24 replies to this topic

[Stout_fan]

Just finished this year's (ahem, checks notes)...

 

Fresh hopped

Mash hopped

Full wort hopped

Hop bursted (Thanks CJ)

Hop backed

And as of yet, to be dry hopped

RyePA (Thanks Denny)

 

I think I've crammed them in every conceivable way.

Brewer's Hardware makes great jacketed conicals.

Except you have to add the leg extensions.

5" Harbor freight swivel casters.

3x4x1/8 304 SS plate

2 1/2" 304 SS pipe x 6" long

2 1/2" weld fittings

Everything south of the tri-clamps is my welding.

Many thanks to the guys on this board and the old one of unmentionable colour for welding tips.

Enjoy the SS.

 

Sanitary weld on the tri-clamp, regular fillet weld on the plate. Angle is just aluminum.  Nothing fancy there.

 

Come a leetle bit closer, you're my kind of steel.

 

 

 

Sorry, no teapot photos here, just some welds I'm amazed I pulled off.

 

 

And the lab I work in donated a defunct (on the hot side) cooler. Cold side worked perfectly although it needs a bit more work.  A later post if y'all interested.

 

It's been a trip, but finally my brews are missing that signature phenolic twang.

[SchwanzBrewer]

My buddy has 2 of them. He loves it.

[3rd party JKor]

They use triclamps for feet?

[denny]

I find mash hops to have exactly the same effect as flushing the hops down the toilet! 

[SchwanzBrewer]

I find mash hops to have exactly the same effect as flushing the hops down the toilet! 

 

So is that how you make a sour IPA?

[neddles]

So is that how you make a sour IPA?

Boil after souring. Add hops to the boil as normal. No need for terlets!!

[SchwanzBrewer]

Boil after souring. Add hops to the boil as normal. No need for terlets!!

 

Yeah but the sour heads won't be able to say, "Oh man you can really taste the E. Coli!".

[neddles]

Yeah but the sour heads won't be able to say, "Oh man you can really taste the E. Coli!".

I don't know any sour heads and...

 

 

[SchwanzBrewer]

I don't know any sour heads and...

 

 

 

That's because they died from cholera when they were chasing after that rarest of all sour beers...

[djinkc]

I find mash hops to have exactly the same effect as flushing the hops down the toilet! 

 

Eh, I think it's something a lot of homebrewers want to try regardless of advice.  And why not?  Some advice is wrong.

 

 

OTOH, I took your word for it.  

[SchwanzBrewer]

By the way, if you can swing a conical and make a glycol unit. Do it. You will love it. They are so much easier to deal with and it will make you want to brew more.

[gnef]

Those welds look great!

 

I wish I could justify a conical, so for now I will look enviously on at those of you who do!

[3rd party JKor]

By the way, if you can swing a conical and make a glycol unit. Do it. You will love it. They are so much easier to deal with and it will make you want to brew more.

Easier than what?

[Stout_fan]

Those welds look great!

 

I wish I could justify a conical, so for now I will look enviously on at those of you who do!

Thanks,

I had a friend that gave me 2 hours on his big Miller.  And then spent two hours of class time at the local weld retailer.

And then a lot of practice, but I still have a lot to learn.

Swagman from the old board also gave me a few tips.

 

[matt6150]

By the way, if you can swing a conical and make a glycol unit. Do it. You will love it. They are so much easier to deal with and it will make you want to brew more.

Yeah I'm not quite understanding this. Not sure how that would want me to brew more? Or how it would be easier? A bigger pain to clean and then having to deal with a glycol unit and the space that would take up.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Nope. Trust me you'll not want to go back.

[realbeerguy]

Thanks,

I had a friend that gave me 2 hours on his big Miller.  And then spent two hours of class time at the local weld retailer.

And then a lot of practice, but I still have a lot to learn.

Swagman from the old board also gave me a few tips.

 

Swagman 

[SchwanzBrewer]

OK, so it's easier to clean, easier to manage, better control of temperature since you use an actual thermowell that reads from inside the fermenter.

Stainless is much easier to keep clean and sanitary than plastic or glass with a small opening. Collecting yeast is easier. Kegging is easier. Dry hopping is easier. You can pressurize them easier.

I love using conicals and the brewers hardware ones are really nice, especially for homebrewing. Even if I was just homebrewing I'd find a way to use conicals now that I've used them a bunch.

Just a different perspective and preference. I think you'd all like them, but they are expensive.

[3rd party JKor]

I guess if you're brewing 1BBL batches.  I used a blichmann 15 gal conical for a long time.  Still have it.  I find a bucket to be way easier to use (even for harvesting yeast).  If I was to start brewing 10 gallon batches again regularly I still don't think I'd go back to the conical (which begs the question, why do I still have it?).  I'd try to find a more 'bucket-like' solution.  Probably a 15 gallon open head plastic drum.

 

You can rig up a glycol system in a bucket, too. 

Edited by JKor, 15 September 2015 - 08:39 PM.

[matt6150]

OK, so it's easier to clean, easier to manage, better control of temperature since you use an actual thermowell that reads from inside the fermenter.

Stainless is much easier to keep clean and sanitary than plastic or glass with a small opening. Collecting yeast is easier. Kegging is easier. Dry hopping is easier. You can pressurize them easier.

I love using conicals and the brewers hardware ones are really nice, especially for homebrewing. Even if I was just homebrewing I'd find a way to use conicals now that I've used them a bunch.

Just a different perspective and preference. I think you'd all like them, but they are expensive.

So for reference I use red top fermenters. Very easy to clean because I can put the whole thing into my sink and go to town. Can't do that with a conical with the legs on plus its heavier. My temp control is perfect with my Brewpi and thermowell. I can pressurize it to keg (closed transfer) and to harvest yeast (just did this past weekend). And I don't have the wasted space of a glycol chiller. I'm not trying to knock a conical, just showing that it wouldn't make my life easier or want to brew more. I want to brew all the time as it is. Knocked off my 18th 10gal batch this past weekend.