Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical

[anonymousbrew]

1/4 hp pump circulating PBW via a spray ball. Open the dump valve and racking valve with hoses connected to the bucket the pump is in to circulate water through the fittings.

I also take the ball valve on the racking arm apart after every brew and drop it in some pbw for a couple hours.

Before using it I use the pump and starsan to sanitize. It makes a lot of foam, but every surface gets covered and I don't have to deal with staining like iodophor.

this - with hot Oxy clean and a Chugger Pump. Fill it up, turn it on, have a beer. Rinse - then on brewday, same with Starsan

 

[jcorn]

Have not used my conical setup in a good long while due to the summer heat. I keep my house on 70 all year long and 10 gallons in my conical seems to stay a tad warmer than my 5 gallon buckets so Im having trouble using any yeast period due to high temps. Does anyone know of a way to swamp cool this thing? I swamp my buckets and can keep a consistent 67.5º on fermentation temps. I miss using this thing and would like to find a way to use it again. My basement is keeping around 75º all summer so moving it down there is out as well.

 

[Krusher]

sorry I missed this earlier..asleep at the wheel.
The first couple pix are the silicone rings to seal the lid to the fermenter. One ring is slightly smaller than than the other. that gets stretched around the outer ring of the lid and it just clears the screw holes in the lid. I mount the lid in the conical and start the screws. I then stretch the larger ring around the outside of the first (goes outside of the screws). I then turn the screws in a bit more until I see the outer ring compress . When the top mounts into it's pretty airtight... compressed air will visibly expand the top. The rings I ordered from O-ring warehouse were 70-durometer, red, FDA silicone appoved,compound 1200-70... sizes are 453 and 454. There are lots of ways to seal the lid of these conicals, but I chose this approach because it's easy to take completely apart for cleaning and re-assemble.
the last 2 pix show a working conical with glycol chiller lines hooked up and a cooling coil made by the very talented Zachary Josey at stainlessbrewing.com- they looked prettier before I 'tweaked' them to stretch out the coils a bit.It all seems to be working well. The blow off tube isn't really necessary- a simple airlock would suffice- but I use a crimped stainless tube as a thermowell and drilled it just below the stopper to vent the pressure in the conical. sorry for the sideways pictures....I must have been horizontal when I took 'em

Hi there guys i tried the orings and they are not sitting well and i am getting leaks still .i have realized that the screw holes are all over the place (some close to the inner ring others closer to the outer). I was wondering if i made new holes between the orings if it would work. What do u guys think ? btw i'm a Newbie here:rockin:

 

[anonymousbrew]

welcome Krusher!

yeah, i did the orings as well, and the weatherstripping, all to no avail.

I have since quit worrying about it after finding the following.

- using a blowoff tube and container sitting on the floor, i was able to apply suction to racking port, and draw a column of starsan all the way to the top of the fermenter, close the valve and the level stayed.

- My beer comes out of the fermenter fairly 'fizzy' and semi carbonated - meaning there is at least some pressure in there.

I do get a little nervous when fermentation is not active anymore, and i have yet to leave a beer in the conical beyond 14 days.

 

[chapusin]

Hey guys, have any of you noticed a difference in taste between the upper layer of the beer and the bottom layer? Let's say you have a 10 gallon batch, you put it in your plastic fermenter for 3-4 weeks and then transfer to kegs. The keg that was filled first (bottom half) tastes great after 2 weeks carbing but the keg that was filled with the top half tastes very green still and I'm getting a kind of oxidized or skunked after taste.

Both kegs were flushed with co2 before and after and were connected to the same tank. I'm thinking 2 things, 1) the yeast has more contact with the bottom half after the fermentation, so it clears up and conditions faster than the other one and 2) as fermentation stops, the top half has more air contact, as the fermenter is not sealed, specially with my freezer blowing air right through the small opening. I do have an oring there, but it's not completely sealed.

 

[orion7144]

I have noticed this. I chalk it up to the beer sitting longer while drinking the rest.

Hey guys, have any of you noticed a difference in taste between the upper layer of the beer and the bottom layer? Let's say you have a 10 gallon batch, you put it in your plastic fermenter for 3-4 weeks and then transfer to kegs. The keg that was filled first (bottom half) tastes great after 2 weeks carbing but the keg that was filled with the top half tastes very green still and I'm getting a kind of oxidized or skunked after taste.

Both kegs were flushed with co2 before and after and were connected to the same tank. I'm thinking 2 things, 1) the yeast has more contact with the bottom half after the fermentation, so it clears up and conditions faster than the other one and 2) as fermentation stops, the top half has more air contact, as the fermenter is not sealed, specially with my freezer blowing air right through the small opening. I do have an oring there, but it's not completely sealed.

 

[Krusher]

Im using a plain old fermentation trap.

 

[packet]

Hey guys, have any of you noticed a difference in taste between the upper layer of the beer and the bottom layer? Let's say you have a 10 gallon batch, you put it in your plastic fermenter for 3-4 weeks and then transfer to kegs. The keg that was filled first (bottom half) tastes great after 2 weeks carbing but the keg that was filled with the top half tastes very green still and I'm getting a kind of oxidized or skunked after taste.

Both kegs were flushed with co2 before and after and were connected to the same tank. I'm thinking 2 things, 1) the yeast has more contact with the bottom half after the fermentation, so it clears up and conditions faster than the other one and 2) as fermentation stops, the top half has more air contact, as the fermenter is not sealed, specially with my freezer blowing air right through the small opening. I do have an oring there, but it's not completely sealed.

the CO2 released by the yeast during fermentation does a pretty good job at keeping the wort moving. So, you shouldn't see any difference between the two. As someone else said, it's probably the age of the beer by the time you get to the second keg.

 

[Krusher]

Hi there guys i tried the orings and they are not sitting well and i am getting leaks still .i have realized that the screw holes are all over the place (some close to the inner ring others closer to the outer). I was wondering if i made new holes between the orings if it would work. What do u guys think ? btw i'm a Newbie here:rockin:

Any ideas on this?

 

[KingBubbaTruck]

I've been using foil tape to seal the top down once I put it on. Not an ideal situation, but I wanted to see bubbles in the airlock.

This is the 3rd 10 gallon batch I've done in and and I do have to say that I've noticed that I don't really get near the airlock action with this fermenter for whatever reason. I suspect it's probably a combination of the the amount of headspace at the top when doing a 10 gallon batch in a 15 gallon fermenter.

I've also made a 'fermentation cabinet' for it that uses a small window AC unit to keep the temps stable. I think that's probably also helping to keep the fermentation at a slower/steadier pace than just letting ambient temperature do it's business.

I think next time I'm just not going to worry about the bubbles and let things be...

 

[Krusher]

Awesome King bubba:rockin:

 

[timmy7649]

Whats everyone's yeast/trub dump schedule?

 

[KingBubbaTruck]

I've been doing 1 week fermenting at 75 degrees, then I crank down the temp to around 40 for another week, then I keg and carbonate.

This last batch I opened the bottom valve and dumped the gunk until I saw clean yeast, then harvested the yeast and used that for my current batch.

Don't know if that's 'correct' or not, but the beer has ended up pretty clear and tasty so far.

I have to admit, I've backed way, way off on my worrying and tracking and 'science' in brewing. I'm thinking about ramping that up again, but things have been working out pretty well so far.

If I wasn't in such a hurry to get some beer in the kegs, I'd consider letting it sit longer on the yeast.

 

[jcorn]

I have noticed this. I chalk it up to the beer sitting longer while drinking the rest.

I have noticed this problem as well. I let it sit in the fermenter for about 2 or 3 weeks before kegging the first 5. I have to chalk it up to oxidation because I have thrown out the second 5 before due to cardboard taste. Mine doesnt have an air tight seal though by any means. I drilled a airlock into the top and no air ever comes out of it during fermentation. This vessel just wont seal good enough for me. The lid goes on very very tight but not tight enough I guess.

 

[jcorn]

Has anyone figured out how to swamp cooler this thing? My house is 70 and my safale 05 stress out way too much in this vessel to be used on batches anymore. I swamp cooler my buckets and all is great!

 

[Krusher]

hi there guys i try the silicone and it leaked still. i applied it and screw down (which i thought was a good idea) . but most of i came out so here i am trying it again this time i applied line up the screw holes but im letting it dry b4 i screw it down.On the drying time it said on the tube it would dry in 24hr i gave it 36hr and when i open it back up silicone on the inside was not dry yet .so i don't know if that s what caused it to leak.so im give this one a week to dry b$ i screw the screws in and pressure test it .:rockin:

 

[snaps10]

I have no desire to pressurize mine, but has anyone tried plastic welding them? The welds we use to repair kayaks are pretty strong.

 

[anonymousbrew]

Whats everyone's yeast/trub dump schedule?

I dump trub 24 or so hrs in. then harvest yeast when i cold crash.

To harvest yeast multiple x's i do the following -
-Close butterfly valve
-remove sight glass
-pour yeast into sanitized mason jar, seal, store
-disassemble, clean, sanitize (starsan), reassemble
-purge sightglass with CO2
-fill sightglass with beer from racking port
-attach and open valve

I was able to pull a full pint mason jar of gorgeous yeast off the last 10g batch

A WORD OF CAUTION THOUGH -
on the beer that's currently in there - i had a huge lag time on my yeast, and i'm pretty sure that i tossed a bunch of yeast in the first trub dump.

 

[Grandpasbrewery]

Would that be due to the size of your sightglass/trub catcher?

It sounds like it could be a bit of Goldielocks scenario: too big you'll take a lot of yeast with it causing lag; too small and you have to emptie multiple times, increasing the risk of contamination or oxidizing your brew?

 

[Surly]

Spray Balls

There have been references for the use of spray balls used to clean in place a conical.

What do people use as a spray ball and where do you get them?

Thanks

 

[fc36]

Spray Balls

There have been references for the use of spray balls used to clean in place a conical.

What do people use as a spray ball and where do you get them?

Thanks

http://www.mcmaster.com/#spray-balls/=nw1xrr

Mcmaster is always your best friend. They may not always have the best prices, but they have lots of stock. Best bet would be to pay the extra $30 for the SS and never have to worry.

 

[Chad_C]

Haven't done this myself yet, but here is a cheaper alternative to McMaster: http://www.gwkent.com/cip-tank-stationary-spray-ball.html

EDIT: it is bigger though

 

[snaps10]

Haven't done this myself yet, but here is a cheaper alternative to McMaster: http://www.gwkent.com/cip-tank-stationary-spray-ball.html

EDIT: it is bigger though

40gpm @ 25psi though. Dang!

 

[fc36]

40gpm @ 25psi though. Dang!

It's for cleaning big ass tanks like 7bbl and up.

 

[rmajor55]

I ordered this one: http://www.brewershardware.com/Rotating-CIP-Spray-Ball-1-2-Female-FPT-Connection.html

I'm hoping it'll work with my pump, if not I might have to get a new pump

 

[SavoryChef]

Filling my conical in an upright freezer

 

[Surly]

I am currently testing my 15 gallon conical for leaks. I found one where the tri clover system screws into the bottom of the conical. I will use pipe tape to take care of it.

I will be attaching the temperature prob of my Johnson temp control to the side of the conical. I will make a, "pocket" out of a piece of foam insulation and duct tape it to the side of the conical. I will then insert the prob into that pocket.

Has anybody else done this and what kind of success have you found?

 

[SavoryChef]

I am currently testing my 15 gallon conical for leaks. I found one where the tri clover system screws into the bottom of the conical. I will use pipe tape to take care of it.

I will be attaching the temperature prob of my Johnson temp control to the side of the conical. I will make a, "pocket" out of a piece of foam insulation and duct tape it to the side of the conical. I will then insert the prob into that pocket.

Has anybody else done this and what kind of success have you found?

That is basically what I did with my pic above, except i used silver bubble insulation. I cut a small piece to put over the sensor then a bigger piece over that and used blue tape to seal. I know the blue tape doesn't have much R value but it's easy to take off.

 

[anonymousbrew]

I am currently testing my 15 gallon conical for leaks. I found one where the tri clover system screws into the bottom of the conical. I will use pipe tape to take care of it.

I will be attaching the temperature prob of my Johnson temp control to the side of the conical. I will make a, "pocket" out of a piece of foam insulation and duct tape it to the side of the conical. I will then insert the prob into that pocket.

Has anybody else done this and what kind of success have you found?

i bought this thermowell and drilled a hole in the lid. The temp probe goes down inside it and it is measuring from the dead center of the fermenter.

 

[chapusin]

Well, after I lost 3 straight batches due to an infection I apparently couldn't get rid of, I am switching to keg fermentation. These are cheap and useful, but I don't trust plastic anymore.