Buying a new fermenter advice needed

I'm a fan of the Fermonsters. Wide mouth opening, light weight, easy to clean and reasonably priced...also a variety of sizes.

 

I’ve only ever used carboys and buckets. Buckets are cheap; approximately $14. You can use them as is, or modify them (I’ve added stainless ball valves even though I don’t always use them). They are also easy to clean and dry hop in.
Carboys are great for aging long term, watching yeast do its thing to wort, etc. Do whatever you want to glass and it won’t latch on to stains and odors (buckets can in time; but, again at $14 they can be replaced every so often if you choose).

This is just my two cents, of course.

 

Whatever you do go with - I’d recommend something with a spigot.

 

Love the brewtech brew buckets myself. If you're new to brewing and not sure how long you will brew you should probably go with a plastic bucket as its a much cheaper option. But if you plan to brew a lot of batches the brew buckets are great. Super easy cleaning, wide tops for easy dry hop or fruit additions, and has a spigot on the bottom for easy tasting pulls.

 

All options will work, right?
What do you get for your money is the question.
We all have different budgets so ultimately it’s what you can swing.
Plastic gets funky but is light.
Glass is clean but also heavy and breaks.
Stainless gives you the all the benefits with the only downside being cost. But it will last you 10-20 years.
Having a conical bottom is big for me. And a spigot like thebriansmaude mentioned.
My personal experience is I’ve outgrown(?) all the cheap stuff I’ve bought. Except the glass. I’ve kept a carboy around For lagers and ciders ... things that take longer. This way I can keep the stainless working.

 

I have been brewing for over 20 years (over 400 batches) and plastic buckets 'work' for me. I prefer the 7.9 gallon buckets since they provide plenty of headspace. No worries of a blowoff with moderate gravity beers; I do use Fermcap to mitigate the krausen when brewing higher gravity beers (e.g., my Quads, Tripels, etc,).

I have been using the two buckets I have now for over 10 years with zero issues.

As has already been discussed plastic does not crack (shatter) like glass does.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/master-vintner-7-9-gallon-fermenting-bucket

Cheers!

 

Man I don’t have the acumen to keep plastic nice.
My seals never stay. The nice lids with the gasket dry out.
The plastic gets a lot of scratches.
And of course, glass breaks.
Stainless is idiot proof.
Perfect for me.

 

I agree with those suggesting a plastic bucket for now. The beauty of a plastic bucket is that if you end up finding it unsuitable for any of the reasons that have been suggested, you are out, like, $20 max. It's safe, it's lightweight, and in my experience it's not that hard to keep a plastic bucket clean and relatively scratch-free (YMMV). Something like a Fermonster would also make sense (I have two and I like them a lot), with the advantage that you can see what is going on in your fermentation without removing the lid. But they are a bit pricier.

I will also mention that many people do not perform secondary fermentations unless they are doing something unusual like aging on oak. You should be able to package the beer directly from primary, and by avoiding the transfer you will avoid oxygenation and (much less likely) possible contamination.

 

My cleaning process for my buckets is simply swabbing down with hot water and wet paper towels. That 'process' works for me.

Cheers!

 

+1 on the hot water and paper towel thing.....and sooner is better. Dried crud might tend to make you (well, me) get aggressive and increase chances of scratching the buckets innards.