I use 6.5 gallon fermenters for 5 gallon secondaries all the time with no issues. I don’t mess around with them though as you have been. Long term aging I secondary in a 5 gallon carboy with minimal headspace
Considering I won’t be using the conical again for a loooong time at this point, that’s what I’m going to do.
But moving forward, I may re brew this one and use the bucket fermenter. Probably won’t use strawberry again, that stuff is expensive.
Take a sample to your “pro brewer” friends and get their take on the taste.
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You can’t oxidize before boil, correct? I use a chugger pump to vorlauf, and that creates a lot of “aeration”.
I also could be more careful when transferring into the primary from the kettle. Just trying to think of all possible places where extra oxidation happened. It’s just weird because it feels like this was much less opportunity than any previous brew
No, I think your process there sounds fine…“hot side aeration/oxidation” was a thing a few years back but I think its faded some…not an expert but yeast need oxygen, and I never bought that plot.
Hell, I use a wine whip on a Dewalt drill and beat the whole wort into a froth just before pitching yeast 
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Not a bad idea. I will see what they say.
I just can’t figure out what went wrong, other than the conical stuff we already discussed. That’s the only thing that really changed from my years of brewing. So unless I messed up my brew somehow (always possible but I feel unlikely at this point) I feel like it MUST be something going on with trub removal… But again I just can’t wrap my head around it.
I was careful not to splash when I introduced the strawberry. But then again, every collection ball was empty air (sanitized each time but obviously O2) so every time I emptied trub, I was introducing more oxygen. But, transferring from a bucket to a carboy should have a lot of the same… if not more… oxidation, but I never had this issue before. Outside of a CO2 option for my conical, I couldn’t have truly done much better unless I emptied the solids less frequently (but I feel like that wouldn’t have successfully removed the solids enough). Maybe conicals are just too advanced for me 
Oh Blue59, don’t give up on the conical… Do another batch… BUT… Leave it alone all through fermentation… When you are ready to bottle, I would add the primer, maybe give it a few hours to awaken the yeast (They are what scrubs the O2 out… hence why we don’t get O2 in the bottling cycle when we rack quietly), then dump the trub, then bottle… You aren’t the problem, its a new gizmo that needs to be looked at from a different point of view… I’ll be willing to bet you figure out how to master this! I have faith in you! Sneezles61
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Haha thanks sneezles. I’m not going to give up, but I want to get a better handle on how to use the conical better before trying again. In the meantime I’ll go back to the bucket method.
So you’re saying let the yeast/trub/any other solids just sit there for up to 3 weeks or so, even the dry hop stuff? Wouldnt it be super difficult to remove the gunk after that long? And at that point, how is it any different than a regular fermenter if I’m not removing solids from the bottom?
I cannot remove the junk from the bottom of my fermenter before going to the bottling bucket or secondary. So more gets transferred.
Right, so if I never empty the conical, it will be plugged up and I will need to transfer to my bottling bucket… So if I don’t empty the conical until the end, it would be the same as if I did it with buckets… Right?
What conical are you using? It really should not be clogged up as a secondary. Even with fruit
Fermentasaurus from NB
That looks great. You’re going to make some great beer with that. Do you have the one with the collection port on the bottom?
It’s a butterfly valve and a small collection ball that screws into the bottom of the valve
But… I won’t feel comfortable even trying to use it again until I have an actual plan on how to use it properly. I don’t want to waste another batch.
So… Anyone have any tips or instructions? Because clearly I need them haha
Next time take photos and post them. It a clear fermenter so we can all watch what is happening.
I almost never dump any trub from my conical unless it will not be emptied for a long time. Before kegging I will dump the side port to see if the trub has reached that high (stainless so you can’t see) or collect yeast. Right before kegging I will dump the bottom port until it runs clear.
Sometimes if there is enough hops/trub I need to sanitize and poke something like a straw up there to get it going.
My point is that for a normal fermentation time you might be screwing around with it more than you need to. Just let it do it’s thing. Will dumping it and sucking air in the top cause oxidation? I don’t think so but will get arguments about that.
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Ok so here’s my question… Doesn’t that mean that your conical is less of a “one stop shop” of fermenters, and more of a “fermenter plus bottling bucket”?
Meaning, I bought this so I wouldn’t have to transfer from a primary to a secondary. But you’re basically saying that I never needed to. I could technically keep a batch inside a bucket the whole time until bottling day, then transfer to a bottling bucket. I could dry hop inside my primary fermenter (bucket), never transfer to a secondary (carboy), and then just rack into a bottling bucket on bottling day? If I’m not removing solids more often… Therefore, wouldn’t a conical be sort or… Dare I say it… Borderline pointless?
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Also, what if I did this:
Use a bigger collection bottle at the start. Open the valve immediately upon pouring the wort into the fermenter. That would allow zero oxidation initially while still letting me remove a great deal of solids.
I own a bigger bottle that I can use. It came from a Soda Stream machine, so I could also fill it with CO2 before using it as a collection bottle.
I think by limiting the necessary removals, while also using CO2 inside the collection ball, might help prevent oxidation. Thoughts?
I wouldn’t call it pointless. You can dump the trub then call it secondary if you want. Many of us, myself included have dropped doing a secondary for most beers because it is an unnecessary step. You can still dump the trub when packaging your beer and bottle/keg right from the conical. That saves a step and your time.
