Conical Fermenter question

[slc10]

After several Wine and Beer brews i have decided that flat bottom fermenters are for the birds. i want a conical but it is really confusing. here are some of my questions

1. what are the pro's con's of plastic vs stainless (besides the obvious one....cost)
2. there are some less expensive stainless version on ebay as compared to some of the home brew websites. what makes them cheaper.
3.whats the difference between these two that are regularly on ebay


A:
http://cgi.ebay.com/A-BETTER-STAINL...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9f074f66

B:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CONICAL-FERMENT...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item439dc2fb5e

Thanks in advance for any insight

 

[nebelk]

A: has tri-clamps. 304SS
B: no triclamps, has thermometer. free shipping to cont. 48. Steel grade not spec'd but could ask seller.

other then that they look pretty similar, i'd go with A, depending on shipping, for the tri-clamps

 

[sjlammer]

I have B. I like it. Either one is fine, although the tri-clamps may be a pain in the a$$

 

[klyph]

Do they have a cheap one like those sized for 10 gallon batches? I can't find one.

 

[Cliff897]

Plastic is plastic. Nothing you ever do will make it so you are not getting plastic in the beer. Howe much is another matter. A lot first time or two then less. But still plastic has a very high vapor pressure and will always and forever be subliming polymer material off in to whatever is around it.

However the same questions about vapor pressure inhere with all materials even SST and Diamond It's just dramatically less with steel than plastic and you do need iron in your diet, you don't have a biological requirement for polymers. But give it a few million years and I bet eventually humans will need plastics in their diets from some weird adaption.

Stainless won't scratch and harbor bacteria like plastic will

Stainless is more expensive.

That 199 fermenter looks like a good buy but man it's only 7 gallons.
you'll need two just to keep up. But at $199.00 a pop, you can afford three.

As to the cone:
Read "Brew Like a Monk."
There is some discussion on fermenter design around page 190 on up into the 200s. Some people actually liked box shaped fermenters.
There's all sorts of issues to consider which factor into ester production and other things. Even the width to height ratio is an issue in fermenter design.

You can do things like ramp the temp up by a degree or two each day to take advantage of the yeasts ester production or hold it at certain temps but you gotta get a water jacket to have much of a handle on temp.

 

[jawsbc]

Tri clamps are not a PITA - they are a piece of cake. It takes about 10 seconds to remove the clamp.

...As opposed to having to have a wrench and teflon tape handy every time you want to properly clean your fermenter, I'll go for tri-clamps every day.

Not to mention that you don't have to worry about your beer going bad and all that hard work down the drain, literally.

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Spend an extra $100 and get a 15 gallon plastic conical.

 

[springer]

pretty long thread with a conical that looks just like the better quality one you posted check it out

 

[craigbrew]

check out this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-chilled-conical-keg-fermenter-123770/

Craigbrew

sorry wrong thread post.