Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical

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Hey guys, what's your tipical fermentation schedule? Am I ok if I cold crash right after FG has been reached and then transfer to keg for carbonation?
 
chapusin said:
Hey guys, what's your tipical fermentation schedule? Am I ok if I cold crash right after FG has been reached and then transfer to keg for carbonation?
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Yes. As far as I know. That's how I have done it. Sometimes I wait a day or two after fg just to be sure.
 
UPDATE: Closed the main valve and removed the yeast/trub collector tonight. It worked amazingly well. The yeast collector was full of sludgy thick yeast and trub. After that I removed maybe another 8 oz of sediment from the conical and now its all crystal clear.

What a great setup so far. The sample of beer I took tasted great. No issues there either. Thats the most important part. This was 10 days into fermentation and 4 days after FG was reached. 1.065 to 1.012 on dead guy ale clone with wyeast 1056 pitched into 60 degree wort and fermented at 63-66 degrees.
 
Update: Just kegged 14 gallons of crystal clear dead guy ale clone. I must say after 5 years of cleaning carboys of various sizes...the conical is the real deal. With the 1/2 inch fittings I had three kegs filled in about 10 minutes. It couldn't be a much better design. I am thinking I might have to get another one or two going...

My main concern will be to set it in the sun, use plenty of sanitzer and keep it scratch free as possible.

awesome design fellas!:tank::tank::tank::tank:
 
Finally got to use the conical and after a slight hiccup, everything seems to be a success. The hiccup was that after a week into fermentation, I wasn't seeing a solid yeast pile above the ball valve and then I realized that the sides were coated in a thick layer. After a few gentle taps with the hammer, the yeast flowed nicely into a pile at the bottom and I harvested two quarts with about an equal amount remaining. I'll be harvesting the rest tomorrow after more has had time to settle

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1430789256.755108.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1430789271.071712.jpg
 
Wyeast American ale 1056. It's on its 5th generation and still doing great. I didn't mind washing yeast before and then making a starter, but pitching this slurry into this wknds brew is gonna be so much better.

I've never pitched from a slurry but I moved this into two separate mason jars, topped off with preboiled/chilled water, and put them in the fridge until Saturday. Any concerns with this method? Just let them warm to room temp and pitch?
 
That should be fine. Use Mr. Malty.com to make sure you are pitching the right amount. Then you could wake them up/speed it up by dumping the water out and putting in some of the boiled and cooled wort (I've heard it's better if you do it before you add the hops). It will be going crazy by the time you pitch.
 
2nd batch out of my conical had a bacterial infection........15 GALLONS of yummy pale ale down the drain.

I waged war with hot water and star san and got back in the saddle today with another 15 gallon batch of pale ale. I am not sure how the infection would have taken hold....I don't open the lid and it is air tight.

I filled the entire fermenter with hot water mixed with star san, let it sit overnight and emptied right before adding the fresh wort and yeast. If there is an infection this time I will be shocked.
 
That sucks Permo. A couple of things that pop into my mind, and you probably already know all this, but ...

1. Sanitizer can not do its job if it was not thoroughly cleaned first with an oxygen type cleaner like pbw or oxyclean.

2. The infection could have come from your racking cane, transfer tube,

...or, because I'm not sure when you noticed it, it could have come from your bottles, bottling wand, keg, keg lines, faucet, etc.

3. With this next batch try to monitor each step in the process to see where this bacteria is entering.

I'm still a beginner brewer, especially when it comes to this plastic conical. I'm only on my 7th batch in the conical. Luckily I have not experienced an infection yet and I cringe at the thought. I'm very interested in figuring this out with you so I can avoid it myself. That sounds selfish. Lol.
 
What kind of valves do you have for dumping yeast? I use butterfly valves and I haven't had an infection in the two years I have been using plastic Conicals. I also do a 180 degree water rinse and then star san soak before I fill.
 
Yep, I too would suggest checking the cracks and cleaning out any lingering crud. Valves, threads, and any other place that may harbor nasties will do so. Sucks about a lost batch. Especially a 15 G batch.
 
SavoryChef said:
What kind of valves do you have for dumping yeast? I use butterfly valves and I haven't had an infection in the two years I have been using plastic Conicals. I also do a 180 degree water rinse and then star san soak before I fill.
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I use a 1.5 inch stainless 3 piece ball valve for the primary dump valve and a 1/2 inch stainless 3 piece ball valve for racking and sampling. I did not cut any corners. I do have a PVC yeast catching system that I use, but I extensively clean and sanitize that too. Maybe I eliminate the yeast catcher as this is just another variable.

I think that I got relaxed in my cleaning of the primary vessel and it bit me. I also removed the big lid a few times to check on fermentation. Also I ground 35 pounds of grain within 20 feet of the fermenter before I brewed...that as well could have been it.

I will report back but I am not expecting problems with this batch
 
Latest batch is about 1/2 done. 1.041 OG and its down to 1.023 after 50 or so hours with ringwood ale yeast. Its a bitter/pale ale.

Zero signs of infection at this point...sample tasted great but was cloudy due to active yeast in suspension.
 
next batch I will ditch the yeast trap to eliminate a variable...so long as the batch I am fermenting continues down the non infected path.

Update, I removed the yeast catcher and harversted some Ringwood 1187 today for future use. So far so good.
 
permo said:
next batch I will ditch the yeast trap to eliminate a variable...so long as the batch I am fermenting continues down the non infected path.



Update, I removed the yeast catcher and harversted some Ringwood 1187 today for future use. So far so good.
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Permo, I bet you will like this. I absolutely love doing it this way now. So much cleaner and gives you a sight glass into the conical for the entire fermentation.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431718217.703843.jpg
 
@ artifishal - could you show another view of the catcher from the top down so that I can see how you connected the TC to the lid. Did you just silver solder them together? Thanks
 
thomasjr16 said:
@ artifishal - could you show another view of the catcher from the top down so that I can see how you connected the TC to the lid. Did you just silver solder them together? Thanks
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I've got it two different ways.

The one pictured, I had a local welding shop weld a 1.5" ferrule to a stainless steel disk with a hole in it.

An easier way to go, but not ideal for me, is to just use a 2" to 1" cap style reducer from Brewers hardware. The diameter is perfect for a regular mouth jar. I had to grind down the thickness of it on my bench grinder because it was too thick to get the threads of the band to bite on the jar. That is not the case with the wide mouth jars, they will screw down without any grinding, but I can't find 2.5" to 1.5" cap reducers anywhere for a decent price. Another reason is prefer the wide mouth jars is because they make them in half gallon size and that will allow you to brew a ten gallon batch and have about half to 3/4 of it fill with yeast cake and you still have a sight glass into your brew. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863521.292344.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863547.090755.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863578.402500.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863624.122768.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863660.628134.jpg


Oh, and it works just as well with pvc threaded pieces and valves but I got tired of taking them all apart and pulling off the Teflon tape and re taping it every time. Plus I didn't trust the plastic. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863828.134705.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863865.010636.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431863886.227444.jpg

So if anyone knows of a place we can get 2.5" to 1.5" tri clover cap style reducers, please share.
 
Wow that is awesome!

My final update is that 8 days after brewing and pitching yeast, I am drinking the Ringwood fermented English Bitter that I made and it is free of infection.

My new cleaning schedule is as follows.

1. Rack the beer out of the fermenter

2. Fill with a few gallons of hot water oxyclean mix and open racking port and main valve to gently clean them

3. Fill entire fermenter with lid on with hot water and oxyclean all the way to the top to clean the fermenter.
I leave this solution in until my next brew day a week or two later

4. Before I rack the beer to the fermenter and pitch yeast I dump the oxyclean solution and rinse with fresh hot water to remove residue

5. Star san the crap out of everything seconds before filling with beer and pitching yeast.


my yeast catcher worked, but I am thinking its not really worth the trouble.
 
Yes, I agree that the yeast catcher would not be worth the trouble unless you were able to have the sightglass like I do and the ability to repitch the yeast. If you're not going to reuse it and can't see it you might as well just leave it in the bottom of the cone and dump it toward the end.

I do have a concern about your number three above. Where you said you would leave it until your next brew day for a week or two. I'm pretty sure that Oxsee clean and PBW will break down plastic if you leave it in that long. I remember listening to an interview with the CEO of the starsan Company think it's called five star or something. Anyways he said that you should not leave PBW or oxy clean in your corny kegs for more than two days because it would break down the stainless steel. I'm pretty sure he said not to leave it in your 5 gallon bucket for more than 24 to 48 hours also.

You would be fine filling it up and leaving it with a star san solution for two weeks though. I would suggest cleaning it all out and letting the stars and solution sit.

Can anyone else confirm this idea?
 
Artifishal said:
You would be fine filling it up and leaving it with a star san solution for two weeks though. I would suggest cleaning it all out and letting the stars and solution sit.

Can anyone else confirm this idea?
Click to expand...

Will fill her with star san solution tonight
 
permo said:
Will fill her with star san solution tonight
Click to expand...


You could definitely fill to the brim but all you really need is about 1-2 mins of contact time if you spray the inside using a squirt bottle.

For Star San to be effective, you need roughly 30 sec of "wet" contact which means fully submerged or 1-2 mins of the sprayed solution.

My cleaning regiment for kegs, carboys, pails, and the conical is the same. Good hot water scrub, PBW wash if really dirty, rinse, and Star San spray - all after being emptied or before first use. When I need to use it again, I give it a quick rinse then Star San spray again.
 
helterscelter said:
Damn that looks cool. Might try to do this with my fast ferment Conicals
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I don't own the fast ferment but want one really bad. The only way I would do it is if you could swap their opaque collection bottle for something like this. Please let me know how it works. Very interested.
 
Just an update here. I have ceased the usage of the yeast catcher and have been practicing the following cleaning and sanitizing regimen and have ran three successful batches through.

1. 24 hour hot water oxiclean soak. Full 18-19 gallon fill and put the lid on it overnight.


2. When beer wort chiller is running post boil I fill the fermenter up to the top with hot water and star san with the lid on. Totally full. I then let this solution sit in the fermenter until I am ready to rack the beer. Then I empty it, being sure to run the solution through the dump valve and racking port valve. Close everything up and insert the beer and yeast.


I really enjoy using this fermenter.
 
Very nice. Should work perfectly. I do the same, except for the full fill starsan part, I just spray mist it with star san solution.

Ive done 8 batches in mine so far with success.
 
Fruit flies!

On my current batch, fruit flies are getting into my chamber some how. I was away for four days and when I came home I saw two in there. I'm sure that means there are more. I made some little Apple cider vinegar traps and will figure out where to spray some "Great Stuff" sealing foam, but for now, if they are making it into my beer, since my screw lid is still just stock and not air tight, am I going to have to dump this batch?

I know a lot of you went through great lengths to make it air tight and some did not, like me. Anyone else have fruit flies get in? And what happened?
 

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