Mini brew/ Conical Fermenters.

How do these Conical fermenters work. Are they worth buying? How different is this from using a bucket and carboy. Im intrested in getting the 6.5 gallon fermenter. See link below.

www.fermentationproducts.com

I think you missed a letter your link doesn't work.


Try this one:



www.fermentationproducts.com

Sorry about the spelling. Thats the exact site I was looking at.
Have any idea how these things work and are they worth buying??

Thanks
808

I don't know anyone who has one of those--but you will always get the argument of "if you scratch that plastic, it will harbor bacteria that you will never get rid of!", which kind of leans me away from going that route.

I've been thinking of a cheap way to get rid of the glass carboys too--lifting those and moving them around scares the crap out of me.

I've considered getting 1 or 2 V-vessels (for the conical option), but then you have that "plastic" problem again.

Another option is the Better Bottles that are made of food grade plastic much like the big water bottles you see on the water coolers. Cheap and MUCH safer. But then you have the "plastic" problem surfacing again.

fermentech makes that device that allows you to turn your carboys upside down and leech yeast from the neck. anyone used those? a makeshift conical (that's obviously not conical) of sorts. doesn't get you out of lifting but does solve the plastic and siphoning problems.

I asked that question a few weeks ago and the answer was that they are awkward and unstable.

@808beer: the site you mentioned is no longer taking internet orders. Were you talking about something like this?

http://www.minibrew.com/index.php?m...s_id=6&zenid=f1b2e1eb45667a89e0c8e4c15df98871

I'm pretty interested in these, too.

Dude said:

"if you scratch that plastic, it will harbor bacteria that you will never get rid of!", which kind of leans me away from going that route.

Click to expand...

The site I posted has a bit about that in their FAQ:
"Scratches. One need not worry about tiny scratches in plastic or stainless. There are two answers to the problem and both are easy. First do nothing. Leave the scratch, clean it with a soft brush and sterilize with hot water. The second answer is to remove the scratch by cutting down the sides. Use a dull knife drawing it toward you, scraping away the plastic. Grinding and buffing scratches in stainless steel is complicated."

Reactions?

I have the 6.5 gallon model and love it. It's heavy duty thick plastic and I think you would really have to try hard to scratch it.