A superb homebrew beer requires a lot of procedures and labour, including the boil, mash temperatures, chilling, and more. What is however often overlooked is the fermenting process and the effect it has on the outcome of your beer.
Even though many homebrewers start their journey by using plastic buckets and glass carboys they aren’t exactly feature-rich. Not to mention the lost beer, deep lacerations, and broken glass. Therefore, a conical fermenter, can up your homebrewing game and make it a total success.
It is a cone-shaped fermentation vessel with a valve on the bottom of the cone. It makes the fermenting process easier by making it easy for you to dispose of the trub and yeast and sanitize it smoothly and effortlessly. So, you will spend less time cleaning and more time brewing.
Given their importance in the brewing process and user-friendliness, things have come a long way with the advancements of fermenters. Nowadays, you can find different models from different brands. However, these are the top 5 conical fermenters to lay your hands on when looking for the best one.
Grainfather: Our Top Pick
When narrowing down your choices, shop for a premium Grainfather fermenter to make a great bear at home with zero effort and experience. It’s an all-in-one brewing system that allows you to brew all-grain beer, from mash to cooling, in a single, compact stainless-steel unit. It comes with a counterflow chiller that significantly shortens chilling times, an electric heating element to keep a steady temperature, and an electric pump to circulate the wort during the mashing and cooling processes.
In terms of design, the Grainfather comes with a tempered glass top, a black plastic base, a stainless-steel inner basket, and a stainless-steel boiler body. It has a discharge pipe attached to the outside, is 15 inches in diameter and 29 inches tall. It contains more than 40 different parts, including a 1800RPM pump, a heating element, a control box, and various valves, hoses, pipes, clamps, strainers, and filters. A counterflow wort chiller that connects to your sink faucet is also included with the setup.
However, it lacks a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio, a LAN port, and features that prevent you from using an app to control it or programming it with recipes. Still, you can download a complimentary mobile app that features recipes with detailed ingredient lists and mashing, sparging, and fermentation instructions.
The boiler’s side is where the control panel hangs. It contains switches to turn the pump on and off, choose between heating with a boil or a mash, and it has a temperature display with buttons to adjust the temperature up and down as well as a set button. An element variation switch is located at the bottom of the boiler; set it to Normal (1600 watts) to heat the water and to Mash (600 watts) to maintain the temperature during the mash cycle.
The printed instruction manual of the Grainfathers is what makes the installation process a breeze. You will need about 45 minutes to put together the Grainfather fermenter and start brewing. Sounds awesome, right?
FastFerment: Best User-Friendly
The positive reviews for this product place it among the top choices available. A little more than eight gallons can fit inside the FastFerment. To consistently produce fresh beer, the design of the fermenter is intended to minimize oxygen exposure. Additionally, it is user-friendly, produces high-quality beer whenever it is used, and can be mounted on the wall. It works nicely for every homebrewer, especially for newbies.
A 1′′ bottom valve on the FastFerment conical fermenter connects to a yeast collection ball, which can be utilized to preserve yeast for your subsequent batch. It also has a thermowell, but neither a second valve nor a racking arm are present. You can transfer the beer from the bottom valve to your keg or bottles after removing the trub with the collection ball a few times.
Fermzilla: Best Design
The Fermzilla is made by the creators of the Fermentasaurus, a favourite conical fermenter in the home brewing market. After receiving input from brewers about some of the problems they were encountering with the initial design, the business improved the Fermentasaurus to become the Fermzilla. The Fermzilla fixes two key problems: a bottom butterfly valve that is too small and a tank entrance that is too small for hand cleaning inside.
It is an excellent option for home batches because it is constructed from the same PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) as the original and can hold up to five gallons of brew. Tank cleaning is made simpler and safer because of the wider 4.75′′ top aperture. There won’t be any more trub or yeast jams thanks to the 3′′ dump valve on the bottom. For those who want pressure transfers but don’t want to spend the money on a stainless fermenter, the Fermzilla is a terrific option.
Catalyst: Best Safety
This is the fermenter to go for if the objective is to have the freshest beer on the block. The capacity of this fermenter is 6.5 gallons. Tritan, the Catalyst’s substance, provides it with the highest level of safety and usability. This substance is BPA-free and food-safe. The trub traps on the Catalyst allow for the easy removal of yeast and trub by the operator. All levels of brewers will benefit from this fermenter.
Blichmann: Best Size Range
One of the best home brewing fermenters available, the Blichmann is designed for more seasoned brewers. What’s so impressive about this conical fermenter is its wide range of sizes ranging from seven gallons to an enormous forty-two gallons.
This conical fermenter made of stainless steel has zero leaks and is the best choice for avoiding oxidation. You can quickly chill the beer down thanks to the fermenter’s temperature control throughout. Yeast and trub can be easily removed thanks to the dump valve. Additionally, it contains a tester valve that enables you to check the readiness of your brew by sampling it.
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