Cheap Stainless Steel Connical

[Musketear]

So originally I was thinking of converting a keg into a conical(ish) fermenter. But due to the non-steepness of the natural curvature and how difficult it would be to seal it, I started looking for alternate stainless steel containers. A few days ago, I stumbled across this:8 gallon stainless steel boiler. If I were to turn it upside down, it would probably function pretty well as a conical fermenter. And if I were to pony up for the 13 gallon boiler they have, there is a port in it that could be used as a side port!

Anyone every tried something like this? Would there be enough slope to the walls for it to function like a conical?

 

[Weezy]

Tell those guys to weld a a ferule on the end, flip it over, add some legs, call it a conical...they can triple their asking price, going by the brew supply market. lol

 

[Musketear]

Yea.... It's not a true conical though. I guess my question was if people thought it would work well as a conical since it doesn't really have continuously sloping sides.

 

[DaleHair]

For a little more you can get a real conical from Stout Tanks & Kettles

http://conical-fermenter.com/products/conicals/

 

[mux]

You should ask these guys how well they work.

http://www.dwbrewproducts.com/

 

[Musketear]

For a little more you can get a real conical from Stout Tanks & Kettles

http://conical-fermenter.com/products/conicals/

Yea.... Other than being a true conical, though, the only difference seems to be the legs. Not sure that alone is worth the extra $100 if the milk can will work just as well. It sure is tempting, though.....

 

[outside92129]

How handy are you? With some elbow grease and common tools you can make a conical out of a keg.

 

[Babydom]

A couple of problems that I can see is the lid of the milk can will have a stainless steel perforated metal sheet tacked welded in the lid. It doesn’t show it in the pic, I’m sure it will be in there, because it holds copper from falling in the can. If you didn’t cut that screen out, it would clog with trub and yeast. Another problem is that the milk can is sloped then straight then sloped again. Plus there’s no racking port just bottom dump port, which to me kills one the benefits of a conical. Using the element port as a blow off port would reduce your volume because I’m sure that it going to have at least an inch clearance from the bottom of the milk can to the port. You could just buy a Fusti.

 

[atreid]

Yea.... Other than being a true conical, though, the only difference seems to be the legs. Not sure that alone is worth the extra $100 if the milk can will work just as well. It sure is tempting, though.....

Uuuh... What about the two 3/4" ball valves and the fact that it's 100% built for beer providing the right ports, connection, etc...? This is worth more than 100$ and it would cost you more to adapt the milk container...

The keg conversion is more interesting as you can get a used keg for 40$...

 

[Musketear]

Uuuh... What about the two 3/4" ball valves and the fact that it's 100% built for beer providing the right ports, connection, etc...? This is worth more than 100$ and it would cost you more to adapt the milk container...

The keg conversion is more interesting as you can get a used keg for 40$...

That is a very fair point.... Hadn't considered the additional cost of the valves and connectors.