Conical Fermenters

Hello all,
Well this hobby of homebrewing has taking rapid control of my nervous system. I wanted to here your thoughts on conical fermenters vs carboy. If you take money out of the equation, what are the benefits of CF vs carboy and what are the drawbacks. I have seen some great deals on CF and wondered if any hobbyists here have moved to stainless steel CF.
I appreciate your thought and input. I know this site has some great deals and apparently good looking products http://conical-fermenter.com/. Anyone deal with them before?
Thanks,
37OliveStBrews

I've had one for about a year now and the few things I've noticed are:

Things that I like:

• You don't have to worry about sunlight
• Yeast extraction is way easier
• Transfer into bottles/kegs is also easier
• Much easier to clean and less of a chance of scratching
• Less of a chance of a blow-over since they usually come in bigger sizes
• Looks pretty bad-ass

Things that I'm not crazy about:

• Temperature control is tougher since you cannot put it into a tub of water and it wont fit as easily into a fermentation chamber as a carboy or bucket
• You cannot watch the fermentation as it's happening (important to some people)

That's all I can think of off hand right now. All in all, I'm glad I have it, but if I had it to do again, I'd probably spend the money somewhere else first.

I have one... Honestly... Unless you are really into Yeast harvesting and or trub dumping... It all comes down to "Bling Factor" Mine is nice but it has many more areas that I need to disassemble and clean than my carboys... Plus you can't see whats going on in there...

yeah, temp control would be a challenge i think

Bowtiebrewery said:

I have one... Honestly... Unless you are really into Yeast harvesting and or trub dumping... It all comes down to "Bling Factor" Mine is nice but it has many more areas that I need to disassemble and clean than my carboys... Plus you can't see whats going on in there...

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+1

I think they make more sense for lager brewing as these to functions are more critical. I still haven't tried one but it's a matter of time.

I'd only get the B3 one as losing pressure transfers, dealing with weldless fittings or dealing with ball valves and threaded fittings would be more hassle than yeast harvesting and cold trub removal are with better bottles.

I have a 42 gallon conical made of flawless diamond and 18k gold that makes beer so good it automatically impregnates women with god-like children and gives men multiple orgasms. So yeah, I think conicals are way better than some stupid bucket.

motobrewer said:

yeah, temp control would be a challenge i think

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If you have a fridge already though the site says the dimensions of the 20 gallon conical fit in a 20.5 sq. ft fridge (which I think is pretty typical, maybe a little large)

I've built my own CF's out of plastic cone bottom tanks and have to say that the greatest part of them is not having to transfer the beer and the ease of bottling/kegging from them. The other features are trivial IMOHP unless you are doing large batches.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

I have a 42 gallon conical made of flawless diamond and 18k gold that makes beer so good it automatically impregnates women with god-like children and gives men multiple orgasms. So yeah, I think conicals are way better than some stupid bucket.

Click to expand...

cool story bro

I'm actually thinking about experimenting with a Variable Volume Fermenter... The same ones that are used in fermenting wine... the beautiful thing is that you can adjust the head space accordingly...