Stainless Conical Budget of £500 to £800 Best One

[barneey]

Kev,

The only thing I would suggest is actually looking at the conical in the flesh before buying one due to the previous internal welding issues, better safe than sorry.

That and mine is only a 75 litre one, enough for 2 cornies worth + bottles without the fear of a spill, not too sure if a larger conical will fit in a normal domestic fridge?

Cheers
Clive

[Kev888]

Yeah, having seen the pics of the weld on your first one I'd want the option to refuse or at last swap - so its very encouraging that you were able to do the latter. Its the main thing really - I may or may not ultimately go for a tri-clamp masterpiece, but (whatever it is) hygenic welds are a minimum IMO.

I won a big beer cooler on ebay last year so thats sitting in the wings ready to replace the fridge. I'm more concerned about the capacity of the 100L version at the mo, my big plastic conical has on occasion foamed up to near 120L from an 80L brew, and the 100L stock pots frequently overlow. Perhaps the lid on these conicals would seal enough for a blow-off tube to be effective, though.

Cheers
kev

[darkonnis]

Had a look at that US website that do the conical fermenters 12.5Gallon ($300), the issue being postage and the fact you'd need to pay for a full pallet.... Well if you could get 4 of these on a pallet, might it be worth seeing if theres anyone on here who is looking at one with serious interest and buying a few and splitting the costs? Alternatively you could get a few and sell them on yourself.
I only suggest this because it seems like you're paying a lot of money simply for it being in the UK, and at that price you could nearly have 2 fermenters (not taking into account postage) Food for thought, thats all
Liam

[Kev888]

Yeah, its a thought. But i think with shipping and import duty etc its perhaps less of a saving - I'd want 100L minimum, so depending on what goes on a pallet shipping could be getting quite costly. At that sort of value I'm also a bit concerned if it needed returning or something like clive's did.. Think ultimately i'll either go with a blichmann or willis as a ready made job, or with the cheaper olive oil tank and treat it as a canvas for customising - I'd be wanting to stick probes and chiller coils through it and so on.

Cheers
Kev

[barneey]

Just updated the support shelf arrangement in the fridge to a dual side support, so now the weight is taken over 8 side shelf brackets. I hope by doing this further bottom legs wont be required.

The top ply shelf hole was over cut to enable the whole bracket removeal.

Updated the the supplied taps with two 3 piece ball valves for ease of cleaning.

[Deller12]

Hi Chaps,

Just wondering how you guys are cleaning your conicals? I see a few posts on steam cleaning have any of you gone down this route?


Lee

[barneey]

I didnt bother with the steam on my last brew day, everything turned out fine.

Procedure used, everything (fittings) strpped back from the conical, ballvalves taken apart etc.

PBW + Starsan the fittings in another vessel.
Fittings replaced on conical.
PBW + Starsan the whole conical (fittings in place).
Drain Starsan from both bottom and side taps.
Leave lid on until filling conical.
Use conical + clean straight after use.

So straight forward cleaning really.

[Deller12]

I didnt bother with the steam on my last brew day, everything turned out fine.

Procedure used, everything (fittings) strpped back from the conical, ballvalves taken apart etc.

PBW + Starsan the fittings in another vessel.
Fittings replaced on conical.
PBW + Starsan the whole conical (fittings in place).
Drain Starsan from both bottom and side taps.
Leave lid on until filling conical.
Use conical + clean straight after use.

So straight forward cleaning really.

When you clean the vessel are you filling the whole thing or just using a spray bottle ?

[barneey]

I normally make up a gallon of the cleaning solution and move that around the conical (ie. the conical wrong way up, on its side, finally right way up in the fridge) saves on solution required + gets the contact time on every surface. The solution from the fermenter I use for cleaning other products ie hoses etc last thing on brewday.

Spray wise (starsan), I normally spray everything on the outside of the conical just before use, anything I`ve touched and a final spray on the outside of the taps. Fridge is also well cleaned before use.

PS dont forget thermo wells airlocks or the like.

When using the taps during fermentation either for yeast or samples I would also spray around the tap / area after use.

Dont think I`ve missed anything / but comments always welcome for improvements.

[Deller12]

I normally make up a gallon of the cleaning solution and move that around the conical (ie. the conical wrong way up, on its side, finally right way up in the fridge) saves on solution required + gets the contact time on every surface. The solution from the fermenter I use for cleaning other products ie hoses etc last thing on brewday.

Spray wise (starsan), I normally spray everything on the outside of the conical just before use, anything I`ve touched and a final spray on the outside of the taps. Fridge is also well cleaned before use.

PS dont forget thermo wells airlocks or the like.

When using the taps during fermentation either for yeast or samples I would also spray around the tap / area after use.

Dont think I`ve missed anything / but comments always welcome for improvements.

Many thanks for the advice it’s much appreciated: D I did a some research on youtube and see some guy using a spray ball set up maybe that something to consider at a later date

[bigrichlock]

Hello,

Clean all the valves etc, re attach and then pump PBW at about 60 deg through the CIP ball, put a 25L fermenting bucket under the main outlet on the bottom, stick a high flow submersible pump (not a solar pump, you need good pressure) in it and keep circulating for an hour, do the same with water to flush out the PBW and then with starsan, you should not even have to move the conical or take it out the fridge if its in one.

You may as well use the CIP ball as intended, oh and dont forget to remove and clean the CIP as well.

Cheer

Rich

[Deller12]

CIP Ball may have to go on the Christmas list but looks a good bit of kit

[bigrichlock]

When i spoke to Willis they came with the vessel? never mind good luck getting your arm in there!

Rich

[Deller12]

When i spoke to Willis they came with the vessel? never mind good luck getting your arm in there!

Rich

Not one on mine just had a look at the site below might have to invest in one my arms are to short lol

http://www.breconcherry.co.uk/products/ ... -ball.html

[Deller12]

Just found this on fleebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Turbo-SSB-Tan ... 3cca25e495