If you brew smaller batches, kegs are the most economical way to go. If you watch for sales at the online shops you can snag a few on the cheap. Outside of dumping trub from the bottom, they can do just about anything a conical can.
I just looked on Morebeer.com and they have 5 gallon PET carboys for about 25 bucks. They can withstand 15 PSI although I would never go that high.
I still am trying to figure out a better way to dry hop my IPA’s in my SS Brewtech conical without clogging the racking arm and my inline screen when kegging from that vessel. I have had a lot of comments from you people here on the forum with ideas and appreciate them. Guess I could always put the hops in a bag, open the top and drop them in, or use cones. However, I just might have to buy a couple of these carboys since it is easier to dry hop in them, I can adjust the racking high enough to alleviate the clogging problem, and I can monitor the beer clarity a bit better. I transferred my red IPA to glass last week to dry hop it. The beer cleared a bit better before kegging and it was a lot easier to keg it. Denny and I are on the same page here with regard to secondaries (aka brite tanks).
That said, glass is extremely dangerous and I am glad that you were not more seriously injured TANSTAAFB!
I’ve thought about it. Also makes closed transfer easier. I just haven’t gotten past the reduced batch size or 2 fermenters for 1 batch issue with the keg fermenter.
I need to get rid of mine. Haven’t had an experience like this. Been using them 10 years but I don’t want to move forward to a situation. Glad you made it out with minimal injury, considering.
I stopped using my 5gal glass many years ago. I replaced them with Better Bottles and then stopped doing secondary’s at all.
I still use my 6 gallon glass primary carboy all the time yet. Not sure why except for momentum and I’m cheap. They are both 20+ years old. :
I guess we’ll see if I get around to replacing them before this Falls brewing starts up.
Paul
i agree glass is dangerous and out dated, the selection of ss buckets and other plastic fermenters out there provide us much better options but if you are gonna use a glass carboy use a milk crate with it, dont handle esp full carboys with your bare hands duder, its only a matter of time, sorry you got hurt dude
^^^^^ THIS!
I have always used a milk crate when dealing with glass carboys. It is cheap insurance!
All my carboys are in milk crates but that doesn’t help when dumping them out! I know, shoulda just siphoned it. Doh!
Wow! I can’t imagine what you must have gone through. In reality, as bad as your injuries look, it could have been much worse. Hope you’re back in full swing soon.
I have used my glass carboy for about 7 years. I have two PET carboys also. I see an equipment change in my Not-So-Distant future.
Take care and good luck!
Glad you’re ok!!
Several years ago, my wife wanted to carry a 3 gallon carboy just filled with fresh pressed wine, she had it up and it slipped out of her hands before I could say not to. To this day, I can’t believe it didn’t shatter hitting a concrete step in the garage. Dumb luck on our part.
I no longer use glass to ferment in.
I’ve said this many times: I have a stainless conical but I didn’t buy it to make better beer, I bought it to save me from injury.
If I were to do it over again today, I’d buy a stainless bucket fermenter since I don’t believe that a conical is necessary for homebrewing.
Anyone have the Anvil SS bucket? The $200 tag on the Brew Bucket is why I don’t already have one!
I’ve never priced out conicals, but I’d think that the ability to spund and do pressurized transfers (and ferments, if that’s your thing), would be worth the extra investment vs a stainless bucket.
I recently upgraded to steel fermenters, and went with buckets (the Ss Brewtech 7 gallon bucket) rather than conicals because I just couldn’t justify the massive additional $$$ outlay that would be required. I use chest freezers as my fermentation chamber, and the conicals I looked at would require either getting different fermentation chambers or else going with a different chilling system, and I was looking at thousands rather than hundreds of dollars to get it done in one shot (for the number of batches I do). Not being able to spund/do pressurized transfers is definitely a downside, but I figure I’ll ferment in the keg if I ever go that way!
Of course, everyone’s situation is different, in terms of budget and space and needs! Just writing out my personal decision making process in case it’s helpful for anyone else…
I have 2x 3.5 gallon minis and a 7 gallon brewbucket. I bought an Anvil fermenter, but returned it because I kept getting deep scratches and dents. My only complaints about the SS brewtech fermenters is the base on the mini’s isn’t attached, and the o-ring for the racking tube gets cut all the time. Doesn’t seem to matter if I use food grade lube or not.
Just use an extra keg that you have. Pretty simple and it’s multifunctional.
I’ve found conicals handier than I thought I would. So much so that I just ordered my 3rd Grainfather conical.
I was looking at those last week and wondered if you paid full retail for yours. They’re kind of pricey, especially if you include the glycol chiller.
I didn’t because I’m a beta tester for them. I didn’t get the free, either! But IMO well worth the money.
I don’t have conical, but a couple brew buckets and a 13 gallon Kegmenter as my stainless fermenters. The kegmenter with a floating diptube and spunding valve is a relatively reasonable Total cost and it will allow fermentation under pressure, pressurized transfer and drawing from the top for transfer. Coupled with a Tilt, I figure I have a pretty good setup and don’t see conicals in my future, unless I just want to splurge…which could happen, if I can save enough to accumulate some funny money.