I'm suffering from some serious paralysis by analysis as I'm contemplating taking the plunge on a conical fermenter. I've had some temperature control issues in the past (all old tech. Plastic fermenters with swamp coolers, blankets, etc.). I've been crunching the numbers and reading reviews and I'm pretty sure I want to go with a jacketed conical. Was eye-balling the BrewBuilt X3 pretty hard but I keep waiting for Spike to drop some info on their new jacketed conical. Anybody have any idea when they might be coming out? I've heard lots of good about Spike's other products, so I'm assuming it will be good. But I'm not getting any younger. Anyways, if anyone has any insight, I'm all ears.
Wait for Black Friday sales.
The X3s appear much improved over the X2's, which I have 2 of. I do not like the band clamps. The gaskets are fussy to get in the groove and I have had difficulties sealing. It appears that the metal bands were perhaps a little to long. I shaved off a small amount on both clamps and had a much easier time sealing the two recently. The new angle on the legs of the X3 should be an improvement. I have the smallest size X2s and they are still tippy with four legs. The coils (I bought Spike coils) are probably easiest cleaned by filling and soaking the whole fermenter first or putting the coils in a bucket to soak. Not too difficult but they are always going to be a worry about sanitation. The inner parts of the loops are harder to access. Just remember the coils are generally an added cost when comparing vs jacketed.
As far as what
@Bobby_M said about a fridge, I agree mostly if it is one conical and the fridge is right-sized and you are never going to get another one. I have the two X2 seven gallons and I added a third line for carboys onto an Icemaster 100. The lines, pumps (not always a separate purchase), and fittings add up. I am still getting condensation even though the conical has a neoprene jacket and the lines are insulated. I can improve the line insulation some to reduce that I am hoping but I doubt it's completely preventable without major fussing. It's manageable. Whether one conical or multiple, one place I do see a pro for the chiller is response time. The other night I brewed an 11 gallon batch and split it. I have a CFC and what I call a "perpetual chiller". Basically a water tank that acts as heat dump to save water. I used that first and chilled to about 110F. I then switched to tap water. I was thinking I would capture the outflow to clean some five gallon buckets and a 4 gallon pot I needed to clean so I collected about almost 20 gallons. (I should have done this first as the water was not really warm.) After that, I had no other places to reuse the water and ran about another 5-10 gallons perhaps. When I hit 90F, I decided I would transfer and cool with the glycol chiller so I could pitch at 68F. I did that. Once connected to the chiller, the temperature dropped visibly. I was doing other things and didn't start the record on my temperature controllers (missed the data) but I am certain the temp dropped to 68 from 88 in less than 2 hours, could have been faster even. That's with the 2 seven gallon conicals as well as a carboy lagering currently. I've put lagers in to my mini fridge ferm chambers to cool down from tap water chilling, mid 70s or even lower and they have always taken overnight, finished brewing at night, pitched next morning or later. If response speed is important to you, a glycol chiller can be more like a sports car and acceleration. This is dependent of course on the size of the fermenters, chiller, and fridges. I think it will hold however for the sizes of fermenters you can stick into most fridges.
Chest freezers are hard on the back for use as a ferm chamber. Kegs go in easier as they have good handles and you can slide them in using the wall. Kegs are a little easier to grab too, grab a handle and the bottom for instance. But other fermenters can be difficult to manuever. I made my chest freezer into a kegerator and that kegerator has a bar top and tower on it. Options for future use even if not as a ferm chamber. What size is your chest freezer?
I thought about adding my glycol chiller and unis to my bar area but wasn't so sure about the fan noise on the chiller. I didn't do it because my brewing area is in the next room (garage) and it would require either long hoses to the unis or rolling them into the bar room next door. I have a floor drain in the garage, non-working, never will, and the floor is sloped. This makes moving the unis problematic. When one wheel is not flat that wheel likes to spin and change height. Keeping them properly level in the garage is very annoying so I try not to move them far at all. Probably a locking hex nut on the wheel shaft could fix that. Here's a pic.
