Spiedel or SS Brewbucket?

[edd101]

I'm looking to upgrade my fermenter (plastic bucket from northern brewer). It works but the lid is a PITA to get off, and no matter what I do, it always leaks a small amount of crud from the spigot. From my research it seems the Spiedel 30 liter or SS Brewbucket are good options. Thoughts between these two or another suggestion?

https://www.morebeer.com/products/speidel-plastic-fermenter-30l-79-gal.html
https://www.morebeer.com/products/ss-brewtech-brewmaster-brew-bucket-7-gal-fermenter.html

Thanks!

 

[Brooothru]

I've got both and almost never use the (2) 30L Speidels anymore. Stainless steel really is much better than any other alternative as long as you're willing to spend the $$$. Obviously I think it's worth it. Do you need it? No.

The biggest caveat would be, if you DO really like the difference you'll want to have more stainless. That'll lead to Chronicals and eventually Unitanks. Do you need them? No. Will you want them? Oh, YEAH!!!

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Might want to check out our Spike Flex....

https://spikebrewing.com/pages/flex

 

[MaxStout]

The 8 gallon Ferm Tank looks interesting. About the same price as the 7 gal Brew Bucket, but with a few more features. Don't know much about this one, but noticed the AHA has been promoting it.

BTW, I have two 7-gallon Brew Buckets. I'm very happy with them. Only downside is you can't see inside. But you can't beat stainless.

 

[renstyle]

Split the difference between the two and consider an Anvil 7.5 Gallon Bucket Fermenter for $130.00

https://www.anvilbrewing.com/-p/anv-fv-7.5gal.htm
The bottom is slightly concave, tho not as much as the SS brewbucket.

Agreed, you can't beat stainless.

 

[renstyle]

dupe

 

[Konadog]

I have a SS Brewbucket and have been looking for a second one and found that Delta Brewing makes one that has a bottom dump and holds 8 gallons.

The FermTank - 8 Gallon Fermenter

Looks like the same foot print as the Brewbucket. I would go with SS and not plastic.

Edit: Looks like @MaxStout beat me to it!

 

[jtratcliff]

I just ran across this one for $80 ... haven't researched it yet, though... 7 Gallon Stainless Steel Bucket Fermenter, by Mangrove Jack Beer Wine Spirits | eBay



Edit to add:

Looks like @bruce_the_loon has one of the MJ bucket fermenters ...

 

[Beenym88]

I personally would go with which ever is cheaper unless your looking to upgrade to the point where you can dump trub but the. You have to go beyond these two options. I have two plastics a anvil stainless bucket and and a ss brewtech unitank I don’t see a difference in end product with any of them.

 

[CrookedElbowBrewing]

I’ve been homebrewing 6+ years and started with the SS Brewtech 7G brew bucket. Simple design. SS. I always do a gravity flow closed loop transfer after I cold crash and it works well. The clamped lid design will not hold more than a few psi. Basically it’s not designed to hold pressure but my buddy does push CO2 into his 14G brewbucket to transfer and it works. The outlet port/ball valve are not very robust and if you’re not careful in seating the gasket(keg lube helps)you can get leaks. They’ll tell you to only rotate the racking arm clockwise. They added some advice to only use one gasket on the outside of the bucket to avoid leak issues.
I switched over to using a 30L Speidel about 3 years ago after a stout fermentation with Imperial Organics Darkness blew out the top because I may have filled it too much. It was user error but I did want some extra headspace which is what the Speidel gives me at a pretty good price point. I added a racking arm/thermowell port from norcalbrewingsolutions and attached a 3/4 TC quick clean ball valve, which is overkill but robust and easy to take apart and sanitize.
I’ve made good beers with both fermenters. I recently added a domed lid to the brew bucket to give me some extra headspace and I’ll be using both when I brew 10+G batches. I did add some extra corny kegs to try some fermentation under pressure at the tail end of Fermentation. I did a ton of research but haven’t attempted it yet. The 8G FermTank looks interesting. I never worry about collecting or washing yeast since I DH/DDH in the fermenter so a dump port hasn’t been a priority. You can harvest yeast without one but the dump port makes it easy. Just remember when you dump you’ll need to figure out how to flush out the O2 that you will invariably introduce into that FermTank. Also that dump port diameter looks skinny! Not sure if that would plug up easily or not. Lots of companies making conicals with 2” dump valves these days.
The Spike Flex really got my attention. It’s pricey and I wish it had a little more volume. I’m adding a floating stainless filter to a used corny keg I bought for $50. Some of the Brülosophy guys do keg fermentations and have good success but again you’re limiting yourself to 4.5G in the keg, but it’ll let me brew 15G batches and between the 3 fermenters I can try different yeast/hop combos.