Speidel fermenter purge mod?

[Trenloco]

Hi guys , today I listened to a guy who was all-in on purging yeast and trub the first days of fermentation.

I want to try it out but thing is , my fermenter isn't conical, its oval with a valve quite high up (think of a speidel).

So I got an idea, I want to rig up some kind of ball valve/spigot on the bottom of the fermenter to purge yeast, maybe connecting 3/8 or 1/4 tubing to the spigot.

Has anyone done something similar? Is it a reasonable idea or I'm I just wasting my time? What kind of setup would you recommend?

Would hate to waste time and add possible contamination buildup spots for naught.

Thanks ahead guys !!

 

[McKnuckle]

I think you would be wasting your time. Yeast will not come shooting out of the spigot. What will come out is beer! The less dense liquid will flow readily, and the yeast will just sit there.

Conicals work because gravity drops the yeast to the bottom, and it literally blocks the beer from coming out first. But if you've ever watched someone dump a conical, as soon as the last plug of yeast pops out, it's BLAM! There goes the beer!

That won't happen when the exit point is on the side of the vessel.

 

[Trenloco]

My idea was to put the spigot or valve in the bottom of the fermenter. It has 3 little legs and I would be placing the spigot in the center.

If it ends up lower than the legs I can just drill the wooden platform I use for the fermenter so the spigot can go trough.

I'll attach a pic of the fermenter to help get the idea across.

 

[McKnuckle]

Even if the hole was on the floor of the fermenter, without a conical bottom for the yeast to get trapped in, you’d just have a small plug of sediment directly over the hole leave before the liquid pours out. The substance with the lowest density is going to find its way out first.

 

[Trenloco]

Yes , maybe that slight oval shape isnt really enough to trap a significant amount of yeast. I should just get a conical someday and be done with it lol.
Thanks for the input !

 

[GoodTruble]

I saw something similar online, but using a 3-gallon Brewdemon plastic conical fermenter, attaching a fastflow spigot to the bottom of the cone. I decided to give it a try.

Installation went great. Held and dispensed water and sanitizer (after hand-tightening inside plastic bolt and then twisting outside spigot until tight). Now on day 5 of first fermentation. No leaks, but still waiting to test the yeast dump when ready (fingers-crossed).

The fastflow spigot Brewdemon sells on their website ($3.50, meant for their 8-gallon fermentor) fits onto the bottom of the 3-gallon fermenter pretty well. It required a slightly smaller than 1-inch hole on a the 2 inch bottom of the cone (leaving just enough border on all sides), and the plastic on the bottom of the fermenter was surprisingly thick (much thicker than the other openings on top and for side spigot).

I drilled a smaller initial (gotta be dead-center) hole, and then used a step-drill bit to increase the size to just under 1-inch (actually had to screw the spigot threads through the hole). A rep from Brewdemon actually called me to make sure I knew the fasflow spigot didn't match the 3-gallon fermenter I ordered. I told him my plan, and he suggested the step-bit might work best (though I'm sure Brewdemon does not endorse/encourage this mod).

The fastflow spigot comes with two gaskets. With one each side, I just had to hand-tighten the plastic bolt inside and then 3-quarter twist the outside spigot to get a good seal.

I also found black plastic sprinkler line end caps at Home Depot ($1.25 each) that fit the Brewdemon legs perfectly and raise it up enough to accommodate the spigot.

I still have my doubts if it will work (or work well), but I'll update soon. -And even if it does work, I expect loosening and tightening the bottom spigot with every batch will wear out the seams on the fermenter vessel at some point. But Brewdemon sells replacement vessels for $20. So not too much of a gamble.

I'll try to post some pics of the set-up so far.

 

[GoodTruble]

Quick Update - Got through first fermentation and bottling with no leaks (which was my minimum threshold for success).

The yeast dump spigot didn't work quite as expected. I think it was because I made a blackberry hard cider (wife's request & I wanted to test this with something I wouldn't miss if it leaked out), and all the blackberry seeds clogged the spigot. The trub drained but way slower than expected. Will now test it with actual beer/normal trub and update.

Also, when reassembling the yeast dump spigot, I was having trouble getting it sealed again (maybe because the gaskets were wet from cleaning). At first I thought I over-tightened it and cracked the seam of the plastic vessel. But upon inspection it was fine. So I decided to try it without the second, interior gasket (the main side spigot on the brewdemon only uses one external gasket as well ), and it sealed just fine on the first try. So, I think I will just use the one external gasket going forward, as long as it holds the seal (handtighten internal plastic nut, then quarter turn exterior spigot).

 

[GoodTruble]

Quick Update - Brewed a new batch (saison) yesterday. I didn't have time to mod another fermenter, and so I split the 5 gallon batch into two fementers - one with the yeast dump spigotand one without (also, one fermenter is amber, the other is clear). I'll then compare the beer later to see if I notice any differences.

So far the yeast dump spigot mod seems to be holding up. I keep a white paper towel under
in order to confirm if it drips, but nothing so far.

Fermentation is off and racing. So may get to test the yeast dump spigot this weekend.

If it works, I will probably mod a second one and keep splitting batches like this for awhile. So if a leak does occur, I can still transfer to an empty fermenter and not lose a batch.

 

[GoodTruble]

(Probably) Last Update: The yeast dump spigot mostly worked, but not as well as I hoped. As McKnuckle suggested above, it did drain vertically (even at the bottom of a conical), leaving some trub along walls. It helped to open the spigot very little and let if very slowly drain. By doing that, I removed about half the trub (in a beer that has kind of surprisingly little trub to start with).

It did not leak, so I consider that a minor/minimal success. And it worked for harvesting yeast (but there are easier ways to do that). But it couldn't clear enough of the trub to really make the fermenter into a true "secondary." So in the end, this modification isn't/wasn't really worth it.

I may try to think up another type of yeast dump to try out on this vessel rather than the fastflow spigot. Something with a wider throughout. But I'm in no hurry.

The best news is the beer survived my experiment, and based on the samples so far, I think it's going to be GREAT!!

 

[GoodTruble]

One last update: The yeast dump spigot came in useful on my last batch by allowing me to drop the trub line further from the spigot. Another fermenter (same beer, no yeast dump spigot) created some pretty cloudy bottles for the first 2-3 bottles (then ran clear). But on my newest batch, I couldn't get the yeast dump spigot to seal (luckily during cleaning, not wort transfer), so I had to set it aside and use another non-modified vessel. I've decided the benefits (less than expected) are not worth the hassle for this modification and will be replacing this one with normal, non-modified vessel. But I will keep my eye out for better, less problematic mods for the brewdemon because I do like using these fermenters overall.