Conical fermenter below 5 gallon?

[jezbrews]

Do these exist? I like making 3-4 gallon batches. I don't need more of any one beer than that, but working with stainless steel and tri clamp fittings, this is what I'm comfortable with... I'll do plastic if I have to but I don't really want to. It's a shame they're so bloody hard to get hold of!

 

[tigertim]

SS Brewtech do the Brew Bucket Mini which is a lovely little thing and has a capacity of 3.5 US gallons. It has a conical base, but if you’re looking for facilities such as tri-clamp and a dump valve, you’ll be disappointed.

 

[YeastFace]

4 Imp gallons in a 5 US gallon fermenter will be fine, won't be a great deal of headspace.

 

[Sadfield]

Why do you want a conical fermenter? What benefit are you looking for?

This is an interesting article from Kingkeg. Written to trash their rivals products, but if you actually dissect the quoted benefits, none of them pertain to beer quality. Conicals in breweries are all about economical and space efficiencies.

https://www.kegking.com.au/blog/pos...-you-should-never-ferment-in-round-fermenters
If this is important then a conical is the way to go. If you want to focus on beer quality and yeast performance then researching shallow, flat bottomed fermenters, may be a better route.

 

[Rwilts]

Why do you want a conical fermenter? What benefit are you looking for?

This is an interesting article from Kingkeg. Written to trash their rivals products, but if you actually dissect the quoted benefits, none of them pertain to beer quality. Conicals in breweries are all about economical and space efficiencies.

https://www.kegking.com.au/blog/pos...-you-should-never-ferment-in-round-fermenters
If this is important then a conical is the way to go. If you want to focus on beer quality and yeast performance then researching shallow, flat bottomed fermenters, may be a better route.

Not wishing to hijack the discussion but @Sadfield something you said relates to a thought I have been having all week. Whilst very happy with my fermizilla I have also been thinking of getting a metal fermenter but then I realised that since I gave up gas and BIAB I have a 50L pot sat in the garage, could I just use that? Then I was concerned about the headspace in such a large container for a standard 23L brew......

 

[Sadfield]

Not wishing to hijack the discussion but @Sadfield something you said relates to a thought I have been having all week. Whilst very happy with my fermizilla I have also been thinking of getting a metal fermenter but then I realised that since I gave up gas and BIAB I have a 50L pot sat in the garage, could I just use that? Then I was concerned about the headspace in such a large container for a standard 23L brew......

I depends on whether you feel you are creating enough co2 to purge the headspace.

 

[Rwilts]

I depends on whether you feel you are creating enough co2 to purge the headspace.

So as I understand it. Plenty of people use the offed CO2 to purge corny kegs whilst fermenting so makes sense to me that with 23l wort leaving 27L headspace there should be plenty of CO2 produced to at least fill that area ( or at least sufficient to leave a thick cap on the liquid)

 

[peebee]

I brew 45L batches in a 70L conical. What's the problem brewing 3-4 gallons in a 5 gallon fermenter?

Don't answer that, I know the answer ... None! And don't anyone say something ridiculous like "excess headspace"!

 

[peebee]

... And don't anyone say something ridiculous like "excess headspace"!

That's a bit of bigotry?

What I mean is, if excess headspace is a problem, gawd help us poor keg users: Our beer spends half its days in a less than half full keg.

 

[RichardM]

That's a bit of bigotry?

What I mean is, if excess headspace is a problem, gawd help us poor keg users: Our beer spends half its days in a less than half full keg.

Beer in a keg with pressurised CO2 is very different to wort in a fermenter.
Just because a half empty keg is ok it doesn't follow that a half empty fermenter is ok

 

[peebee]

Beer in a keg with pressurised CO2 is very different to wort in a fermenter. ...

Oh... ?

Except you forget who you're talking to! Look at my "signature"; the bit "Cask-conditioned" is the important bit.

I do not choke when I say "keg" any longer, but "pressurised with CO2"? (Choke).

 

[RichardM]

Oh... ?

Except you forget who you're talking to! Look at my "signature"; the bit "Cask-conditioned" is the important bit.

I do not choke when I say "keg" any longer, but "pressurised with CO2"? (Choke)

I'm on my phone. Signatures don't appear on the mobile version of the forum.

How long does your beer stay fresh in it's cask once you have tapped it?

 

[peebee]

(Turn your phone on its side ... "landscape" mode ... and signatures are visible).

Same way as in the fermenter, the surrounding CO2 is maintained.

It was always the way to ferment in an unsealed bucket, but few do that now. "Airlocks" are pretty-well universal, and no bad thing. In the early days we were told not to use them, and there are possibly reasons not to. But I think such "reasons" don't apply to homebrewers.

 

[RichardM]

(Turn your phone on its side ... "landscape" mode ... and signatures are visible).

Same way as in the fermenter, the surrounding CO2 is maintained.

It was always the way to ferment in an unsealed bucket, but few do that now. "Airlocks" are pretty-well universal, and no bad thing. In the early days we were told not to use them, and there are possibly reasons not to. But I think such "reasons" don't apply to homebrewers.

I can live without seeing your signature.
Many commercial breweries did (and some still do) use open fermenters
My understanding was that once a cask is tapped the beer has to be consumed within a few of days unless you are going to add a blanket of CO2 at a small positive pressure.

 

[jezbrews]

Not to hijack my own thread or something, but my use of conical comes from a combination of what I'm used to at work as well as a desire to crop yeast easily to then store. As for triclamp, don't worry about that, I've got that sorted.

The problem is that bigger fermenters are more expensive, so that money is wasted, something nobody seems to take into consideration, it's all about head space or whatever.

 

[Sadfield]

Not to hijack my own thread or something, but my use of conical comes from a combination of what I'm used to at work as well as a desire to crop yeast easily to then store.

I do wonder with a lot of the smaller conicals, how effective they are for this. With access and smaller valves and pipework to clog up. Whether top cropping is actually easier on this smaller scale, and results in harvesting healthier yeast with less trub.

 

[DuncR]

Even if all of headspace is not completely filled/purged with CO2, the CO2 should sink and provide a blanket over the beer (that’s what I keep telling myself anyway.
However… conical ferment it’s do look very shiny and mini-brewery like, so I am tempted

 

[Agentgonzo]

Even if all of headspace is not completely filled/purged with CO2, the CO2 should sink and provide a blanket over the beer (that’s what I keep telling myself anyway.

That's not what happens. Gasses mix, they don't separate out.

When you leave a cask/bottle of beer, it doesn't separate out with the heavier water sinking to the bottom and the lighter ethanol floating on top. The same thing happens with gasses as it does with liquids.

 

[MashBag]

I have to say I agree with the emerging sentiment of, is there really any point at that volume.

 

[foxy]

Not to hijack my own thread or something, but my use of conical comes from a combination of what I'm used to at work as well as a desire to crop yeast easily to then store. As for triclamp, don't worry about that, I've got that sorted.

The problem is that bigger fermenters are more expensive, so that money is wasted, something nobody seems to take into consideration, it's all about head space or whatever.

Homebrew scale you can still crop yeast in a flat fermenter. Commercial conicals are a different story, first to drop the trub from the cone, if dry hopping is to be used then the yeast is dropped from the cone, and the economics of draining every last drop of beer.