What type of FVs to buy?

[DerbyshireNick]

I am in the FV without tap, bottling bucket with tap camp.

I used to have taps on my FVs and they have their advantages but... they are a great place for nasties to hide and from personal experience I KNOW they hide there and ruin batches.

I like the above with an autosyphon for racking but as always its all about what works best for you and your process. FV taps have some advantages yes, but also increase infection risk.

[Padalac]

i ended up throwing away the fermenters with taps on. had 2-3 infections and the plastic tap seemed the likeliest culprit. since chucking those fermenters i've had super-clean beer.

in addition to this, i find the bottling stick works better with a siphon than with a tap. the plastic tap kept getting air bubbles in that blocked the flow.

[Normski]

If your little bottler tap is the type that can be rotated so the tap can be up the way, even though it is fully secured.
There is an inner and an outer part to the tap housing. Over time this will discolor and possibly harbor nasties. I have found this inner area impossible to clean. And made me question the risk of infection. I stopped using taps on FV’s.
Norm

[DethApostle]

I have 3 'wine' FV's that I use for beer mostly because they have a smaller footprint and strong handles. All 3 have taps fitted but are removed, scrubbed and sanitised (scrubbed again and soaked in starsan)with the rest of the kit before the next use. I'm sure the washers will give up at some point but until then it works for me and I've never had infection from the taps yet...
Of course, now I've jinxed it...

I like the idea of the hose before the little bottler though!
DA

[Rick_UK]

I always remove and clean the tap and back nut thoroughly after use then liberally spray with Starsan before re-attaching. Never had an infection this way. I was anxious about sanitisation when I first fitted a tap mind!

[Capped]

I always remove and clean the tap and back nut thoroughly after use ....

Me too - not hard, is it? Removing/sterilising/refitting the tap is but a trifling inconvenience compared to not having a tap at all.

[rpt]

I love the tap on my FV - it makes it so easy to take hydrometer samples. I also give the tap a good clean after use but I do sometimes worry about what might be lurking inside. I have wondered about fitting a stainless steel tap to my plastic FV but not sure how easy that would be.