Looking to turn a glass carboy into a "conical" fermentor. I need some feedback.

[Dland]

Oxygen exposure and intracellular CO2 removal is very beneficial to yeast before pitching. The intracellular CO2 removal takes time, a matter of hours.
Yeast are ideally pitched at high kräusen.

I always apply generous pure O2 with stone when using re using yeast cake, plus the agitation wort gets being pumped 20ft into cellar. Yeast is always working actively by the next morning, sometimes sooner, at controlled lager temps, so they must be doing OK. Beer is clean w/o off flavors.

(Apologies to OP for thread hijack)

 

[RPh_Guy]

Never did say my fermenters (or probably by definition anything I own) are pinnacle of anything, {;

Someday I hope to have a stationary brewing set up, probably w at least half barrel jacketed conical and kettles to support. That would start to become too heavy to clean using my current methods.

Did not go fermentation 'fridge route myself for several reasons, multiple fermentors in use being one, but did build a glycol chiller, which I find to be more a lot versatile and plays to advantages of building I ferment in(has cellar w 12in concrete ceiling).

Not wanting to start an argument, and I agree, to each their own, but I will never be convinced that plastic brewing vessels, of any kind, are not subject to break down and scratching.

We seem to agree the pitfalls of glass(mostly danger of breakage/injury) usually outweigh the benefits for most people. Heck, I'd even go as far to say stainless kegs are safer than bottles, & have scar to prove it.

I'd probably still choose glass over plastic, but that reflects my bias, perhaps I spent too long in restaurant business when I was "too young to know better"(haha). I've seen what happens to vessels of all sorts, in a relatively short time, when in constant use, as opposed to the more occasional use of even a fervent home brewer.

Sounds good!

There no question stainless is the ultimate in durability. IMO that's the main reason to use it.
However, plastic is also very durable in a home brewing setting if you properly care for it. ... Way different than plasticware in a kitchen.

Where do you get one of these?

For the record, I use Fermonsters and I have maybe 8 of them in various sizes. I like them a lot.
I was just comparing with a bucket for the sake of argument since it's the lowest price and still has all the essential features.

6 gal bucket with hole ($14)
https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-bucket-6-gal-hole.html
Spigot that rotates ($4)
https://www.morebeer.com/products/plastic-spigot-bucket-sediment-block.html
Lid with gasket ($4)
https://www.morebeer.com/products/lid-6-gallon-bucket-gasket-tear-strip-hole.html

This bucket and spigot are very sturdy.

As for leaving the trub in the kettle I've never been very good at that. I can whirlpool and leave behind maybe 75% of the trub easy enough but don't have the patience to wait an hour+ for the kettle to settle to clarity [...]

The fining agents used and kettle pH make a huge impact and don't require settling times that long.
I'm using Brewtan B, Whirlfloc, and Polyclar VT, and adjusting pH to 5.1 late boil. (Thanks @Robert65)

Cheers

 

[eric19312]

The fining agents used and kettle pH make a huge impact and don't require settling times that long.
I'm using Brewtan B, Whirlfloc, and Polyclar VT, and adjusting pH to 5.1 late boil. (Thanks @Robert65)

Cheers

I'm using brewtan b and whirlfloc and working on getting pH down there.

But I am also chilling with immersion chiller with large quantity of whirlpool hops. My post boil volume is about 19 gallons. When I pull the IC I spin the wort for about 2 more minutes and then kill the pumps. I have a full kettle of murky wort at this point. It is literally an hour or more for this quantity of chilled wort to drop clear. Possibly you are doing hot whirlpool and then running to fermentor through plate or CF chiller. I believe hot whirlpool is supposed to drop clear much faster than cold.

 

[Robert65]

The reason a hot whirlpool appears to drop clear faster, is simply that you haven't formed the (much finer particle size) cold break yet. So no matter how clear that wort is going to the HEX, you may still end up wanting to do a trub dump in the fermentor.

I use an IC and settle, but at only 7 gallons post boil, that goes much more quickly than at 19 gallons. At your scale, for lots of reasons, a unitank would be very attractive.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I'm using brewtan b and whirlfloc and working on getting pH down there.

The things you're not doing are what made the difference for me. I had a murky mess with just BtB and Whirlfloc.
I currently pump through a CFC to chill the whole batch down to pitching temp in the kettle.

 

[eric19312]

The things you're not doing are what made the difference for me. I had a murky mess with just BtB and Whirlfloc.
I currently pump through a CFC to chill the whole batch down to pitching temp in the kettle.

Ok next brew I’m going to focus on getting kettle ph below 5.1 before adding whirlfloc. Polyclar I’m not ready to add just yet.

 

[odie]

Like this?View attachment 666015View attachment 666016

I've got two of those. Bought them years and years ago...I never even used them. Looked like a great idea at the time (20 plus years ago) but I was scared to actually try it. Had visions of wort hemorrhaging out the fitting.

I still have them...probably not worth a thing...just another early home brewing oddity...

 

[odie]

Still unused after all these years...

 

[Jayjay1976]

Still unused after all these years...

Dry hopping would be a nightmare.