Fermenator - Standard or Tri-Clamp Fittings?

I'm going to order a 14.5 gallon Fermenator soon and I'm trying to decide whether the sanitary (tri-clamp) fittings are worth the extra $225. Can anybody give me some insight to sway me one way or the other? Thanks.

Sanitary will be easier to clean. Is it worth 225 bucks. I dunno.

I just bought two 14.5 gallon fermenators with the standard fittings. I don't use tri-clamp fittings anywhere else in the brewery and didn't even entertain the notion...

I like the idea of the tri clamp on the top for a blowoff and easy pressurization for transferring. So I said screw it and ordered the 14.5 with tri clamps yesterday. Will write up a report after Ive used it a few times.

They are cool, but not needed.

If every place in my set up had them then yeah i would have gotten them.

Enjoy the 14.5 Fermenator. I got mine for Christmas this last year and Love the **** out of it. It has not sat idle since i got it.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm going to get the standard fittings and spend the $225 I save elsewhere in my brewery. I can't wait.

Reverend JC said:

Enjoy the 14.5 Fermenator. I got mine for Christmas this last year and Love the **** out of it. It has not sat idle since i got it.

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Im thinking I can get away with only having one. I can use the one conical for primary fermentation then transfer to carboys if I want to secondary. I wont be brewing more than once a week so having only one should work for me.

Now I get to start a new project!!!! Im going to try and trick out a fridge with a Love controller like John Beere did. How do you guys keep yours cool? And what temps do you keep your conical at during peak fermentation? I like to ferment cool (66-68) so just guessing Id think 62 would work since 11 gallons of wort is going to generate a bit of heat at peak fermentation.

I have the smaller 7 gallon conical form Blichmann with the standard fittings, save the money. I did upgrade and changed out the two plastic hose fittings to stainless ones.

Thread ressurection as I think I'm about to pick up a conical. Whats the difference between standard and tri-clamp? I'm having a hard time finding one.

Er, I figured it out. Are the triclamps a worthwhile investment or is it just needless bling and convenience?

I would not personally use threaded fittings on the cold side. I admit to being on one extreme of homebrewing cleaning and sanitation spectrum. Personally I solve this dilemma by not using a conical but if I got one I would get sanitary fittings without a second thought.

I think the salient difference is that the sanitary fittings are easier to clean and sanitize. If it were just a convenience thing I would say no way are they worth the money.

can someone explain how the dump valve/racking arm connect on the NPT/TC fermenator? i would guess the NPT fittings are just a weldless threaded fitting like the bulkhead on a weldless keggle, right? what about thte TC model?