Mini-Brew 6.5 conical for Christmas

[nasmeyer]

I was getting ready to replace my Ale Pail, buy a 6.5 carboy, along with replacing some hoses, auto-siphon etc. for Christmas but decided to buy a Mini-Brew 6.5 conical fermenter instead. Many benefits and alot easier to ferment (I think). I have a few questions for anyone who brews with a conical, I am sure there are new tricks to learn!

1) It would seem logical to dump the yeast/trub more often having the ability to do so with a dump valve, but I have read many times where it is benificial to keep the beer on the yeast cake for a while. I brew mostly Ales, when and how often should the trub/yeast be dumped prior to completion of (primary) fermentation?

2) When and how often would the yeast get dumped during the clearing stage (secondary fermentaion)?

3) At what point would I collect/dump yeast to use for a future brew?

4) Is an airlock necessary if the lid is designed to not seal? won't air suck back through the airlock when dumping, or this this the reason the lid isn't designed to seal?

5) What other tips/tricks are there for brewing in a conical fermenter?

 

[khiddy]

Hi! I have the Mini Brew 6.5, so I can speak right to your questions!

1 & 2) I typically drop the trub on day 2 of the fermentation, because that's where the coagulated proteins and hop residue are the main things at the bottom of the fermenter, as well as the deadest yeast. Then you don't really need to drop the trub again for another 5 or 6 days, when you'll get more of the dead yeast, and every 5 or 6 days thereafter until your primary (and now technically secondary) fermentation is complete, say a month or so for average ales.

3) I usually rack the beer off into a keg or the bottling bucket, get it all prepared, then drop the yeast that's left to use for future brews. This yeast is the youngest yeast in the brew, since it was the last to fall to the bottom before racking, plus you'll have some yeast still swimming around in the bit of beer that was left on top of the cake yet below the racking port.

4) I have a rubber gasket around the lid, and then I clamp it down with 7 C-clamps, so I actually get a seal and use an airlock. When dumping, I remove the airlock or open the auxiliary hole and cover it with a star-san/iodophor-soaked rag.

5) To clean, simply fill with a scoop of Oxyclean and hot water to the top, and let sit overnight. Use the gentle side of a scrubby to wipe any krausen ring off after you've drained the oxyclean. Rinse well with hot and cold water. Every two or three brews, unscrew the ball valves/thermometer and give them a wash. Reseal the ports with teflon tape.

 

[Desert_Sky]

I Dont have a mini brew but I have a few 27 gallon conicals

Dont dump trubb until fermentaion is complete. Crash cool after a d-rest to collect yeast for reusing.

Lid doesn't seal? Why not?

Remember, temp inside the conical will be a few degrees higher than ambient due to heat created from fermentation.

 

[Brew-boy]

I have read you really do not want the last yeast to flocculate. You want a section from the middle as an "Average" of the early and the late yeast that flocculates. This will give you more of an average culture you you rebuild it up.

 

[khiddy]

Hmmm... I'd not heard that, it's an interesting theory. I actually sometimes will use yeast from a trub drop in the 2nd or 3rd week, so I guess I do that as well. I'm going to start culturing my yeast here in the near future, I guess I can always do some experimenting...

 

[Desert_Sky]

It's like this.....

Why harvest the trubb? It's mostly break material and hops. During fermentaion it's all over the place and dumping before fermentation is done is a waste of time becasue you wont dump all of it.

Once fermentation is done you want yeast still in suspension to clean up after themselves. After that is done crash cooling will cause the yeast still in suspension to go dormant and flocc out and fall. When you dump after a week you will collect a really nice sample of good and healthy yeast without much trubb at all.

Trust me, collect yeast this way for the next batch and it will take off in 2-3 hours.

 

[khiddy]

With an ale, I recommended dropping the trub on day 2, then waiting 5 or 6 days later to harvest. The hops and break are gone with the first dump, and it's all yeast after that (or primarily, at least).

With a lager, obviously, you don't want to drop the trub too often, since the yeast is doing its thing at the bottom of the tank. I agree with you in that case, leave it for longer before you drop. But with an ale, it's just as fine to harvest several times during the process.

And my harvested yeast cakes have always taken off in just a few hours.

 

[Desert_Sky]

With an ale, I recommended dropping the trub on day 2, then waiting 5 or 6 days later to harvest. The hops and break are gone with the first dump, and it's all yeast after that (or primarily, at least).

You do realize that on day 2 it is in peak fermentation and all the break and hops are agitated up into the beer itself? You've watched fermentation in a glass carboy right? All that stuff churning is break material and any residual hops left from the boil. The trub then settles back onto the bottom once its finished.

 

[khiddy]

I do realize that, thanks. I'm giving my personal experience of using a Mini-Brew 6.5 conical, which is what the OP asked. In my experience, dropping the trub 2 days after beginning of fermentation drains a fair amount of break and hop material, and I haven't perceived any negative effect on fermentation.

Waiting until fermentation is done, as you recommended, just leads to a thick sludge that slowly oozes its way out of the bottom port, followed by an explosive flow of beer that makes a mess. And that's IF the flow will even start; sometimes it just sits there and you need to find a screwdriver or something to jab up the port like a trub enema.

But that's just my experience with the product in question.

 

[weirdboy]

How do you temperature control the mini-brew? Do you just stick the whole thing in a fridge or fermentation chiller?

 

[nasmeyer]

Lid doesn't seal? Why not?

I have read that they market the mini-brew without a lid gasket, and claim it doesn't need one! I also have heard people say they have not had a problem without one. It might be to keep costs down too, the gasket is at least $20 I was told.

 

[nasmeyer]

I was told by a guy in my local brew store that after he pours the wort into his conical (not a "mini-brew) he waits a few of hours, dumps whatever trub has settled at the bottom, then pitches his yeast. I would be concerned about possible infection with added time before fermentation begins, any thoughts on this?

 

[Brew-boy]

I was told by a guy in my local brew store that after he pours the wort into his conical (not a "mini-brew) he waits a few of hours, dumps whatever trub has settled at the bottom, then pitches his yeast. I would be concerned about possible infection with added time before fermentation begins, any thoughts on this?

I have been doing this and when I use a carboy I cover the kettel and wait an hour. Open the valve and drain into carboy then pitch. I never had an infection and I leave a large portion of the break material behind.

 

[Desert_Sky]

Waiting until fermentation is done, as you recommended, just leads to a thick sludge that slowly oozes its way out of the bottom port, followed by an explosive flow of beer that makes a mess. And that's IF the flow will even start; sometimes it just sits there and you need to find a screwdriver or something to jab up the port like a trub enema.

.

which is what it is supposed to . normally you have a section of tube going into a bucket to catch it all


but keep on trucking to your own beat brother.

 

[Desert_Sky]

How do you temperature control the mini-brew? Do you just stick the whole thing in a fridge or fermentation chiller?

If possible yes. Remember you will need ambient a few degrees colder than you want fermentation temps

 

[Brewin_CRAZY]

With an ale, I recommended dropping the trub on day 2, then waiting 5 or 6 days later to harvest. The hops and break are gone with the first dump, and it's all yeast after that (or primarily, at least).

You do realize that on day 2 it is in peak fermentation and all the break and hops are agitated up into the beer itself? You've watched fermentation in a glass carboy right? All that stuff churning is break material and any residual hops left from the boil. The trub then settles back onto the bottom once its finished.

Chimone, I hate to break it to you but what khiddy is doing is whats recommended to do from pretty much all the major fermentation science books out there. The reason for doing this is not just because of the trub, of course there will still be trub floating around because of fermentation thats why you wash yeast. The main reason for doing it is due to non viable yeast. You dont want to collect dead yeast at the end of your brew or poorly viable yeast that has settled out.

To add on to all of this for the original post. Make sure that you keep an eye on your ferm temp. If you are unable to keep your temp under control during a batch, get rid of the yeast (unless you are trying to make new strains). When yeast get stressed they will start to mutate and change their functionality.

 

[Desert_Sky]

Chimone, I hate to break it to you but what khiddy is doing is whats recommended to do from pretty much all the major fermentation science books out there. The reason for doing this is not just because of the trub, of course there will still be trub floating around because of fermentation thats why you wash yeast. The main reason for doing it is due to non viable yeast. You dont want to collect dead yeast at the end of your brew or poorly viable yeast that has settled out.

Negative bud. But like I said before keep on doing it your way.

 

[Brewin_CRAZY]

Negative bud. But like I said before keep on doing it your way.

We are not trying to ruffle feather here man, just give good advice. Just for an example I will quote Michael Lewis (The guy that wrote the #1 fermentation science textbook "Brewing" I recommend reading it)

"Yeast is harvested three times during frementation:
After 1-2 days the yeast is harvested and thrown away, first harvest yeast has dead yeast, non-viable yeast, and trub. Around the 5th day (depending on fermentation) yeast is harvested for the second time, washed, and properly stored. The thrid and final harvest is completed at the end of fermentation. This harvest typically will have strained yeast due to the low levels of sugars and is also thrown away."

If you dont want to believe me, believe him. So i will just have to shoot it right back to you. Negative bud, keep on doing it your way as I am SURE there is little difference in the two ways that we harvest yeast. One is just what has been recommended to us by a professional and the other might have some yeast in it that is a little less viable. If you have a method to remove dead and non viable yeast using your harvesting technique then i would love to hear about it because that method involves two less steps.

 

[SC_Ryan]

Two year old thread bump but this one brings up a question for me. Those of you that pull your harvest on the 5th or 6th day, what percentage of the sample would you estimate is trub? I would be especially interested in hearing from people who have washed samples that were pulled from a conical on the 5th or 6th day.