I’m thinking that my next investment will be a conical Fermentor Will be my next investment. I like the idea of doing a yeast harvest/dump, and doing a secondary in the same vessel. Plus the ability to easily to a sample for SG testing, or doing a transfer for bottling. The one I’m leaning towards is from Brewdemon.com. There are better ones, more fancy, along with more pricey options, that for now are not a big factor.
If you have one, use one, have thoughts, ideas, suggestions for me chime in. The way I see it if I got the taller legs, optional vent option, and the yeast collector, that would be a nice combo to have.
That particular item doesn’t seem to offer me anything that is worth ~100 more than a good old 7 gallon bucket. If I was going to get conicals I think I’d probably go with stainless personally. but if you get one post a review and others can learn.
I mainly brew 3 gallon batches, and a 5-gallon keg gives me everything that a conical can except for the yeast harvesting. The best part is that I can set my PRV to 15 PSI at the tail end of fermentation and have a mostly-carbed beer when I jump it to my serving keg. For low-carbed styles, I have poured it immediately after jumping off the sediment.
I bought my 14 g conical in 2005. I rarely use carboys anymore. Re-using yeast is easy and quick. I like using C02 to transfer to my kegs too. I use a thermowell in a stopper, so sampling is a little difficult but not impossible. All in all, my best investment I have ever made.
I have a stainless 12 gal Blichman conical and the only reason I switched to it was the fear of broken glass. Having brewed in carboys for about 3 years, I recognized that I was playing with fire and the potential for debilitating injury persuaded me to switch. Unfortunately, plastic was not a material that is suited for breweries. So stainless steel was it.
I don’t think a conical offers much at the homebrewer’s scale of brewing. I don’t draw off yeast since I don’t keep the beer on the lees that long and if I removed the yeast, I wouldn’t be able to get the beer out of the cone below the racking port.
To tell you the truth, I think that I would go with a big stainless vessel that is more akin to a bucket…like Brew Bucket or similar.
Stay away from plastic conicals. They are not worth the price. There are some advantages with stainless conicals but not much on the homebrew level. If you can get an actual stand alone temp control conical then I would say that it is worth it. If not, buckets, carboys, spiedels - those are the better options for homebrewers.
I don’t understand the appeal, I prefer to spend my money on more effective things. I ferment in buckets, or stainless pots, and age in kegs. Find a store that sells inexpensive stock pots, and use that for fermentation. Benefits of stainless, without having to spend a fortune.
For the price I would go with a spiedel. I have one and if used it quite a bit and really like it. However I’ve had to conical stainless fermenters. My current one is a Chronical 7 gallon. I love it. Easy to clean, can transfer under CO2 pressure. It’s just a very well-designed unit
I remember someone advocating fermenting in a new garbage can liner a few years ago. As long as that bag is leak free, that seems like it could be a good option for a fermentation vessel. Placing some sort of flat plate over the top of the container should serve to keep infectors out.
I used to know the price, but can’t recall. I’ll find out. I do know the liners are $5. Kinda expensive, but each person gets to choose convenience or effort. I think I’d be unlikely to use the liners most of the time.
I use plastic buckets for fermentation and then carboys for my secondary. When I do the switch over to the secondary I use milk crates to haul my carboys around. Little easier on my back and a whole lot safer.
I have a stout stainless 14.5 gallon conical, a stout stainless 7.3 gallon conical (won in a raffle), a minibrew plastic 8 gallon conical, a fastferment conical bulb thing with stand, a Onderbrew plastic conical (cone goes on to of a bucket and you flip the bucket)… So… I guess I like conicals. Mostly I like them to dump trub and to harvest clean yeast easily.
I’m going to be honest… The mini-brew conical is probably the one I use the most. I like the shape and lightness of it so it’s easy to move around. The 7.3 gain conical is new. I have a batch of cider in it now, but it’s the only batch that I have had in there. It could be a new favorite… I like both the spot conical designs. I normally do 6 gallon batches and I have no issues doing one of those in the 14.5 gallon conical. Only issue with the sixth of it with smaller batches has come while attempting to lager in it… Too much headspace for all that.
Edit: is late and I typed all that on my phone… Could be some auto corrects… I’m not proofreading lol.
Ive used a brewbucket for a few months now and love it. Beats the heck out of plastic and/or carboys.
considering adding a peltier stout tank fermenter (haven’t acted yet though). Advantages would be standalone temp control, closed co2 transfers to kegs, sanitary design, and yeast harvesting…