Stout Tanks and Kettles – Conical Fermenters

If you don't know what a jacketed fermenter is, it is a fermenter that has an extra "skin" on the outside of the tank that allows liquid to flow around the outside of the tank.  By controlling the temperature of the liquid that flows around the outside of the tank, you control the temperature of your fermentation.

Commercial breweries do use jacketed fermenters for their primary fermentations.  This is because fermentation is an "exothermic" process – that is, it generates heat.  Because the tanks in a commercial brewery are quite large, the ratio of the surface area to the volume of the tank is low.  As a result, there isn't a lot of surface area for heat to dissipate naturally.  So, it is necessary to provide this extra level of temperature control to ensure that the product ferments at a consistent temperature, which is important for getting a consistent flavor profile.

For your home brewery, the ratio of the ratio of the surface area to the volume of the tank is much higher.  There is a lot more surface area on the fermenter for every gallon of beer or wine.  As a result, it is much less of a challenge to control the temperature of your fermentation – it is easier for the excess heat to leave the fermenter through the outside surfaces of the tank.

I have compared the temperature of my fermenting beer to the room temperature that the tank sits in, and it is almost always within 1 degree.  Therefore, you can control the temperature of your beer by controlling the temperature of the room it is sitting in, or perhaps by putting it in a refrigerator with a good temperature controller on it.

The other thing to consider is that as a home brewer, you are not dependent on making a consistent product like a commercial brewery is.  You will likely be happy if the beer is good, and if you are like me you seldom make the same recipe twice in a row, so the consistency from one batch to the next is not likely going to worry you a lot.

The cost of a jacketed tank would be too much for most people anyway, plus you have the cost of controlling the flow of the liquid that goes through the jacket (in a commercial brewery, they use a diluted food grade propylene glycol solution), which makes it all the more expensive. 

The bottom line is that you don't need to have a jacketed fermenter for making quality home brew.  There will be some people who are in it for the fun of building a commercial quality home brewery and they will no doubt enjoy the process of having a temperature controlled fermenter.  For the rest of us that are more interested in just quality home brews, a regular conical does the trick just fine.

Here are some tips for taking care of your Stout Conical Fermenters, Brew Kettles, and the like.

1. Never use steel wool, stainless steel wool, Brill-O Pads, etc.  Use a sponge or at the most a blue "scrubby."  Avoid green scrubbies from 3M as they will scratch the mirror polished finish.
2. After each use, disassemble the valves (it is very easy to do) and clean the parts.  Beer and other liquids can get trapped inside the body and ruin your next batch of beer.  This is why we made the valves so easy to disassemble – if it is hard – or even a minor pain to do -  many people won't do it.
3. Never use bleach as a sanitizer.  It corrodes stainless steel.
4. Use a bottle brush or test tube brush to clean out the inside of the side outlet port.

For home brewers and professional brewers alike, conical fermenters can take a lot of work out of brewing.  Here is how I use my conical fermenter:

1. Siphon or pour about 2 to 3 gallons of your cooled wort into the fermenter (I brew a 6 gallon batch, so maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the batch).
2. Stir vigorously with a sanitized spoon for several minutes to aerate the wort.  Oxygen is critical at the beginning stages of fermentation for healthy yeast growth.
3. Add the rest of your wort.  Stir vigorously for several more minutes to aerate more.
4. I will let the wort settle for 15 to 30 minutes, then drain the trub out of the bottom outlet.  If your transfer protocol keeps trub from getting into the fermenter, you can skip this step.
5. NOTE:  Always remember to remove your airlock before opening an outlet valve to prevent airlock water from being sucked into your fermenter!  (However, I have made this  mistake more than once and the results were not disastrous).
6. Add yeast.  Let the fermentation begin.
7. When fermentation is near an end (or no later than 2 weeks), connect the hose barb to the bottom outlet and drain out yeast for re-use or discard it.  If you want to re-use the yeast, discard the first bit that comes out – it is either mostly dead yeast or trub.  Remove the hose barb and clean it when you are done.  Use a spray bottle of sanitizer (no bleach!) and spray out the valve outlet until the sanitizer drains out clean.
8. Drain the yeast out of the bottom outlet again in a day or three.
9. If you want to age your beer for an extended time, you can leave it in the conical.  You should be sure that most of the yeast and trub has been drained from the fermenter.
10. When your beer is ready to be kegged or bottled, spray sanitizer into the side outlet valve.  Sanitize your hose barb and attach it to the valve.  Spray some more.
11. Attach your sanitized hose, remove your airlock, and drain the beer ouf of your fermenter.

What are the trade-offs of plastic verses stainless steel conical fermenters?  There are several key differences:

1. Durability.  Plastic is not as durable as stainless steel.
2. Sanitary.  I don’t know about you, but early on in my brewing I switched from a large plastic tub to a glass fermenter, because I was concerned about the inevitable scratches that will occur in plastic.  If you purchase a plastic conical, consider that you will have to be extremely careful about causing bacteria-harboring scratches in it.  Also, a plastic fermenter will only have threaded fittings (that I know of);  there is no option for sanitary tri-clamp fittings like the kind made by Stout Tanks and Kettles.
3. Light Exposure.  Plastic conicals are somewhat opaque, but if I had one I would still wrap a towel around it to prevent harmful UV light from reaching my beer.  With stainless, you have no worries about that.
4. Cost.  Plastic conicals will almost always cost less – in the short term.  However, because they are more susceptible to scratches, you could spend more in the long term because you would have to replace it sooner.

I’m sure there are many home brewers who are happy with their plastic conicals.  But for my money, I would spend a little extra for a stainless steel vessel that will last for years and years.

There are a number of excellent reasons that you would want a conical fermenter for home brewing.  They are very convenient, easy to use, and look great, too.

• First and foremost, a conical fermenter allows you to drop the trub and yeast out of the beer before and during fermentation by using the bottom outlet.  This removes solids that contribute to off flavors in your beer.
• Secondly, it allows you to capture your good yeast near the end of fermentation for re-use either immediately or later (you can store it in your refrigerator for a week or two).
• Third, you can use the same tank, without having to bother with a transfer, for primary and secondary fermentation.
• Lastly, it is very convenient for racking your beer directly into kegs using the side outlet. The bottom line is that a conical fermenter takes a lot of hassle out of home brewing.

Check back later for more discussion about stainless steel conical fermenters and brew kettles for home brewing and wine making.

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