Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical

Squeeky said:

I have been splitting my 11G batches in two fermenter, too many times. I have been waiting for scratch and dent brewhemoth as the wife wont approve the $400+ purchase. My main reasons for the conical are:

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So in your travels have you ever seen a smaller conical? The reason why I ask is because I have loads fermentors already but I thought I migt get a small "cone-shaped something" and build a yeast harvestor.

The idea is that I would pour in my sanitized water in to the fermentor and then pour that into a conical and dran off the trub and hops...

I have seen some plastic coffee hoppers for "big" coffee systems that might work but if you looked around a bit before deciding on this I would be intersted in what you found...

DPB

orion7144 said:

The only thing really not needed is the extra 1.5" NPT as that is what converts the tanks output to tri clamp. The other things I mentioned are just extras. I ordered the extras and have not used them so I was just trying to save you some cash to put towards a racking port. I went with the better bottle solution and although I am happy with it, I wish I would have not spent that much on such a simple design. There are plenty of other ways to do the racking port.

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Orion 7144 gave me some advice and the following is my new order. This will give me what I need for one 15 gallon Tri /Clover system for fermenting and harvesting yeast.

In the next few days I will be ordering what I need for this conical build.

I am asking those of you with experience if this is the order for the conical: http://www.spraysmarter.com/ace-roto-mold-white-inductor-tank-3083.html

I would like to purchase the parts to make the yeast catcher using Tri Clover hardware:

1"/1.5" Tri Clover X 1.5" Male NPT 1ea.
1"/1.5" Tri Clover Cap 1ea.
1"/1.5" Tri Clover Clamp $6.00 3ea.
1.5" Tri Clover Butterfly Valve - Pull Trigger 1ea.
1.5" Tri Clover Gasket Silicone 3ea.
1.5" Tri Clover Sight Glass 1ea.

Are the above parts what I need for one 15 Gallon conical?

Thanks for your experience and time.

That is all you need for the output side.

orion7144 said:

That is all you need for the output side.

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Thanks Orion. Will process the order tomorrow.

I will also begin research on the Racking port you mentioned. Is there a particular post or thread you would highlight?

I appreciate you saving me some money. BTW - I will spend some time with new brewers as well giving good solid advice that I may allow.

If I had to do it over again based on the better bottle racking port I ordered.... I would have just ordered a cheapo bottling bucket spigot and saved $40. When racking to keg with either one of these the angle looks weird since the port is so close to the conical but it does work.

if it's not too late you might consider going to a 2" sightglass with a 1.5" to 2" connector. It holds about 400 ml (about 14 oz) of ...a bit more than the 1.5" clamped directly to the bottom valve

chrisdb - i see red where your 1.5npt/1.5 TC is threaded into the tank. is that reflection or are you using a sealer/pipe dope/gasket/gorilla snot in there?

chrisdb said:

if it's not too late you might consider going to a 2" sightglass with a 1.5" to 2" connector. It holds about 400 ml (about 14 oz) of ...a bit more than the 1.5" clamped directly to the bottom valve

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Thanks for the suggestion. My parts will show up today or Monday I think. I am in no hurry and could probably swap them and reorder the 2".

What you say makes sense. I appreciate your idea.

Two questions please.
1) You mention the volume of the 2.0" sight glass is about 14oz. What would the volume be of the 1.5"?

2) What is the estimated length of the combined fittings from the bottom of the tank to the bottom of the last fitting?

anonymousbrew said:

chrisdb - i see red where your 1.5npt/1.5 TC is threaded into the tank. is that reflection or are you using a sealer/pipe dope/gasket/gorilla snot in there?

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indeed that pink line is heavy duty teflon tape. It never occurred to me that I could make that connection without sealing the treads, but I might take one apart and see if it works without the teflon tape.

Gammon N Beer said:

Thanks for the suggestion. My parts will show up today or Monday I think. I am in no hurry and could probably swap them and reorder the 2".

What you say makes sense. I appreciate your idea.

Two questions please.
1) You mention the volume of the 2.0" sight glass is about 14oz. What would the volume be of the 1.5"?

2) What is the estimated length of the combined fittings from the bottom of the tank to the bottom of the last fitting?

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I never used the 1.5" sight glass so I don't know how much it holds, but by the pictures posted on this thread I can see that it is not as wide as the 2"... I don't think the butterfly valve lever would clear the 2" sight glass if it weren't for the 1.5" to 2" adapter. Also, 14 oz is the volume of the sight glass and the 1.5" to 2" adapter together. Being mounted directly to the butterfly valve it makes sense to remove it as a unit. I too am curious about how much a 1.5" sight glass holds... maybe someone with a 1.5" sight glass would measure the volume and post it for us?

The total length below the conical bottom drain is 13 3/4 " for me- roughly 14"

chrisdb said:

I never used the 1.5" sight glass so I don't know how much it holds, but by the pictures posted on this thread I can see that it is not as wide as the 2"... I don't think the butterfly valve lever would clear the 2" sight glass if it weren't for the 1.5" to 2" adapter. Also, 14 oz is the volume of the sight glass and the 1.5" to 2" adapter together. Being mounted directly to the butterfly valve it makes sense to remove it as a unit. I too am curious about how much a 1.5" sight glass holds... maybe someone with a 1.5" sight glass would measure the volume and post it for us?

The total length below the conical bottom drain is 13 3/4 " for me- roughly 14"

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I called and asked about the 1.5" sight glass and was told it holds 5oz.

SavoryChef said:

I called and asked about the 1.5" sight glass and was told it holds 5oz.

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Thanks !

SavoryChef said:

I called and asked about the 1.5" sight glass and was told it holds 5oz.

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So, to compare apples to apples what is the volume of the 2" sight glass without the 1.5" to 2" adapter?

Gammon N Beer said:

So, to compare apples to apples what is the volume of the 2" sight glass without the 1.5" to 2" adapter?

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Not sure, but I think I'm gonna do a 1.5" hose barb and braided tubing to another barb so I can adjust the length for my needs, and it won't cost $50+

I saw someone did that and looks decent.

Subbed

Hmm.... now if I could just pick enough fruit to make 15gal of wine at a time. haha.

Has anyone bought one of the tanks from Rural King lately? They're telling me there's an 8 week backorder and I'm starting to look for alternative sources.

packet said:

Has anyone bought one of the tanks from Rural King lately? They're telling me there's an 8 week backorder and I'm starting to look for alternative sources.

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I bought one on 4-26-13 and nothing yet. It hit my credit card when I purchased but dropped off a couple days later. It said 4 weeks out when I ordered

Yea spratsmarter has them in stock. I ordered from rural king and got the same. Spratsmarter was a couple bucks more but had it in a week. This was about 6 weeks ago.

Just got off the phone with rural king and they said estimated ship date is June, 13. So I will try spraysmarter.

I'd be all over this but I only brew 5 gallons at a time, and don't/want need to brew more.

Is there anything like this but half the size?

tssgery said:

I'd be all over this but I only brew 5 gallons at a time, and don't/want need to brew more.

Is there anything like this but half the size?

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Yes they make 7 gallon and 10 gallon conicals

orion7144 said:

Yes they make 7 gallon and 10 gallon conicals

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I've seen the minibrew systems but haven't seen a 7 gallon DIY conical.

I'm sure I'm just not looking the right way, who manufactures them?

Buy the 15 gal inductor tank and you have room to grow

SavoryChef said:

Buy the 15 gal inductor tank and you have room to grow

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I agree all the 7 gallon are more expensive.

The vast majority of the cost in a DIY conical is in the fittings. You might as well go with a 15 gal so you can do 10 gal batches.

18DPA said:

Yea spraysmarter has them in stock. I ordered from rural king and got the same. Spraysmarter was a couple bucks more but had it in a week. This was about 6 weeks ago.

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Looks like they still have them in stock. Cost me an extra $60 over Rural King, but they shipped all 3 in 24 hours.

So you spent 60$ bucks more for 3 from one distributer to another mehhhh. You're going to love these. I'm running two 15 gallon conicals . One at room temp with the commercial stand (need to weld longer legs on it) the other has a cooling system in it. With the pump lines fitting and Craig's list dorm fridge for coolant resovior I'm still under the cost of one behemoth. If I scratch one its only 69$ or so to replace it.

18DPA said:

So you spent 60$ bucks more for 3 from one distributer to another mehhhh. You're going to love these. I'm running two 15 gallon conicals . One at room temp with the commercial stand (need to weld longer legs on it) the other has a cooling system in it. With the pump lines fitting and Craig's list dorm fridge for coolant resovior I'm still under the cost of one behemoth. If I scratch one its only 69$ or so to replace it.

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Considering the fittings come to ~$350 per conical, an extra $20 each isn't going to break the bank.

I'm doing 3 glycol cooled conicals controlled via a BCS-460. One pump and motorized ball valves to control the flow. Heat tape for heating in the winter.

I'd like to do a 4th, but I'd have to upgrade to a BCS-462. So, three it is.

Whoa you really churched it up. I have a simple ranco, a pond pump with a as coil in the middle of the wort. Nice. I'd like too see pictures.

It's still quite DIY. It's basically going to be a BCS controlled plastic conical version of this:

http://byo.com/brown-ale/item/1877-build-your-own-glycol-fermenter

I was doing a bunch of reading a while back. I'm curious about the temp transfer through the wall of the plastic conical. I chose a SS in the middle of mine instead. I can't lager but can keep even a big Belgian around or below 65 degrees during the first week. I hope your system works. Please keep us updated. If I get a real house and not a rental I want to build a room for fermentation and it would be nice to ha e a more dedicated system for bright tanks etc.

I'm doing stainless tubing in the conical for the glycol. The heat tape is going to be wrapped around the outside followed by a layer of insulation. I doubt it'll be tremendously efficient, but it's 80-100 watts of heat per conical and I only really need it 2-3 months of the year.

If that doesn't work I figured I'd heat the glycol in the winter. However, I'd like to have the ability to cold crash 1 of the conicals while the other two are kept at fermentation temps. So, we'll see how it works.

Cool! I'm jealous. Central Texas winters are still pretty warm. One hint. I got lazy with a batch and didn't do a really thorough job cleaning and sanitizing the fermenter lid that my coil is mounted to. I then had to dump a batch because it got infected. I'm always very good about the fermenter itself but man I paid for laziness. The coil the lid and thermos ell from now on get scrubbed and soaked in oxy then star San before and after brewing. The could do actually get some build up on them if you're or careful.

I have a spray ball I bought for cleaning them, but I'm not 100% sure if I want to mount the stainless on the lid or through the side of the conical. On one hand, it'd be nice to be able to take it out and soak in PBW, but on the other hand I'd have to drain the glycol out of the lines, and that's a pain in the ass.

I have camlock fittings right on the lid where my hoses from the cooling system come in. I just DC them and then put the little camlock plugs in both the male and female ends. I'm running a glycol mix as well. It letse move hoses around without spillage as well as turn the lid upside down etc.

Just like this
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/15-gallon-conical-fermenter-cooling-system-333151/

Yeah, I have the same connections on my electric brewery. I've just noticed there's a decent amount of spillage when you disconnect the lines, which I obviously want to keep out of the beer and off the conical.

I'm not sure how I did it but when I turn the system off and break the seal on the cam lock gravity pulls the glycol back up the lines and I get maybe a couple teaspoons worth that I just catch with a rag. I think its because my resovior sits below the fermenter coil and is much bigger volume (5 gallon ) bucket than the coil.

I guess it would act somewhat like a siphon. The problem with mine is one side is going to be blocked by the motorized ball valve. So, no flow that way.

I'll probably pipe the connections through the side of the tank, but above the water line. Worst case, I'll have to soak it in PBW longer.

packet said:

Has anyone bought one of the tanks from Rural King lately? They're telling me there's an 8 week backorder and I'm starting to look for alternative sources.

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I purchased from rural king on 3/20 and received on 5/1. 6 weeks to the day; they quoted up to 8 weeks. I got the 2" MNPT instead of the standard 1.5 FNPT, but they told me it would be the same lead time either way.