Best Stainless Conical???

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Friends,

I'm trying to determine which stainless steel conical fermenter is best overall (in regards to quality, features, performance, and price) for the 5-15 gallon range.

As we all have seen, there is a wide spectrum of prices for stainless conicals. How does a less expensive brand like SS Brewtech compare to a more expensive model like one from Brewha or one from Spike Brewing? I know there are a lot of factors to consider, but I would like to start an informed conversation to see which stainless conical gets the best reviews from everyone out there.
 
I own a 7 gallon and 14 gallon one from ss Brewtech and they are great. The valves are less to be desired but the build quality for the fermenter is excellent and the optional temp controller works awesome.
 
I own a 12.5 gallon stout branded one which is also sold under another brand name now as well like the SS ones which appear to now being offered by another distributor too... (common with Chinese goods)

I cant complain... It seems some people got terrible quality from what Ive seen but mine looks and works great and for under $400 shipped?.. its very heavy duty and the ball valves have no threads I use a $60 "cooling jacket " from coolzone and it work great in controlling cooling... But it takes away from the bling factor that so many here seem to value more than anything.
 
I have a 7G and a 15G conical fermentor from Glacier Tanks. They are far from cheap but the quality is the best I've seen.

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Rbar said:
Friends,

I'm trying to determine which stainless steel conical fermenter is best overall (in regards to quality, features, performance, and price) for the 5-15 gallon range.

As we all have seen, there is a wide spectrum of prices for stainless conicals. How does a less expensive brand like SS Brewtech compare to a more expensive model like one from Brewha or one from Spike Brewing? I know there are a lot of factors to consider, but I would like to start an informed conversation to see which stainless conical gets the best reviews from everyone out there.
Click to expand...

Not sure if you have already bought one or not and I am not sure if you want input from someone that sells them but I'll chime in as well.
As a retailer I have the option to sell all and any of them. I can sell Blichmann, SS BrewTech, I can also buy the fermenters from overseas that Stout and Glacier sell. We choose to sell Ss Brewtech because of the quality and the value. Mitch and crew have done a great job building something very nice and offer it at a price tag that is affordable. I am not a fan of the Pressure valve in the lid but other than that little thing, I think they are the best out there for the price.

Cheers
Jay
 
Unless it is completely sourced and fabricated in the US you are getting a similar product at similar price points from what I can tell.

I think its best to find your budget and the size you want and go about eliminating options that way.

For instance the SS Brewtech and BruGear 14g conicals appear to come from the same chinese factory. They are the same price at $495 but the Brugear is fully welded has a bigger/easier to work with lid opening, comes with a butterfly valve and TC transfer fitting. The downside to Brugear is it seems like they are very difficult to work with at times.
 
That's actually an impossible question. What size? 5-10-15. Temperature controlled (I.e. Jacketed or coils) of no. What size valves, and what type valves?

It's like saying what's the best 2-6 passenger car.

If you do not need temp control ( as in your using a fermentation chamber) get a larger model (14 gallons). I have a 14 g brewmaster chronical and like it fine, but don't think it will do a 5 gallon batch very well.

Non temp control its just about price and valves (assuming it fits in your chamber). Temp controlled gets more complicated....in my opinion the ssbrewtech tech line is a good choice but also if you have more cash then the Brewers hardware nod glacier line are nice too
 
jekeane said:
Unless it is completely sourced and fabricated in the US you are getting a similar product at similar price points from what I can tell.

I think its best to find your budget and the size you want and go about eliminating options that way.

For instance the SS Brewtech and BruGear 14g conicals appear to come from the same chinese factory. They are the same price at $495 but the Brugear is fully welded has a bigger/easier to work with lid opening, comes with a butterfly valve and TC transfer fitting. The downside to Brugear is it seems like they are very difficult to work with at times.
Click to expand...

The only American made conicals are the ones toledo metal spinning makes for spike brewing and blichmann.

So far the most effective temp control I have used is a $10 discharge hose wrapped around the outside of the conical and insulation around that... An st1000 can be used to turn on a pump or a heating strip and your looking at about $50 for everything. The advantage over the coils inside the beer is its easier to keep clean and sanitized but it doesnt look very appealing.

I'm in the market for one more conical eventually... just havent figured out which one yet myself but leaning toward another stout model.
 
I'm close to purchasing a 15 gallon non-jacketed conical fermenter from Brewers Hardware. Checked out quite a few and really like the one piece vessel with nothing but tri-clamps for adding or removing anything. Seems like less chance for CO2 to bleed off than those with the separate lid.
 
I've got Brewer's Hardware 14g and I love it! About to buy another BTW they hold pressure very well for co2 transfer
 
"Best" is a strange term. If money is no object then I'd go for the jacketed Glaciers without a doubt.

Besides that, I'd just go to the cheapest fully welded one. I know there are so many that love the SS Brewtech ones but I personally can't abide the weldless fitting on a conical.
 
iijakii said:
"Best" is a strange term. If money is no object then I'd go for the jacketed Glaciers without a doubt.

Besides that, I'd just go to the cheapest fully welded one. I know there are so many that love the SS Brewtech ones but I personally can't abide the weldless fitting on a conical.
Click to expand...


Agree. I own 2 of SSBTs and I do wish I would have gone with the bru gears simply for their TC fittings. Everything else in my brewing setup is TC.

With that said, I have the FTSS setup too which introduces even more weldless fittings. So...I bought the carbide hole saw from SSBT and relocated my coils to the side of the fermenter. I figured it nets out with the total number of weldless fittings.
 
So those bru gear conicals have a thru the lid cooling add on. Says double sided triclover fittings. So how does the inside fitting connect? Is there a clamp on the inside for each end of the coil? Are triclover clamps considered "sanitary" ? Why would you want that inside your tank? Maybe that's not how it connects. They don't have a photo of that part.
Anybody know?
 
TrickyDick said:
So those bru gear conicals have a thru the lid cooling add on. Says double sided triclover fittings. So how does the inside fitting connect? Is there a clamp on the inside for each end of the coil? Are triclover clamps considered "sanitary" ? Why would you want that inside your tank? Maybe that's not how it connects. They don't have a photo of that part.
Anybody know?
Click to expand...

Not sure about the setup but if the TC was inside the lid it would not be sanitary.
 
I have not seen a truly sanitary internal cooling coil solution yet... with all the hassle I dont know why people go that route.. I bought 100ft of stainless coil to do it myself but after seeing how effective a jacket wrapped around the outside is It just isnt worth the hassle for no gain that I can see..

I really like those jacketed brewers hardware ones.... too steep (and big) for me though at the moment.. We may see the price drop now that there are a couple sellers selling them on aliexpress from china too...
 
augiedoggy said:
The only American made conicals are the ones toledo metal spinning makes for spike brewing and blichmann.
Click to expand...

Is this true? Damn, my Morebeer conical sure doesn't look or feel Chinese. OP, consider this my vote for a Morebeer. It's built like a brick s##thouse.
 
Jaybird said:
You can always tell Chinese. They are polished to a mirror finish like no other. We cant afford to do that in the US! LOL


Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

Most of the time I would agree with you but ss brewing and Bru gear are both made by the same people in china. They are not polished. so are my bayou classic kettles which are not polished(very well anyway). and my Chinese American home brewer conical which works great but is unpolished and has some sharp edges as well.
 
smcinco said:
Is this true? Damn, my Morebeer conical sure doesn't look or feel Chinese. OP, consider this my vote for a Morebeer. It's built like a brick s##thouse.
Click to expand...

I really thought I typed that they are the only American conicals I know of... honestly there might be more. I dont know anything about the morebeer ones. Except that they ship from California as most of the chinese ones do once they are removed from their bulk shipment containers. this doesnt mean they are...but mst retailers advertise if they are made in the usa.
On the other hand they do claim to "control the manufacturing" in their own shop which means they probably have a good working relationship with whomever does it so the quality is probably very good. looks like many small breweries have their product... But that doesnt mean they werent given away as promos either..
 
augiedoggy said:
Most of the time I would agree with you but ss brewing and Bru gear are both made by the same people in china. They are not polished. so are my bayou classic kettles which are not polished(very well anyway). and my Chinese American home brewer conical which works great but is unpolished and has some sharp edges as well.
Click to expand...

The welds on your Ss BrewTech Chronical are not polished?


Cheers
Jay
 
I believe that MoreBeer is US Made. Not 100% about if that means that the SS is US. sourced. However, the important thing to consider is where is it welded and by who. If the work is done in the US by people who know what they are doing (More beer and Spike seem to have great skill here) I would trust it.

Metalurgically, SS from China isnt all that different than US or Norwegian SS. This is coming from someone I know who works for an importer and fabricator of SS here in CT.
 
Bowtiebrewery said:
I believe that MoreBeer is US Made. Not 100% about if that means that the SS is US. sourced. However, the important thing to consider is where is it welded and by who. If the work is done in the US by people who know what they are doing (More beer and Spike seem to have great skill here) I would trust it.

Metalurgically, SS from China isnt all that different than US or Norwegian SS. This is coming from someone I know who works for an importer and fabricator of SS here in CT.
Click to expand...

The Toledo made ones that spike sells used to be sold by "American home Brewer" on eBay before he started selling Chinese clones for a while.. So I don't think spike makes them at all but orders them from Toledo metal spinning.. They do appear to be some of the better made products cosmetically though.
 
Jaybird said:
I am not a fan of the Pressure valve in the lid but other than that little thing, I think they are the best out there for the price.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

The "pressure relief valve" in the lids is an abomination ruining an otherwise near perfect fermenter. The "Pro" series SSBrewTech fermenters really hit the nail on the head, IMHO.

If we're talking about "best", I'd go further and argue that the standard SSBrewTech fermenters having NPT threaded outs and ball valves, prevents them from being perfect as they introduce far too much infection risk. -The Pro series addresses this.

The SSBrewTech lids also can't deal with much pressure so "best"/"perfect" might involve an enhanced lid clamp design, but honestly that's one of the things that keeps the price down on these so I'm more than happy with it as-is.

A welded thermowell is next thing I'd like to see in the SSBrewTech fermenters for them to hit "best"/"perfect".


The PRV valve design and hole placement is an abomination, though- it's just a stainless bolt with a silicone gasket on it and a spring to try and hold pressure- it doesn't really do that job at all, the spring can pop into the hole- it won't seal at all if it's not perfectly centered AND the worst part: the hole is put into the lowspot in the lid- if you get any blowoff it will settle down into the low spot in the lid and drip back into the fermenter via the PRV hole -a terrible terrible design flaw. Unacceptable. They should honestly be replacing people's lids upon demand or offering something to plug those PRV holes at a minimum to anyone who bought one and got that design. I absolutely HATE it and considered returning it, but I'm afraid they'd charge me for shipping to send it back...





Adam
 
iijakii said:
"Best" is a strange term. If money is no object then I'd go for the jacketed Glaciers without a doubt.

Besides that, I'd just go to the cheapest fully welded one. I know there are so many that love the SS Brewtech ones but I personally can't abide the weldless fitting on a conical.
Click to expand...

Looks like when I checked the glacier site, jacketed only for 1bbl and larger sized conicals.
 
JB_Brewing2 said:
You were right. There's a 15 gallon jacketed listed here:

http://www.glaciertanks.com/Conical_Fermenter_w_Jckt-15_Gallon_100L_Conical_Fermenter_Jacketed.html

It is pricey, really nice, but pricey.
Click to expand...

If it helps the actual brand on those conicals is "New Tek" according to all the sellers on aliexpress... (The same guys that make the ones brewers hardware sells too)
Heres a 25 gallon version one for $2500 with shipping costs...(notice they even used Glaciers photo) I wonder if its really 25 gallons or if its the 31 gallon model glacier sells...
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/25-G...chweb1451318400_6148,searchweb1451318411_6452
their bigger models are found on Alibaba from the manufacturers..

The jacket adds almost twice the cost to them from what I see
 
I've been very pleased with my 1/2 barrel fermenter from SS Brewtech. Very easy to clean and maintain. Simply put, it just works.
 
ryanryates said:
I've been very pleased with my 1/2 barrel fermenter from SS Brewtech. Very easy to clean and maintain. Simply put, it just works.
Click to expand...

Honestly I feel the same way about my stout conical... 12.5 gallons very heavy gauge polished stainless and super clean welds completely sanitary with no threads or weldless fittings.... Completely unlike the pictures I saw in a thread here.. glad I took a chance and bought one on thier ebay store http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-5G-Conic...277521?hash=item4af7669e91:g:YhEAAOSwcBhWWI3m
(well the ex girlfriend did technically ;) )

The other 12.5 gallon conical I bought from AHB works well to and I cant complain for the $300 with shipping I paid for it... it even came with an extra seal and a true sanitary butterfly dump valve. it was however not as finely polished around the edges both literally and figuratively...

The no name stout clone I bought used on craigslist which I assume is like the cheaper no name ones on ebay are not as nice but I assume (hopefully the welds are better now since Mine is supposedly like 6 years old)
in any case I cant recommend it based on what I have... it works but there are actual seems where they welded off the shelf tc fittings to the cone and such... not pretty inside at all. the seals were also very chincy but the PO replaced them with stout brand ones and included the originals with the sale..

The one thing I didnt care for about the SS brewtech ones I ordered was it took weeks for them to arrive. One came after about 2 weeks and the other took almost a month because the shipping container got held up by customs coming over from china... They needed more US stock at the time.. I had hoped that was in the past be after looking at the insulated mash tun threads it seems waiting is still common depending on when one places the order. maybe they just cant keep up with the demand though? As I always mentioned though their customer service was top notch. They even sent pics of the container as they finally were granted access to it.
One thing SS doesnt have that stout does though... is a phone number to speak with them. which is why I had to order them for a friend and relay all communication when he had an issue with the seals.
 
Dang good price on the eBay store there! What is the maximum diameter probably where the side rails are?
I've been farting around with my plastic conicals for far too long. Finally with an end in site I hope, but have already spent enough to buy stainless... At this point, if my current plan doesn't fix my dilemma, I'm gong to swap them out for stainless over the next year.

The SS brewtech brewmaster edition looks plug and play with temp control built in, and sanitary fittings. Could almost buy 3 for what the jacketed glacier goes for, and if shipping isn't included, then for certain!



TD.
 
TrickyDick said:
Dang good price on the eBay store there! What is the maximum diameter probably where the side rails are?
I've been farting around with my plastic conicals for far too long. Finally with an end in site I hope, but have already spent enough to buy stainless... At this point, if my current plan doesn't fix my dilemma, I'm gong to swap them out for stainless over the next year.

The SS brewtech brewmaster edition looks plug and play with temp control built in, and sanitary fittings. Could almost buy 3 for what the jacketed glacier goes for, and if shipping isn't included, then for certain!



TD.
Click to expand...
yes the max diameter is where the side rails are.
 
TrickyDick said:
Can you measure it? These would be good replacement for my plastic ones maybe. Could drill the flat lid and reuse immersion glycol coils too. Need to be less than 19" wide though or I'll have to come up with another plan.
Click to expand...

I can in the morning... I'm sure it's less than that... It's about 16" at the widest point but I'll double check tomorrow.

You could do that with the lid although you may want to consider the cooling jacket or discharge hose wrapped around the outside... It works very well and no cleanup.
 
augiedoggy said:
I can in the morning... I'm sure it's less than that... It's about 16" at the widest point but I'll double check tomorrow.

You could do that with the lid although you may want to consider the cooling jacket or discharge hose wrapped around the outside... It works very well and no cleanup.
Click to expand...

Cooling jackets can't handle much pressure from what I understand, and the Glycol pump I use I think would exceed, at any rate.. I'm already committed to revising the lids on my plastic tanks which take care of my issues with using them. But... If not....
 

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