SS Conical Fermenter users: Good, Bad and the ugly? Do tell...

[Cocko]

Oh Hi!

I may be coming in to a little bit of extra disposable income. With my rig being all I want it to be, I am thinking rather than coke and hookers, maybe a stainless conical would be some great bling but is that all it is? I am thinking it would be pretty heavy to lug around and clean etc....

So for the people who use them, I would love to know:

Are they too heavy to lug around for cleaning etc?

Do you have yours high enough to gravity feed kegs from? Or do you pump?

Has your beer improved in flavour or ferment behaviour ? If yes, could it be placebo only?

What one do you have and would you have bought a different one if you had the hindsight ?

Too much money for the results?


Thanks in advance.

Cheers

 

[Tex083]

GO the Coke and Hookers!
I have never used one but would add some bling to your brewery!

 

[Spiesy]

I am thinking rather than coke and hookers

You've changed, man.

 

[Florian]

Dont waste your time and money, Cocko, just go with what you already know is a better deal for you!

 

[Truman42]

Only thing with these is how the hell do you keep them temp controlled? You would need a big arse fridge to fit just one in where previously you could fit 2 60 litre fermenters. Then what would you do in winter?Would work for those who had a walk in cool room i guess.

 

[Cocko]

I think we all know where the money will end up h34r: but would love to see the answers to the questions regardless!

 

[Spiesy]

Only thing with these is how the hell do you keep them temp controlled? You would need a big arse fridge to fit just one in where previously you could fit 2 60 litre fermenters. Then what would you do in winter?Would work for those who had a walk in cool room i guess.

You'd do the same thing in winter... leave it in your temp controlled fridge.

I visited a forum member to pick up a fridge recently, he had a stainless fermenter set up in a fridge - fermenter was one of the smaller ones, but on legs, so a gravity feed was possible. It fit into a reasonably sized fridge.

 

[Cocko]

Only thing with these is how the hell do you keep them temp controlled? You would need a big arse fridge to fit just one in where previously you could fit 2 60 litre fermenters. Then what would you do in winter?Would work for those who had a walk in cool room i guess.

My fridge will fit the 54L one I am looking at and it is both cooled and heat controlled so not such an issue for me but yeah, More than one and you would be looking at a coolroom style setup for sure.

 

[browndog]

They are rubbish Cocko, go the coke and hookers!

 

[donburke]

if you buy the conical, you'll just end up pulling yourself

better if someone else does i reckon

spend it on toot and hookers and let me when the party starts

 

[dougsbrew]

so youve come into some 'extra disposable income'.. now theyre cameras everywhere these days so
what you think you got away with may not be the case.. flashy goods can be reposessed by the authorities,
however toot and hookers cant be.. ask craig thomson.. im with donburke..

 

[TonyC]

You are SO off my list of never met friends, GAGF you loser, and F&cking fermenter,over coke and hookers? dont come back to Adelaide you Pr&ck, ill meet you at the airport and kick the living sh&t out of you. Go porkspin yourself you fu%king loser

 

[Smokomark]

Coke and hookers.

I can't believe you didn't work that out while typing the OP

 

[Cocko]

You are SO off my list of never met friends, GAGF you loser, and F&cking fermenter,over coke and hookers? dont come back to Adelaide you Pr&ck, ill meet you at the airport and kick the living sh&t out of you. Go porkspin yourself you fu%king loser

I love you too ****!

@ Don - usually ends up that way... Invite will be posted.

@ Doug - shoosh.

 

[Cocko]

EDIT:

Its becoming interesting that no one with a SS fermenter is replying...

May say it all :unsure:

Or they may just have me blocked

 

[pk.sax]

sticky hands aren't great for typing...

 

[Cocko]

Gold PF.

 

[brettprevans]

Ur not far from me. Coke and hookers.
Theres a few guys on here with conicles to ask. Basicly as far as im concerned it great fir yeast harvesting and sanitising but other than that I wouldnt bother. Just my 2c

 

[kenlock]

Oh Hi!

I may be coming in to a little bit of extra disposable income. With my rig being all I want it to be, I am thinking rather than coke and hookers, maybe a stainless conical would be some great bling but is that all it is? I am thinking it would be pretty heavy to lug around and clean etc....

So for the people who use them, I would love to know:

Are they too heavy to lug around for cleaning etc?
No, you either buy a CIP system or easily enough move to clean.

Do you have yours high enough to gravity feed kegs from? Or do you pump?
Definitely high enough to gravity feed to kegs.

Has your beer improved in flavour or ferment behaviour ? If yes, could it be placebo only?
Knowing you have to have appropriate yeast counts for the yolume ensures better representation of desied expectations

What one do you have and would you have bought a different one if you had the hindsight ?
I have the Brewhemoth. Awesome value at purchase price(ie. before price rise)

Too much money for the results?
If you regularly fill 2 or more corny kegs then they are value for money.


Thanks in advance.

Cheers

Cheers Ken

 

[roller997]

I have a 46 liter stainless conical fermenter for about 8 years and it is a great bit of kit. Not sure how frequently some folks change their plastic fermenters but these things are for life.
I used to do homebrew in the 80's with the kit fermenters and a couple of decades later when I decided to give all grain a try, I opted for a stainless conical fermenter after trying out a glass carboy which had me worried about accidents in the brew lab.
I haven't had an infection yet which I put down to the fact that they are easy to clean and under normal circumstances it can't really be scratched.
You can harvest fresh yeast if you brew often. I like the idea that the amount of dead yeast cells, trub and hop debris has a much smaller surface area in contact with the beer. You can remove most of the yeast and debris without racking off into another vessel which has some advantages.
After all this time of owning the fermenter, I have only had my fermenter in fridge for 4 weeks since I had to cut the legs by 30mm.
As long as you have a good sized fridge (freezer at the bottom where compressor is) and the right type of conical, keeping it cool is not that challenging.
Mine used to sit up on a shelf so I could gravity fill kegs and bottles. The fridge shelf is on a similar level.
At the end of the day, I have heard of startups using milk equipment with flat bottoms as fermenters and as soon as they have a chance they move to conical fermenters. I suspect that plastic is more permeable to oxygen and light as well which might be why commercial breweries stick to conical stainless fermenters.

The main thing to look out for is for the welds to be sanitary welds as there is some less than acceptable equipment out there.


Cheers

Roller

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Oh Hi!

I may be coming in to a little bit of extra disposable income. With my rig being all I want it to be, I am thinking rather than coke and hookers, maybe a stainless conical would be some great bling but is that all it is? I am thinking it would be pretty heavy to lug around and clean etc....

So for the people who use them, I would love to know:

Are they too heavy to lug around for cleaning etc?

Do you have yours high enough to gravity feed kegs from? Or do you pump?

Has your beer improved in flavour or ferment behaviour ? If yes, could it be placebo only?

What one do you have and would you have bought a different one if you had the hindsight ?

Too much money for the results?


Thanks in advance.

Cheers

I have a 23L one and I use it to build and extract my yeast for bigger batches.
If they were cheaper and I could control temps I would use them in a flash.
Nev

 

[mudd]

Anyone got something to add to this post. Looking at hitting the button on a 50l or so unit this week. Is it worth having a domed top for pressurising, I thought I'd spend the extra on the triclover version instead.

Two I'm considering are from Keg king or Core brewing.
Cheers Mudd.

 

[zoigl]

Make me an offer, I have a 60 L SS fermenter for sale, there are photos somewhere here on AHB. It's in Adelaide, It's a great bit of kit, I have no further use for it.

 

[vortex]

I want to buy one simply so I can A) harvest yeast from it B ) add and drop dry hops without racking C) keg from it under CO2 pressure.

Some of them fit in a fridge so no issues with controlling temps. And if they don't there is the MoreBeer Ultimate which is temp controlled.

Personally I'd only buy at least 100L + headspace; you can always ferment smaller batches if you like, but you can easily go bigger if you want (I can do 50L in a single batch easily).

Conical is high on my list for the future.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I want to buy one simply so I can A) harvest yeast from it B ) add and drop dry hops without racking C) keg from it under CO2 pressure.

Some of them fit in a fridge so no issues with controlling temps. And if they don't there is the MoreBeer Ultimate which is temp controlled.

Personally I'd only buy at least 100L + headspace; you can always ferment smaller batches if you like, but you can easily go bigger if you want (I can do 50L in a single batch easily).

Conical is high on my list for the future.

140 L would be what I would look at and I am ATM.
I am looking at jacketed.
Nev

 

[booargy]

I have a 140L gross jacketed cost about $1900 so far. Have another $130 for a new lid and bottom fittings this week. This is just the fermenter.
The control system with a pump and fittings for the CIP will be another $1000. I am also looking at glycol chillers $??
Bit more than budget allowed but....
Now I want another. Only this time I am going to China to buy it myself. The fermenter is $650 FOB through customs broker to Sydney $570.

 

[MastersBrewery]

140L seems just a little over the top, thats more than all my kegs full....... of the same beer!! Variety ppl ... just don't tell the missus

 

[vortex]

140L seems just a little over the top, thats more than all my kegs full....... of the same beer!! Variety ppl ... just don't tell the missus

You have a point, but considering what a conical costs and because you can ferment smaller batches in a large conical, but not large batches in a small conical - I'd go larger than smaller.

 

[booargy]

I am setting this up for lagers. It will eventually be next to my bar so if your drinking in the nude you will see yourself in the polish. only thing is it is hard and cold.
Plan is 100L batch. drink from sample point until dry. there will still 50l left. So I keg this and brew another batch.
As for variety big batch=big starter (or small batch) and I will still ferment ales in a fridge.

 

[fcmcg]

I have a core brewing 55 litre one , which I have only used twice now. I had to wait to get my glass fridge fixed so id have a fridge it would fit in. As a 40th birthday present , I only wanted one so I could ferment my usual 40-50 litre batches . I don't harvest yeast and I haven't done a secondary in years ..although now that I can dump the yeast , I may do so...
Thus far I'm very happy with it and it was bloody easy to clean. I liked that all the bits came apart for easy cleaning .i like that my stc probe fits inside the thermowell . I like that a soft cloth and some hot water makes it shiny again.
My usual practice used to be to ferment in a 30l plastic one , chilling half my batch and no chilling the other half...I'd then dump the second cube on the cake...
This way I can now ferment all my beer at once...and hopefully cleanly...
I am also surprised how cold 18 degrees feels on ss as opposed to plastic...
I'm hoping that this translates to even better control for fermentation ...
I'm also looking forward to being able to dump yeast ...I may even begin some harvesting !
Am I glad I have one ? Yup
Did I need it ? Probably not
Would I have two , if I could? Yup !