Conical Fermentors

[Alex Daniel]

Does anybody know if there is someone who makes conical fermentors on the homebrewer scale in nz? or does anyone have expereince with ordering these from overseas? what sort of prices etc

[Liam Callaghan]

Sorry guys been busy painting this weekend, sore but chuffed what we got done betweeen the rain! 

Grant the bigger tanks will be the same size just taller (65l will be about 950mm high or there abouts).

The hose was there just to show what they were designed to fit, its a straight forward wine hose.  Sorry I should have been clear, a bit new to this :)

Decided when I started that I might as well make something of the best quality and make it so it lasts.  Dropped off one for Ben Middlemiss on Friday night and he was very happy at first glance, really liked the heavy duty handle, not like the plastic ones that wont hold the weight of a full fermentor.

They are not perfect, Tristan has noted that the top opening needs to be a mm bigger as he couldn't pull the lid down to the seal which has been addressed at the factory along with a few other details.  Not sure how Tristan got on, will call him tonight.

[Sam]

Hi Liam

Fermentors look good, how much are you selling them for? Do the fermentors (and mash tuns when you make them) have thermo wells for temperature controllers?

Keen on the idea of the glyco jacket fermentors, how are you going to control the temp if we put the glyco tank in the freezer or fridge, will the speed of glyco circulation be used to control the temp - quicker for colder?

Cheers

[Liam Callaghan]

Thanks Sam, I am still waiting on the final cost for the other tanks and stands.  The final cost will be down to the retailers and I'd rather not jump the gun if thats alrightbut the tanks should be around $100 with the ancillary stuff on top of that.  You can buy them individually as you can afford them or buy it as a finished product.

The mash tuns will have thermowells not the conicals.  The conicals are made to be clean as a whistle inside, flawless smooth interiors for easy cleaning and minimum infection risk.

Still early days with the cooling jacket, I'm still sourcing the best options for materials.  Instead of a jacket they might be built into the tank itself as we will get a better heat transfer.  I'm not sure if I will build the whole thing or just provide a tank that can be applied.  Seems people like to buy the whole thing off the shelf so I will probably go that way but for now it will just be a tank with a cooling (or heating I guess) coil and a heavy duty thermal jacket.  Pipes will all terminate with a normal pipe fitting.  You can apply it how you want from there.

The initial thought is setting the temperature via the fridge and having the coolant running 24-7 as this mechanism will probably exist already for most brewers (a controlled fridge that is).  Rather than having a much colder coolant and controlling its flow.  Still very much undecided yet and I need to take a bit of professional advice on this before I proceed.  Have to make sure I can make the coils required first...  My list of jobs never seems to decrease lol

Whats the general thoughts on this?  Prefer a fully working system or happy to have a tank that you can adapt to fit your needs?  I'll be selling all the item seperately of course so you can economise and buy what you can afford.

[Tom McDonald]

very cool...........just staring at the prototype thinking.........very cool....... lots of little ideas and posibilities going through my head but keep thinking..........very very cool!

[Grant R Baker]

After suffering the flu last weekend I have finally got the LC 35l Conical Fermenter setup.

 

Dump Valve construct

1-1/4" SS Ball Valve

32mm Brass Hex Nipple (will be SS when I get to Anzor)

40mm-32mm Harness F/M Thread Adapter (also called a Plasson 1-1/4" to 40mm) - its the big black thing on the dump valve. It secures on really well to the valve and has a internal rubber valve to prevent leakage.

Passed a full load a of water for 30minutes ... no drips.

[Liam Callaghan]

Wow yours is a lot nicer than mine!

I need to up my game on the home build stuff obviously...

Nice work Grant!

[Grant R Baker]

Thanks... the wife had to help fix a questionable measing issue on the stand... (I don't blame the beer I was drinking)...

Just finished getting me grain mill / electric motor / pulley system all setup... it might even work, so this weekend your lovely conical fermenter is going to get used in anger (unless it tips down sideways, again).

[Grant R Baker]

First big brew with the fermenter and all went well.  Brewed 30 litres of seasonal Spring Ale.

 

I've attached a (grainy as hell) shot of the fermenter full of wort. It gets to keep a couple of Whiskey Ale test brews company for a few weeks. A simple hose and bottle of boiled water for an airlock.

 

Next Monday(ish) I'll be using that dump port to harvest some slurry/yeast.  The Wife insisted on the bucket bellow the dump port... my plumbing isn't that bad.

 

[Liam Callaghan]

Nice work Grant!

I put a saison in mine this weekend fingers crossed, although I saw Mrs C drawing up a list of things to do so it might be a weekend on the tools or running stuff to the tip...

Is that a through valve?  1" port or does it  close up more than that?

[Grant R Baker]

I know what you mean... wall papering for me now winter is over.

 

Clear through all the way... you can barely see a joing from the inside to the final bit of SS ball valve.

 

I've go an old woolen Jersey over the fermenter top-half keeping it warm and I'll look at either a heating belt arounf the bottom or enclose the whole thing with a Temp-Mate and a 60watt light bulb.

 

The beer/Yeast has been happily doing its thing.. no surprises or leaks. Happy man here.

[Grant R Baker]

Dumped the yeast cake from via the drain port last night.

 

After the initial start nothing came out, so I used a piece a sanitized copper wire up through the ball valve to free it up and woosh out she came. (Big note: Keep on hand on the ball valve lever at all times)  Extracted about a litre of yeast cake into a stainless steel pot.

 

I think the blockage is two parts my fault.. 1) I added the trub into the fermenter, (some beers are late hopped, thus the trub should be in there)... 2) I left it for 9 days after pitching the yeast, maybe a couple of says too long.

[Smiffy]

What I do, (brewing ale in my s/s conical) is drain the trub after one day. I have a ball valve in the line to the air-lock which I close for ten minutes, this builds up enough internal pressure to expel the trub, and stop any air being drawn in.

The next day or the day after, when there is visible yeast collected in my transparent tube, I drain again on the basis that any yeast settled now is not worth keeping as it is not working when it should be.

Next drain is when the fermentation has subsided (very few bubbles coming through the air-lock). This time the air-lock valve needs closing for an hour or so. This is the yeast I save as it is the stuff that was working (and floating) when it had food, and has floculated and sunk quickly too.

I would repeat "Keep your hand on the ball valve lever at all times."

Smiffy