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.Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
-Thomas Paine

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.“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake.”
- W.C. Fields
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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"In the silence of the study one can discuss theories, but only in practice one becomes an artist" - Meunier

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.

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:)