How big is your conical?

[mixale]

I've eventually got around to brewing a large enough batch to make use of the large 120lt conical I bought from Vossy last year.
I had to completely rebuild the fermentation cabinet to house the new baby.
So now I have a 70lt batch of Galaxy Pale Ale bubbling away in here.....

Now I need to think how do I get the beer out and into a suitable container to add the priming sugars.
Will then have to devise a method so I can bottle using my xmas present to self - 2 head syphon filler from vigo

Does anyone else use the vigo fillers?
Would be interested to know how you have managed to fill a holding tank to feed to filler.

 

[Vossy1]

Great to see her in use finally M :party: :clap:

 

[alby]

just out of interest how do you do temperature control ?
is it just the cable NTC sensor dangled into the conical ?

 

[Vossy1]

It is for me :thumb:
Edit, mines a stainless probe, see top of pic

 

[alby]

where did you buy the thermowell for the ntc sensor ?

also the previous pictures had a double product coil, do you know where to buy these ?

thanks

 

[Vossy1]

The NTC is a custom made job from Souther Temperature Sensors Alby.
I haven't seen any double product coils for a while but singles are capable of controlling several hundred litres so they will do, Norman of corny fame sells em, or used to :thumb:

 

[thedrayman]

Vossy, did you ever write a 'How To' on the conical build? I'd love to have a go at replicating something like that.

 

[MacKiwi]

I'd also love to know where you got the stainless immersion cooler thingy! Looks a bit more manageable than a stainless coil...

 

[Vossy1]

Vossy, did you ever write a 'How To' on the conical build? I'd love to have a go at replicating something like that.

I did on an older version, see here, but the present 60ltr versions, along with Mix 110ltr are far easier as they have a flat top to the conical. You can get the conicals with or without lids, think mine was £8 cheaper without the lid, that gives you freedom to adapt the top

I'd also love to know where you got the stainless immersion cooler thingy! Looks a bit more manageable than a stainless coil...

Custom made see here From using immersion coils they tend to 'wick' yeast on draining so I wanted something that wouldn't 'wick' as much, ie, less horizontal surfaces. TBH, coils are far cheaper, or the rab maxwell design is too, and if I were to do it again with cost being an issue I wouldn't go custom.

 

[mixale]

just out of interest how do you do temperature control ?
is it just the cable NTC sensor dangled into the conical ?

Even more basic at the moment - you can just about make out the sensor dangling in ambient air on the right!!
All controlled from an old ATC-800 with the set temp adjusted down by a few degrees to account for the difference between air and wort.
It will eventully be installed in a thermowell and a cooling coil used as well.

Not having brewed since Sept I was running short on ale and needed to get a brew done.

 

[Vossy1]

M, can we have some mr whippy shots if it happens :pray: ...one thing I love about the clear lids...seeing what's happening Did you get a good seal using it around the bolts?

 

[Steam brew]

Hi we use the Vigo filler for filling cider, we pump from our 500 gls tank to a 5 gl open top barrel then via gravity to the filler it works well after you get the fill levels right :

 

[MacKiwi]

Custom made see here From using immersion coils they tend to 'wick' yeast on draining so I wanted something that wouldn't 'wick' as much, ie, less horizontal surfaces. TBH, coils are far cheaper, or the rab maxwell design is too, and if I were to do it again with cost being an issue I wouldn't go custom.

Ah, ok, I remember seeing come coils from that Manu chap, but not the rectangular widget. I guess the Rab Maxwell chiller has a lot going for it, given you can make one yourself, and it's cheap, and when mounted vertically there's no surface for the yeast to gather on. I'm just not sure if there is enough surface area for controlling the temperature of large volumes of wort...

 

[Vossy1]

I'm just not sure if there is enough surface area for controlling the temperature of large volumes of wort...

Jim uses one in his 40ltr conical, see here :thumb: and Rab used them on much bigger fv's 100ltr+ IIRC.

 

[AllTheHops]

Hi Vossy,

Nice conicals! Are these available for purchase..?

 

[EskiBrew]

Very nice, glad to see it being used :thumb: