Stout conical fermenter 12.5 G - Easy upgrade

[Sidman]

Had a Homer Simpson DOH moment the other day. I was considering upgrading to a newer conical with a wider dump port as I have had trouble with yeast dumps. I usually have to use co2 and do some burst pressurizing to get the yeast to dump when it's been sitting for a while. As I was cleaning the fermenter I noticed more metal than open passage way when it came to the ball valve. Upon further investigation both of the ball valves that come with the fermenter are only 3/4". I upgraded to a 1.5 TC butterfly for $30 and have had a huge improvement in yeast dumps.
Just an fyi for anyone else in the same boat.

 

[augiedoggy]

I have the same conical and valve and tried a bigger butterfly valve only to have problems myself with too much flow too quickly and went back to the 3/4" valve... Ive never had the valve stop up on me myself but was looking for something easier to clean.. I do filter my trub out before it hits the fermenter though.

 

[Sidman]

I have the same conical and valve and tried a bigger butterfly valve only to have problems myself with too much flow too quickly and went back to the 3/4" valve... Ive never had the valve stop up on me myself but was looking for something easier to clean.. I do filter my trub out before it hits the fermenter though.

What is your current filter set up? Pretty disappointed in what I have in that I am using a hop spider, trub trapper and an inline filter. Inline filter gets clogged halfway through. Perhaps I am not whirlpooling long enough.

 

[augiedoggy]

What is your current filter set up? Pretty disappointed in what I have in that I am using a hop spider, trub trapper and an inline filter. Inline filter gets clogged halfway through. Perhaps I am not whirlpooling long enough.

hmm I dont whirlpool... I recirculate for the mash so its clear going into the kettle and use 2 14x6' 300 micron hop spiders as well as a 12" piece of stainless braid connected to my diptube on my kettle..

I did just purchased this, https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lon...32805890242.html?spm=a2g0s.8937420.0.0.m9nqen but I haven't used it yet (but its looks nice).. I need to experiment with it since I will not be using hop spiders with the 3bbl brewery im building for a nano im helping to open.

 

[Sidman]

hmm I dont whirlpool... I recirculate for the mash so its clear going into the kettle and use 2 14x6' 300 micron hop spiders as well as a 12" piece of stainless braid connected to my diptube on my kettle..

I did just purchased this, https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lon...32805890242.html?spm=a2g0s.8937420.0.0.m9nqen but I haven't used it yet (but its looks nice).. I need to experiment with it since I will not be using hop spiders with the 3bbl brewery im building for a nano im helping to open.

Please let me know if that works for you as that is very close to the one I have, just the 3" body version instead of 4. I was told that pumping slower or feeding by gravity was the best way to use it. Unfortunately I always seem to be in a hurry at the end of a brew day and try to pump too fast I guess. I think I'll look into some kind of additional filter at the pick up tube.

 

[iijakii]

Some yeast just turns into cement. Do a dump after a couple days to get rid of some trub, seemed to help me. Any reason you don't want to just keep pushing it out with CO2?

 

[augiedoggy]

Some yeast just turns into cement. Do a dump after a couple days to get rid of some trub, seemed to help me. Any reason you don't want to just keep pushing it out with CO2?

Didnt your AHB conicals come with the full size butterfly dump valves? Mine did.. thats the valve I tried on my stout conical and I dont care for it.

I have read some people dump some trub after waiting an hour or two from filling the conical and than add yeast..

 

[Sidman]

Didnt your AHB conicals come with the full size butterfly dump valves? Mine did.. thats the valve I tried on my stout conical and I dont care for it.

I have read some people dump some trub after waiting an hour or two from filling the conical and than add yeast..

This is what I have been doing lately. Beer transferred to conical around 80 degrees. Then I set the fridge for 66 and when the beer gets there I do a dump and then pitch. Lately I have been waiting for fermentation to be complete and then open valve with yeast catcher jar and cold crash.

I had one occasion where it was so solid that I had to use a short piece of sanitized tube to break through and that was a little messy.