I have a Stout 7 gallon stainless steel fermenter. It has its pro's and con's.
Pros: Easy to clean; can drain trub and yeast during fermentation; can save yeast for later use; easy to take samples for specific gravity measurements (don't forget to pull the airlock off before hand or you will suck into the fermenter whatever is in the airlock -- vodka, starsan...); easy to monitor the internal wort temperatures if you have a thermowell; looks cool; it can't shatter and require you to go to the ER for multiple stitches.
Cons: Can't watch the wort ferment (not a big deal after the first few batches); more expensive than a plastic or glass carboy or a bucket; no need for a siphon to empty the fermenter into my kegs; more difficult to control the temperature due to size.
My biggest beef with my conical is that I haven't figured out how to control the temperature during fermentation. I don't have a fermentation chamber yet and it won't fit in my CoolBrew bag like my carboys will. Eventually, I will break down and buy a used refrigerator that is big enough for the conical, but until then, I use carboys when its warm (with my CoolBrew bag and ice bottles) and the conical when its cold. It only took one ale fermented at 75 degrees in my conical to figure out how important temperature control is. Good luck.
lagers especially would have you shivering (and blowing big cash) if you kept your whole house at fermentation temps. I wonder if a wet towel on the conical would provide enough cooling to keep it out of the danger zone?
