Spike Conical- observations and best practices

[jturman35]

I have a inline filter I can use. I’m paranoid the beer storing around inside the filter housing is somehow introducing oxygen. I always purge the line of beer but it seems like the filter housing is never completely full which makes me paranoid about o2.

What does the racking arm position have to do with picking up hop debris? Seems like as long as there is beer in the sight glass below the position of the arm it shouldn’t matter? Now granted this particular batch I wasn’t able to get clear beer in my sight glass due to being short on time.

 

[eric19312]

I have a inline filter I can use. I’m paranoid the beer storing around inside the filter housing is somehow introducing oxygen. I always purge the line of beer but it seems like the filter housing is never completely full which makes me paranoid about o2.

What does the racking arm position have to do with picking up hop debris? Seems like as long as there is beer in the sight glass below the position of the arm it shouldn’t matter? Now granted this particular batch I wasn’t able to get clear beer in my sight glass due to being short on time.

I am not happy if I see any air in my closed transfer line or the inline filter. If I see any I find the leak and make it go away. No point in doing a closed transfer if you are bubbling in air while you do it!

If you can dump hops till you see beer in the sight glass you (probably) have no need of a filter and can rack with the racking arm down to maximize your finished product. But if you dry hopped with a pound or two this may mean a very long settling period or wasting a lot of beer to get them all out. I added the (probably) because if you dump your hops fast you might have blasted a hole through the mass, see beer in the sight glass, but still have most of your hops in the cone.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

The TC system is not the only way to control temperature. If you are doing a CF10 or CF15 a stand up freezer works really well and offers numerous advantages over going with the coils and glycol.

Sure you will be happy with Spike however you go and no need to hurry the decision, the daydreaming about it is part of the fun.

Hey eric19312, how large of a chest freezer is needed for a CF15?

 

[eric19312]

Hey eric19312, how large of a chest freezer is needed for a CF15?

I'm using 20.2 CF upright freezer. I don't think a chest freezer is feasible.

Pretty sure you can get away with a 17cf but not as roomy for accessories.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

I'm using 20.2 CF upright freezer. I don't think a chest freezer is feasible.

Pretty sure you can get away with a 17cf but not as roomy for accessories.

Ha! Yes, meant to type upright
Debating between a 15gal and 10gal. I suppose the 17cf would work for the CF10. Thanks for the help!

 

[TrainSafe]

I'm super excited! My CF10 (with TC100 and accessories) is out for delivery today. This will be a huge upgrade from plastic buckets and carboys.

Planning on breaking it in Sunday with a 10 gallon batch of a NEIPA

 

[Broothru]

I'm super excited! My CF10 (with TC100 and accessories) is out for delivery today. This will be a huge upgrade from plastic buckets and carboys.

Planning on breaking it in Sunday with a 10 gallon batch of a NEIPA

You're gonna' love fermenting in a conical. It offers a lot more control with the process. But it also brings some new concerns that may not be obvious at first. I know I wasn't anticipating a few things when I went from plastic to stainless with regards to cleaning.

Your first cleaning before use is really important and requires some time. Follow the manufacturer's guidelines and take your time, especially if it means putting off the first brew session. Do a complete breakdown, cleaning and reassembly to get rid of residual machine oils. This step alone will get you intimately familiar with your new gear and show you what needs to be done on a routine basis. It ain't your basic brew bucket!

It goes without saying that sanitation is a must. Don't spare the Star San. After a brew session or two you'll discover the places where nasties like to hide, outside the reach of hot water spraying and quick soaking. These are areas that will need attention after every use.

Treat your equipment right and it'll reward you with good results. The beer gods will look down on you with favor. Most of all enjoy the process and take pride in your beer and accomplishments.

Congratulations!

 

[TrainSafe]

Thanks. My plan is to run a batch of hot PBW through it initially and giving it a good scrub. That will be followed by a hot water rinse, and then a good dose of star-san. I've read through Spike's guidance on this. Please let me know if you see anything I missed.

I've got an electric HERMS setup, so my plan is while my mash and strike water is heating in the HLT, I'll use my BK to heat the PBW and I'll have an hour or two to clean during out the CF10 during the mash and sparge. Then I can reassemble and sanitize during the boil so that everything is set.

I've spent countless hours over the past three weeks reading through this thread, but I'm sure I'm going to miss something.

The one accessory that I didn't buy was the leg extensions/casters/base. I'm planning on building a bench for it alongside my brewing setup, but I'll use it on the floor for the first couple of sessions to zero in on exactly what I want/need.

 

[Nate R]

If you got the cooling coils.... Take your time on them to clean for the 1st time!
My coils came with printing on the stainless steel... Not a big deal, but for all of the work I do to prevent bugs, I was wanted everything super clean.
{Problem is getting to the inside of the coils... you need to soak in PBW and get a $3 bottle brush from the market).

 

[eric19312]

@TrainSafe have you done a pressure check? Good idea to do that today and see if it holds pressure overnight. No liquid in the fermentor but get all the gaskets wet as you put them together. Most likely issue will be the lid gasket...a little practice and that lid/gasket design really does work great but I'd try to get that practice before filling with NEIPA.

 

[TrainSafe]

Eric, I haven’t done anything yet. I’m out of town until later today. The brown Santa delivered my packages from Spike while I was gone. (I'm like a kid on Christmas morning— I can’t wait to play with my new toys, but I’m not there.)

I’ll put it together tonight and pressurize it before going too far. Good idea.
Thanks for the tip on wetting the gaskets. I’d have likely missed that!

 

[Broothru]

Eric, I haven’t done anything yet. I’m out of town until later today. The brown Santa delivered my packages from Spike while I was gone. (I'm like a kid on Christmas morning— I can’t wait to play with my new toys, but I’m not there.)

I’ll put it together tonight and pressurize it before going too far. Good idea.
Thanks for the tip on wetting the gaskets. I’d have likely missed that!

That's OK. They're "self wetting". Ask me how I know.

 

[TrainSafe]

Pressure check and PBW scrubbing complete! I had only two leaks which I consider to be very good for my first time. One leak was on the ball lock post of the gas manifold. Because it came with an o-ring already applied to the threaded nipple, i didn't use teflon tape on that fitting. Big mistake. Removed the o-ring and applied tape and that leak was fixed. The second was around the lid seal. It held until about 10psi then showed a slow leak. That was corrected by really cranking down on the lid clamp. I even had to use a wrench to get the 1/4" gap specified by Spike.

Now on to sanitizing and fermenting! My first batch is mashing as I type

 

[FunkedOut]

Just kegged my first 15 gallon batch last night.
It was dry hopped with a measly 10.5oz (0.7oz/gal).
I started with an empty cone when I added the dry hops, having previously harvested all of the yeast, and did not dump any hops at all before racking.

When racking into kegs, I was able to get the racking arm down to about 8, maybe 7 o'clock, before bits of the hop pellets came out to clog the ball lock QD. That last keg, has bits of hop material that need to be dumped after the keg settles after being tapped.

I like the idea of that inline filter for kegging.
Looking at the VacMotion site, they offer a version with quick connect fittings molded right in.
The 3/8" size should work great with the 9.5 EVABarrier tubing.

I am looking at the mini series and the low profile series.
The mini series has twice the surface area of the low profile series, but can only be had in a mesh down to 15 microns.
The low profile series can be had in a mesh down to 10 microns.
15 and 10 will probably accomplish the same thing, letting yeast and any chill haze to go right on by.
I just like the idea of the finer mesh, but worry about the smaller surface area clogging quickly.

I realize you're using a 300 micron filter, but how does your mini series perform when racking a 3 keg batch?
Does it cross the finish line clogged? Or with plenty of clean screen?
Do you ride the racking arm down into the hops? Or try to stay above it?

Thanks.

 

[Broothru]

Pressure check and PBW scrubbing complete! I had only two leaks which I consider to be very good for my first time. One leak was on the ball lock post of the gas manifold. Because it came with an o-ring already applied to the threaded nipple, i didn't use teflon tape on that fitting. Big mistake. Removed the o-ring and applied tape and that leak was fixed. The second was around the lid seal. It held until about 10psi then showed a slow leak. That was corrected by really cranking down on the lid clamp. I even had to use a wrench to get the 1/4" gap specified by Spike.

Now on to sanitizing and fermenting! My first batch is mashing as I type

Good work. Be glad in the fact that it was water and not wort.

Teflon tape. The "duct tape" of plumbing! Don't be afraid of keg lube as well.

 

[TrainSafe]

OK guys, I need a little help. . . .

I saw that one of you (I swear it was in this thread) created a bluetooth repeater antenna for your tilt. This was a simple insulated wire bent and hooked so that part of it is inside and part is outside the conical. Maybe I'm losing my mind. I searched and searched.

If one of you kind folks has it bookmarked, I'd appreciate the pointer.

Edit: Nevermind. Found it. Not in this thread, but in this forum. Here's the thread

 

[eric19312]

Just kegged my first 15 gallon batch last night.
It was dry hopped with a measly 10.5oz (0.7oz/gal).
I started with an empty cone when I added the dry hops, having previously harvested all of the yeast, and did not dump any hops at all before racking.

When racking into kegs, I was able to get the racking arm down to about 8, maybe 7 o'clock, before bits of the hop pellets came out to clog the ball lock QD. That last keg, has bits of hop material that need to be dumped after the keg settles after being tapped.

I like the idea of that inline filter for kegging.
Looking at the VacMotion site, they offer a version with quick connect fittings molded right in.
The 3/8" size should work great with the 9.5 EVABarrier tubing.

I am looking at the mini series and the low profile series.
The mini series has twice the surface area of the low profile series, but can only be had in a mesh down to 15 microns.
The low profile series can be had in a mesh down to 10 microns.
15 and 10 will probably accomplish the same thing, letting yeast and any chill haze to go right on by.
I just like the idea of the finer mesh, but worry about the smaller surface area clogging quickly.

I realize you're using a 300 micron filter, but how does your mini series perform when racking a 3 keg batch?
Does it cross the finish line clogged? Or with plenty of clean screen?
Do you ride the racking arm down into the hops? Or try to stay above it?

Thanks.

I guess this is directed at me. Thanks for making me feel like an idiot for not taking a look at the quick connect offering on their site. Go for it, wish I'd noticed that.

Yesterday I kegged 15 gallons from what was almost 18 gallon batch into the CF15. I did like you did and dropped my yeast before dry hopping. Dumped about 3 quarts. Then I dry hopped with a bit more than 16oz of T90 pellets. (yes the 3" sight glass dry hopper holds a full pound+ in 1 go ) I burped the dry hops after a day and then started cold crashing under pressure. I cold crashed 10 degrees every 12 hours to 30F and held it there for a day and then dumped hops. Over 24 hours I dumped about pint at a time 4 times. When I transferred using the inline filter (like you said 300 micron - 50 mesh) with the racking arm pointed straight down. I filled three kegs in less than 30 minutes without having to stop to clean the filter. When I took the filter apart to clean it there was nothing in it... Same as last time. I will keep using the filter for insurance. I've had my share of nightmare closed transfers and think insurance against plugging a poppet is worth it. But for my purpose the small filter capacity is plenty.

 

[FunkedOut]

Thanks for replying.

Your filter is actually the bigger of the two; mini vs low profile.
I went ahead and ordered a mini (same size as you) with a variety of filters to see how small I can go without troubles. 178, 100, 80 and 40 microns.
I skipped the 15 micron screen, as it has a 915 micron backing. Seems like between the two screens is a great place for things to get stuck and hide.

I do not dry hop often, maybe 1/3 of my brews. It’ll be a while before I report back.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

@eric19312 Glad to hear you got 15gal in the kegs on that batch. I know at the dry hopping rate it takes a lot of trial and error and sounds like it went well for you.

 

[mcmeador]

Hey, everyone. Question about dumping trub with the CF5: When I dump, I typically add a little CO2 pressure to the fermenter, but it seems like no matter how much I add, I always get a little bit of thick trub, and then cloudy liquid beer starts running. My thought has always been that I am adding too much pressure, and it is punching a hole in the trub, so every time I try to do a little less and have the same results. Yesterday, I probably applied no more than 1 PSI, and the same thing happened.

Is this just normal? Do I need to dump in multiple phases over the course of 2 or 3 days? I had considered trying to dump without any pressure in the fermenter, but my concern with that is that air bubbles will force their way up through the open dump valve and into the beer to fill the vacuum. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Nate R]

Hey, everyone. Question about dumping trub with the CF5: When I dump, I typically add a little CO2 pressure to the fermenter, but it seems like no matter how much I add, I always get a little bit of thick trub, and then cloudy liquid beer starts running. My thought has always been that I am adding too much pressure, and it is punching a hole in the trub, so every time I try to do a little less and have the same results. Yesterday, I probably applied no more than 1 PSI, and the same thing happened.

Is this just normal? Do I need to dump in multiple phases over the course of 2 or 3 days? I had considered trying to dump without any pressure in the fermenter, but my concern with that is that air bubbles will force their way up through the open dump valve and into the beer to fill the vacuum. Any tips would be appreciated.

I think the answer depends on what your end goal is.
If you are not harvesting or reusing yeast, then often you do not even have to dump.
I was cheap and did not get the racking arm at first... but that baby change my life!!! I do not yet re-use yeast, so i use the racking arm until the beer gets cloudy.

2nd question... do you cold crash? If so, then most of the trub settles down low. If not, then you may want to do multiple dumps.

3rd q: lots of dry hop? Anything under say about 2 ounce for me is easier. NE dry hops are a pain- for that i would do multiple dumps!

Final Q: are you after crystal clear beer? If so yeah multplie dumps. But you lose good beer each dump. For me, i am good with a cold crash, racking arm, and then rack to keg. I then let the keg sit in my really cold keezer... the first pour is a little trubby, but clear after that!!

Hope that helps!! There are some other helpful users here who will have some other ideas to!!!

Edit: sorry... less psi is best, but a little is good to help oxygen suckback. Under 1 if you can... just a little bit.

 

[mcmeador]

I think the answer depends on what your end goal is.
If you are not harvesting or reusing yeast, then often you do not even have to dump.
I was cheap and did not get the racking arm at first... but that baby change my life!!! I do not yet re-use yeast, so i use the racking arm until the beer gets cloudy.

2nd question... do you cold crash? If so, then most of the trub settles down low. If not, then you may want to do multiple dumps.

3rd q: lots of dry hop? Anything under say about 2 ounce for me is easier. NE dry hops are a pain- for that i would do multiple dumps!

Final Q: are you after crystal clear beer? If so yeah multplie dumps. But you lose good beer each dump. For me, i am good with a cold crash, racking arm, and then rack to keg. I then let the keg sit in my really cold keezer... the first pour is a little trubby, but clear after that!!

Hope that helps!! There are some other helpful users here who will have some other ideas to!!!

Edit: sorry... less psi is best, but a little is good to help oxygen suckback. Under 1 if you can... just a little bit.

1) I’m not harvesting yeast. I know I don’t really need to dump the yeast most of the time, but it makes me feel better for whatever reason to know that I can turn the racking arm all the way down and not have to worry about sucking up trub, though I know I’d be better off volume-wise to leave it alone and just find the sweet spot where I’m still getting clear beer each time I rack.

In the event that I plan to do a secondary in the conical (such as for aging on oak), it would be nice to know that I can get all of the trub out so that it’s not sitting on it too long.

2) I do cold crash, but I normally dump before I drop the temp. I prefer not to dump after because I want to avoid stirring things back up and then having to let it sit for another couple of days to settle back out before I keg.

3) The most dry-hopping I have done is 2 ounces, and that was actually the first time I wasn’t able to rotate the racking arm all the way down when racking to the keg. When I tried to turn it down to around the 4 o’clock position two separate times, the dip tube in the keg clogged and I had to switch my connections around and push CO2 into the keg to clear the dip tube out. It wasn’t even apparent from looking at the beer running through the lines that I was sucking up lots of solids, so it caught me by surprise when it clogged up. That’s something I would like to avoid in the future obviously.

4) I’m not too concerned with it being crystal clear most of the time, but I am going to be trying gelatin on the beer I have in the fermenter now to see how that improves the clarity since it’s an American light lager. Cloudiness wouldn’t be a good luck with that style. The last lager I did (a Mexican lager) suffered from chill haze. It never really cleared up as much as I had hoped until the last quarter of the keg maybe.

Thanks for your detailed response!

 

[Nate R]

I think you may see better results if you crash before you dump next time... maybe try it, see what happens.
If you keep the psi very low, and only open the bottom 2" dump valve very slowly and only a little bit, you may not even kick up that much.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I agree, and slow being the key. A sight glass really helps with this, I open the valve slowly, like 1 notch and wait for a minute, if it doesnt start to move then I go to the second notch. Once I see movement in my sight glass I cut it back. Some times I will spend 10 or 15 minutes getting the trub to move but obviously that depends on the yeast and the dryhop amount. I typically have about 2psi of co2 pressure.

 

[Nate R]

Welp, the new spike lid is available. It is 20% off right now, too.
I ordered one because... well, if you're here, you know.

I cannot wait to see what you all here can come up with ( @eric19312 i'm lookin' at you! Lol)

For me, i am just looking forward to having options.

 

[eric19312]

Welp, the new spike lid is available. It is 20% off right now, too.
I ordered one because... well, if you're here, you know.

I cannot wait to see what you all here can come up with ( @eric19312 i'm lookin' at you! Lol)

For me, i am just looking forward to having options.

Perhaps at some point I will see something to do with it but for now I am going to just watch the rest of you. I'm not convinced of the need for the additional ports at all if you are not using the chilling coil. Interested to see if Spike comes up with a dry hop doser that works well on one of those 1.5 inch ports. Based on others experience I am skeptical it can be done. For the CF10 and CF15 I think one or two larger lid ports would have made more sense. The lid is bigger on those units right?

 

[mcmeador]

Perhaps at some point I will see something to do with it but for now I am going to just watch the rest of you. I'm not convinced of the need for the additional ports at all if you are not using the chilling coil. Interested to see if Spike comes up with a dry hop doser that works well on one of those 1.5 inch ports. Based on others experience I am skeptical it can be done. For the CF10 and CF15 I think one or two larger lid ports would have made more sense. The lid is bigger on those units right?

Yeah, I’m not sure I understand the new lid. You can’t use the blowoff and PRV together, so why have dedicated ports for both? I guess the hop port is nice so you don’t have to remove the blow-off or PRV, but you’re still having to remove something (the cover), so is it really adding that much convenience?

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I ordered one, mainly to try out the hop port. I wish it was at least a 2" opening but oh well, I'll give it a try. I am not going to wait for a spike hop doser, looking at the one that Stout makes so I plan to order that along with some extra valves. I think I will put a valve on each port with each accessory already attached so when I need to switch from blow off to prv all I need to do is close a valve and open another with no need to remove a cover.

 

[eric19312]

Yeah, I’m not sure I understand the new lid. You can’t use the blowoff and PRV together, so why have dedicated ports for both? I guess the hop port is nice so you don’t have to remove the blow-off or PRV, but you’re still having to remove something (the cover), so is it really adding that much convenience?

I can see blow off with a valve like the SS Brewtech unitank blowoff assembly on one port with manifold on another port. That way if you wait a little too long to swap your blowoff for the manifold you don't let oxygen into the fermentor during the swap. Maybe a full sized PRV or a nice spunding valve on the other one.

 

[mcmeador]

I can see blow off with a valve like the SS Brewtech unitank blowoff assembly on one port with manifold on another port. That way if you wait a little too long to swap your blowoff for the manifold you don't let oxygen into the fermentor during the swap. Maybe a full sized PRV or a nice spunding valve on the other one.

Yeah, I guess I can see a valve being placed on the blow-off port so you can close that off without removing it, but then again Spike explicitly states on their site not to attach their gas manifold until after primary fermentation is complete due to risk of clogging, so you would still have to open a port and attach the gas manifold at some point.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t a sounding valve used for pressure fermenting? In other words, would there even be a situation in which you would need to have both a blow-off and a spunding valve attached?