Wanting Temperature controlled system, I’m a 5 gallon guy so what else am I missing in this price range?
Trying to decide between a couple of the MoreBeer Temperature Controlled Conical Fermenters and the Grainfather glycol system with a couple of conicals.
The MoreBeer units use Peltier cooling, which is much simpler and more compact and less messy than glycol, but the instruction sheet for the 7.5 gallon unit says it will only go down to 45 F at best and shouldn’t be held at its lowest temperature for more than a couple of days to avoid building up ice blocks. Glycol coolers can go much lower than this and stay there for a long time.
I have the GF glycol chiller and just picked up my third GF conical. Great system. Well built, great system integration, flawless performance. I’m extremely happy with the whole setup.
I’ve had the MoreBeer heated/cooled conical for 8 years and it works good. If you want cold crash in the fermenter, you will need a glycol chiller like mentioned above.
I use a CoolZone jacket with a glycol pump in a mini fridge for the 5 gallon batches and a chest freezer for the 10 gallon batches (using a simple pulley lift to get it into the chest freezer).
I have a Spike conical and really like it.
Spike Brewing conicals with a homemade glycol chiller. I can crash very low!
Spike here too. Invested $5 in a used window air conditioner and converted ($30) it to glycol. Really happy with the set-up.