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Fermentation Equipment - What's Best?Fermentation equipment is pretty simple for the homebrewer. You have a few basic choices. First is the food grade 5-7.5 gallon bucket with lid.
A new item in homebrew shops is called "Better Bottle". It is made of rugged PET (polyethylene terephthalate copolymer) plastic. 
It is non-permeable so you don't have to worry about oxidation, you can see through it like glass, you can add spigots to transfer from the bottom of the bottle, and best of all, it won't break if you drop it. I don't have any experience with these since I had so many glass carboys from my winemaking days, but I have heard a lot of good things online about them.The next best thing in fermentation equipment is the classic glass carboy. They are widely available from your local homebrew shop or online. Glass Carboys are non-permeable, and allow you to see what's going on inside. The obvious drawbacks are they weigh a lot and if you drop them, you lose your beer plus have a huge mess to clean up. But they are the most widely used by the advanced homebrewer.
Some people feel that the foam at high krausen should not be allowed to fall back into the beer. They feel that it causes bitterness and off flavors. During a vigorous ale fermentation at high krausen (the most active phase of fermentation) so much foam and residue is formed that it will blow the stopper and airlock right out of a carboy, making a huge mess. Eventually this foam and sediment will "fall" back into the beer and either settle on the bottom, or get incorporated into the beer. With a blow-off tube in place instead of an airlock, this foam "blows" out the tube and into a receptacle with water or sanitizer in it. The other end of the hose is usually under the fluid so you can still monitor the CO2 bubbles during fermentation. Many homebrewers are fermenting in a corny keg these days. With the price of glass carboys almost as high as a used corny keg, and the dangers associated with picking up glass carboys full of beer, it might make sense for you too. To learn about fermenting in a keg, click here. 
The ultimate fermenter is the stainless steel conical fermenter. An all-stainless steel conical fermenters eliminates the need to transfer beer or wine from a primary to a secondary. You can dump trub and yeast sediment without transferring the beer, easily sample the wort, harvest yeast, and, unlike simple conicals, the rotating racking arm lets you siphon out completely sediment free beer. The only drawback for the average homebrewer is the cost. You have to be pretty serious about your hobby to purchase one of these. But, it makes things simpler, and there is less of a chance of contamination from transferring to the secondary. 
An even more advanced fermentation system is the glycol-cooled conical fermenter with digital temperature control. I gotta get me one of those. Go From Fermentation Equipment Back to Homebrew Systems
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These are available from most homebrew shops. Some of the advantages of this type of fermentation equipment include (1) they are easy to find and cheap (2) you can gather top-fermenting yeast while fermentation is at high krausen (3) they are easy to stir, oxygenate, fine, add additives to etc. (4) you can use a heat belt to raise the fermentation temperature (5) you can attach transfer valve to drain the bucket or attach a bottle filler to easily bottle your beer. Some disadvantages include (1) easily scratched, harboring bacteria (2) you can't see what is going on inside (3) plastic allows too much oxygen to enter which can oxidize your beer. For the beginner, these are fine and most homebrewers begin with one of these as their fermentation equipment and keep several around.
Most use them as secondary fermenters, but you can use them as your primary fermenter with either a stopper and airlock or 1" clear blow-off tube. The blow-off tube allows the foam and everything it brings to the surface (hops, cold and hot break proteins, yeast) to escape into a jug or container of water or sanitizer.
