Conical Fermenters

Does anyone own or have used this conical fermenter from Hobby Beverage?

Minibrew 6.5 Fermenter [f6.5] : Minibrew, Manufactured by the Hobby Beverage Equipment Company

I do have one of them.

Check this post.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/os...allon-conical-fermenter-ebay-thoughts-110286/

If you're gonna spend ~$200 on a fermenter, I'd stay away from plastic. I got a very nice, shiny one on eBay for ~$250 shipped and love it! I haven't seen another like it recently, only plastic.

The reason you want to stay away from plastic is it tends to hold the smell of beer from one batch to the next, will scratch easily and harbor bacteria, allows a small bit of oxidation yadda yadda yadda. A metal one will last a lifetime if taken care of properly. You could also make a metal one by buying parts from toledometalspinning.com ...

iceman80403 said:

The reason you want to stay away from plastic is it tends to hold the smell of beer from one batch to the next, will scratch easily and harbor bacteria, allows a small bit of oxidation yadda yadda yadda.

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I'm not sure where you got this idea from, but I can say with some authority that none of those things have ever happened to me with my plastic conicals.

I have a good half dozen of the minibrew 6.5 gallons fermenters and I have used them for a good 25 batches each with NO contamination problems. Cleaning is a breeze with PBW. If you pay attention to what you are doing, you will never scratch them. I sanitize with either SaniClean or Star San.

The price on them have gone up quite a bit since I bought mine in 1998, but I still think they offer good value.

Wayne1 said:

I'm not sure where you got this idea from, but I can say with some authority that none of those things have ever happened to me with my plastic conicals.

I have a good half dozen of the minibrew 6.5 gallons fermenters and I have used them for a good 25 batches each with NO contamination problems. Cleaning is a breeze with PBW. If you pay attention to what you are doing, you will never scratch them. I sanitize with either SaniClean or Star San.

The price on them have gone up quite a bit since I bought mine in 1998, but I still think they offer good value.

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Ya, if you're careful while cleaning them you will not scratch them, just as with the typical plastic bucket. With metal you have NO chance of scratching them unless, for some reason, you use a metal abrasive pad. I got the "idea" from experience from fermenting in plastic buckets sold for homebrewing and they retain beer smell. Plastic is much more porous than metal and can hold biological compounds.

I really hope you're not arguing that plastic is better than metal! Especially if they come at the same price, excluding shipping.

iceman80403 said:

Ya, if you're careful while cleaning them you will not scratch them, just as with the typical plastic bucket. With metal you have NO chance of scratching them unless, for some reason, you use a metal abrasive pad. I got the "idea" from experience from fermenting in plastic buckets sold for homebrewing and they retain beer smell. Plastic is much more porous than metal and can hold biological compounds.

I really hope you're not arguing that plastic is better than metal! Especially if they come at the same price, excluding shipping.

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You basically painted an image that they can't even be used when thats clearly not the case. Also when cleaning the only way to scratch it is to be negligent, just like many products. Once you have a method you stick to it and theres nothing hard about that imo.

Looked at the Mini Brew and decided to save $$$ and go with the 15 gallon Inductor tank detailed elsewhere on this site. Under $100 shipped from Tank Depot and I made my own rolling stand from a left over golf practice net steel tubing and some casters. Also added a racking arm that I bought from Rotating Racking Arm and it works really well.

There ARE many things about the MiniBrew fermenters that are better than Stainless Steel. First, they are lighter. Easier to move about. Then you can see your liquid level through them. No guessing as to volume or jury rigging a sight glass that would have to be cleaned. Cleaning IS easier. With stainless you have to use an alkaline AND an acid to remove beer stone. Beer stone usually does not form on plastic.

While you may have been very lucky to find one SS fermenter for $250.00, the typical prices available to homebrewers everywhere are more like $500.00. Building your own is not an option for some people.

Stainless Conicals ARE very good and nice to have. They do take more work to maintain. I have brewed in plastic, glass and stainless. FOR THE MONEY the plastic conicals are the best I have found. If you can tell us where everyone can get a stainless conical with the same features as the MinBrew fermenters for $50.00 more, I think there would be some people interested. Could you provide a link?

samc, thanks for the link to the racking arm. That looks like a great idea. I may try to incorporate that in a couple of my conicals.

I bought the ebay one that people are referencing... it is a 7 gallon stainless steel conical. I got it for about $250 including the stand. I like it alot, but i want to move to bigger batches. PM me if you are interested in buying it from me. I only used it for one batch before i decided that i wanted to move up a step. I will try and post it in the classifieds later.

here is the conical as it stands


The Valves





The Lid and latch

I have the e-bay conical and I like it quite a bit. Though I would prefer a 14 gallon size.

I love the Mini-Brew plastic conical. It was only $110 when my wife bought it for me a couple of years ago. The thing is pretty rugged for plastic. It's a breeze to clean, too.

I have the 6.5 gal MiniBrew ( the older model). I have just finished my first beer in it, and have two issues.

On this model, the lid simply sets on top. So blowoff lifts the lid, and slides down the side. I'll figure a way to fix that soon.

Second, it does not have a rotating racking arm. Working on fixing that too.

Thanks to all for your responses. Maybe what I need to do is just relax and have another homebrew. I do remember a time when I was happy with my starter kit I got for christmas.

15 gallon Norwesco conversion here. All plastic (polyethylene tank and polypropylene ball valves & piping). The whole thing including the homemade stand with wheels <$100. The tank was $52 at a local farm store. The inside will never get scratched. I never touch it. Hot water & a hose sprayer for the tough stuff. PBW soak (full to the brim) for a couple days, cycling the valves numerous times to clean them out. Star San after that. Usually that's during the next batch but if not, then Star San both after the PBW and right before the next batch goes in, and cycling the valves some more to get the Star San into the valves. I usually put a gallon of Star San in and shake the heck out of it. It's light so you can do that. I haven't weighed it but it can't be more than 20 lbs. Ferments like crazy and the beer has turned out fantastic!!!

I'm pretty much determined to buy a mini-brew model, but the prices vary so much.

Has anyone bought from Kennywood? Their price is the lowest I've seen and when I first looked they had a $10 shipping special which is now gone.

Kennywood Homebrewing Supply

I sent an iquiry asking about shipping but never got a reply so I'm hesitant.

HSM said:

I'm pretty much determined to buy a mini-brew model, but the prices vary so much.

Has anyone bought from Kennywood? Their price is the lowest I've seen and when I first looked they had a $10 shipping special which is now gone.

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You can fin it also in here:
MiniBrew Fermenter - 6.5 - Conical Fermenters - High Gravity

I bought mine from here.
http://brewcitysupplies.com/

I just bought a Mini-Brew 8gal conical off of craigslist tonight for $100. As an upgrade to the standard setup, the guy threw in the installed fermentation thermometer and three extra lid clamps, so that I have a total of six clamps to keep the lid tight in case of an explosive fermentation. Plus, on this model, the bottom ball valve is 1", rather than 1/2", which seems to alleviate some of the criticisms of the earlier models (slow drain of the trub due to small diameter valve).

I am going to brew a light summer ale tomorrow night, and give the conical a shot. This is gonna be awesome!

Well, the first batch is in the conical. Brew took about 3.5hr from start to finish, and I am very happy to report that my rectangular kitchen sink strainer fits in the opening of the conical perfectly, making for an extremely easy hop separation! This is one nice fermentation container!

I ended up buying the Minibrew 6.5 from High Gravity on Sunday and even though their web pages says to expect 12-15 days shipping, it will be here tomorrow! That's pretty impressive shipping! Luvin it!

HSM said:

I'm pretty much determined to buy a mini-brew model, but the prices vary so much.

Has anyone bought from Kennywood? Their price is the lowest I've seen and when I first looked they had a $10 shipping special which is now gone.

Kennywood Homebrewing Supply

I sent an iquiry asking about shipping but never got a reply so I'm hesitant.

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I bought a 14gal sanitary Blingmann from Kennywood. It was backordered for several weeks but he replied to every email I sent requesting an update.

Well, day 6 of fermentation in my 8-gal conical, and I am pretty happy with it so far. The trub that I poured off of the bottom last night was thick and rich - I put it in a sanitized mason jar, to use for a future batch as a starter, in the manner of dropping onto a yeast cake. I'm figuring that since I will be dropping the lees out the bottom of the fermenter every few days, that the dead cells in my mason jar won't have contact time enough with the fresh wort to give it an off-taste.

Anyhow, the amber that I'm brewing is not terribly clear yet, but it's only been six days and Safeale S-04 is supposed to flocculate pretty well, so I'll keep drawing off the trub and look forward to racking to a corny keg next weekend.

David Miller in "Homebrewing Guide" 1995, has a picture of what he calls a "poor man's unitank". It's not a photo, it's a pen drawing.

It is an inverted carboy with a tube going through the bung right up above the level of the beer. Presumably this is for blow off/airlock. There is something coming off the side of bung, this would presumably be the valve.

Has anyone made one of these?

I was thinking of trying to make one myself.

You something like this Fermentap system.

I tried an earlier generation of this item. I never cared for it. The shoulders of a carboy are not steep enough for the yeast to settle out completely. The yeast cake just gets wedged in place.

Nice idea, poor execution. A true conical works much better but it does cost more.

Wayne1 said:

The shoulders of a carboy are not steep enough for the yeast to settle out completely. The yeast cake just gets wedged in place.

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I did think that the slope of the neck wasn't steep enough but thought that, maybe, it's glass, the yeast would slide down with the suction when the valve was opened. Apparently not.

Thanks for the feedback.

Phil

I brewed on Sunday and broke the cherry on the new mini-brew. Did my first trub drain today and that is just slick.

I did use some mega rubber bands (the kind that comes with some produce) to secure the lid as I like to see the airlock work!

The only problem now is that I only have one...