thoughts on this 12.5gal SS conical fermenter

Hey everyone,

Found this 12.5 gal fermenter on ebay, which seems to be catching my attention more that I would wish for......

http://cgi.ebay.ca/BEST-STAINLESS-C...GAL-GAUGE-/290470457792?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

The construction seems to be very similar to the conicals offered by stout tanks and kettles: http://conical-fermenter.com/products/conical-fermenters/
apart from several differences:

Price: 299$ (379$ 'buy it now') vs 450$
Valve Size: 3/4'' vs 1'' (bottom only)
Volume: 12.5gal vs 14.5gal

what do you guys and gals think? Is 12.5gal safe for 10gal batches? Anyone heard or tried these?

Thanks

Gabrew

Those ebay conicals look like decent fermentors, but they are far from premium. I bet you have to clean very well after each use to make sure there is nothing stuck inside the tiny imperfections of the welds. Where as a Blichmann has no welds at all. Also, it doesn't say much about disassembling the valves. Can you even take the valves apart? With my conicals, so much stuff gets in all the little crevices in the valves, I sanitize the valves completely disassembled before I'm happy. A month is a long time for some crazy stuff to form inside a dark moist environment of the valve.

The price is nice, but with it comes the extra effort cleaning and the worry of hidden microbes and dirty valve internals, Id rather buy right the first time.

The lid seal bar thing is really goofy as well.

these conicals are passified and the welds don't look bad at all. As for the valves, they can be dissembled in a similar way that 3-piece ball valves can...

These look identical to stouts conicals. In fact they recently changed from 3/4" dump valve to 1". I bet these are their old stock. If they are, they are top quality stuff.

didn't they always have 14.5gal and not 12.5gal?

Gabrew said:

didn't they always have 14.5gal and not 12.5gal?

Click to expand...

Yeah they might not be Stout extras but there is no way you can say it's from a different Asian vendor.

It's extremely hard to believe that the quality of the welded seam(s) on an Asian built product like this is suitable for sanitation. Unless you go deep drawn (seamless construction), all you can do is worry.

Hi,

Those are not Stout Tanks and Kettles fermenters.

These are homebrewhouse-discount fermenters, made by a different manufacturer and sold by a different person out of PA.

There are two significant differences that I know of.

First, the thermometer sits directly in the beer, along with a porous brass nut, SS washer, and a gasket. It has no thermowell.

This is not a sanitary method - why upgrade to tri clamp valves, etc. and then do that? Might as well stick with plastic, IMO.

Second, I can comment on the fact that by reverse engineering the shipping charges, these are much, much lighter than Stout Tanks and Kettles fermenters. The shipping weight is 25 pounds for the homebrewhouse-discount fermenter. The shipping weight of a Stout Tanks and Kettles fermenter is 65 pounds. The actual weight of a Stout Conical is about 50 pounds. So the build of these must be very different, with much lighter gauge materials.

I haven't actually seen one, and the photo in his ad is exactly the same photo as his 7.2 gallon fermenters.

Cheers,

John/Stout Tanks and Kettles

That is exactly what i was looking for --> a clear and concise statement! Thanks mate! I guess i'll have to wait some more, save some cash and purchase your 14.5gal conical