I started brewing in ’08 with buckets and made the move to glass pretty early so I can see fermentation and for sanitary reasons. Every brew day, the only thing I get anxious about is carrying the glass carboys to the fermentation chamber in the basement. I know it’s not a matter of if, but when, one of those babies breaks on me. So, I’m in the market to move to stainless (plus I'm thinking about harvesting yeast for future batches) but want some advice of what you’re using and if you’re happy with your purchase. Between Anvil, SS Brew Tech, Blichmann, Chapman… there’s so many to choose from. Brew bucket or conical? I'm looking for advantages, features, and benefits, not just the cheapest price... I have a birthday coming up so hopefully I can talk the fam into going in on it
I started with Bigmouth Bubblers primarily because I didn't want to do the glass thing. I still have them, in fact brewed last weekend and used one because....my stainless conical was "busy." And I wanted another beer in the pipeline.
I bought the Spike CF10 conical fermenter in March. I brew 5-gallon batches but wanted the 10-gallon model as I can see myself going to 10-gallon batches at some point. The 10-gallon will do half-batches.
The choice, based on what I see here, comes down to either the Spike offering or the SS Brewtech offering. It seems to be personal preference. I live in Wisconsin so buying from a local vendor was a plus. I have a 10-gallon boil kettle from them, plus had them add a welded port, which was done well and at a fair price.
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One advantage Spike has is they'll do interest-free financing. If you can't quite afford what you want or think you need, perhaps such financing makes sense. I almost did that, and I think it's a rather cool idea for Spike to do that.
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I'm very happy with my Spike, but let me note a few things. First, you're going to need ways to move wort around. Part of the value of a conical like this is that it can accommodate a sanitary transfer of wort to the closed fermenter. That implies a pump. To use a pump means you're going to need fittings--and this is where these things can get a little pricey.
IMO, you're also going to want some way to elevate the fermenter. Legs on the fermenter, or a table, or something. Legs, plus the stabilizing shelf, will likely cost about $80 more, give or take. Yeah, I know. They can, of course, be added later.
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Pumping imples...a pump. And the silicone tubing to make it work. And the fittings to connect everything. I went around and around about whether I wanted
a quick-connect type like Spike sells, or camlocks. The camlocks are much cheaper, and more ubiquitous. I went with camlocks, and given the different needs, I'm glad I did.
I bought a Blichmann Riptide pump with Christmas money, and I'm glad I did. It includes a valve integral to the design, a pressure-release to help prime the pump, an on-off switch, and it's incredibly quiet. Others use Chuggers or similar, but the small increase in price once you add the extra stuff....I'm thinking about getting a second one.
Of course, you could just pour the chilled wort into the fermenter, and maybe that's an intermediate step. Not horribly different than how we pour into carboys or plastic buckets or similar.
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Other things:
You can't lift these with the handles when full. That implies putting the fermenter on wheels (casters) or putting it in a permanent place. The casters will add cost.
You also need a way to control ferm temps.
@Nokt showed above how he's doing that with the CF5 from Spike. I kind of like that approach, though it requires a properly-sized freezer/fridge, the space to put it, and the money to buy it.
The other alternative is some variation of the temp control system Spike offers. Not cheap esp. if you need the heater included.
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Now, that said, is it worth it? Who can say? Only you. I bought mine so I could control O2 ingress, ferment under pressure, do a pressure transfer of finished beer to keg....and it does all those things--and it did them well.
I'm happy with it. A few fumbles the first couple of times as I learned how to deal with it, but yesterday I brewed and used it and everything was pretty cool with it. It's just a matter of developing a memory of how it goes, what to use, etc.
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So....it's not a cheap approach. I have fermented...3 or 4 times with mine. There's a learning curve with these. Figuring out where this or that goes, how to setup a CIP system, etc. etc. I had help,
@Morrey was able to provide some guidance and that sped things up significantly.
Would I do it again? Well, I'm thinking about....another one. The cost of fittings and such is already a sunk cost, I can use them on multiple fermenters. Could i fit a CF5 in a fridge like Nokt did? Maybe....
Or maybe I should do a Herms system first. Or......