6.5 gal minibrew conical

anyone use one of these im interested in buying one and would like to know some thoughts/advice, also which homebrew suppliers are good to purchase from any advice is welcome

Austinhomebrew I've heard is a fairly reputable dealer. They currently have a giveaway for a free fermenator. Enter and you may win. The link is in the vendor giveaway section of the homepage

I guess for the price they are OK. I have one a fellow brewing buddy gave me and I find it OK. Not as good as my SS conical, but it do make good beer.

I'm fairly pleased with my minibrew. I've got the 6.5 gallon. Found it used.

My biggest complaint is the bottom valve clogs up pretty fast, so it's difficult to pull the sludge/trub from the fermenter easily.

How do you know when your yeast has settled out in one of these? You can see inside and just because you dump the trub/cake you can't see level in relationship to racking port or how clear the beer is.

I'm holding out for the 14.5 gallon SS fermenter they're giving away... Of course, I never win anything good, so I don't have any hopes of getting it... Would be sick to have a free one though... Would have to brew a 10 gallon batch just to pop it's cherry. :rockin:

For knowing when to dump the cake... I would probably use the same method I do now... Time... When the brew is at the FG, and it tastes ready for bottle/keg, then you can dump the yeast... I wouldn't do it before then. But that's just crazy old me...