. Thanks for the input, and please keep watching the thread!

like i said, just my 2 pennies. not gonna hurt my feelings, i just got a working fridge for free today lol now i can start my first keg fridge. one of 3 i'm planning lol

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Awesome - have fun with the fridges. They're REALLY simple once you get a plan together.