Adapting the Conical

[Stonecutter]

So I’ve been having a couple drinks tonight (Peated Whiskey and German Beer) and I had an epiphany.
I need bigger mashing equipment if I want to do AG strips in the 26 gallon flute. I want a Spike false bottom setup on a hellfire burner $$$$
What if you fitted a SS conical, just so happens I own one, with a type of screen near the middle bottom and used it to mash all grain? Couldn’t you basically do a Booners Casual as long as you insulated?
Boiling water to the corn. HTA then add the malt. It would be hard to drain if you fermented on the grain.
So transfer to buckets; sparge with screen and then transfer back to conical. You could use a charcoal grill grate with some screening on top as a cheap makeshift screen.

[SaltyStaves]

Are you circulating during mashing? A conical with a lot of dead water below the false bottom would be fairly useless.

[Twisted Brick]

I say you can mash/ferment in your conical, Stoney. Like you suggest, add +200F strike water to your corn, stir, add HTL and wrap up tight. I might skip the false bottom and instead remember to periodically stir with your paint mixer. Once converted, drop temp, stir in your malt (and backset if using) and let your small grains finish converting. Cool to pitch temp, pitch/aerate and cover up.

I have followed this process in many 12.5 gal batches, mashing/fermenting in a keg. Works a treat. Letting the finished ferment then clear allows you to rack the top half off (into a carboy) and you only have to squeeze the remaining grain. I rest my squeezed ferment in my conical to clear for 7-10days then strip along with the cleared ferment.

[Ben]

Have you thought about trying to ferment off the grain? Could use a big cooler and a braid or manifold, then just runoff into the conical. Big (40 gallon) coolers are cheap/free on the local markets because people don't want to store them, especially this time of year. No risk of scratching your conical that way, optimize the liquid space, don't have to deal with the solids so you could drain direct to your still pot with no worries about squeezing and settling.

[BlueSasquatch]

I've drooled over the Catalyst Fermentation set-up. It's just too small of volume for what I want, and I ferment on-grain, but still, it's got some great features and looks.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products ... ion-system

[Ben]

That kind of looks like a cone bottom water tank with a butterfly valve... industrial ones are available in all range of sizes. I think you could get a 55 gallon one for close to that price. Living in the midwest I bet you could get one at a farm store and save the shipping.

[Stonecutter]

Are you circulating during mashing? A conical with a lot of dead water below the false bottom would be fairly useless.

I wasn’t thinking about circulating. The “riptide” is the only pump I have other than pond pumps and I don’t think I could circulate with any kind efficiency. The mash would be plenty thick. I could add the pump as a vorlauf at the end.
I wasn’t sure about the dead space and was hoping someone would chime in.

I say you can mash/ferment in your conical, Stoney…..

…. I rest my squeezed ferment in my conical to clear for 7-10days then strip along with the cleared ferment.

Thank you for the support! Nice to hear that you’ve had success with the squeezin’s in the conical Twisted. I don’t have a keg at the moment. I do have a big “Brute” can. I just haven’t brought myself to using it yet.

Have you thought about trying to ferment off the grain? Could use a big cooler and a braid or manifold, then just runoff into the conical. Big (40 gallon) coolers are cheap/free on the local markets because people don't want to store them, especially this time of year. No risk of scratching your conical that way, optimize the liquid space, don't have to deal with the solids so you could drain direct to your still pot with no worries about squeezing and settling.

I’ve not ever fermented on the grain. I would ferment off grain if I was using the conical. It’s gooey enough with trub from Shady’s sugar shine. I shudder to think what spent grains would do in the bottom of that thing. Plus I clean the thing in my walk in shower. And it would be a nightmare trying to ensure a bunch of shit didn’t get down the drain. That’s why I was thinking about the screen. I could scoop the spent grain off and leave whatever I didn’t get to settle. Crossing my fingers it wouldn’t get clogged like a toilet at a cheese festival….