conical sanitation

[killian]

I think Jamil has said in the past he completely disassembles his conical and boils all of the parts does anyone know if this is due to the model of conical he is using?

Are there any conicals that you could clean in place?

What is the difference between the pro scale and the home scale?

[quadbox]

I'm pretty sure in that ep of brew strong neither of the other two who do still use conicals go that far.

The differences from pro gear varies greatly based on the particular homebrewing fermenter you're talking about. The biggest universal difference is that pro ones are invariably jacketed for glycol cooling. Pro ones I've seen (and bearing in mind I'm not a pro, I'm just a sucker for being a pain in the arse and asking lots of questions and sticking my nose everywhere every time I visit a brewery :p) are all-welded, some home ones (like blichmann's, particularly) arent welded. Pro ones tend to use tri-clover fittings for sanitary reasons, some homebrew ones do, some dont. Pro ones tend to have clean-in-place (CIP) cleaning systems, where hot caustic is sprayed under pressure against all surfaces to clean it. Obviously they're far too big for some apprentice brewer to be sent in there with a green scourer :p

Personally as much as I'm not currently using a conical (will be later in the year hopefully), I dont pull apart and boil my current cold-side ball valves every brew. Every few brews, sure, but for the most part if they've been thoroughly cleaned I'm content to sanitise them and visually inspect them. The valves are the only part of the conical I can see that needs special attention, assuming it's a well welded vessel. Obviously if it's got dodgy weld surfaces on the interior that's a worry, and if it's got weldless fittings then the grooves around where they fit are a worry too.

And you probably want to bear in mind any valve gaskets and seals are going to want occasional replacement.

That's how I see it anyway

[captain carrot]

The ball valves and related parts on the Blichmann conical need to be dissasembled and cleaned to remove all beer residue/wort. I usually do it every couple of brews or if I use a yeast strain other than 1056. I boil and sanitize the parts before reassembly. It's not a matter of if you will have a problem, it's when. Been there....

[Kbar]

For what it is worth;

14 batches on the same conical - weld based stainless fittings and ball valves you can not disassemble - no issues

Process;
- Hand clean after fermentation
- Fill with PBW at proper dilution topped to rim - soak all parts in conical as well
- Brew day or day of use - drain PBW soak slowly - fill with proper dilution of Star San - soak during brew time or brew day
- dump slowly making sure to excersize the ball valves (dump and transfer valves)
- fill with the nectar of the gods and wait.

[EagleDude]

The 3-piece ball locks on the blichmann conicals need to be taken apart and cleaned each time ... or at least when you change yeasts. There is a void in the center of the ball lock housing that fills with liquid when you open and close the valve.

If I am lazy and repitching the yeast from the previous batch, I sometimes just clean and sanitize the conical without taking it apart and figure if there is any residual yeast not cleaned, it won't make much difference. You can get your cleaning, rinsing, and sanitizing water into the "void" by only opening the valve half way ... which helps ease my worry when not taking it completely apart.

[darkalex]

I think Jamil has said in the past he completely disassembles his conical and boils all of the parts does anyone know if this is due to the model of conical he is using?

Are there any conicals that you could clean in place?

What is the difference between the pro scale and the home scale?

I use the MoreBeer 7.5 gallon conical. With each use, I completely take it apart and clean & sanitize all of the pieces individually. Then reassemble and clean & sanitize the fermenter itself. There is definitely yeast and break that accumulate between the racking arm/dump valve and the side of the fermenter, which must be cleaned. Brewing on a conical is more of a pain in the ass. Carboys are much simpler, but if you want to reuse yeast, conduct secondary, and avoid the O2 pick-up it's worth the extra work. You also get to dry hop like Tasty, which may not make you a badass, but you feel like a badass.

I can't speak to pro vs home.

[foomench]

I have a Blichmann 14.5. I do not take everything apart between every use, but do so occasionally, and depending on what I've brewed and what yeast was involved. Between every use I clean out by hand, give it a PBW soak, open valves part way to get PBW in the ball valve void, and rinse. Then on brew day fill with StarSan and again open valves several times and part way to get StarSan into the ball valve voids. Drain out StarSan and fill.

I'll probably do a complete disassemble after the current batch, which is a Wit. Even then, I probably won't boil the parts, but put them in a bowl or bucket first with PBW, then with StarSan before reassembly. And I'll do StarSan again before use.

No problems here with the above procedures.