My Plastic Conical Fermenter

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psytramp

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Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd share my new plastic conical with everyone. I know there has been a fair bit about the design on plastic conicals, short of getting one out of the US, so I went on the hunt to build my own...

I used a conical which was made by Rota Moulding over in WA, had it sent over to Melbourne no problem, they were really helpful. It is a 35lt conical which comes complete with stand.


Image #1 is the completed conical

Conical_Complete.jpg

It doesn't come with any taps and is really a blank canvas, letting you design it how you want it. I used 2, 3 piece ball valves as my choice for the dump and sample tap.


Image #2 is the top and lid

Conical_Top.jpg


Image #3 is a close up of the taps

Conical_Bottom.jpg


Image #4 is a view of the inside

Conical_Internal.jpg


The total cost was about $500. I've done a test brew in it which is in the conditioning phase now, however all initial indications of how the beer is going to turn out look good. I brewed a belgian pale ale.

The whole reason for building this was really just simply a curiosity of fermenting with a conical and a little project before i decide to all all stainless.

Don't hesitate to pass on your comments or questions...
 
Hi How much was the just the fermenter and stand shipped to Melbourne.
Cheers Mario
 
You *need* a stainless one.
















Then you can sell that cheap plastic one to me. :)
 
Ive seen these Rota Moldings jobbies before, and they are great. This mob would do well coming onto the forum and offering a bulk deal for members, ready-to-use conicals with taps.... if the price was right they would clean up.
 
Ive seen these Rota Moldings jobbies before, and they are great. This mob would do well coming onto the forum and offering a bulk deal for members, ready-to-use conicals with taps.... if the price was right they would clean up.

Yup.

Working out where I can pull the cash from right now.... ;-)
 
Awesome, I actually saw your pic on the rota website...

Have you started using it yet?

My fridge has a flat bottom, so with some minor adjustments to the stand, it fitted perfectly, the length of the original legs were 600mm, so i reduced them each side by 50mm.

The first batch did seem to be clearer straight out of the fermenter after a 1 week primary, dump, then 2 weeks secondary at original temp.

I will get a stainless eventually, however, I just wanted to get familiar before i took the more expensive jump...

Cheers!! :beer:
 
That was a good thread, and at lest he gave it a go to provide something for brewing. Unfortunately the price he was suggesting doesnt justify the need to own one, especially when you factor in the extra fittings, ball valves and blow off setup. As bad as it sounds, an asian source for these would be the go.

Hard for an Aussie manufacturer to compete against a sweatshop factory.
 
I wish it was my photo on the rotamoulding website but that honour belongs to Asher, I think. Mine is still sitting in the spare room waiting to be transformed into a fermenter. My fridge doesn't have a flat bottom, so not sure how I'm gonna get it to sit n the fridge. Nice challenge ahead for me on the that one. How are you planning to clean it in between brews as one of my concerns is keeping the weldless fittings clean and bacteria free.

Neil
 
Holy bat-**** that is the most awesome thing I've ever seen. Excuse the french but I just got a serious brewbone. If I didn't live in a 1 bedroom apartment I'd be taking the next few days off to build this :) Thanks for sharing!

Joel
 
I wish it was my photo on the rotamoulding website but that honour belongs to Asher, I think. Mine is still sitting in the spare room waiting to be transformed into a fermenter. My fridge doesn't have a flat bottom, so not sure how I'm gonna get it to sit n the fridge. Nice challenge ahead for me on the that one. How are you planning to clean it in between brews as one of my concerns is keeping the weldless fittings clean and bacteria free.

Neil

Yeah, I've thought long and hard about this one as well. Basically i'm going to use my same routine with all my other fermenters and that is a good hand wash first, in and around the fittings, a hot soaking in PBW for 24-48hrs depending on how bothered i can be getting to it sooner, but at least 24hrs, and then a sanitizer for 24hrs.

I have done a fair bit of reasearch on cleaning conicals, and although it is limited, it seems that you only need to remove taps etc every 2-3 brews as long as you have a routine like i just mentioned. I'm acutally going to modify the bottom tap slightly with a M33 stainless washer between the reducer and the conical, to make it easier to pull the tap on and off.

I'm going to give that a crack and see how it goes, however, from my experience, I haven't removed the taps everytime I have brewed in my other fermenters with no problems to date.

The reason I used 3 piece valves was also so I can pull those apart to clean too, and a good soak.

So that's the plan...
 
Holy bat-**** that is the most awesome thing I've ever seen. Excuse the french but I just got a serious brewbone. If I didn't live in a 1 bedroom apartment I'd be taking the next few days off to build this :) Thanks for sharing!

Joel

Thanks mate, appreciate the feedback...

Good project to get stuck into.
 
I just found this on the minibrew website talking about their plastic conicals with very similiar fittings to mine. Plastic spec is the same also from what I gather.


[size=-1]Easy to Clean and Sterilize All popular cleaning and/or sterilizing agents can be used on our plastic (HDPE) fermenters. They will not harm the inert plastic material. Water at 180 degrees is an excellent sterilizing agent; pour it down the sides of the fermenter. The heat will sink into the plastic and all the parts, killing bacteria. This procedure works with stainless also. The large top makes it easy to get inside and scrub dried trub with a Teflon scouring pad. The melting point of plastic is 250 degrees. [/size]


I reakon just pulling the taps off every 2-3 brews would be fine.
 
Looks great!

Apart from looking good, is the only main advantage of a conical fermenter the ease of yeast harvesting from the very bottom tap?
 
Cheers mate given me some really good thought on how to keep it clean. I'll let you know how I get on once I finally get it up and running

Neil
 
Cheers mate given me some really good thought on how to keep it clean. I'll let you know how I get on once I finally get it up and running

Neil
Awesome, i'm keen to see the finished product...
 
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