Anybody use these things?. Is it really worth upgrading from a simple 5 gallon bucket?
I gather they are a one stop for fermentation, I usually transfer to an airlocked for secondary, Is a conical fermenter life changing or best left????
Thanks
Conical Fermenters
I never secondary ferment, but I leave the brew in the FV for 10 days before transferring to a cornie.
For FVs I use a Nordic optical Thermo box for 40+litre batches.
I use poly fermenting buckets for 20litr batches
and I use a conical (cheap American import)
My favourite by far is the thermo box but (caveat) to use it you need to be able to cool it otherwise it self-heats.
The buckets are second favourite because they are cheap and I bought mine in 1988 and they are still going strong.
The conical well...its shiny
It looks the biz 
and it does the job...but for the price I could have bought 20 fermenting buckets and probably 7 or 8 thermo boxes. Fact is though, I only need 2 or three FVs.
I use the conical for all my light ales because it allows me the opportunity to remove trub from the ferment (and I am prone to trub) I credit the conical with allowing me to produce very light ales with no haze.. despite my propensity to trub.
In summary...a conical has its uses but for value for money I would choose the thermo box and its even shinier than the conical. Second I would choose the bucket.
Others may disagree.
For FVs I use a Nordic optical Thermo box for 40+litre batches.
I use poly fermenting buckets for 20litr batches
and I use a conical (cheap American import)
My favourite by far is the thermo box but (caveat) to use it you need to be able to cool it otherwise it self-heats.
The buckets are second favourite because they are cheap and I bought mine in 1988 and they are still going strong.
The conical well...its shiny
It looks the biz and it does the job...but for the price I could have bought 20 fermenting buckets and probably 7 or 8 thermo boxes. Fact is though, I only need 2 or three FVs.I use the conical for all my light ales because it allows me the opportunity to remove trub from the ferment (and I am prone to trub) I credit the conical with allowing me to produce very light ales with no haze.. despite my propensity to trub.
In summary...a conical has its uses but for value for money I would choose the thermo box and its even shinier than the conical. Second I would choose the bucket.
Others may disagree.
-
Whorst