Conical Fermentor Vs Regular

I have seen a lot of pictures of conical fermentors and some for sale.

Does anyone have a link explaining why they would be better than a carboy?

What is the benefit of the bottom?

What does the process of fermentation look like (do you rack to secondary still)?

Technically, a conical is its own secondary. There is a valve at the bottom that allows you to dump trub and yeast. Therefore, you wouldn't rack it to a secondary. This feature makes it ideal for someone who harvests a lot of their yeast.

The process is exactly the same. There is actually a racking arm in most conicals. If not, you can just rack out of the top like a normal vessel.

Concials are great if:
-you have space for them
-you have space in your fermentation chamber (they are taller since they have legs)
-you can afford them
-harvest a lot of yeast
-have a dedicated brew space. Depending on the size, you won't want to haul a full concial around.

I had the same question and one time stared at a picture and finally noticed the thing at the bottom and the valve and said "AHA!"

Now that I am interested in harvesting yeast, I could do with one, but frankly, if I thought about it some more, that feature alone would not be practical for me because I don't brew that much. I could put up with the hassle of harvesting using a bucket. And using it as a secondary is not practical either, as I usually don't even use a secondary, and if I did, I'd want the beer in a carboy to age anyway.

Now if someone were to just give me SS conical...

I agree Homer, I don't think a conical would be that practical for me either. If I had a set or regimented brewing schedule, maybe. I think they really gain an advantage when you get into batch sizes of 10+ gallons.

Yea, I made a plastic barrel into one, tilted sideways and added a valve. Lots cheaper than stainless but the yeasties don't care.

Thanks for the info!