Conicals

Has anyone seen a remarkable difference in using a conical vs traditional fermenters?

In my opinion, on the homebrew scale, the difference is cost.

I have 4 conicals.  1 14.5 Stout stainless, 1 7 gallon mini-brew plastic, 1 Onederbrew (plastic bucket), and 1 Fast Ferment plastic.  All have their advantages and disadvantages.

Flavor wise I don’t notice any difference.  Harvesting clean yeast wise… that’s where their main benefit is to me.  Sure you can just pitch on the entire cake but I like to remove as much trub as I can and I don’t wash my yeast or anything.

Quality of beer- negligible if any
Convenience- My conical is easier for; filling one vessel instead of two, sampling, dry hopping, transferring with CO2, harvesting yeast.

Cleaning is probably a draw.  I still use both depending on need/application.

I agree with all the reasons Steve mentioned. My primary reason for using my SST conical is safety and avoiding glass carboys. I don’t find an improvement in beer quality, just the enjoyment of the hobby.

To all the owners of conical,

What method of temperature control is used? I want to buy a conical, but I am not sure of the best way to controls temps.

Upright freezer, Ranco & heat pad.

Yep.  Upright freezer with temp controller (BrewBit in my case) and heat wrap.

No one has mentioned the fact you don’t have to rack anymore…I thought that would be a big plus.

Well… Some of the conicals I have I do still rack out of (like a bucket).  If it doesn’t have a racking arm built in it’s just too much trouble to go through the dump valve.

To clarify… Yeast sticks to the walls of the conical’s cone.  So while you get a lot of yeast and trub when you do a dump… you don’t get all of it.  You would have to do quite a few dumps and waste a decent amount of beer to avoid racking altogether and just go out of the dump valve.  50% of my conicals do have either a racking port or a rotating racking arm… and they are handy in comparison to not having one…

Really?  I consider racking to be so inconsequential that I never would have considered it.

Well it’s certainly not a hassle, just one less thing to worry about. I imagine you are still having to transfer to a bottling bucket, so one way you’re pumping the siphon a few times and the other you’re turning a ball valve.

Technically they are both considered “racking” … just sayin’.

There is absolutely no room to get technical in homebrewing!  ;D

Cold MI garage in winter, add heat via a ranco and thermowrap.  Great for lagers .
Warmer weather then ales, until it gets too warm, then Saisons and add heat to ramp those up.

I bought the SS brewtech 7 gal cronical with the FTS system and have seen a significant difference in the quality of my beer.

I’m sorry to hear that your beer has suffered…better luck next time.

Have hard feelings against the SS brewtech stuff, Martin?

Please clarify regarding the significant difference; good or bad?