Conical fermenters

[Thirsty Mallard]

Mort, check out my brewing blog (link below) for a picture of my conical.

As for siphoning, I don't siphon I use gravity. It's not too bad to lift the full fermenter onto a work bench to drain it. I'd imagine there is an easier way... maybe with a pulley system a la Bub... but it isnt too bad.

As for a rotating arm, since I use clamps to attach the racking port to the conical, I can rotate it.

If you would like to see some more shots of the conical in action drop me a line with your emai address and I can send you some pictures.

[breyton]

I also went for the Blichmann 14.2 gallon conical. B3 uses the same hopper as Blichmann - both are from Toledo Metal Spinning, but the Blichmann has a domed top.

My conical lives in my chest freezer, which I have put on wheels so I can move it around. There are 2 ways of getting the wort from the kettle to the conical. One is gravity and you would need to build your brewing stand to make gravity flow into the conical. The other is by pumping, which is what I do. I just pump out of my kettle, thru my counter flow chiller and into the conical. Then I wheel the chest freezer/conical set up away and use a Ranco with a B3 thermowell inserted into the conical. Works great. In the winter, I use a mechanics shop light (100w) inside the chest freezer to maintain temps.

I like the B3 heated/cooling setup, but they are twice the price of the Blichmann. I can pick up another chest freezer or better yet build a walk in cooler like JZ for way less.

[NumbSkull]

Thanks again Thirsty Mallard. I looked at your blog and your conical looks pretty good. Hoisting a seven gallon would be heavy enough, but I'm going to get the 14 gallon. I don't think I will be hoisting that one!

Breyton thanks for the suggestion of a pump. That seems like a pretty good idea. Could a guy put some sort of aeration thingy in line while you were at it? I was thinking about a frigerator for my fermentation but a guy could put that up on wheels too. That would maybe raise it up high enough where a guy could gravity feed into a corny. Wow that answers a lot of my questions. I know what direction I want to go now. Thanks everybody!

Mort

[Bugeater]

Breyton thanks for the suggestion of a pump. That seems like a pretty good idea. Could a guy put some sort of aeration thingy in line while you were at it?

There is this device or something similar.
http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16613

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[breyton]

I have the Williams Brewing setup, though I have since purchased a large O2 tank instead of the Red O2 tanks

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAM_ ... T_P699.cfm

[BeerPal]

What about the rotating racking arm? I read on the Blichman sight that the Beer and more beer one does not have this. I can see where it would be a good deal to have and when I went to the Beer and more beer sight it said they did have a racking arm. I am confused.

The B3 conicals all have roating racking arms.

Regardless I think I wll get me the Blichman fermenter. I like the idea of being able to push the beer out of the fermenter. I hate siphoning. Hey here is another question. Could you rig up a hose from the racking port to a liquid out ball connector and blow directly into a keg without removing the lid? A totally closed system transfer seems to me would be the ideal, even if it took a little longer.

Certainly you could do a pressure transfer in the manner you described. With very little effort, you could even do it with a B3 conical. The pressure needed to do a transfer like this are so low that a corny lid (like the one used in the Blichmann conical) while certainly convenient, is not necessary.

One drawback to the Fermenator, IMHO, is that the legs are not welded to the body of the conical but are thru-bolted into the interior of the vessel. Not only is this a cheaper method of construction (for what that's worth) but is another place that requires disassembly and sanitization. If I'm wrong about this, some Fermenator owner please correct me.

[BrotherhoodBrew]

I took some pictures of the B3 conical I won on the conical christmas show. You can check them out here if it would help you make up your mind.

I've read that you can do a pressure transfer with the b3 conical but to be honest I have no had a chance to even use the conical yet. It looks like this weekend is the time. Since I will be brewing up a lager and the fermentation fridge is empty. (conical only fits in the fridge with nothing else)

http://www.brotherhoodbrew.com/gallery2/v/b3conical/

[Thirsty Mallard]

Great pictures BrotherhoodBrew. I will be interested to hear how that smaller dump port works for you. I have the big one with the butterfly valve and I had a hard time getting the yeast cake out of the fermeter without applying any pressure.

(Also I see on your brew blog that you are going to the Blubonnet Brew Off... I just shipped my beer for that competition yesterday! Luckily I am not competing against yours though...)