40 litre conical has arrived and ready to use

[brenmurph]

they are new biodiesel fermenters made from virgin hdpe plastic rotationally moulded and completely glass like smoothness inside no joins or seams.

[Eoin]

Cheers.

Sent using a complex system of semaphore and ninjas.

[christhebrewer]

I have two 60l versions of these and the first thing I'd say if anyone is getting some is to beware of the lids. I has to dump both the lids that came with mine. One, the lids supplied are shit and don't seal properly and two, they are fitted really badly.
When I commented on this Rich (the maker) said he had sold a pallet of tanks to some German brewers and they were unhappy with the lids too.
I replaced both lids with marine inspection hatches which cost over €40 each plus €40 for Plexus glue.
Fitting lids to a plastic tank is really tricky to do well. I made a circular template and cut the hole with a router. A jigsaw (as used by tanksuk) leaves a horrible rough edge, sure to breed bugs. Plexus is the only glue I could find which bonds these plastics and is silly expensive. I can't think of any other way to fit a lid without through-bolting, which only distorts the tank anyway.
The only other hassle I had was I had to build an extra wide fridge. Maybe the 40l fits in a regular fridge?
I find these tanks great, and highly recommend them, but only if you are willing to go to a LOT of extra hassle to make them work.
If not, and you are happy doing 30ish litre brews, do yourself a big favour and stick to the 33l bucket.
If you feel like going conical, why not get the 60l? The extra cost is minimal and then you can do a decent size brew!

End of rant.

[brenmurph]

nice rant

Ok some clarification on Chrisses points. Agree with some / most.

Lids:

Lids are not claimed to be pressure tight, Rich made that very clear, Rich also told me the duttch and german brew clubs are delighted with, with the exception of the lids.
Rich is at this moment working on a new mould and WILL have the future batched with a moulded thread eliminating all the lid problems, that is his mission and it WILL work.

Re cutting with a jigsaw. Im not sure if this is correct....my one is clearly moulded into shape.
Re pressure and my lid, It comfortably holds 3psi. I feel the prob may be when people put 10-20 psi warps the structure.  from the outset I put a max 3psi pr valve.
Re seals the quality of the plastic and silicone gasket is v good. Put a smear of veg oil on and it seals perfectly, no need to use a spanner.
Re size... the 40 litre allows a 34 litre brew fits and fills 2 x cornies and at 18 inched wide should fit a fridge setup.

As Chris points out they are very good and the rotational mould is fine.

As an entry to conical fermenting I think its a great thing. the bolts on the lid are stainless and using oxy action & hot water and leave for 10 minutes there will be nothing left alive in and around the lid I assure u.  However this prob will be eliminated with the new version and the great news:..............the price may be coming dows as rich says...The current lids are expensive.

Thanks chris for your constructive criticism, I feel Rich from tanks UUK is a fab guy with a fab product and he is a small one man operation doing a great product...we should have a good look at the product and assess the next modified version before being too critical about it.. Remember Rich designed these as biodiesel fermenters where a rogue bateria or yeast will not be a prob,,.  for the brewwers among us he is working at this moment on the perfect homebrew conical....lets give him all the support we can....No one else is doint this.....

[christhebrewer]

Did you say the opening for the lid is now moulded as part of the tank? If so this would be a huge improvement and would take 99% of the hassle out of fitting a lid well. I would still prefer to glue the lid in place. When I took the lids off mine the edge of the hole was badly pulled out of shape by the bolts so there was no way it would sit right. I had to use an oversize hatch.
Bren, you are 100% right and I never suggested that Rich is anything but a good guy. If he can mould the opening for a lid, or even better, an internal thread for the lid you have a great fermenter at a really great price.
The big downside is that plastic is a pain in the arse to work with cos you can't weld it or glue it (except with really expensive glue) The upside of course is price and I would not have conicals otherwise.

[brenmurph]

yes he is moulding a threaded receiver for the lid as an integral part of the conical. Then a simple screw cap same as what is already on it just screws on with a rubber Oring.

If you are familar with the plastic homebrew kegs Rotakeg and so on it would be exactly like that  otherwise see this and the lid will work the same as this picture...conical and lid thread all one mould

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gLu8BKFb78

[Ciderhead]

Ok quick 1,2,3 on rotational moulding

They take a very fine plastic powder or fine pellet (Bren can you ask them what grade they are currently using I suspect one from Borealis?) and any other process aids to help flow.

They then tip these into a large moulding and rotate on 3 dimesional axis all inside a huge oven at circa 180-220 degrees.

The resin slushes aroound the inside of the mould and forms a very uniform smooth layer

In volume production they have three stage, oven, filling, cooling

Issues are to create a screw thread they still have to create a sealed unit and then cut the top off.
If there were rough surfaces, best way to eliminate would be a heat gun very very carefully.

You can imagine the size of one for an oil tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr_s_xG78AA

[brenmurph]

grand will ask him durin the week.

[johnrm]

That's some shed you've got John!

[Ciderhead]

Nothing in comparison to the one on the East Wing


Sent from my Fukushima Daiichi Geiger counter