building your own conical fermenter

Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.

Moderator: slothrob

Post Reply
crueli07
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 4:30 pm
Location: Oahu, Hawaii

building your own conical fermenter

Post by crueli07 »

There has to be a way that you can build a conical fermenter out of, say, a 5 gallon water jug. Does anyone have any information on improvising with making a conical fermenter? Thank you.
pcharles
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:24 am
Location: Houghton, MI
Contact:

Re: building your own conical fermenter

Post by pcharles »

crueli07 wrote:There has to be a way that you can build a conical fermenter out of, say, a 5 gallon water jug. Does anyone have any information on improvising with making a conical fermenter? Thank you.
Take a look at this:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products ... rodID=4914
stevie.o
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:15 am
Location: Oak Park,MI.
Contact:

Fermentap Clog?

Post by stevie.o »

PCharles
what experience do you have with the fermentap?
I have heard they clog pretty quickly/easily?

just looking for another opinion


thanks

steve
BillyBock
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 561
Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2000 11:37 am
Location: Ohio

Post by BillyBock »

Check out the line of Mini-Brew conicals.

http://www.minibrew.com/index.php?main_ ... ex&cPath=5
User avatar
jawsfree
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 8:47 am

Re: Fermentap Clog?

Post by jawsfree »

[quote="stevie.o"]PCharles
what experience do you have with the fermentap?
I have heard they clog pretty quickly/easily?

I had one and they suck. the problem is that the sides of the carboy do not slope enough and everything catches just above the neck. I think if you swirled it twice a day it might work. it just depends what you are trying to accomplish with it.
hope this helps
Jason
AMD Phenom IIX4 830 Processor 2.80 GHz
6.00 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Service Pack 1
64-bit Operating System
User avatar
ColoradoBrewer
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
Posts: 287
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:32 am
Location: Fremont County, CO

Re: Fermentap Clog?

Post by ColoradoBrewer »

jawsfree wrote:I had one and they suck. the problem is that the sides of the carboy do not slope enough and everything catches just above the neck. I think if you swirled it twice a day it might work. it just depends what you are trying to accomplish with it.
hope this helps
Jason
Yeah, from what I've read that's pretty much what everyone says. I think in the six years or so that I've been coming to beer forums I've only read one positive comment about the Fermentap.

crueli07, if you're looking for an economical way to get a conical then I agree the Mini Brew conicals are probably your best bet. You could probably build your own with parts from US Plastics or Toledo Metal Spinning, but by the time you got all the required parts you'd probably have more in it than just buying the Mini Brew.
User avatar
wottaguy
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
Posts: 361
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:00 am
Location: Florida
Contact:

conical fermenter possibility!

Post by wottaguy »

Speaking of "building" a conical fermenter, I ran accross this website that makes these food grade plastic conical vessels. The 2" thds would accomidate a 2" butterfly valve. The cover is a tight seal and may be drilled to fit an airlock. All you really need to do is to drill a hole where the racking arm goes and install a Konical Kitz rotating racking arm! You can check it out here and the price is pretty good too!

http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?item=135

What do ya think??

Ron
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
JPinAZ
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:25 am
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Post by JPinAZ »

My concern would be whether or not the plastic is food grade. Since it says "Biodeisel production" in the name I'd imagine it's not.
User avatar
wottaguy
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
Posts: 361
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:00 am
Location: Florida
Contact:

Post by wottaguy »

well...according to their documentation, the unit is FDA approved and food grade.
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
JPinAZ
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:25 am
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Post by JPinAZ »

If that's the case it definitely looks like a good deal. $150 delivered compared to the 15G Minibrew conical that goes for around $300 on Ebay. I doubt the valves & parts needed to get it running would cost much.
Bob57702
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:20 am
Location: Black Hills of South Dakota

Conical inductor for a fermentor

Post by Bob57702 »

I did a little checking on the conical inductor sold by plastic-mart.com. It's manufactured by Den Hartog Industries at www.acerotomold.com. According to their documentation this inductor is FDA food-grade for specific gravities up to 1.700. It also has marks every half gallon. Let us know how it turns out if you go this route or even if you don't.
Bob
PC: I7-3770S CPU, Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit, 12 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, 1920x1080 HD touchscreen
Post Reply