Plastic or cheap stainless 100L conicals?

[Kev888]

I need a few more fermenters; partly for more concurrent batches and partly because I want to leave the beer in longer before kegging. I'd like conical ones for dumping the yeast etc but don't have the budget for a few of the better/costlier ones, so some compromise is inevitable. Therin lies the ongoing dilemma..

So my options appear to be to build some plastic ones which would be around £300 each, or get ready-made budget stainless ones like this which would be around £550. Or maybe neither of these are worth it for what they are; in which case I'd just convert more 100L Stock-pots - and the compromise would instead be in having to rack (probably by pump).

If these were the options, which would you choose and why?

Cheers
Kev

[Deller12]

Hi Kev,

What size batches are you brewing ?

If I had the money I would have more stainless conicals They are so easy to clean its a piece of cake.

But if it came down to it I would rather use 100 ltr stock pot to ferment.

Have you thought of fermenting in 50ltr sankey beer kegs? Could be a option ?

I see some guy had converted a sankey keg into a conical fermenter,now that's got me thinking

Lee

[barneey]

Did the Willis ones not resurface again?

[Aleman]

They have, Just give Tim a ring . . . I'm waiting on the required 2 grand for mine

Oh and Plastic conicals Kev

[Belter]

I was speaking to Vossy on the other forum and he says they're testing more into BPA and plastics effect in causing cancer. If they find it to be the case then plastic Conicals and fermenters in general will be pretty worthless. Or... Pretty cheap if you don't care about such things.

[bigrichlock]

The Willis ones are still on there way from china! hoping they will be hear soon!

rich

[chris2012]

The plastic 100l can be obtained for around £150 shipped.
http://www.tanks-direct.co.uk/cone_tank ... nical_tank

[Kev888]

Thanks chaps - this has already been 'very' interesting

Lee - I'm probably going to be doing up to 80L batches, so a 100L conical would be ideal; If I use stock pots though I'll probably drop to 60L as I've had a few overflows at 80L.
Ha, another keg conversion project then?

Barneey - Yes it took three months but in mid December I had a reply from Willis saying they had some more on the way - should be here by now if their predictions were right. I quickly asked if there were any photos or drawings - I'll let you know if I get a response.

Aleman - Ouch; I suddenly feel like a skinflint! Thanks for the verdict, too.
BTW as you like them big, I noticed a few of these 500L jobs at moody systems - no idea how much though


Belter - holy cr@p! If there turns out to be a causal link we're all doomed - half my food shopping is in plastic these days!

Rich - ah, perhaps their estimate was a tad optimistic then - maybe I'll get photos or something when they arrive.

Chris - yes thats where my last one came from, though IIRC there was a supplier somewhere (I can't find my bookmark) a tad cheaper but not by much. For a fair comparison though, my price was for the finished article as I'd make it, with the lid, stainless valves, racking arm and stand and so on.

Thanks All!

Cheers
Kev

[barneey]

Kev, I would just bite the bullet and save up for a decent conical, you wont be happy with anything else, the "what if`s" will play on your mind.

[darkonnis]

Depends, how much do you plan to make? Thats ultimately the question you need to think about and answer first.

The main advantage of the conicals is being able to get the yeast out. Do you use such a variety of yeast so often as to need more than one or perhaps two and a few pans to hold the extra brews? If using lots of different yeast is something you wanted to do, would several smaller conicals be better than fewer larger ones? (stout tanks are cheap if you can find a courier)

It then depends on your budget, I'd be happy enough with a plastic one most likely if i didnt want to import, though I very nearly imported a Blichmann as the price difference is pretty insane but I don't think it'd be big enough for your needs. The Budget steel one barneey got is a safe bet too. I recently looked at some cornies I have and some beer kegs outside a pub, the welding wasn't up to much all things considered (im sure it was fit for purpose) but considering the standard people look for they wouldn't have passed.

I know I haven't really helped there, but it depends what EXACTLY you want from it. If it needs to be the mutts nutts before you'll actually be happy and feel its money well spent, then I say do it and be happy If its a convenience thing and you really do need a few conicals see what the budget allows, if your budget and happiness are both met, happy days, I guess its a case of juggling :/

As a final option, have you considered making or having some made? I enquired at a few fabrication places, the biggest thing being that they don't have that grade metal in usually as its expensive, though if you ordered the steel yourself and the rods to go with it. May work out cheaper, just depends how much they'd charge for sanitary welding, for a few it might work out.

Cooky

[Kev888]

Kev, I would just bite the bullet and save up for a decent conical, you wont be happy with anything else, the "what if`s" will play on your mind.

Well it would be very nice and could still happen in theory, eventually, so possibly thats a reason for not spending more money than necessary in the short term. But whilst the quality ones like yours would be ideal, the cost means I wouldn't have enough of them, certainly not soon and perhaps not ever.

With my plans towards more concurrent batches, that would be a bigger bind than having to rack. So I had begun to believe that at least maybe I was finally narrowing down the options... Maybe I could go half and half though..

Cheers
Kev

[Kev888]

I know I haven't really helped there, but it depends what EXACTLY you want from it. If it needs to be the mutts nutts before you'll actually be happy and feel its money well spent, then I say do it and be happy If its a convenience thing and you really do need a few conicals see what the budget allows, if your budget and happiness are both met, happy days, I guess its a case of juggling :/

As a final option, have you considered making or having some made? I enquired at a few fabrication places, the biggest thing being that they don't have that grade metal in usually as its expensive, though if you ordered the steel yourself and the rods to go with it. May work out cheaper, just depends how much they'd charge for sanitary welding, for a few it might work out.
Cooky

Yes, exactly what I want is precisely what I can't afford, or it would be a no-brainer..

I have looked at getting them made; the feedback seems to be that people here can't compete with the cheap imports, and in some cases where its not a brewing/catering type of fabricator I'd always be in doubt about the finished quality until it was too late. I have considered making some; my stainless welding isn't really up to it (yet) though I could probably make a copper one and swap to iostar and so on - but I suspect that by the time I've finished making one (with its inevitable DIY compromises) I may as well have got a cheap stainless one or at least started with an existing cone tank. Though maybe I'll look again at the home made ones..

Cheers
Kev

[Blackaddler]

I'm probably going to be doing up to 80L batches, so a 100L conical would be ideal; If I use stock pots though I'll probably drop to 60L as I've had a few overflows at 80L.

I had the same problem a couple of times with the 100L pot when I tried to brew around 80L.

However, I did find that the "brew strong and dilute" method worked quite well, although it does involve a little extra faffing about.

I brewed 65L at 1.058 and diluted to ~1.044 with ~22L of treated water, giving 87L.

After 24-48hrs, ~4 hrs after collapse of the krausen, I boiled the water for 15mins to deaerate, and then cooled it quickly to wort temperature and added it to the FV.

[Kev888]

Ah, most interesting, many thanks. I'd heard someone talking of this in the commercial world (possibly charles bamforth) but wasn't sure how well it would wok at a smaller scale - could be worth a go. At the recomendation of another member I also got some of that florist's tape stuff to seal the lid with and make a blow-off tube viable. It does work if I get the tape on properly but I hit practical problems - in my current fermenting cupboard space is too limited to seal around the lid easily/reliably, and the full stock pot is too heavy to fill and seal before moving into place.

Hmm, I can get five stock pots for the price of one cheap stainless conical and I don't like that five times as much.. Maybe the effort of racking is worth it for that kind of saving, and I could potentially add a second/bottom drain and tilt them slightly to make cleaning in place almost as easy as the conical. The reduced price would also help me save up for an expensive conical should I wish. Though I may look at trying to make the lid fit better/easier for CIP as I'm getting through a shed load of cleaning powder by filling them.

I think the options (at least the immeediate/short-term ones) are narrowing at last then: either stock pots or plastic conicals (possibly made a bit more cheaply than I'd intended). Pending Belter's potential health-risk anyway..

Finally! I've been dithering around this issue for ages!

Cheers
Kev

[darkonnis]

Yes, exactly what I want is precisely what I can't afford, or it would be a no-brainer..

I was getting at the fact that you could perhaps afford enough conicals to suit your needs (not necessarily fancy ones, just plastic) instead of having to settle for stock pots.

Potentially a combination of the two would work well, from what you've said, you'd be looking at 3 - 5 new vessels? Could always have 2-3 plastic conicals and make up the shortfall with 2-3 stockpots. Then it'd just be a case of making sure you always have an empty conical ready to receive a brew using new yeast. Thats the way I'd be looking at going if it where me.