alter
Active Member
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!