Conical fermenters

[Speyedr]

Sounds good Mort!

Here is a pic of the connections I made to transfer beer under CO2 from my Fermenator to a corny.



You can find pics of the Fermenator here http://www.fermenator.com so you can see what I'm talking about.

The top one is for connecting to the racking arm port (top valve on the Fermenator) to the beverage OUT on a corny. The plastic hose barb is included with the Fermenator. I just used 3/16" beverage tubing and 3/16" female flare fitting. You can get them at any brew shop that has kegging parts.

The bottom connector is for the Gas into the conical. It's a stopper with a plastic elbow (comes with the Fermenator) to 5/16" GAS tubing, and ends with a MALE 5/16" flare fitting. I just put the stopper in the hole in the lid, and connect the gas line up just like you connect to a disconnect.

Once everything is hooked up I start the flow of beer into the corny and then I turn the gas up to 3PSI. There is a weight that fits into the lid hatch on the Fermenator lid (corny lid) that will release pressure above 3PSI.

Easy Cheesy. The only part of the whole process that is still questionable is the transfer of wort to the Fermenator. I am not about to carry the 14 gallon Fermenator from my garage down to my basement Beer Room. Instead I have been using plastic fermentation buckets (cleaned and sanitized) and then pouring it into my sanitized conical. I know this is an infection waiting to happen, either from the buckets or from the pouring, but I put 6 or 11 gallons into the conical, and so I would need to clean and sanitize 2 cornies for a 6 gallon batch or 3 cornies for an 11 gallon batch if I wanted to do a closed transfer.

Any ideas?

Rob

[NumbSkull]

The only part of the whole process that is still questionable is the transfer of wort to the Fermenator. I am not about to carry the 14 gallon Fermenator from my garage down to my basement Beer Room. Instead I have been using plastic fermentation buckets (cleaned and sanitized) and then pouring it into my sanitized conical. I know this is an infection waiting to happen, either from the buckets or from the pouring, but I put 6 or 11 gallons into the conical, and so I would need to clean and sanitize 2 cornies for a 6 gallon batch or 3 cornies for an 11 gallon batch if I wanted to do a closed transfer.

Any ideas?

I am rassling that around in my head too. I can keep my fermenter frigerator in the shop where I brew easy enough but I will have to roll either the fermenter to the brew kettle or the brew kettle to the fermenter. Eventually it will all be in the brew coop and will pretty much be side by side anyway. I am thinking in the meantime I will make a cart on casters for the frigerator or freezer whichever I end up with and push it to the brew kettle. Regardless I will pump the wort because I am getting old and do not want to throw out my back. But to me if you are sanitizing the buckets real good you are minimizing your chances of getting an infection.

Mort

[Speyedr]

But to me if you are sanitizing the buckets real good you are minimizing your chances of getting an infection.

Thanks Mort. I agree, but it still lurks there in the back of my mind... poking me with a stick...

[NumbSkull]

I got a kind of an answer on the flow rate through the in line oxygenator. I was told to install a ball valve so I could regulate the flow of beer. You think? I asked the question again.

Mort

[breyton]

Speyder wrote:"

The only part of the whole process that is still questionable is the transfer of wort to the Fermenter. I am not about to carry the 14 gallon Fermentor from my garage down to my basement Beer Room.

I am not sure how your garage and basement are setup, but I have an attached garage. On the back wall on my garage, I can drill a hole thru rim joist and drop a line into my basement. I can then transfer wort/beer whatever down into my basement with out having to carry it in tanks in thru the house and down the stairs. This works for me because my basement is slightly lower than the first floor of my house, but maybe you could rig some sort of setup that lets you get a transfer tube from your garage to you basement.

[Speyedr]

Speyder wrote:"

The only part of the whole process that is still questionable is the transfer of wort to the Fermenter. I am not about to carry the 14 gallon Fermentor from my garage down to my basement Beer Room.

I am not sure how your garage and basement are setup, but I have an attached garage. On the back wall on my garage, I can drill a hole thru rim joist and drop a line into my basement. I can then transfer wort/beer whatever down into my basement with out having to carry it in tanks in thru the house and down the stairs. This works for me because my basement is slightly lower than the first floor of my house, but maybe you could rig some sort of setup that lets you get a transfer tube from your garage to you basement.

I've given that some serious thought, but the fermentation area of my basement is on the other side of the house and I would have to pump it. Also, I am finishing the basement as we type and so it would have to be semi-permanent. The Wife would kill me.

I think I'll stick tot he buckets

[bigwave]

Mort,
What did you end up doing? I am thinking about a 12 - 14gall SS Fermentor as well. Any unforseen issues? If you did get one, are you happy with it?
-Dave

[Crut]

reading this has got my brain juices flowing, thanks a lot guys;)

Can you/has anyone ever used a half bbl for a fermenter?

Thinking of this led me to my next brain explosion. If you could use a keg for a fermenter, couldnt you have a conical made. My favorite welding shop is able to take a peice of flat rolled stainless and make a cone from it. Whats to say we couldnt cut the bottom off a keg, weld on the cone, and install a butterfly or ball valve on the bottom of it? Does this make sense to anyone or am i just wasting my brain cells to the brain worms.
Then you could take the curved bottom that you cut off and have a curved top lid made.

Alos for heating it, has anyone ever tried an electric blanket for it? It seems you could get a better/more efficient heating from it since it has more surface area that could be wrapped around the fermentor.

ideas? Questions? concerns? Gripes? insults?