Stainless Conical Budget of £500 to £800 Best One

[barneey]

The only Italian tanks I could find were http://www.fratellimarchisio.com/en/pro_articolo.asp

Loads of their website.

EDIT Someone also posted a load of EU websites viewtopic.php?f=15&t=39883&p=421435&hil ... ly#p421435 havent checked out any of the sites myself yet??????

[Kev888]

decisions decisions, wont go down the plastic route now tho as I now if I did I would end up going SS after a while anyway.

I can see where you're coming from here; I made a plastic conical and was surprised at how costly it became - not quite the cheap and cheerful entry to pointyness that I'd imagined. The 130L tank was a painfull £150 and I thought that would be mostly it, but IIRC the stainless fittings etc (including some slight changes of mind) added about the same again - and that was without legs and just with hose barbs rather than fancy couplings and so on.

Okay so it was still quite a bit cheaper but it was a lot of work and not as good as the professionally made ones when finished. But far more importantly, after all that I keep finding new places where the plastic surface inside is less than perfect and can't be cleaned stain-free I now wish I'd have gone cheaper with the fittings or else invested in a better quality tank - people on here have found plastic ones that look a lot better than mine but I understand that they're 'very' expensive these days, to the point where stainless (though still more expensive) may arguably be better value.

So after this experience I think I'll be looking at stainless conicals next myself, too. Or if (as I suspect) thats too £much to bear then probably I'll try the stainless part of it (with Nordic optical pots) rather than the conical part; the conical aspect is definately nice and I would want it again, but not if I have to compromise with a tank thats worrying from a cleaning/sanitising point of view.

Cheers
Kev

[barneey]

Well I even had a look at the one you (Kev) had previoulsy posted on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... TM:US:1123 a little too small for my future needs but thought if you could ship two in at the same time it might save money and beable to buy a couple of them instead, but alas just had a reply back from the seller saying he cant due to weight restrictions, ship more than one at a time.

There also appears also to be alot of conflicting advice on the use of either sanitary welds or mechanical fittings dependant on whos concical you are looking at, one site saying theirs is better etc.

If beermonsta can give a glowing report on his conical I will probadly go ahead and order one from "homebrewshop" who incidently are just about to put an order into their Italian supplier this week if anyone else is thinking of getting one, they do however have a 100l on in stock.

[DomClarke]

since I bought one last December

Was it really that long ago, doesn't seem it!!

[awalker]

Somewhere Up in the north east, I remember it from a post on here (IIRC) when the cap said it was much cheaper for him as he was over there anyway . . . Can't find the thread now though

Thanks Aleman after some searching I found it!

The only Italian tanks I could find were http://www.fratellimarchisio.com/en/pro_articolo.asp

Loads of their website.

EDIT Someone also posted a load of EU websites viewtopic.php?f=15&t=39883&p=421435&hil ... ly#p421435 havent checked out any of the sites myself yet??????

Thanks Barneey, I should have looked here before searching.

Will have a look into it as I can get it delivered locally (ish) in Italy, then pick it (them) up in the car when I go over there.

[Aleman]

I remember it from a post on here

Thanks Aleman after some searching I found it!

Any chance of the link

Will have a look into it as I can get it delivered locally (ish) in Italy, then pick it (them) up in the car when I go over there.

How much space do you have in your car?

[awalker]

I remember it from a post on here

Thanks Aleman after some searching I found it!

Any chance of the link

Will have a look into it as I can get it delivered locally (ish) in Italy, then pick it (them) up in the car when I go over there.

How much space do you have in your car?

I think it is as barnee found, but have not found the conicals in question as of yet.
http://www.fratellimarchisio.com/en/pro_articolo.asp
It looks like they do an online quote as well


Probably not enough for more than two 10 gallon ones.
I do have a large esate, but the boots normally full on the way over let alone on the way back

[beermonsta]

VERY PEED OFF - this is the 3rd time I have made this reply and my fecking laptop keeps loosing it.
sorry, no descriptions, fed up of writing them 3 times!
just pics....




questions? - just ask

[barneey]

Thanks for the pictures, just a couple of questions if you dont mind:-

1) How easy is it to clean the tap fittings.
2) In the last photo, at the bottom outlet, is that a weld that can be seen, and what is the red ring thing?

Best regards Cheers Clive

[Skiptonian]

Beermonster,

You need to turn off your laptops webcam, it's being overcome by all that the shineyness

Skiptonian

[beermonsta]

I clean the whole thing after fermenting by dumping a wallpaper steamer outlet into the tank and putting the lid on for a 30 mins. This loosens the crud and a simple wipe down with water/scratch free sponge pad to finish. The great advantage is the crud can be taken away via a pipe connected at the bottom outlet. For cleaning the inside of the valves I blast them up close using the outlet of the steam pipe which blasts away and crud and as an added advantage the steam at 100'C should kill anything that may possibly get missed.
I then, to be very sure there is nothing alive inside put the lid on and steam again until the steam tank runs out of water (over an hour). When I measured the outside surface temp everywhere had reaached around 80'C so I'm guessing inside will have been hotter.
Finally just before the next batch a quick rinse with no-rinse sanitiser before racking ensures the conical and it's valves are as sanitised as possible.
Don't forget the tap fittings are mechanically screwed on so can be unscrewed and cleaned seperately, and so can their threads. The taps provided are machined out of solid stainless so can't be taken apart, but I see no reason why you couldn't boil them if you are the paranoid sort!

To answer your second question, yes that is a weld, but it is smooth. It is where they have welded a socket with internal thread for the tap onto the end of the cone. The red thing you can see is a home made silicone washer This is where the tap meets the socket.

Ahh, good morning Skiptonian. See you tomorrow for a brew session, I'll contact you tonight with timings etc. (you know that a conical will be next on your list )

[williseuro]

Hi all
Been reading this thread with great interest!
As previously stated, we now have 65 and 100 litre conicals in stock.
The quality of these tanks is excellent, and our prices include 2 ball valves, a temperature gauge, and a swivelling racking valve.
The vessels are built from the same grade stainless as the commercial fermenters we supply to the big brewers, and indeed the same grade stainless as used on filling machines and carbonators.
It is always easy to find cheaper options over the Internet from Australia and the states etc but you have to take into account not only duty and vat, but also the freight costs and charges from the clearing agents in the uk. These charges can be quite considerable!
We are naturally keen to sell a few tanks to forum members in order to hopefully get some feedback on what we feel is an excellent product.
To this end, we are offering a 10% discount off our retail prices for the month of November to registered forum members,, and we will also offer free delivery.
To take advantage of this offer please give us a call and mention the Jims Beer Kit offer!
Cheers
Tim Willis
Willis European ltd
Www.williseuropean.com

[barneey]

Well after quite a few weeks of searching and emailing different companies across the globe, weighing up the pros and cons, prices etc, I have gone for the "Beermonsta" Italian option and have bought a 75ltr conical (£378 ish) from the boys at "TheBrewShop", seems the best arounder for quality and price.

Just have to wait another month or so for the thing to arrive, at least it will still leave the Mrs another 3 weeks to wrap the thing up for Xmas.

Thanks all for your help, photos etc.

Cheers

[beermonsta]

congrats Barneee! There are one or two more hints and tips I can give you when you get your conical, but wait until you get it first before you ask

Tim, Thanks for the personal input. When I in december spoke to you I was torn if I was going to buy one from you. Only upon visiting the the brew shop (which is local ish to me) and seeing that the price was nearly half of you product I weighed up my options. The italian conicals are imported by the shop, so I didn't have to pay any import duties (in fact they had two in stock so I could physically see it which is a big plus when buying something this expensive). At the time you didn't have any in stock and were waiting for an inport in the new year.
As yours come with a thermometer, that is a bonus although I do plan on adding a thermowell and fitting a PT100 thermometer (for accuracy sake!) to mine. As for the swivelling racking valve I did consider if this would be a loss not having one, but since have found that by dumping the trub the night before racking there is no need for one.
In summary I have no doubt the quality of your conicals are excellent (and I'd glady test one out for you for some feedback here on Jim's ) but the cost was the biggest factor in my final decision. I hope this feedback may be of some value to yourself and I hope I haven't upset you! - I think your product, with its higher spec will fill the market gap between the cheaper italian and the very expensive but excellently engineered Blichman conicals, and I do look forward to hearing some feedback from a member on the forum who (will enevitably) buy one with your generous discount All the best, BM

[Kev888]

it will still leave the Mrs another 3 weeks to wrap the thing up for Xmas.

good stuff!! I can't even decide between nordic pots and conicals for mine, let alone 'which' type of conical; it must be a relief to have made the agonising decision!!

Best of luck with it,
Kev