Stout Tanks and Kettles – Conical Fermenters

A lot of home brewers have built pretty slick brewing systems using beer kegs.  There is one main issue that you should be concerned about – chances are pretty high that the keg you intend to use for your system is stolen property.

For example, if you have a party and put down a deposit on the keg, that doesn't pay for the keg.  It's just a deposit so you'll bring it back.  The fact is that new kegs typically cost breweries $100 or more, and the deposits don't nearly cover the cost.  In fact, many breweries are stuck with deposits of $12 a keg because that's what it always has been and there isn't an easy way for them to increase it.   So, if you decide to keep the keg after your party and convert it to a brew kettle, you have not only taken that keg without paying for it, but you also just cost that brewery $100.  They have to sell a lot of kegs of beer to make back that $100 – and they shouldn't have to do that at all.

If you go to a scrap yard and buy a keg there, chances are also high that the keg was stolen by someone and turned in for a few dollars of scrap value.  Again, the brewery just lost close to $100, maybe more.

The only legitimate way to buy a keg is directly from a keg supplier or from the brewery itself.  Kegs can fail beyond repair, although it isn't that common, and you might find your local brewery is happy to sell you their cast offs. 

Support your brewery – don't steal their kegs!

Question:  I mostly brew 5 or 6 gal. brews at a time, but on occasion I'll brew a 10 gallon batch.  Can I use your 14.5 gallon conical for all my needs?

Answer:  Absolutely.  The CO2 created during fermentation provides a protective blanket.  Many breweries put 1/2 batches in their fermenters with no problems.  The only risk would be if you were to open it too much or for too long after fermentation has died down (and you lose your CO2 blanket).

Here are a few quick tips to take care of your stainless steel vessels:

1. Don't ever use chlorine bleach on or in your stainless items.  Chlorine breaks down the protective chromium oxides on the surface and will cause rust.
2. Don't ever use steel wool scouring pads (or stainless steel pads either, for that matter).  The scratching will break the protective surface and cause rust.  In addition, the steel wool will leave deposits that will rust.
3. Do passivate your stainless steel from time to time.  There are several ways to passivate  your stainless steel:
   1. Use cleansers with oxalic acid in them (Bar Keeper's Friend, among others).  You need to dry the kettle with a towel and let it remain dry in air for about a week.  The dry exposure to oxygen will create a passivation layer on the stainless.
   2. Apply a 4 to 10% citric acid solution (by weight) at 70F to 120F for 20 minutes, rinse, dry.  (Citric acid may be available at your local home brew shop).  Lemon juice typically has a 5% to 6% citric acid concentration.
   3. Nitric acid solution.  Our recommendation:  don't try this at home (the other two methods work well and are much safer).

For bottling, you have a couple of options, depending on your preferences and practices. Even after dropping the yeast out of the bottom outlet, there is some clinging to the sides of the cone. So stirring in a sugar solution could stir more yeast into the beer than you like.

1. Rack beer from side outlet into a bottling bucket, then add your sugar, then bottle.
2. Add priming sugar or sugar solution to each bottle, and rack into bottles using the side outlet.
3. Add priming sugar to the fermenter, and rack into bottles using the side outlet. You might get more yeast than you care for in the bottles this way.

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A tangential inlet allows you to create a whirlpool in your brew kettle using a pump.  You pump wort out of the regular outlet, and back in through the tangential inlet.  You need to get a fairly high velocity in order to get a good result from the whirlpool.

After running the pump in this configuration for 10 to 15 minutes, you can shut off your pump and let the whirlpool settle for another 20 minutes or so.  This allows time for the trub to settle to the bottom and the whirlpool to slowly come to a halt.

Now you are ready to cast out and leave the trub behind at the center of your kettle.  On our smaller kettles you may wish to extract a little more wort by tipping the kettle forward carefully (so as not to disturb the trub).

On small kettles, you can create a whirlpool by hand using your stirring spoon and a little "sweat equity."

Question:

Hey there, I have a questions about your conical fermenter. My brewing partner and I bought the conical fermenter and boiling pot. Awesome stuff!

We recently, one week ago, made an APA. Today I went to drain the yeast and trub out of the bottom and nothing happened when I opened the valve. I had to sanatize a narrow wire brush to unclog the jam. Is this common? If not, what did we do wrong that this happened?

We did use pellet hops and they do seem to leave alot more residue than leaf. Also, I drained until liquid was coming out, how do I know if I drained enough out to get the trub and yeast out for the secondary?

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Kevin

Answer:

Hi Kevin,

John

I often get asked whether we offer a rotating racking arm on our fermenters.  The answer is that we don't include them with our fermenters as standard items for a number of reasons.

As a brewery owner for almost 10 years, we had fermenters with racking arms of one sort or another.  After working with them, we came to the following conclusions and threw them all away:

1. They sometimes leaked (especially when you rotate them, but also at other unexpected times)
2. They were not easy to clean
3. They didn't noticeably improve the clarity of the beer

The fact is that if you dump the yeast and trub from the bottom valve the day before you rack your beer, and again right before you rack your beer, and then pull your beer from the side outlet, you will get very little yeast or trub in your keg or bottling bucket.  This is my recommendation. 

However, if you really want a racking arm, we can make one for you as a special order.

(Note:  we now do offer 15 gal. fermenters with racking arms).