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.
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…
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.
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.