Conical Fermenters

Does anyone know much about the second conical listed on this page?

http://conical-fermenter.com/products/conicals/

Does it have temperature controls or just an attached thermometer? And what's a thermowell? Do you know if I would still have to siphon (or drain) into secondary, or would I be able to just drain off the trub and leave it in the conical for secondary?

I've only recently begun looking into upgrading my bucket approach - I'm finding with my limited space (and no garage and no basement), I'm having a heck of a time maintaining proper temperatures.

From the description and pictures I don't think any of them have temperature control. They are just made with thermowells & thermometers so you can put them in a temperature controlled environment.

Also they are way too cheap to be jacketed fermenters.

Also, is there a website anywhere that sells used conicals?

For what it's worth I don't think "upgrading" to a conical is the answer if you are looking for temperature control. A conical has some advantages (and some disadvantages) but temperature control isn't one of them.

The whole point of using a conical, other than the shape, is that you can dump off the trub and yeast without having to rack. Don't worry about primary/secondary fermentation stuff unless you are making beers that will sit on the yeast for a very long time; greater than a month or two. So, that is going to be beers where you are bulk aging for a long like imperial stouts, beers where you are adding something after fermentation like wood aged or fruit beers, or lagers, which you aren't doing because you don't have temperature control.

Instead, IMO you should be looking at buying or building some kind of fermentation cabinet or using a swamp cooler approach.

Always such good info here! Thanks!

Now to research building a temperature controlled unit that fits into a small apartment ...