Got a Conical Fermenter????

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

Getting serious about buying one of these soon, and looking around on here didn't really see a lot of discussion on comparisons.

So, who has one, which one did you buy, why did you choose THAT one......etc.

I want a 14.5gal fermenter, do mostly 10 gallon batches, so need the space.

Leaning towards the brewhemoth, mainly because of the size, anyone have one of these, how do you like it, would you but it again??

Cheers DB's!!

[Kbar]

Love mine. Purchased one of the cheapo's online. 7 Gallon, threaded ports. Choose the samllest one so that it fits in the 5.5 cuft Oster to allow temperature control for fermentation. Drilled lid to allow a stainless bulkhead fitting (O'ring sealed) for a 1/2" blow off line. The other drilling is for the temperature feedback, thermocouple. Sometimes I dump the trub and rest more and the other times just leave the beer on the yeast cake and transfer when complete. Cleaning conicals is very easy due to large opening. I do not miss Carboys.

[Ozwald]

I have a 15g & a 25g Minibrew. They're about all I use any more. I would recommend a stainless coni over these, but for the price they're a completely viable option (I paid less than $650 for both - from memory, I've had them about 4-5 years). The only downside to them is cleaning. Nothing solid touches the inside & you can't be lazy about cleaning them out right away after kegging. I figure for how much I saved vs stainless, a little extra attention to clean them is nothing - and I've recently designed a CIP loop that pretty much takes care of the paying attention part. If you've got the extra money, go stainless & never look back. If the budget is tight, these things are great & work beautifully.

[captain carrot]

I love my Blichmann 14g conical. The weldless fittings take the stress out of cleaning and sanitizing.
At the time I bought it I think they were the only ones available to homebrewers.
It's a quality product I highly recommend. Great customer service too.
Good Luck!

[tlael]

I know a few people who have brewhemoths and I haven't heard any complaints from any of them.
The nice thing about them is that Josh and Dale, the guys behind the name, will work with you on your needs (within reason). If you want additional fittings or the standard fittings in a custom location, they will work with you if you work with them. The hop loop is a cool feature too.
Oh, and the legs provide a perfect height for gravity racking into a keg.

I've already determined that, when I make the leap, I'm going Brewhemoth.

It's a quality fermentor with great looking welds (inside and out).
It's at a phenomenal price for the size.
Free shipping.
Great customer service.

[cousindave]

I also brew 10gallon batches and have 2 of the 7.5 conicals from Stouts. They're great. Seriously glad to be shed of the carboy program. I have an older KitchenAid 'fridge for temp control and have managed to shoehorn both of them inside the thing. It's a tight fit, but I couldn't be happier with the set up and the fermenters. Managed to get both of them shipped to the mid-west for about the cost of one Blichmann. All stainless. Tri-clamp throughout. Great service. Couldn't be more pleased.

[Bokonon]

I know a few people who have brewhemoths and I haven't heard any complaints from any of them.
The nice thing about them is that Josh and Dale, the guys behind the name, will work with you on your needs (within reason). If you want additional fittings or the standard fittings in a custom location, they will work with you if you work with them. The hop loop is a cool feature too.
Oh, and the legs provide a perfect height for gravity racking into a keg.

I've already determined that, when I make the leap, I'm going Brewhemoth.

It's a quality fermentor with great looking welds (inside and out).
It's at a phenomenal price for the size.
Free shipping.
Great customer service.

I'm not exactly happy with the welds on mine, but maybe they have improved since then. It's not the end of the world for me though, I pump boiling water in to sanitize them.

I have the immersion chillers hooked to a homemade glycol chiller and I wish the tubing was slightly bigger. They work well for maintaining the temp but in the summertime in my garage I could ferment lagers but I wouldn't be able to crash them. If I had them better insulated I probably would have better luck, I just have a single layer of reflectix around the cone and cylinder.

I'm planning on building a walkin cooler and I'll add chambers for my fermenters instead of using the immersion chillers.

One thing I had them do is spread the leg bolts out as far as possible which ended up being a little over 11", which was perfect for wrapping the fermwrap heater material around them.

[Ozwald]

I have the immersion chillers hooked to a homemade glycol chiller and I wish the tubing was slightly bigger. They work well for maintaining the temp but in the summertime in my garage I could ferment lagers but I wouldn't be able to crash them. If I had them better insulated I probably would have better luck, I just have a single layer of reflectix around the cone and cylinder.

Out of curiosity, have you played with the flow rate through the chillers? Perhaps you're just moving the liquid too fast. Just a thought.