Suggestions and options for 2" dump port on new conical

[homebrewdude76]

My new conical has a 2" butterfly dump valve.

My first beer in, I had a brewing issue and most trub went into fermenting.

I tried to crack this valve to expel trub, which worked but seemed like I lost allot of beer.

4 days in and I tried to dump again, again seemed like a lot of beer.


I see some people have a slight glass on theirs? What is that used for.
Also others with a second valve.

It almost seems like a 2" valve is too big for a 10gal batch.

Thoughts or Suggestions?

 

[krenshaw]

yeah i think that is quite a design flaw, though you could get past it by only cracking the valve open a little bit to slowly expel some of the trub.. it would be best to put on some sort of reducer attached to a clear hose so you can see what is coming out while you go slow, and just do a little bit every couple hours to let it resettle w/o the beer channeling through

 

[Drumminguy81]

Design flaw?!? So lucky! I guess batch size makes a huge difference. I'm sure it looks like a lot more beer comes out than actually does. But if you're brewing 5 gallons then yes that is an issue. I brew 20 gal and do the same dumps and still end up with the right amount of beer. I wish I had a 2" dump though. My suggestion up your batch size and cold crash before racking.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I'm curious as to why you felt the need to dump the trub twice in 4 days.

I've been using conicals for a few years. I dump for specific reasons.

I want to harvest yeast.
I want to clear a big dry hop.
I want to rack beer to the keg and I need to drop trub to collect clean beer.
It's time to clean the conical.

I actually want the cone to be relatively full of trub, yeast and hops. If my cone is full of beer below the racking arm I won't be able to collect it. So I prefer a bit of trub in the cone.

I can see situations when you have too much trub and you cant pull samples or rack beer but those are usually due to other issues.

A butterfly valve is pretty much an all or none kind of valve. Once you crack it open it's pretty much open.

The 2" valve will be great for dropping the compacted trub pile at the end of fermentation.

 

[homebrewdude76]

This is a light beer and I messed up and transferred all trub and boil hops to fermenter. So I was trying to remove them from conical. And this is all new to me.

I am brewing 10gal batches and conical is 14gal

 

[pocketmon]

Sight glass as yeast harvester might be a solution.
I brew 5 gal batch in this should-be-the-same conical. It's difficult for me to know when to stop dumping.

 

[Dcpcooks]

This is a light beer and I messed up and transferred all trub and boil hops to fermenter. So I was trying to remove them from conical. And this is all new to me.

I am brewing 10gal batches and conical is 14gal

You lost a little beer but you got your mistake fixed. I'm not sure I'd have worried about the trub but it's your beer.

This is a one off thing and now you know your bottom dump probably won't ever clog on you. Brew on!

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I'm curious as to why you felt the need to dump the trub twice in 4 days.

I've been using conicals for a few years. I dump for specific reasons.

I want to harvest yeast.
I want to clear a big dry hop.
I want to rack beer to the keg and I need to drop trub to collect clean beer.
It's time to clean the conical.

I actually want the cone to be relatively full of trub, yeast and hops. If my cone is full of beer below the racking arm I won't be able to collect it. So I prefer a bit of trub in the cone.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Honestly, a lot of my beers, i never touch the dump valve until all the beer is out and it's time to clean it.
Remember that there are a lot of nutrients in that trub that are considered to be good for the yeast, and have no negative effect of your beer.

Also keep in mind that it'll take a week (or more) for solids to compact and firm up enough in the cone so that only solids come out when you open the valve (and isn't that the goal?)

I find it sort of odd that a homebrewer-sized vessel has a 2" dump valve, one of my fermenters is a 20 gallon vessel with a 1" valve and I thought that was huge.

 

[bcrawfo2]

It's like you've been reading my mind homebrewdude76.
I got two new Spike conicals and have the same experience. I'm just on my first batch, but I can't get that trub turd (like I got with my SSBrewtech 1.5" dump valves).
I used to get a lot of slow flowing trub out and then a semi liquid. Now it just shot mostly beer.

I ordered the 2" sight glass to see if that might help me pick the right time to dump. I'm still up in the air on whether to put it before the elbow (vertical) or after the elbow (horizontal). Anyone with a preference there?

 

[Dcpcooks]

Above the elbow is working nicely for me. You can see when it's compacted and you can see when the yeast is flocculating.

 

[homebrewdude76]

I also ordered a 2" sight glass and hardware.
I was debating on a 2" to 1.5" adapter and reduce it down. Maybe later I will.

What about dry hopping? I am assuming if I dump pellets in they will just fall down into the cone?
I would think this would not be optimal.

 

[augiedoggy]

My new conical has a 2" butterfly dump valve.

My first beer in, I had a brewing issue and most trub went into fermenting.

I tried to crack this valve to expel trub, which worked but seemed like I lost allot of beer.

4 days in and I tried to dump again, again seemed like a lot of beer.


I see some people have a slight glass on theirs? What is that used for.
Also others with a second valve.

It almost seems like a 2" valve is too big for a 10gal batch.

Thoughts or Suggestions?

I agree.. my old spike clone conical came with a 2" butterfly valve and its very difficult to not dump too much...

They make butterfly valves with all different size openings. I keep telling myself im going to buy a 1/2 or 1" valve but like my other conicals have which works much better but just havent yet.

I used to use the sight glass but its not really that useful for me. I do use a 90 degree elbow though and sometimes the jaybird canning jar yeast catcher.

 

[hedgie57]

I use Jaybirds yeast catcher. With a quart jar and the dump valve open I transfer wort to the conical , put on the lid and let it sit for an hour or two. close the valve and remove the jar and replace it with another.Then I aerate and pitch yeast.Seems to work pretty well for me

 

[homebrewdude76]

I need to figure out aeration also.... I have a stone, just no source of oxygen.

 

[krenshaw]

I need to figure out aeration also.... I have a stone, just no source of oxygen.

the disposable ones from HD or lowes are great to use.. cheap and easy to get

 

[pocketmon]

I had thought of Jaybirds yeast catcher. However, there is not pressure rating information available, and I don't think it would be a relative good value. I ordered a sight glass and a cap at the end.

 

[homebrewdude76]

I looked at jbird also, eBay sight glass didn't cost much more.

 

[ITV]

[/QUOTE] I find it sort of odd that a homebrewer-sized vessel has a 2" dump valve, one of my fermenters is a 20 gallon vessel with a 1" valve and I thought that was huge. [/QUOTE]

The larger vessels have more head pressure to force the liquid out the dump valve. With a smaller vessel there is less head pressure hence the need for a larger dump valve.

 

[pocketmon]

I looked at jbird also, eBay sight glass didn't cost much more.

Leg extension is necessary for sight glass. It might not for jaybird's catcher.

 

[augiedoggy]

Leg extension is necessary for sight glass. It might not for jaybird's catcher.

Not with the commonly used 90 degree TC elbow.

 

[pocketmon]

Not with the commonly used 90 degree TC elbow.

I am not sure that I understand you, but I think the sediment might rest at the elbow.
Or, the valve can be connected BEFORE the elbow, which would result in extra waste of beer in the elbow. Using only the elbow and a cap as the "catcher" might be another solution.

 

[augiedoggy]

I am not sure that I understand you, but I think the sediment might rest at the elbow.
Or, the valve can be connected BEFORE the elbow, which would result in extra waste of beer in the elbow. Using only the elbow and a cap as the "catcher" might be another solution.

I use the elbow between the valve and conical.. the yeast settles in it but it flushes out when I open the drain... It doesn't really waste beer because the yeast still just about reaches the upper valve and sometimes does.. I typically waste about half a pint or so of beer below the upper port. It's better to have some yeast sediment in the elbow with less surface area exposed to the beer.

 

[homebrewdude76]

When you have a jar on the bottom and harvest yeast, won't a large air bubble enter the beer?

 

[augiedoggy]

When you have a jar on the bottom and harvest yeast, won't a large air bubble enter the beer?

The jar is on there from the start before I fill it, like a fast ferment conical... as the yeast drops it falls down the 2 elbows on my setup and into the jar..)my conical legs arent long enough to directly connect the jar.. once the jar is full of yeast I can close the valve and remove it thus removing most of the yeast.. You would think the elbows would plug up and prevent the jar from filling but Ive only had that happen twice out of say 12 uses and I believe that was from the yeast I was using.
like I said though I recirculate and use hop spiders so there really isnt much "Trub" that makes it into my conicals.

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

I think a 2" valve is over kill on a fermenter this size to start. I would suggest a tapered reducer down to say 1". I also found that I had fewer issues using a 45 degree elbow coming out of the bottom instead of a 90, used to get backups at the elbow.
My 7bbl conical has a 2" port. I used to get upset losing beer to dumping trub until... On my last 22 bbl batch, when everything was said and done we only ended up with 15 bbl, so yep lost 150 gallons. Used to make me crazy.

 

[dthompson79]

I don't worry about dumping trub. If you open a 2" butterfly before any kind of sedimentation has occurred you will lose a ton of beer (but this is nearly the same with an 1 1/2" valve). but when I collect my yeast after fermentation and cold crash I get a nice slow moving sludge that I collect in sterilized media bottles. In my experience and procedure they work great.

2" butterfly valves aren't overkill because 5-15 gallon batched don't have near the head pressure to force the yeast plug out that a commercial size conical would.

 

[augiedoggy]

I don't worry about dumping trub. If you open a 2" butterfly before any kind of sedimentation has occurred you will lose a ton of beer (but this is nearly the same with an 1 1/2" valve). but when I collect my yeast after fermentation and cold crash I get a nice slow moving sludge that I collect in sterilized media bottles. In my experience and procedure they work great.

2" butterfly valves aren't overkill because 5-15 gallon batched don't have near the head pressure to force the yeast plug out that a commercial size conical would.

thats not the experience Ive had with my 12.5 gallon older spike clone. My 2cents,
First off there are 2 types on butterfly valves the ones with the squeeze loct handles and the ones you have to pull out to unlock.. the pull out ones suck for this purpose. They tend to hang up causing too much to dump too quickly. I have one of these which doesnt help. I imagine the trigger type would allow quicker operation.

from my use over the last few years,
The regular 3/4" style tc ball valves while being a pain to keep clean work much better for precise dumping without losing too much actual beer. the slower flow allows the yeast to drop more consistently as it dumps I believe as well instead of just leaving a hole hole in the yeastcake at the bottom. which required multiple intervals of dumping to clear out.

I have NEVER had the 3/4" ball valves plug. I dont have a lot of trub in my conicals though and I dont know how much difference that makes.

I think the best fit for these small conicals would be a butterfly valve with the 3/4-1" opening

 

[dthompson79]

thats not the experience Ive had with my 12.5 gallon older spike clone. My 2cents,
First off there are 2 types on butterfly valves the ones with the squeeze loct handles and the ones you have to pull out to unlock.. the pull out ones suck for this purpose. They tend to hang up causing too much to dump too quickly. I have one of these which doesnt help. I imagine the trigger type would allow quicker operation.

from my use over the last few years,
The regular 3/4" style tc ball valves while being a pain to keep clean work much better for precise dumping without losing too much actual beer. the slower flow allows the yeast to drop more consistently as it dumps I believe as well instead of just leaving a hole hole in the yeastcake at the bottom. which required multiple intervals of dumping to clear out.

I have NEVER had the 3/4" ball valves plug. I dont have a lot of trub in my conicals though and I dont know how much difference that makes.

I think the best fit for these small conicals would be a butterfly valve with the 3/4-1" opening

You can reduce the size without interfering with the 2" aversion to clogging with say english strains.

I do this when I collect yeast. I put a barb reducer with a length of silicone hose that provides a bottleneck to slow flow down. This I imagine would work well with a trub dump as well.

This is all from experience with this particular conical not anecdotal. If you do it this way it will also not punch a hole in the yeast cake and require multiple dumps.

But yes the trigger valves make a BIG difference. You can just keep the trigger held and operate it like a ball valve. Butterfly valve suck in general about controlling flow rate


This guy

https://spikebrewing.com/collections/conical-accessories/products/2-tc-x-barb

 

[augiedoggy]

You can reduce the size without interfering with the 2" aversion to clogging with say english strains.

I do this when I collect yeast. I put a barb reducer with a length of silicone hose that provides a bottleneck to slow flow down. This I imagine would work well with a trub dump as well.

This is all from experience with this particular conical not anecdotal. If you do it this way it will also not punch a hole in the yeast cake and require multiple dumps.

But yes the trigger valves make a BIG difference. You can just keep the trigger held and operate it like a ball valve. Butterfly valve suck in general about controlling flow rate


This guy

https://spikebrewing.com/collections/conical-accessories/products/2-tc-x-barb

you can also find these sold as 16mm barbed tc adapters.. I already have 2 on order for an inline filter I bought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Hose-B...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649