Blichmann conical advice

I'm a newbie who has only brewed a few 5 gallon batches in plastic buckets and secondary fermenting in bottles but I've decided I want to go ahead and make an investment into some high quality brewing equipment, and would like some advice from more experienced brewers. I really like the looks of the Blichmann 14.5 gallon conical fermenter, but I'm wondering if its the right choice for me. My price range for equipment is around 700 and the 14.5 gallon with the standard fittings is 640, while the one with the tri-clamp fittings is 860....My question is whether the tri-clamp fittings are really worth a 35% price increase over the same one with standard fittings? Would it make more sense to start with the base model and upgrade later or are the tri-clamps really that great that I need to consider them now? Also can you foresee there being any other major investments required to brew with this thing that I might not already have, other than a bottling gun? At this point I just want to stick to the basics if possible. I have bottle capper,bottles, etc. Thanks!

alter said:

I'm a newbie who has only brewed a few 5 gallon batches in plastic buckets and secondary fermenting in bottles but I've decided I want to go ahead and make an investment into some high quality brewing equipment, and would like some advice from more experienced brewers. I really like the looks of the Blichmann 14.5 gallon conical fermenter, but I'm wondering if its the right choice for me. My price range for equipment is around 700 and the 14.5 gallon with the standard fittings is 640, while the one with the tri-clamp fittings is 860....My question is whether the tri-clamp fittings are really worth a 35% price increase over the same one with standard fittings? Would it make more sense to start with the base model and upgrade later or are the tri-clamps really that great that I need to consider them now? Also can you foresee there being any other major investments required to brew with this thing that I might not already have, other than a bottling gun? At this point I just want to stick to the basics if possible. I have bottle capper,bottles, etc. Thanks!

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Out of curiosity, do you brew extract or all grain?

That is a good question, I believe the answer is extract. Although I am a newbie and might be mistaken....In the past I've gotten both a can of syrupy malt, as well as bags of grain combined together, when purchasing ingredients if that helps.

I have 2 Blichmann 14.5 conicals and I love them! Don't waste your money on the tri-clamp fittings. It's just added bling. The regular fittings will work just fine. I have at least 50 batches under my belt using these conicals.
Wether your all grain or an extract brewer, the Blichmann will work fine.

I've heard the blichmann valves, being only 1/2" can get clogged easily.

I have no experience though.

Conicals are nice but I will spend my money in going all grain before buying a nice shiny conical.

alter said:

I'm a newbie who has only brewed a few 5 gallon batches in plastic buckets and secondary fermenting in bottles but I've decided I want to go ahead and make an investment into some high quality brewing equipment, and would like some advice from more experienced brewers. I really like the looks of the Blichmann 14.5 gallon conical fermenter, but I'm wondering if its the right choice for me. My price range for equipment is around 700 and the 14.5 gallon with the standard fittings is 640, while the one with the tri-clamp fittings is 860....My question is whether the tri-clamp fittings are really worth a 35% price increase over the same one with standard fittings? Would it make more sense to start with the base model and upgrade later or are the tri-clamps really that great that I need to consider them now? Also can you foresee there being any other major investments required to brew with this thing that I might not already have, other than a bottling gun? At this point I just want to stick to the basics if possible. I have bottle capper,bottles, etc. Thanks!

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There are so many things that you could buy to make your beer brewing days easier than one of these.

I don't know. Being a newbie and all, you might want to ease off the gas a little bit. If I were you I'd wait a little longer before springing for a conical. Once you switch to all grain (which you will), you might decide to upgrade to larger batches. Then you might decide that the $700 would be better spent on a brewhemoth conical. Or maybe even a down payment on an autotomated e-brewery. Who knows. After you get some more experience under your belt you will have a better idea of what you want out of your homebrewery. Then again, a nice shiny Blingman would look fabulous under the Christmas tree.

BBL_Brewer said:

Then again, a nice shiny Blingman would look fabulous under the Christmas tree.

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That´s a tall tree, mine can fit inside the conical.

I went with the 7 gallon. There were two reasons. The first is the 7 gallon can fit in my keezer incase I wanted to make lagers. So I'd look at the size of the fridge/freezer if you decide to make lagers. I think the 14.5 is sized to fit into a typical fridge. So this may not be a factor.

The second reason was weight. I can move the 5 gallons down the stairs to my basement. With 10 gallons, I'm not sure I'd want to carry that down.

As far as taking it to the next level.... I would put my money first into kettles, all grain equipment, and kegging. Depending on the room you have the fermenters, if it gets large temp swings, you may want to consider a fermentation temp control/fridge.

The conical is nice, but it doesn't correlate to better beer as much as healthy yeast starters, full volume boils, chillers etc. I use my conical for only about half my brews.

Obliviousbrew said:

That´s a tall tree, mine can fit inside the conical.

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Just use your imagination....

Wow thanks for all the advice. I'm not 100% certain on the conical, but it seems like it would be pretty fool-proof and high quality. I want something easy to sanitize with little room for error and the least amount of human intervention as I've made a bad batch with the plastic buckets in the past that I want to avoid. The less I have to transfer beer around from one container to the other the better. For those that say there are better options, could you please provide a few specific examples of equipment around the same price or cheaper that might be preferable for a newbie than the blichmann 14 gallon conical? I want something that I won't outgrow anytime soon. I like ales and stouts and might try a lager later on, all grain sounds interesting too. Thanks again.

alter said:

Wow thanks for all the advice. I'm not 100% certain on the conical, but it seems like it would be pretty fool-proof and high quality. I want something easy to sanitize with little room for error and the least amount of human intervention as I've made a bad batch with the plastic buckets in the past that I want to avoid. The less I have to transfer beer around from one container to the other the better. For those that say there are better options, could you please provide a few specific examples of equipment around the same price or cheaper that might be preferable for a newbie than the blichmann 14 gallon conical? I want something that I won't outgrow anytime soon. I like ales and stouts and might try a lager later on, all grain sounds interesting too. Thanks again.

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You could just as easily make a bad batch with the conical fwiw. If your sanitation isn't up to snuff then it wouldn't matter. Buckets are great. Easy to clean etc.

I'd take that 700 and put it into more supplies. A new kettle,starter stuff, some kegs, more ingredients etc. A conical won't make better beer, continuing to brew and learn and refine your techniques will though.

My question would be what do you have for equipment currently?

I person don't see any advantage to using a conical to make better beer or making your brew day easier other than to impress friends and families when they see your setup

Like others have said....lots of things to buy before getting a conical

I had purchased a 5 gallon brewing kit that came with a plastic fermenter bucket with airlock, a bottling bucket, plastic siphons, hydrometer, bottle capper, bottle filler and bottling brush. They getting kind of old and not sure if the lid gaskets are perfectly air tight, or if there are tiny scratches from use, etc anymore. I want to start fresh and upgrade to some newer equipment which will last a long time but I think that the big glass bottles would be too hard to clean inside effectively. I really want something that is simple and easy to keep clean that is not plastic and thats when I came a across the conical stainless steel fermenter, which I read can also be used for bottling without having to transfer into another container, also a plus for me. Admittedly I'm a newbie and not sure whats best for me but at this point I'm looking for specific examples of kits or equipment suggestions as I would like to pull the trigger on something soon and start brewing again.

buy a lot of cornies and a kegging setup them, you can ferment in the kegs.

I only use glass carboys, and I don't scrub at all, a nice soak in oxyclean and a good rinse is all I need. I wish I had gotten buckets instead. I suppose you could bottle from a conical but how are you going to mix priming sugar in it evenly? A good tank would be a spiedel tank. Morebeer.com

You didn't mention a brew kettle, chiller or a burner. Do you have a kettle large enough to do full volume boils? How are you chilling? Are you boiling on the stove? I would start by getting a 9 gallon or larger brew kettle. Some kind of chiller and a good burner. This will make your brewing experience much more enjoyable. After that, consider making a cooler mash tun so you can brew all grain. By then you'll be racking up some good experience and will have a better idea of where you want to go from there.

I have a steel pan that is big enough for a 5 gallon batch that I used to boil the ingredients on the kitchen stove. Then I manually poured that into the fermenter bucket as I recall, sorry, its been a few years since my last attempt. I did not have a cooler or chiller that I've used so far. I do have a temperature gauge on the bucket that I remember it saying to store in a cool place within a certain temperature range, but thats it, nothing fancy.

OK I will research brew kettles and chillers, thanks.

alter said:

...I really like the looks of the Blichmann 14.5 gallon conical fermenter, but I'm wondering if its the right choice for me. My price range for equipment is around 700 and the 14.5 gallon with the standard fittings is 640, while the one with the tri-clamp fittings is 860....My question is whether the tri-clamp fittings are really worth a 35% price increase over the same one with standard fittings? Would it make more sense to start with the base model and upgrade later or are the tri-clamps really that great that I need to consider them now? Also can you foresee there being any other major investments required to brew with this thing that I might not already have, other than a bottling gun? At this point I just want to stick to the basics if possible. I have bottle capper,bottles, etc. Thanks!

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The big question is: What equipment do you already have? I'd make sure I invested first in (no particular order) a mill, kettles, burners/electric, chiller (CFC/IC), HERMS/RIMS, fittings, hoses, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. The last thing on my list that I would probably get is a SS Conical, you can make great beer forever with relatively cheap glass carboys.

With that being said, I bought the 14.5 w/tri-clamps. I got a SS Conical for a few reasons (mostly easier to): transfer (closed from fermenter to keg), dump trub, harvest yeast, sample SG/FG, dry hop, add other additions, clean, and because it looks damn cool. :rockin: I got the tri-clamps because the bottom dump was larger (1" vs 1/2" I think), more comfort around sanitation (on that important side), and I didn't want to regret not having gotten that later on (I don't think you can easily upgrade later if you decide to do so).

I always remember what my grandfather told me: "Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten".

Hopefully that at least gives you some things to think about.

How do you control fermentation temps? Will you be able to control fermentation temps in the 14.5g conical? You're planning to brew 5g batches in a 14.5g conical? If you bottle straight from the conical how will you add priming sugar?

I think you imagine the conical is going to be a better solution than it is probably going to be for you at this time.

I'm going to sing along with the chorus and say that your money could probably be better spent elsewhere. Temp control would be my suggestions, followed by temp control, then maybe kegging, nice brew pot, AG equipment... A conical is a piece of equipment that it seems to me will require a good deal of other equipment to make it a convenience rather than a pita.

I just read through this thread and honestly I really suggest you rethink this purchase. Unless you just want a shiny bright conical in your home for a conversation piece, this purchase doesn't seem to make any sense. I'm not trying to bash your ideas, but just reading through your posts it seems that you have a lot more to understand and experience in homebrewing before you could reap the benefits of a conical.

I would strongly recommend you put this money towards a nice immersion or plate chiller, and also looking into getting some supplies to start all grain brewing. Not that you couldn't continue to brew extract, but it just seems like once you're spending this amount of money on brewing you deserve the full experience and uniqueness of all grain.

OK guys, you have successfully talked me out of the conical for now. I've ordered another plastic brewers kit as my other one is too old, don't want to risk ruining a batch, this time I got a set with a plastic better bottle for secondary fermentation. I've also ordered a new heavy duty 6 gallon stainless steel kettle for boiling and a couple ingredient kits. I will get some more experience brewing 5 gallon batches in plastic buckets and maybe try all grain before investing in the stainless conical. I really appreciate all the advice and I'm sure I'll be asking some more questions soon.