Plastic 120L conical

[BrewStew]

I know these have been asked about alot over the last year...

120L Plastic Conical

but has anyone found out for sure whether or not they're foodsafe and suitable as a fermenter?

i know the lid isn't "sealed" but surely it's not hard to find a rubber O-ring from somewhere, and also drill a hole up the side of the cone to add another ball valve for sample taking

£10 for delivery is pretty darn good! £100 delivered for a conical suitable for 85L brews is a pretty hard deal to refuse!

 

[BrewStew]

i decided to ask them myself about a few details of it. my only question that didn't get answered was if the lid is airtight, but to be honest, aslong as it doesn't let bugs in, a loose lid is no different to snapping the lid on a fermenter.

anyways, here's the response i got from Oilybits

Hi BrewStew!

Thanks for your email, yes we have noticed an increase in enquiries from home brewers, it seems the tank has found another market for itself!

The tank is made by rotational moulding, and is made from an unpigmented virgin HDPE. HDPE is odourless and is the material from which (amongst other manufacturers) 'Youngs Homebrew' make all of their fermenting bins, but due to the environment in which the tank is made not being sterile, there are no "Food-Safe" approvals covering the product. Of course that doesnt make it unsafe for food use though, i would suspect that sterilisation of the tank before use would be adequate to ensure it is clean enough for brewing.

The Tank is smooth on the inside, with a lip where the mounting ring is moulded, and a slight trough in the bottom around the offtake thread, this should be cleaned with a hose between batches as it will hold about an "eggcup-full" of sediment. Due to the way the tank is moulded, extra material cannot be added to fill this small trough so its something we are stuck with for now.

The outlet fitting is brass, 1"BSP threaded, and is moulded into the HDPE. If your outlet fitting is screwed fully home, it will screw straight through the brass fitting, and into a portion of threaded HDPE beyond it, so the brass will not have contact with the liquid in the tank, although of course brass is 100% safe with foodstuffs anyway.

Hope this helps!

Adrian Henson

CEO

Refsol / Oilybits

how's that for an awesome response?! :thumb:

i think this is going on next months paycheck

 

[jamesb]

I'd be wary of using plastic. It's a lot of money to chuck away when it inevitably gets scratched. At least with the cheapo buckets they don't cost much.

Save up another couple of hundred and get a stainless one. Go on. You know you want to.

 

[BrewStew]

i dont plan on using an abbrasive cloth/pad/brush to clean it inside

i've got one of those steam cleaner jobbies and a jet washer :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

oh and a stainless 100L concial is alot more than just a couple of hundred quid extra :lol:

 

[jamesb]

Aye, but you wouldn't tell the missus that!

EDIT: Was just browing craftbrewer and just glanced at the price there. £366 quid. Dread to think what shipping would cost though!

 

[BrewStew]

you've got your exchange rate a bit out.. that or you're not looking at the 100L one


999.00 Australian dollars = 473.062865 British pounds

edit - plus postage :lol:

 

[jamesb]

Ah, the site's option to view in gbp isn't up to date with the exchange rate.

 

[BrewStew]

ah yes, so it is

i wonder if you can purchase it for the price in GBP they're quoting

i'm giving this plastic one alot of thought though.

the diameter of the manhole is just big enough to drop a stainless steel immersion chiller in (my LHBS are selling them for £35!) without drilling holes in the main body. so that's heat control sorted without major destruction and it'll be easily removed for cleaning :party:

with a bit of luck the plastic will be a nice insulator against the cold in my garage, still that's nothing a spare sleeping bag wont fix :thumb:

this is mighty tempting :hmm:

 

[jamesb]

ah yes, so it is

i wonder if you can purchase it for the price in GBP they're quoting

I wish! Otherwise a shipping container of hops would be coming my way.

 

[BrewStew]

:lol:

just rang my LHBS.

the OD of a SS chillers are about 180mm inluding the return pipe, 160mm for just the coil part.

bugger

spose i could use a copper one aslong as i let it fully dry between uses.. they're a bit more bendy so might be able to reduce it down to fit the manhole

hmmmmmmmm

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

:hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

 

[Rabmaxwell]

You could alway's make your self a Rab Maxwell immersion chiller connect it to a maxi Python & your temperature controller and away you go.

 

[Vossy1]

I looked into those seriously last year. You'd have to make a stand for it, as they are just too expensive to buy, but overall I think they represent great value for money. They regularly pop up on e-bay for £90. Even if you did knacker it with scratches, you could buy 6 of them for the same price as a stainless one.

Regards a cooling coil, Steve Flack has one mounted to his Blichmann jobby which would easily fir inside, as would Rabs chiller.

 

[BrewStew]

i just measured my current copper immersion chiller and it's 130mm OD so that will fit :thumb:

i picked myself up a 3 line chiller from the pub next door to where i work a few months back, and i've got a spare pump. just need an ATC 800 and i've got everything i need :thumb:

Adrian at oilybits has been very helpful over email. as the metal stands are a bit out of my budget at £90 if i place an order he'll supply me with a cutting template for the hole to make my own stand/fermenter cupboard that'll fit the lip of the conical.

he even suggested a fancy little gizmo to aid sanitisation... check this out clicky

that'll spray sanitiser in all directions, so i can just drop that a little way in and the sanitiser should spray all over the insides if my pump is powerful enough :pray:

now i've just got to think about the lid... and maybe a racking arm :hmm:

what's that rab? i cant really make it out in the pic

 

[Vossy1]

what's that rab? i cant really make it out in the pic

It's something like this. 10mm copper pipe inside 20mm copper pipe. Cold water goes in at the top, then comes up the 20mm pipe and goes to the drain via side arm as heated water :thumb:

EDIT, there is also a HDPE conical out there with a far larger lid opening, I'll try and find the link.
here but twice the price .............others

 

[Rabmaxwell]

Brewstew i have been controlling my fermentation temperature for over 15 years now with ease.The thing i find is in summer you need very good insulation for cooling especially crash cooling at the end of fermentation.If you have enough room or brewing in a shed build a well insulated box to fit your conical into.Cut a hole in the bottom of the box for the cone to stick through.Then build a shelf or stand with enough height for easy transfers to you cornies ect.Cut a hole through your shelf for the cone to go through & insulate the cone part. Fit a light bulb or heat bulb to the box for heating something like this.

(click to enlarge)
Those spray cleaning things look good i have been looking for something like them.Only problem is they look like they only spray outwards & wont spray the top of the fermenter

 

[BrewStew]

yeah i definitely think the insulated fermenter cupboard is the way to go :thumb:

i like that chiller thingy vossy! :thumb:

i'm gunna get one and see how it does. i'd imagine the jets spray at 45 degree angles... so i'd imagine there's some upward spray if the sanitiser is pumped through at enough pressure.

wont know till i try it out

thanks for all the tips guys... it's really appreciated :thumb:

 

[Jonnyv]

I'm following this thread with interest & envy! :thumb:

 

[UserDeleted]

These look really good for the cash . . . I must admit that we could replace the plastic FVs on our Pilot system with these . . . . . Unlike a lot of home brewers using plastic is not a problem for us . .. indeed the 6BBL conicals (1000l) seem like a good deal as well. . . . Cleaning with a pump and spray ball (CIP) will not scratch the surface . . . Neither should a pressure washer . . . . . and those 'Foggers' are perfect for sanitation. . . .

The way a fogger works is not to produce a spray of sanitiser, but literally to produce a fine mist that coats everything . . . using something like 5% peracetic Acid you can use a dilution rate of 1 in 266 and contact time is instantaneous.

For cooling, I would bet that using a product chiller coil mounted horizontally through the side wall (its plastic FFS) will be the best solution, as it would not be effective to mount a glycol jacket on the outside plastic being the excellent insulator it is :hmm:

I can see a few purchase orders heading their way, thanks for the info

 

[BrewStew]

thanks for the confirmations!!! it's given me even more confidence to make a purchase :thumb:

i'm curious, what 5% peracetic Acid do you use?

will a no rinse (1.25ml per litre) solution of Videne do the job in a fogger?

now, what am i going to do about that lid :hmm: shall i leave it alone and risk the yeast leaping out of it, or seal it some way with a rubber gasket and make a blow off tube

i think i might make one of those chiller sticks, as they look easier to clean and could possibly be mounted inside semi-permanently :thumb: