New fermenter

[harvesteros]

Afternoon,

I searched for a while and found a few threads but couldnt get exactly the info I was after.

I've been using an old plastic fermenter for quite a while now, it's OK but recently getting some funky taste in my brews so thinking of changing a few things up, one of which is a new ferementer. The plastic one is quite stained up to the 23L mark and despite lots of cleaning it retains a bit of a smell. There are some stains around the o-ring that I cant clean so figure it's run it's race and it is time to move on.

I ferment in a fridge with heat control so dont need anything with built in temp control so figured a new stainless steel one would be the go.

Main query is what is the advantage of a conical fermenter? And can I just loop my heat belt around that like my plastic one for the cool nights?

Options would be:
Ss Brewtech (or similar) conical
GrainFather standard fermenter (not conical)

Thanks in advance.

 

[homebrewnewb]

no secondaries, are a plus! just drop the yeast cake/traub out the bottom. if you go stainless it takes hits a lot better and some will have cip (clean in place) systems, so you can get pretty rigorous in your sanitation schedule.
mine gets caustic once a year to break down beer stone and then a re-passivated with phos. acid.
minus, if stainless, you kinda have to guess, you cant see inside obviously.
think of it as a family heirloom.

 

[wobbly]

[QUOTE=
mine gets caustic once a year to break down beer stone and then a re-passivated with phos.


Not sure that Caustic will get rid of your beer stone as it is alkaline and to clean it off you would really need an acid based cleaner

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[wobbly]

no secondaries, are a plus! just drop the yeast cake/traub out the bottom. if you go stainless it takes hits a lot better and some will have cip (clean in place) systems, so you can get pretty rigorous in your sanitation schedule.
mine gets caustic once a year to break down beer stone and then a re-passivated with phos. acid.
minus, if stainless, you kinda have to guess, you cant see inside obviously.
think of it as a family heirloom.

Not sure that Caustic will do an efficient job of removing your Beer Stone staining as it is an Alkaline and to clean it off properly you really need and acid based cleaner

Wobbly

 

[malt junkie]

no secondaries, are a plus! just drop the yeast cake/traub out the bottom. if you go stainless it takes hits a lot better and some will have cip (clean in place) systems, so you can get pretty rigorous in your sanitation schedule.
mine gets caustic once a year to break down beer stone and then a re-passivated with phos. acid.
minus, if stainless, you kinda have to guess, you cant see inside obviously.
think of it as a family heirloom.

Not sure that Caustic will do an efficient job of removing your Beer Stone staining as it is an Alkaline and to clean it off properly you really need and acid based cleaner

Wobbly

Yeah maybe should have read the whole post

MJ

 

[harvesteros]

Thanks for the info everyone.

Just as a follow up in case anyone else reads this - I spoke to someone at a store that sells these and he mentioned (some of which is from the site):
The conical bottom allows trub to settle out nicely in a more concentrated space and has the effect of minimizing the surface area of your beer that is in contact with the trub during ferment, which then minimises “off” flavors in your beer!
The 'racking arm' allows easy racking and avoiding of the trub.
Yes it's suitable to use a heat belt and keep in a brew fridge. He suggested the higher model with temperature probe but I think I'll just fit my own.

Cheers!

Andrew