What is a Conical Fermentor?
- Jun 23, 2021
- 182
- tiantai
A great step to start enhancing your beer is fermentation. There are several types of beer fermenters on the market today; the most exciting being the conical fermentor.
These devices were once reserved for professional-grade beer production, mainly due to their price, but they have recently become much more affordable, making them an incredible addition to any serious homebrewer's toolset – or for those opening a new brewery.
What is a Conical Fermentor?
Fermentation is one of the most important components of the home brewing process; it's essentially what makes beer, beer! This is when your brew develops its carbonation and alcoholic content, and it all happens inside a beer fermenter.You have a lot of options when it comes to fermentation vessels themselves. You've got carboys, kegs, good old plastic buckets, and then there are conical fermenters. Conical fermenters are just what they sound like: they've got cylindrical tops and cone-shaped bottoms, with a valve located right at the bottom point.
Conical fermenters are a piece of brewery equipment that are typically either made out of plastic or stainless steel, and can come equipped with a number of different features like built-in stands, rotating racking arms, and even automatic temperature controls.
Stainless vs. Plastic Fermentors
The material a conical fermenter is made from can have a huge impact on the outcome of your batches. Stainless steel is easy to clean, doesn't stain, and generally looks nice. Stainless steel conicals also often have options for temperature control systems and separate racking valves. The drawback: it is more expensive than the alternative.Plastic conicals come at a much lower cost but are more easily stained and prone to scratches during cleaning. Scratches in the plastic leave refuge for unwanted bacteria to hide from sanitizers, so plastic fermenters need to be replaced more frequently to avoid potentially dangerous health consequences.
Advantages of a Conical Beer Fementor
Conical fermenters provide seasoned homebrewers with a number of valuable advantages over other types of fermenters. They are surely more of an investment, price-wise, but the amount of time, energy, and money they can save you, in the long run, is invaluable.The conical shape has tangible benefits for your brews.
It eliminates the need to transfer to a secondary fermenter if you use it as a “unitank”. It allows the trub and yeast to fall to the bottom of the cone, so instead of moving everything to a separate fermenter, you can slowly flush out this sediment through a dump valve at the bottom. Being able to use fewer vessels means you save lots of cleaning time.
It also allows you to wash and reuse your yeast, saving you lots of money over time and even improving the quality of your fermentation.
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