Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical

[thomasjr16]

I haven't had a fruit fly in the finished batch but I did I have a fly or two in a starter I made for my triple once. I used the "very sophisticated and scientific" smell test. Everything smelled normal and the beer fermented and turned out great. I'd roll the dice and hope the alcohol content on the beer wards off any negative effects.

 

[Artifishal]

I put three vinegar traps in there and they are quickly collecting a lot of flies. I'm hopeful there are not that many in my brew. I hope they can't get in there through the space between the lid assembly and the conical. We shall see in about s week.

I'm thinking of turning on two computer fans aimed at it to deter them. I also read they hate the smell of cloves. I'm going to try that tomorrow.

 

[Jwin]

Fruit flies nest and breed in damp places. Floor drains, dirty mops, etc

 

[Artifishal]

Well it ended up perfectly fine. They never made it into the fermenter. I'm brewing another batch in there now and pretty confident they can't get in. It's not even air tight.

Back in love with this Super Simple 15G Plastic Conical!

 

[permo]

Just an update here that my fermenter is functioning perfectly and I am planning building another. This will put my at 1 barrel capacity! I find that I can brew 16.5 gallon batches with no problem in this vessel. It is all about cleaning and sanitizing.

 

[Artifishal]

Awesome news Permo! I am on my 13th batch with mine. Every one has been fine.

I clean carefully with a cloth by hand and am always careful when filling with the hose as to not scratch it.

About how many are you at?

 

[permo]

9 successful batches. I fill mine with hot oxyclean solution and soak it overnight. Then drain and rinse. I then use the hot water from my wort chiller to fill it again with water and add starsan to sanitize the entire unit. No issues since I started this protocol and I am not going to change it!

 

[chapusin]

Here's what I do. Heat 2 gallons of water to 160-180. Transfer water to fermenter and put some pbw in there. Recirculate from bottom valve to lid with a march pump and using a McMaster plastic spray ball. Leave it alone for 20 minutes. Dump water. Rinse. Close. On brew day, same procedure but with star San and no rinse.

 

[Artifishal]

9 successful batches. I fill mine with hot oxyclean solution and soak it overnight. Then drain and rinse. I then use the hot water from my wort chiller to fill it again with water and add starsan to sanitize the entire unit. No issues since I started this protocol and I am not going to change it!

I do the same but I was using one oz. of oxyclean per gallon. Yes, that's a lot. 15 ounces! After doing that for all my batches up till the current one, and realizing much of it was just in a solid clump in the bottom I looked into how much others are using. Somewhere in this forum I found a few people saying 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. That's about one oz. for the entire thing instead of 15 ounces. I did this one oz. this time and currently have a batch fermenting away. I'm sure it's fine, but I'll post if it's infected.

I also use star San after I rinse out the oxyclean and right before I brew but only with a spray bottle.

My question is. How much oxyclean do you guys use?

 

[permo]

I just use one of the scoops that come in the tub and it cleans it just fine with no scrubbing needed.

 

[shemp]

Subscribe

 

[chapusin]

I do the same but I was using one oz. of oxyclean per gallon. Yes, that's a lot. 15 ounces! After doing that for all my batches up till the current one, and realizing much of it was just in a solid clump in the bottom I looked into how much others are using. Somewhere in this forum I found a few people saying 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. That's about one oz. for the entire thing instead of 15 ounces. I did this one oz. this time and currently have a batch fermenting away. I'm sure it's fine, but I'll post if it's infected.

I also use star San after I rinse out the oxyclean and right before I brew but only with a spray bottle.

My question is. How much oxyclean do you guys use?

Well, if it looks clean then that's all it takes. If 1 tablespoon did it, then that's it.

What really matters (if there's no organics) is the sanitization with the starsan or peroxyacetic.

Lately my kraussen looks like a rock! not even 1 oz per gallon of pbw at 150 takes it away, so I bought a power washer and destroy it in 2 minutes tops. Then I recirculate the pbw with a spray ball and leave it all night at 3 gallones which is above the diptube on my 55 gallon fermenter. Before fermenting and transferring the wort I empty the pbw, rinse and sanitize.

 

[abrew2u]

Can't seem to get the top to seal very well any ideas what's I can use for a gasket for the lid ????

 

[permo]

Can't seem to get the top to seal very well any ideas what's I can use for a gasket for the lid ????

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O9YXFIM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Artifishal]

Can't seem to get the top to seal very well any ideas what's I can use for a gasket for the lid ????

I don't seal mine, never have. In the summer fruit flies got into the fermentation chamber but still could not get into the conical. I just screw the cap down as tight as I can with a piece f small pipe for leverage.

I know there are a lot of other guys on here who tried it without success and gave up on it. I leaned from them and never had to battle that.

 

[permo]

This rope caulk also works good. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448455720.300541.jpg

 

[Artifishal]

Nice. Never heard of it. Tell me more. Nice bass boat too!

 

[shemp]

do you think the blow off tube is necessary?

 

[permo]

do you think the blow off tube is necessary?

In my case yes I do. 9 ferments out of 10 I am getting yeast and trub coming up through it.

 

[permo]

do you think the blow off tube is necessary?

I sure do. I get yeast and overflow coming out of there on nearly every brew I make.

 

[shemp]

I think I read somewhere on this marathon thread that a blow off tube was unnecessary. Maybe you can get away with an air lock on small beers. I'm not about to go through the thread again to figure it out. Blow off tube it is

 

[Huaco]

If you use a larger diameter tube with just enough liquid in the bucket to form an air lock, it will result in lower pressure, thus resulting in less krausen formation, thus lowering the risk of blown off yeast/beer.

 

[Artifishal]

Gentlemen, with my last two brews in mine I've had an ethyl acetate flavor (nail polish remover). I also brewed a batch in a glass carboy at the same time without the off flavor.

Is it possible This is coming from somewhere in the plastic conical or is that off flavor from other issues?

 

[augiedoggy]

Gentlemen, with my last two brews in mine I've had an ethyl acetate flavor (nail polish remover). I also brewed a batch in a glass carboy at the same time without the off flavor.

Is it possible This is coming from somewhere in the plastic conical or is that off flavor from other issues?

I have read that leaving it open and in the sun for a few hrs empty will help remove the smell from the inside.

 

[permo]

Gentlemen, with my last two brews in mine I've had an ethyl acetate flavor (nail polish remover). I also brewed a batch in a glass carboy at the same time without the off flavor.

Is it possible This is coming from somewhere in the plastic conical or is that off flavor from other issues?

I soak mine with hot oxiclean solution for 24 hours after a ferment. I have had no issues. I just made a kolsch and that beer hides nothing. The kolsch turned out perfectView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1449020431.641411.jpg

 

[chapusin]

Can't seem to get the top to seal very well any ideas what's I can use for a gasket for the lid ????

https://conical-fermenter.com/Lid-Gasket-for-7-Gallon-Fermenter.html

Perfect fit

 

[Artifishal]

I have read that leaving it open and in the sun for a few hrs empty will help remove the smell from the inside.

So it's not my conical. It must be the yeast or temp. ...or kegs/keg lines.

 

[Surly]

So it's not my conical. It must be the yeast or temp. ...or kegs/keg lines.

I take it you have a temp controlled system. Check out the temperature at which your beer cools to when pitching.

 

[Artifishal]

I get it pretty low. I whirlpool chill with a submersion. 60-65 F usually

 

[mrjofus1959]

I'm sure this should probably go under the "For Sale" section on the forum, but since this is one of the plastic conical threads I thought I'd post here...

I have two brand-new-in-the-box Ace Rotomold A-INFD15-19 15 gal tanks for sale (e.g. http://www.plastic-mart.com/product/5813/15-gallon-cone-inductor-tank-fully-draining-infd15-19). I'm in Fort Collins, CO so I'm looking for a front range CO buyer who could pick them up and pay no shipping. Price is $50 each.

Cheers!

UPDATE: These are sold...

 

[Artifishal]

Does you have the stands too?

 

[shemp]

I'm trying to put 2 pieces of weatherstripping on the lid and can't get the second one to stick to the first. Any suggestions?

 

[Paulfrank]

I don't think you want to put them on top of each other. Seemed to me that others (with reported success) put them aside each other. I haven't even gotten the conical yet though, so take that with a shot of starsan...

 

[permo]

I strip of weatherstripping is sufficient.

 

[shemp]

I don't think I'm getting a good seal. My fermentation chamber aka stand up freezer, smells great, but no bubbles through blow off tube. Oh well, rahahb. Ill pressure test once my first batch is done.

I'm leaving my yeast dump valve closed for now. I have it mounted horizontally due to room constraints. Planning on opening slowly after a few days. That sounds right?

 

[Surly]

I do not understand why people are trying to make this conical more complicated than need be. I have used mine long enough now to appreciate how simple it is.

I have no insulation around my cover. I do use a blow off tube but open the cover almost daily to look at how the fermentaion is proceeding. Simple following both good cleaning and sanitizing strategies and you will be joyful.

 

[shemp]

I can't imagine needing a blow off tube if you didn't attempt to seal it. Do you get bubbles Surly?

 

[Artifishal]

I appreciate the simplicity. I did not do any modifications to the top. No blow off, no silicone. Nothing.

I did install a bottling bucket sample valve down on the cone for hydrometer readings and love it. But no other mods have been necessary for me.over a year now.

I've had fruit flies in the chamber but they have not been Abe to make it into the beer through the tightly screwed on lid.

 

[thomasjr16]

I too love the simplicity of this setup and i don't even have a sampling/transfer port (yet!). I screw it down real tight, watch the yeast pile up at the bottom of the cone, transfer with the auto syphon through the top, and then dump the yeast through my bottom valve into a sanitized mason jar for storage when complete. Once or twice I had my brew day times align with a kegging day so i was able to simply dump my new beer on top of the yeast pile which was a nice bonus of not having to clean out the conical between brews.

I was able to pick up mine for something like $65 (my whole order was over $100 with other parts that I later returned) from ruralking.com when they still allowed free shipping on orders over $99, but now they screw you with a shipping fee of $50+ for a each conical... Man am I kicking myself for not buying 4-5 of these when I had the chance. Best deal I can find now is on Amazon or eBay for about $100 shipped to PA... Anyone have a cheaper source?

I picked up a 15.9 gal Speidel bucket style fermenter as they are $90 and don't any additional hardware for draining. I havent used it yet but I'm anxious to see how it works

 

[Surly]

I can't imagine needing a blow off tube if you didn't attempt to seal it. Do you get bubbles Surly?

I use a blow off tube simply because it is easy. At times my brew day produces 16 gallons of wort, therefore I may have more volume in a 15 gallon vessel. So, I apply the tube just in case.