Fast fermenter conical

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Jrblessing1

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I'm curious to see how you fellow brewers are using your conicals. How long are you fermenting your batch? Are you doing a secondary in the same vessel or just letting it ride out for 2-3 weeks. Do you add your priming sugar in the conical and bottle, or are you dumping into a bottling bucket then bottling?
 
I am currently in my second batch with my Catalyst conical. I fermented for a week and dryhopped for a week. Last night I replaced a mason jar full of trub and yeast and dropped the temp in my fermentation chamber to 35F. In a few days, I will add gelatin. I hope to add sugar, stir and bottle from the conical next Sunday.
 
"How long are you fermenting your batch? Are you doing a secondary in the same vessel or just letting it ride out for 2-3 weeks."

Until it's done... I installed a petcock where the thermometer well was and sample after a week or so to check the gravity. If near or at my target I will sample two days later to see if it is stable. Often I will let it stay in the fermenter another few days to a week to clear before transferring to a keg and cold crashing it. If I want it really clear, add gelatin after the beer cools a day or two in the keg.

My common practice is to tranfer from the boil kettle to the fermenter (via pump and a CF chiller) after a whirlpool and 20 minute settle. If there was little trub transferred, then pitch and let'er rip! If I know a quite a bit of trub came over, I will give the sides of the fermenter a light tapping with a wood block periodically over a couple of hours then dump the trub ball (I leave the valve open always - YMMV). Any time the ball has a lot of trub the next morning after brewing I will dump it - esp if I want to harvest yeast from the batch...a little cleaner yeast that way.

I dry hop in the fermenter and use a nylon/muslim hop bag or two depending on how many hops I'm using... most of the time weighted and tied off with a piece of fishing line poked up through the airlock hole. Anytime I open the lid I squirt a long shot of CO2 in just before I close the lid again. I rarely dump the trub ball after the initial brew day/second day dumps.

I've fermented out and moved the beer to a keg - or bottled (using a bucket and mixing the sugar into the beer in the bucket not the Fastferment - a little anal about not sticking anything in there that might scratch the plastic.) within 10 days. Other batches have set in the Fastferment 4 weeks.

I think all of us that use the Fastferment find a process we are comfortable with...I just wish I had another one. Love the "blingy" stainless conicals but both out of my price range and less convenient for my methods.

Cheers!
 
I just completed my second batch yesterday with the Fastferment conical.

This is my brew day plus more with the FastFerment:

After wort is cooled, I pour into the conical with the collection ball attached and the valve closed leaving behind as much trub as I can in the kettle.
I open the valve letting it fill the collection ball and wait 24 hours until I pitch my yeast. I leave it overnight to let the trub settle into the collection ball before yeast pitching.
The next day I close the valve, empty out the collection ball, sanitize, reattach and open the valve. I then pitch my yeast.
I let it ferment all the way through and when finished, I dry hop by just throwing my 2 oz of hops in the conical.
I let it sit for 5-7 days until ready to bottle.
Bottle day comes, I empty the collection ball and any hop trub backed up in the neck of the conical.
I prime by mixing my dextrose in boiled water, cool and poured straight into the fermenter. I stir gently for about a minute to ensure it is mixed well.
I then bottle using the bottling tube they provided (I bought a bottling wand for my second batch).

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
Was there any sediment when you bottled from fermenter?

Well, I'm assuming the normal amount that would be in beers once the heavy stuff was removed. My filled bottles have a small layer of yeast at the bottom and some floating sediments. I'm assuming once they are in the fridge for a couple days it will all sink to the bottom and clear up.
 
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