Plastic Conicals

[sathid]

except the bottom will be flat, (or more likely, have small indents that are below the tap outlet) and thus will not be able to get all of the yeast/trub out of the tap.

The main difference with a conical is that the outlet is the lowest point of the tank.

edit: beaten by Quintrex

 

[troydo]

not really as a fermenter bottom is flat.. you would siphon an initial bit of yeast then just a mixture of yeast and beer would be sucked from the surrounding area. with a conical bottom the yeast is the bottom layer and all of that bottom layer would fall/be sucked out.

Edit: beaten twice!

 

[newguy]

B) Three posts, each a minute apart, each saying the same thing. What are the chances of that happening again?

 

[troydo]

lots of bored folk around

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Hi Troy, thanks for dropping by.
The conical fermenter is not essential for small scale brewing, but is highly desirable at the right price.
There are several considerations to make if you wish to cater for the home craftbrewer.
The size of the unit must fit into a domestic fridge, we used temperature controlled fridges to ferment in.
Capacities of increments of 20 litres plus about 20% headspace would be ideal.
An air tight removable lid, that would be able to take enough applied CO2 pressure to force the beer through a filter.
An optional stand.
The inside of the conical would have to be free of any ledges or threads where germs could collect, and be of a scratch resistant food grade poly.
A cone of 60 degrees.
Would it be possible to incorporate a Tri-Clover fitting in the bottom for the cone for the attachment of the dump valve, and the same for the racking arm.
As you may have guessed by now homebrewers are a bunch of tightarses, so maybe the cost could be lowered by reducing the thickness of the poly, I think its around 8mm at present.

Looking forward to your comments.

 

[BusinessTime]

It's not angled though. The yeast/trub won't magically feed to the centre hole, that is why the 60 degree angle is important as this funnels the majority of sediment towards the dump pipe.
The funneled bit also is advantageous as you typically have a racking port above it, which allows the brewer to draw off extra clear brew, while losing less volume of liquid underneath it because it is funneled. Does this make sense? I think I have expressed it extremely clumsily.. :unsure:

This may be too simple but couldn't you chock up a standard fermenter on an angle so the yeast pools over the bung (in a similar way to what i've seen ppl do when bottling from a fermenter)? I know it's not as good as a conical just an idea (2c).

 

[hando]

No sign of Troy!

I think a 30litre size would be fantastic with all the other bits mentioned before about thinning the walls etc.

 

[scott_penno]

Something like this but maybe marginally (OK, quite a bit) smaller...

sap.

 

[Hogan]

Here's Troys web page but he seems to have forgotten about us.


Cheers, Hoges.

 

[rotamoulding]

No haven't forgotten, just busy. I had an email from someone here I think and this has got me thinking, I am planning to build a mould next month and would like some feedback
Bassicly its a new 40lt Cone bottom 300mm diameter x around 800mm high the bottom of the cone will have a small flat section to allow for a flanged outlet or we can drill and tap the thickness of the tank ( the bottom being around 12mm) and then cut down the fitting that screws in it to allow for drainage.

The top

will be the same as this tank, with a 75mm cap with oring and a 3 x 15mm female threads

Let me know your thoughts and Ideas please

Regards
Troy Coulthard

 

[Goat]

Sounds very interesting Troy - look forward to seeing the final product.

A couple of comments:

- Is it possible to make the lid like / or the same as a fermenter lid (like this: http://www.homebru.com.au/images/Web%20100_1259.jpg ) - cleaning would be a lot easier than a 75 dia cap - you need to get your arm in there to clean off the yeast and trub stuck to the sides.

- Is it difficult to add height to the fermenter. A lot of people I know brew double or triple batches of 60L. 40 will fit in two corny kegs (19L each) but there are losses of a few litres and as Vlad said some time ago, clear head space is essential for the krausen (bubbly head of yeast on top of the liquid). Therefore a 60L brew + 20% head space would equate to 72L capacity fermenter.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

No haven't forgotten, just busy. I had an email from someone here I think and this has got me thinking, I am planning to build a mould next month and would like some feedback
Bassicly its a new 40lt Cone bottom 300mm diameter x around 800mm high the bottom of the cone will have a small flat section to allow for a flanged outlet or we can drill and tap the thickness of the tank ( the bottom being around 12mm) and then cut down the fitting that screws in it to allow for drainage.

The top

will be the same as this tank, with a 75mm cap with oring and a 3 x 15mm female threads

Let me know your thoughts and Ideas please

Regards
Troy Coulthard

That picture puts me in mind of something else I have seen - the party kegs you make out of plastic garden sprayers.

The tank in that picture doesn't look a whole heap of distance away from a corny keg ... and there is a market out there for corny kegs, especially little ones. If someone was to make a 9 or 10 litre plastic version of a cornie keg... and the cost was significantly less than the $150+ that you would pay for a stainless version.

I can convert a garden sprayer into a small keg for a total of about $30-35 and an hour or two of work ... I would easily pay twice that for one that was purpose made and that cost me no time/effort. I am no stainless snob either and would consider full sized plastic "kegs" if the price point was right.

TB

 

[Thirsty Boy]

No haven't forgotten, just busy. I had an email from someone here I think and this has got me thinking, I am planning to build a mould next month and would like some feedback
Bassicly its a new 40lt Cone bottom 300mm diameter x around 800mm high the bottom of the cone will have a small flat section to allow for a flanged outlet or we can drill and tap the thickness of the tank ( the bottom being around 12mm) and then cut down the fitting that screws in it to allow for drainage.

The top

will be the same as this tank, with a 75mm cap with oring and a 3 x 15mm female threads

Let me know your thoughts and Ideas please

Regards
Troy Coulthard

That picture puts me in mind of something else I have seen - the party kegs you make out of plastic garden sprayers.

The tank in that picture doesn't look a whole heap of distance away from a corny keg ... and there is a market out there for corny kegs, especially little ones. If someone was to make a 9 or 10 litre plastic version of a cornie keg... and the cost was significantly less than the $150+ that you would pay for a stainless version.

I can convert a garden sprayer into a small keg for a total of about $30-35 and an hour or two of work ... I would easily pay twice that for one that was purpose made and that cost me no time/effort. I am no stainless snob either and would consider full sized plastic "kegs" if the price point was right.

TB

 

[blekk]

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster... Read this thread awhile back and couldn't resist giving it a go.



This is one of their 40lt tanks with a 255mm screw in lid. The fittings are 1 1/4" reducing to a 3/4" ball valve (actual diameter of internal flow of the ball valve is around 12mm), all 316 S/S. Hose tails to come cos' I ordered the wrong size by mistake :blink: Slowly putting together bits and pieces (uni and work taking up a lot of time), but should be good to go into a 144lt bar fridge once I'm finished. Let me know what you guys think

Cheers.

 

[Leigh]

Looks good Blair. Can you give an idea of how much this set you back and how much effort went into kitting the conical tank up?

Cheers

 

[blekk]

Looks good Blair. Can you give an idea of how much this set you back and how much effort went into kitting the conical tank up?

Cheers

The tank cost $264 that included shipping from Perth to Brisbane and the 2 drilled/tapped holes which they did for me (racking is 90mm up the side from drain). The 6 316 fittings were $68.49 inclusive of shipping. Forgot to mention that the tanks are food grade and chemical safe hence the price.

Cheers

 

[Leigh]

Thanks Blair

 

[seravitae]

Not bad i can say in the future I would be interested in a single batch (~30-40L) conical myself, but at the moment at that price I can't justify it.

Not that I'm saying the price is necessarily bad, moulds and such for plastic making are hideously expensive.

not to sidetrack much from these beautiful pieces of equipment, but I am wondering if it may be cheaper to buy a standard fermentor, find a company with (or to produce) some large funnels, and ultrasonically weld them together. Might not be as strong for the huge triple and quad batches but a good ultrasonic weld should be fine for singles and probably doubles. Or maybe offer it as a kit with three parts, the cylindrical section with a lip, a food grade gasket, and a conical bottom that you can bolt together with a lip. Would be cheaper to produce and slightly cheaper to ship.

 

[Leigh]

Thirsty Boy wrote a how-to on exactly what you are suggesting sera. There was also another person did similar recently.

The link in the first post is to a thread by Thirsty Boy http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=12015

This is the more recent one http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=34065

[edit] to add some links

 

[SJW]

For the right price I would be very interested in a 30-40 litre conical fermenter. Something about the size of a std fermenter soit will fit in a bar fridge.

Steve