Spike Conical- observations and best practices

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CottonBrew said:
I, like Sbe2 start with the blowoff barb, then add the manifold when the primary fermentation starts to subside and the krausen drops. I was concerned with krausen contaminating the pressure gage, PRV, or gas port so never started fermentation with the manifold. I add dry hops when I install the manifold and purge with CO2 to reduce the exposure to oxygen.
Click to expand...

Same
 
HB2 HughBHomeBrew said:
Just a +1 on this. Looking back at last IPA 5 gallon/CF5 batch with 6 ounces of dry hops, I wasted about 3qts. Maybe more than was needed on that one, but you just have to waste more with those beers.
Click to expand...
Recently doing dry hops in my cf10 and have had the dreaded clog on the first few tries. The racking arm is designed to rotate, which after a few tries, found the right angle to get both kegs full without a bunch of gunk, or trying to get the hop/trub cement to go through. A partial dump the day before racking also seems to have helped.
 
HB2 HughBHomeBrew said:
Just a +1 on this. Looking back at last IPA 5 gallon/CF5 batch with 6 ounces of dry hops, I wasted about 3qts. Maybe more than was needed on that one, but you just have to waste more with those beers.
Click to expand...

No, no, no, no, no!

You didn't waste 3 quarts; you invested it in producing beer better than you can buy at the corner taproom.

Right? :)

********************

To account for losses I have overbuilt recipes (and volumes) by 10 percent, which on a 5-gallon batch is actually fairly close to 3 quarts (just slightly more, actually). I just accept that there will be losses in the mash tun, in kettle trub that doesn't go into the fermenter, in trub that settles out in the fermenter.

It's an investment. Here, have a pint.....
 
mongoose33 said:
No, no, no, no, no!

You didn't waste 3 quarts; you invested it in producing beer better than you can buy at the corner taproom.

Right? :)

********************

To account for losses I have overbuilt recipes (and volumes) by 10 percent, which on a 5-gallon batch is actually fairly close to 3 quarts (just slightly more, actually). I just accept that there will be losses in the mash tun, in kettle trub that doesn't go into the fermenter, in trub that settles out in the fermenter.

It's an investment. Here, have a pint.....
Click to expand...
At $20 per 4 pack at a good NEIPA brewer. It is a very good investment for my taste buds and bank account.
 
SEndorf said:
I'm absolutely THRILLED with the CF-10 and have the first batch nearing the end of fermentation (holiday ale).
It fits nicely inside my fermentation fridge, but there is no top headroom to utilize the 4" port.
Not a problem though. I will fill from the chiller into the racking port with a QD. (Thanks Mongoose)
I'll aerate from the carb stone, and I'll pitch yeast up through the bottom port with the Norcal Yeast Brink (another handy tool I'm thrilled with, which doubles as a no oxygen dry hopper).
I'm adding some sweet orange peel and crushed cinnamon stick at the end of this fermentation using the yeast brink which will be an oxygen free addition.

View attachment 652940
Click to expand...

Well, after seeing your post, reading more posts, and talking with Jay, I decided to buy the 3" sight glass yeast brink. I plan only to use it for spices and hops.

Well, very early this morning I used it for the first time to add spice to my Pocahontas Pumpkin Ale that finished fermenting. I mixed McCormick's Pumpkin Spice with sterilized RO water. Then I filled the sight glass full of beer before injecting it back into the fermenter. After that, I repeatedly filled and injected back into the fermenter four more times to insure there was an adequate mix.

I'm using Spike's carb stone for the first time. Hopefully, either late Friday night or early Saturday morning I will be able to sample the beer to see how well the spice mixed and to see how carbonated it is. If everything goes well, then on to bottling!

Below pictures below show how it looked before I filled it with beer the first time.

IMG_2542.jpg


IMG_2543.jpg
 
mongoose33 said:
No, no, no, no, no!

You didn't waste 3 quarts; you invested it in producing beer better than you can buy at the corner taproom.

Right? :)

********************

To account for losses I have overbuilt recipes (and volumes) by 10 percent, which on a 5-gallon batch is actually fairly close to 3 quarts (just slightly more, actually). I just accept that there will be losses in the mash tun, in kettle trub that doesn't go into the fermenter, in trub that settles out in the fermenter.

It's an investment. Here, have a pint.....
Click to expand...

Absolutely! [emoji4][emoji106]
 
My first beer out of my CF5 was a big hit at our turkey day celebration. Made a La Fin Du Monde clone that came out pretty damn close to the original.

I stupidly forgot to orient the racking arm upward before using the carb stone so it really wasn't covered in beer unfortunately, a mistake i hopefully wont make again. I may just put another butterfly valve behind the sample port and use that for carbing instead just to make sure I don't. Other than that the whole process went really smooth and it was very nice not having to use a siphon and void oxygen exposure while racking to the keg.

Cleaning was a lot easier than i expected. I didn't even have to use any PBW, just a quick scrub down with some soap and water was enough to get it sparkling. Considering i had quite a bit of blow off on this batch that was a nice surprise.
 
Doing my first attempt at cold crash right now. Can't seem to get past 40F. Here is the setup
  • CF5. Spike TC-100 (with the heater but obviously not in play atm). With the neoprene insulator and insulated glycol hoses.
  • Penguin 1/3 HP chiller with 50/50 propylene glycol/water.
  • Have 4.9g of beer in there, a Porter starting at 1.063 and now 1.014 - ABV 6.4%
  • Ambient indoor controlled temp of 71F
Fermented at 64F, then set TC at 40F and Penguin glycol at 28F (Did not forget to add 5PSI of CO2). Got to 40F within a couple of hours. Switched the hoses as per Spike instructions re: temperature inversion. From there have not gotten below 40F. The Penguin chiller instructions said this could be icing and to raise chiller temp to 32-34 then "walk it down" a degree at a time. Have had no luck with this. Actually briefly got to 37.5F with chiller at 34, but then back up to 40F again.
 
HB2 HughBHomeBrew said:
Doing my first attempt at cold crash right now. Can't seem to get past 40F. Here is the setup
  • CF5. Spike TC-100 (with the heater but obviously not in play atm). With the neoprene insulator and insulated glycol hoses.
  • Penguin 1/3 HP chiller with 50/50 propylene glycol/water.
  • Have 4.9g of beer in there, a Porter starting at 1.063 and now 1.014 - ABV 6.4%
  • Ambient indoor controlled temp of 71F
Fermented at 64F, then set TC at 40F and Penguin glycol at 28F (Did not forget to add 5PSI of CO2). Got to 40F within a couple of hours. Switched the hoses as per Spike instructions re: temperature inversion. From there have not gotten below 40F. The Penguin chiller instructions said this could be icing and to raise chiller temp to 32-34 then "walk it down" a degree at a time. Have had no luck with this. Actually briefly got to 37.5F with chiller at 34, but then back up to 40F again.
Click to expand...

Heh. I have a CF10 with a half batch right now, it's at 38 degrees. Ambient in my garage is 50 degrees. I have the penguin set at 28 degrees.

Part of your issue is that it's pretty warm there at 71 degrees, and there are all these heat sinks hanging off the fermenter pulling in heat from ambient.

One thing you might try is wrapping the fermenter with a moving blanket or similar to try to isolate it from ambient a bit. Something like this:

conicalblanket.jpg

The temperature at which beer freezes drops about .8 degrees for every 1 percent ABV. So, if your beer is 5% ABV, 28 degrees is right at the edge. My beers are never as low as 5 percent ABV so I set it at 28 and forget it.
 
mongoose33 said:
Heh. I have a CF10 with a half batch right now, it's at 38 degrees. Ambient in my garage is 50 degrees. I have the penguin set at 28 degrees.

Part of your issue is that it's pretty warm there at 71 degrees, and there are all these heat sinks hanging off the fermenter pulling in heat from ambient.

One thing you might try is wrapping the fermenter with a moving blanket or similar to try to isolate it from ambient a bit. Something like this:

View attachment 654953

The temperature at which beer freezes drops about .8 degrees for every 1 percent ABV. So, if your beer is 5% ABV, 28 degrees is right at the edge. My beers are never as low as 5 percent ABV so I set it at 28 and forget it.
Click to expand...
IMG_9542.jpeg

Done. Apparently you I shop at the same moving blanket store - LOL
That is my trusty BIAB moving blanket
 
HB2 HughBHomeBrew said:
Just a +1 on this. Looking back at last IPA 5 gallon/CF5 batch with 6 ounces of dry hops, I wasted about 3qts. Maybe more than was needed on that one, but you just have to waste more with those beers.
Click to expand...
CodeSection said:
Well, after seeing your post, reading more posts, and talking with Jay, I decided to buy the 3" sight glass yeast brink. I plan only to use it for spices and hops.

Well, very early this morning I used it for the first time to add spice to my Pocahontas Pumpkin Ale that finished fermenting. I mixed McCormick's Pumpkin Spice with sterilized RO water. Then I filled the sight glass full of beer before injecting it back into the fermenter. After that, I repeatedly filled and injected back into the fermenter four more times to insure there was an adequate mix.

I'm using Spike's carb stone for the first time. Hopefully, either late Friday night or early Saturday morning I will be able to sample the beer to see how well the spice mixed and to see how carbonated it is. If everything goes well, then on to bottling!

Below pictures below show how it looked before I filled it with beer the first time.

View attachment 654529

View attachment 654530
Click to expand...

+1! That 3" sight glass brink is a great piece of gear. But, man, that thing weighs a TON.

I use it to dump trub, harvest yeast from one fermenter and pitch it in another (oxygen free), dry hop, roust the yeast cake, purge with CO2. This baby is the Swiss Army Knife of TC attachments.

I think my bicep has gained an inch of girth since I started using it.

Brooo Brother
 
Here's the follow-up on my first cold crash with the TC100, Penguin 1/3 HP chiller at 28F, CF5, 4.9g of 6.4% ABV beer, ambient indoor temp of 70F:
  • As posted earlier, was stuck at 40F. Did switch the glycol hoses in/and out as per TC-100 instructions on temperature inversion and did try raising chiller temp in case it was icing (but that seems unlikely with ABV of 6.4%)
  • Wrapping the CF5 with moving blankets did help! Thanks to @mongoose33 ! With this, was able to get to 37.0F
Bottom line:
  • Can get to 37.0F with glycol chiller at 28F, blankets on fermenter, ambient temp 70F, glycol hoses in/out switched at 40F as per TC-100 instructions for temperature inversion (CF5 with 6.4% ABV beer).
 
HB2 HughBHomeBrew said:
Here's the follow-up on my first cold crash with the TC100, Penguin 1/3 HP chiller at 28F, CF5, 4.9g of 6.4% ABV beer, ambient indoor temp of 70F:
  • As posted earlier, was stuck at 40F. Did switch the glycol hoses in/and out as per TC-100 instructions on temperature inversion and did try raising chiller temp in case it was icing (but that seems unlikely with ABV of 6.4%)
  • Wrapping the CF5 with moving blankets did help! Thanks to @mongoose33 ! With this, was able to get to 37.0F
Bottom line:
  • Can get to 37.0F with glycol chiller at 28F, blankets on fermenter, ambient temp 70F, glycol hoses in/out switched at 40F as per TC-100 instructions for temperature inversion (CF5 with 6.4% ABV beer).
Click to expand...

Here's another small tweak to consider, which may get you another degree or two lower. Reduce your PG concentration from 50% down to about 25-30%. Viscosity is very sensitive to PG concentration and temp in this range, and you can lower this value from c. 24 cP (50%) to about 6 cP (25%) at 28F. This means your pump will run at a higher rate, and since you are still well within the freeze points of your beer as well as the PG mix (about 15F), there seems to be no downside in going down to 25-30%. I noted a 2-3 degF improvement in the PG temp of my homemade glycol system for my bar's remote trunkline system by doing this.
 
IMG_9567.jpg

Just another follow-up. CPT of the first cold-crash with the TC-100 and chiller. All looks and tastes great - it’s pretty well carbonated already even though that wasn’t really my intention but I kept a corny keg attached to keep a little pressure on during cold crash. Then just left it there. It’s also my source of CO2 to pressurize for CPT.
 
HB2 HughBHomeBrew said:
View attachment 655637
I get the new ones from Adventures in Homebrewing and have had good luck. The used ones I’ve gotten in the past were leakers pretty quickly [emoji2371]
Click to expand...
I've replaced all of my used kegs w new ones from AIH, really are a good alternative to wrestling w the hodge podge of incompatible fittings
 
logdrum said:
I've replaced all of my used kegs w new ones from AIH
Click to expand...

+1 on this, went the used route for a cheap "Buy 4 for $xx.xx" and ended up sending all of them back immediately due to their condition. Won't make that mistake again.
 
awoitte said:
+1 on this, went the used route for a cheap "Buy 4 for $xx.xx" and ended up sending all of them back immediately due to their condition. Won't make that mistake again.
Click to expand...
Interesting, i've got 12 used ones from different vendors and after changing out O rings and 1 or 2 poppets i've never had one that leaks. I'm happy to see the price on new ones is coming down considerably though.
 
CodeSection said:
Well, after seeing your post, reading more posts, and talking with Jay, I decided to buy the 3" sight glass yeast brink. I plan only to use it for spices and hops.

Well, very early this morning I used it for the first time to add spice to my Pocahontas Pumpkin Ale that finished fermenting. I mixed McCormick's Pumpkin Spice with sterilized RO water. Then I filled the sight glass full of beer before injecting it back into the fermenter. After that, I repeatedly filled and injected back into the fermenter four more times to insure there was an adequate mix.

I'm using Spike's carb stone for the first time. Hopefully, either late Friday night or early Saturday morning I will be able to sample the beer to see how well the spice mixed and to see how carbonated it is. If everything goes well, then on to bottling!

Below pictures below show how it looked before I filled it with beer the first time.

View attachment 654529

View attachment 654530
Click to expand...

Any updates on your brink with dry hopping?
I used mine for the first time with an IPA - 6 oz. hops.
It was a mess. Completely operator error.
I was too impatient and didn't allow enough time for the hops to turn to mush.
The brink itself worked fine. But I needed to remove it a couple of times to shake the mixture into a slurry.
It did dry hop fine, but I'll know better next time.
 
SEndorf said:
Any updates on your brink with dry hopping?
I used mine for the first time with an IPA - 6 oz. hops.
It was a mess. Completely operator error.
I was too impatient and didn't allow enough time for the hops to turn to mush.
The brink itself worked fine. But I needed to remove it a couple of times to shake the mixture into a slurry.
It did dry hop fine, but I'll know better next time.
Click to expand...

I got squeezed on time and could not get in a batch before traveling later this month. The way things look now, it will be mid January before I can brew again.

I'm looking forward to dry hopping with it. Good to know to be patient and wait until it turns completely to mush. If you had to guess, would that take 45-60 minutes?

Instead of taking the brink off, couldn't you have back filled it with wort/beer and let the solution with hops sit and then inject the hops? Then repeat the process until everything was dissolved and injected? I guess I don't understand why you needed to completely remove the brink...
 
CodeSection said:
I got squeezed on time and could not get in a batch before traveling later this month. The way things look now, it will be mid January before I can brew again.

I'm looking forward to dry hopping with it. Good to know to be patient and wait until it turns completely to mush. If you had to guess, would that take 45-60 minutes?
Click to expand...

I waited about an hour which wasn't nearly long enough.
Letting them sit overnight would probably be better.

Instead of taking the brink off, couldn't you have back filled it with wort/beer and let the solution with hops sit and then inject the hops? Then repeat the process until everything was dissolved and injected? I guess I don't understand why you needed to completely remove the brink...
Click to expand...

That would be the logical solution, but due to the mass of semi wet hops the quart jar was solid green and I couldn't see what was going on inside. Several fills and purges didn't change the appearance. At that point I waved the white flag and just wanted it done. I half filled the jar, removed it, shook it, reattached and purged. Needed to do this two or three times.
 
SEndorf said:
I waited about an hour which wasn't nearly long enough.
Letting them sit overnight would probably be better.......That would be the logical solution, but due to the mass of semi wet hops the quart jar was solid green and I couldn't see what was going on inside. Several fills and purges didn't change the appearance. At that point I waved the white flag and just wanted it done. I half filled the jar, removed it, shook it, reattached and purged. Needed to do this two or three times.
Click to expand...

Wow! I would have thought an hour would be long enough. Good to know. Thanks!

Could you describe your process? Did you dump the yeast/trub first or part of it before adding the hops? If no, do you think that might have helped since the yeast/trub would not be compacted and potentially block the hops injection.
 
CodeSection said:
Wow! I would have thought an hour would be long enough. Good to know. Thanks!

Could you describe your process? Did you dump the yeast/trub first or part of it before adding the hops? If no, do you think that might have helped since the yeast/trub would not be compacted and potentially block the hops injection.
Click to expand...

I'm still getting used to the nuances of a conical. This batch is the third (and final) of reharvested WLP001 so the amount of yeast is pretty large. Prior to dry hopping I filled one quart jar with yeast and in hindsight, probably could have filled two or three more before running into liquid.
The amount of yeast/trub didn't hinder the infusion of the hops. I easily pushed them up with 4 lbs. and more pressure could certainly be used if need be.
However my mistake (well.... one of a few) was that I wasn't dropping clear liquid into the container to ultimately be pushed back up with the hops.
The beauty of this brink, is that despite removing and reattaching several times there was still no oxygen ingress in the process since each time I reattached, I displaced the air in the jar with liquid. (We need to fill them completely full of course).
So.. bottom line is I made quite a mess on this learning curve but didn't hurt the beer !
 
SEndorf said:
I'm still getting used to the nuances of a conical. This batch is the third (and final) of reharvested WLP001 so the amount of yeast is pretty large. Prior to dry hopping I filled one quart jar with yeast and in hindsight, probably could have filled two or three more before running into liquid.
The amount of yeast/trub didn't hinder the infusion of the hops. I easily pushed them up with 4 lbs. and more pressure could certainly be used if need be.
However my mistake (well.... one of a few) was that I wasn't dropping clear liquid into the container to ultimately be pushed back up with the hops.
The beauty of this brink, is that despite removing and reattaching several times there was still no oxygen ingress in the process since each time I reattached, I displaced the air in the jar with liquid. (We need to fill them completely full of course).
So.. bottom line is I made quite a mess on this learning curve but didn't hurt the beer !
Click to expand...

Thanks for describing your process. I guess one could fill the container from the racking port before connecting it to the 2" dump valve and injecting the first time. My guess is that you would still have an issue if when you are trying to refill it, with it staying in place and not removing it, for subsequent injections since the yeast/trub is still there.

So, the take away is to dump the yeast/trub prior to dry hopping or plan on multiple attaching and reattaching the container if you leave the yeast/trub in the conical?
 
CodeSection said:
So, the take away is to dump the yeast/trub prior to dry hopping or plan on multiple attaching and reattaching the container if you leave the yeast/trub in the conical?
Click to expand...

Yes! So far.
Later today I'll contact Norcal with this puzzle.
I seem to remember in their instructional video, they opened the valves very fast. That might make it more effective against trub, but they were just using plain water to demonstrate the brink.
 
SEndorf said:
Yes! So far.
Later today I'll contact Norcal with this puzzle.
I seem to remember in their instructional video, they opened the valves very fast. That might make it more effective against trub, but they were just using plain water to demonstrate the brink.
Click to expand...

I just watched the video again and he comments along with showing that beer fills the container full of hops. Therefore, the yeast/trub had to be dumped. That sounds like the process to follow....dump the yeast/trub first.
 
Fermenting my first lager in the CF5 since getting the TC-100 and the Penguin Chiller. In the past, I fermented lager in a keg. Pitched at around 68F (room temp). Then put in uncontrolled fridge that was about 45F after 8-12 hours and it would get to whatever temp - 45-ish probably over a day or two.
Now that I have this tight temp control, how fast do people like to drop the temp? I know there's lots of ways, including cold pitching lagers. I pitched this last night at 66F around 1700. Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager "smack pack" Wort gravity is 1.049. At 0700 today, there is a bubble about every thirty seconds in the blow-off tube bucket (can't see any action in the sight glass). I was going to bring it down to 46F, question is how fast? White Labs website https://www.whitelabs.com/faq/brewing/what-temperature-should-i-pitch-lager-yeast says 10F per 12 hours. Just curious what others here think. I don't want to go so slowly that its more of a "warm-fermented lager."
 
snagged a new heater pad today, ordered that mofo yesterday morning, showed up 10 am, standard shipping! granted, i am in wisconsin but damn, that was fast. new pad is waaaay beefier than the old one. plugged it in and hey, it puts out heat but even better, i don't get shocked like the old one. old one only lasted a year or so, new one seems like it should last for a long time.
 
itsnotrequired said:
snagged a new heater pad today, ordered that mofo yesterday morning, showed up 10 am, standard shipping! granted, i am in wisconsin but damn, that was fast. new pad is waaaay beefier than the old one. plugged it in and hey, it puts out heat but even better, i don't get shocked like the old one. old one only lasted a year or so, new one seems like it should last for a long time.
Click to expand...
What size?? Cf5?
I am looking for one on the cheap... want to get rid of your old one? How bad is it? I can solder and fix wires no problem...
 
Unless you're willing to properly ground your fermenter you should only consider DC powered heating pads.
 
You'd need to drill a hole in some part that will not compromise the pressure capability and attach a cable between fermenter and your house's ground connection.
 
What fitting are you using here? I’m starting to brew more NEIPA’s and the clogs are killing me. I purchased their closed transfer kit but it appears folks are only using one keg connect. I have the 1.5” TC but not sure how to connect to it without using a keg connect with the spring and valve removed.

IMG_8391.JPG
 
@jturman35 , there are many TC connectors on this page at brewhardware, some end in camlocks (which is what I use on my system), some are barbed. Something here should get you set up to draw beer from the conical without having clogging issues at least there.

https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1841.htm

I used to use the TC fitting with the QD post on it, but it tended to clog. I switched to the camlock fitting and not only did things speed up quite a bit, but the clogs virtually disappeared.

Typically I'll flush the racking arm prior to racking to clear anything that settled in it.

Here's what I use:

conicalliquidjumper.jpg
 

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