Spike CF5 conical fermenter

[Kealia]

What will you charge to send me fresh yeast!

I'll trade you for some mud bugs.

[Beer-lord]

I bet your yeast last better in the mail/heat than my mud bugs do.

[berryman]

What will you charge to send me fresh yeast!

I'll trade you for some mud bugs.

Ummmm. mud bugs.........

[Kealia]

My pump arrived and I gave it a test run with some sanitizer - all is good.

This morning I dry hopped the pale ale that I'm currently fermenting and within 2 minutes of dropping them in, I could see about 1/2 of them at the bottom of the sight glass. I'm using a technique that I read about elsewhere where some people will blow CO2 up through the bottom to put them back into suspension for better extraction. I'm doing this a couple of times today and tomorrow before I cold crash to prepare for carbing.

hops.jpg (118.78 KiB) Viewed 20785 times

Link to video

[Kealia]

Just so everybody knows that better equipment in no way makes you smarter....

Watch this quick snippet to see what happens when you g to dump your dry hops after harvesting yeast, and forget that the conical is under pressure:
Hops everywhere

[berryman]

I got to say, I have really enjoyed following this thread, fun to see others trying new things and helps us all, I want to hear more on your cooler system. I think where I want to go next. I have been really liking doing more lagers lately, but need better temp control then what using now. Mine is working but know could be better and easier, Glycol.............

[Kealia]

...I want to hear more on your cooler system. I think where I want to go next. I have been really liking doing more lagers lately, but need better temp control then what using now. Mine is working but know could be better and easier, Glycol.............

It wasn't cheap,, but it's easy. The lid of the fermenter has coils that run down into the center of the conical. The glycol reservoir plugs into the wall and you set the temperature that you want the cooling liquid to stay at. For example, mine was at 40 during fermentation and I dropped it to 32 for cold crashing. The glycol chiller has a hysteresis of 2 degrees, so it kicks on when temp reaches 35 (34 is still within the 2 degree range) to chill it back down.

There's a pump in the reservoir that, along with a heating jacket, plugs into my STC-1000 (or Inkbird, or whatever temp controller you choose to use). The temp controller either turns on the pump or the heater, depending on what is needed at any given point to maintain the temp you set there.

It's nice to not have to move things around. Having everything set in place is really nice. I just bought a Clean-In-Place adaptor to use with the pump that I'll share here when it comes time to clean. In short - no disassembly required.

[berryman]

It's nice to not have to move things around. Having everything set in place is really nice. I just bought a Clean-In-Place adaptor to use with the pump that I'll share here when it comes time to clean. In short - no disassembly required.

That's my goal also, I don't like to keep picking up and moving things around. I am working on building a gylcol chiller, why I asked, it is a simple concept. Have you tried it as a wort chiller? That might push it to far unless big enough to handle that high to low temp.

[mashani]

Have you tried it as a wort chiller? That might push it to far unless big enough to handle that high to low temp.

This might work, but I'm afraid it would be slow and inefficient on its own and blow up your glycol cooler in short order. I think you can use them in this capacity as part of a 2-stage chiller system, IE you use a plate chiller to get it down to 80 or so, and the glycol cooler can do the rest.

[Kealia]

Have you tried it as a wort chiller? That might push it to far unless big enough to handle that high to low temp.

This might work, but I'm afraid it would be slow and inefficient on its own and blow up your glycol cooler in short order. I think you can use them in this capacity as part of a 2-stage chiller system, IE you use a plate chiller to get it down to 80 or so, and the glycol cooler can do the rest.

This is my understanding, too. They actually explicitly tell you not to use the glycol chiller for getting down from boiling to pitch temps.

[berryman]

Have you tried it as a wort chiller? That might push it to far unless big enough to handle that high to low temp.

This might work, but I'm afraid it would be slow and inefficient on its own and blow up your glycol cooler in short order. I think you can use them in this capacity as part of a 2-stage chiller system, IE you use a plate chiller to get it down to 80 or so, and the glycol cooler can do the rest.

This is my understanding, too. They actually explicitly tell you not to use the glycol chiller for getting down from boiling to pitch temps.

What I also figured too. I am working on a DIY cooler, I am still in the informational and parts gathering stage, and should be able to build a clean looking system for a lot less money. Biggest cost will be the new fermenter cover with the cooing coils. I will start a thread on the build when get a little closer along.

[Kealia]

For those following/interested, the latest "this is cool" moment was using the clean-in-place ball.
By pumping water, PBW, starsan into an attachment that sits inside the lid, I can completely clean and sanitize the conical without disassembling or moving the conical! I know some here have similar things, but this was a new piece for me and it made clean up soooo easy.

I even remembered to close all of the valves before spraying water into it!

This is what the piece looks like. The ball has a slit in it that spins around to spray water everywhere inside.

CIP.jpg (86.89 KiB) Viewed 20685 times

Thanks to bpgreen, mashani, and berryman for mentioning the pump earlier in this thread (as it related to picking up the Mash and Boil). Without the pump, I wouldn't be able to use this.

[berryman]

Yes is cool, as off the rest of everything you have been doing...........

[Beer-lord]

Someone has small hands!
Just curious how much PBW to water you use for CIP and what temperature and for how long.
I let it get to about 175 and run for 20 minutes or so with an OCD water rinse. Shiny and new when finished!

[Kealia]

It was the first time I used this so I used 1TB in about 3 gallons of water, recirculated.

I heated the water to about 165 (just the default setting on the Mash and Boil) and let it run for about 10 minutes, I think. Then I rinsed with water, and did the same process with Starsan. There was some serious foam coming out of the bottom after spraying with that stuff