BeerBorg

The Speidel was delivered. It's pretty impressive! It has very substantial,thick plastic. The spigot is much more solid than what I've been using for the last 18 months. ( LBK)
The carrying handle that is attached to it is really handy. It makes moving from fermenting fridge to my bottling area really easy.
It has a large lid that is easy to remove for easy priming ,hopping,cleaning ect...
It fits in my mini fridge.
The whole product just feels (and is) very substantial.I used it to batch prime today.

Ok now for the downsides:
1.The small Speidel ( 3.2 gallon or 12L) is not intended for fermentation. The lid is solid, with no hole for an airlock. I called More Beer to buy a lid with a hole for the stopper and airlock but it doesnt exist.
I will have to drill a hole in the lid.
2. The spigot's outlet tube is not a size that fits standard US tube sizes.
I was able to fit a 1/2 in. tube to the spigot by heating it in hot water and pushing it fairly hard to get it attached.(I might have contaminated my batch...arg!)

Those two negatives are minor and can easily be dealt with.
I think it's a winner!

I believe the Speidel lid has a lid gasket like the LBC. (I could be wrong, but they sell replacement gaskets, so I think not).

If so, you can ferment in it, just take out the gasket and put the lid on without cranking it down tight. It should vent out the lid just like an LBC/LBK. It should work in theory. Even though the LBC has a vent doohickey that you can use instead of a stopper/airlock, I removed the gasket on my lid, so it vents out both places, the doohickey doesn't even pop most of the time. So I get very little head space pressure - it's almost like having an open fermenter except bugs can't fall in. And I swear the beer coming out of it is better for it.

Unless you really want an airlock bad of course...

In any case let us know how it works out because that's the only other fermenter I'd buy at the moment over an LBC.

Taking the gasket off of the lid is a great idea. Thanks for that suggestion.
I'll use the Speidel for my next brew.

I'm going to increase my batch size from 2.5 to 2.75 gallons.
I wonder if I can push it to 3 gallons?
.2 of a gallon doesn't leave much room for error.

I can't wait for my beer to taste better because of my new fermenter!

I just had a thought...
The lid with the gasket on and srewed on tightly forms a leak-less seal.
I could easily aerated a batch by screwing the lid on tightly and shaking the Speidel.
Maybe I'll pickup an extra lid and keep the gasket in one for oxygenation.

FYI: I had pretty messy blowoff in my LBC (3.1ish gallons) with a 2.5 gallon batch last time around. I was using a true top cropping yeast though (WLP1007). But even with a mellower yeast strain I've had 2.5 gallon batches fizz a bit out my lid/vent thingie depending on wort composition.

So I don't think pushing it to 3 gallons with only .1 more space is a good idea .