Stainless Conical Budget of £500 to £800 Best One

[darkonnis]

Is your conical not high enough off the ground to let you get a corney beneath kev ?
Still haven't sorted mine out, had a chat with a mate of mine and he suggested just cutting the legs down which isn't a bad idea, I just dont want to bugger it

[Kev888]

Yes, its just high enough for a corny, but achieving that makes it awkward in other ways - I have to stand on tip-toe to see in, and with my low ceiling tipping in bigger starters or getting stirring sticks in (such as for stirring dry-hops) is ungainly.

If I had the choice I'd have the bottom dump valve only just high enough to clear a modest pan and also to empty rinse water down to the outside drain by gravity (through a big hose or channel or something) - so that I could still dump yeast and rinse out conveniently.

Cheers
Kev

[darkonnis]

I see, as I say I wouldnt mind chopping the conical legs down but I haven't the foggiest how tall would be too "short" if that makes sense. Guess that gives me something to start with I might just cut them down to the side valve is in line with the top of a corny... that'd probably be about right I think?

[barneey]

I would fill the conical up with water and try a keg with it.

Keg either mounted on blocks etc to test the best height.

Measure twice - cut once

[Kev888]

Yes definately, easier to saw more off than put it back on again!

Conceptually though, if you always intend to rack to the keg using pressure then height relative to the corny isn't very important, but if you can't (or don't want to be tied to only using pressure) then the two things I would feel were the minimum are getting the corny underneath the racking valve (as you say), but also ensuring the fill level in the corny is always somewhat lower than the lowest intake position of your racking arm (if you have one). This is partly to stop the drain-off becoming painfully slow as the level/height differential decreases towards the end, and partly because with some designs the racking arm can form a dip-tube when pointed downwards so (thanks to the syphon effect) the liquid can be lower than the actual valve.

Not that it needs to be very precise, really, one of the nice things about the cone shape is that theres impressively little wasted volume for quite deep deadspace

Cheers
Kev

[darkonnis]

I would fill the conical up with water and try a keg with it.

Keg either mounted on blocks etc to test the best height.

Measure twice - cut once

Indeed! I am dreading "actually" cutting it. Gonna take my time and make sure its spot on before I even so much as look at it with bad intention!
I can't pressure it out I'm afraid, although recent tests have shown it to be fairly airtight with the lid on, I havent got CO2 and I dont fancy giving it a go on the off chance I break a seal.

I havent checked the deadspace but I reckon it should be ok, I'll just bottle of "minikeg" whatevers left in the deadspace.

[barneey]

Got a bit carried away yesterday and ended up buying another conical (2nd hand ) to try out, this time its the 2011 vintage Willis 100 (working) ltr conical, which I think is similar to the one Deller bought.

I`ll be posting a few pictures of the thing once it arrives.

[Kev888]

This is something I agonised over for months, if not years, but you seem to have bought another one almost by accident!!

By coincidence, my stock pots arrived last week too, so I'm not quite as envious as I'd otherwise be

Cheers
kev

[Deller12]

Got a bit carried away yesterday and ended up buying another conical (2nd hand ) to try out, this time its the 2011 vintage Willis 100 (working) ltr conical, which I think is similar to the one Deller bought.

I`ll be posting a few pictures of the thing once it arrives.

Is that 100 Ltrs Clive ?

[barneey]

On the Willis label (only have a picture of the thing at the moment) it says " working volume (litres): 100 " so the actual volume is 110 litres, I think / sure its exactly the same as the drawing I posted on the first page of this thread, so exactly the same as the 65/75ltr one but taller.

[Deller12]

On the Willis label (only have a picture of the thing at the moment) it says " working volume (litres): 100 " so the actual volume is 110 litres, I think / sure its exactly the same as the drawing I posted on the first page of this thread, so exactly the same as the 65/75ltr one but taller.

Nice i could have done with that

[Deller12]

Got a bit carried away yesterday and ended up buying another conical (2nd hand ) to try out, this time its the 2011 vintage Willis 100 (working) ltr conical, which I think is similar to the one Deller bought.

I`ll be posting a few pictures of the thing once it arrives.

Just a thought but you might need to extend the legs; I raised mine by 420mm to enable me to sit a corny under the outlet tap

[barneey]

At the moment with the other conical I`m pumping the beer into the kegs under CO2 which seems to work well. I`m assuming the top tap on the conical is a screw thread, so a triclover fitting with screw could fit onto it?

How are you controlling fermention temps?

Cheers

[Deller12]

My conical has a thread on the top i made up a tri clamp fitting that screws on the top.

My conical has a long stainless coil on the inside that I pump water round to keep it at the right temp.

[barneey]

My Willis conical has now arrived, this thing is built like a tank compared to my previous Italian one and even compared to the more beer one. I think you be hard pushed to damage the thing.

The welding is ok internal although IMHO not as crisp as the Morebeer welding.

The morebeer conical comes with a 3" welded triclover fitting on the lid whereas the Willis one has a screw thread for a ballvalve or other 1/2 threaded device, so I perfer the morebeer one.

Halfway down the conical there is a screw thread for a thermometer (I would have prefered a welded triclover fitting) but whatever the fitting, it will make an excellent port for a thermopocket temp sensor.

So that leads me onto the final question if I were to buy another which one would buy?.....

If money wasn`t an issue the morebeer conical would win everytime BUT compared to the Willis one, the morebeer is very expensive.

It will be interesting to see if Willis ever start selling the jacket version & if they change a few design features.

Cheers