I have two Fast Ferments (8gal plastic conical) but limited experience with them so far since I've only done one brew since I bought them in February).

Here's what I can tell you

• I absolutely love being able to remove trub and eliminate transfers to secondary
  
  

• I'm slightly worried about possible oxygenation from the ball jar after dumping trub and opening the valve back up...not a problem at all if fermentation is still happening.
  
  

• Getting yeast out at the end of the brew is also super easy...and if you're worried about leaving beer on the yeast you can always close the valve
  
  
• Transferring to keg has never been easier...the beer also flows out way faster than using a siphon too
  
  
• Cleaning is a lot easier than with carboys because I could get my entire arm inside to wipe things down (just don't use anything that can scratch it...soft sponges only!)
  
  
• If you do 6.5gal in the 8gal fementer you may not have enough headspace for a top-fermenting yeast--I was surprised I needed a blow-off tube with all that headspace (hefeweisen...should've known better though)
  
  

• Carrying 5-6gal of wort is just as annoying as with a regular carboy but I wouldn't say it's worse...I went up/down 2 flights of stairs and lifted 6gal of wort up to my chest to hang it on the wall mounts; It wasn't an enjoyable experience but wasn't horrible either and I'm a 150lb, 6'0" dude.
  
  
• Unboxing and putting everything together will take patience and time...the plastic mold isn't great and so you have to "break in" the threads by tightening/loosening parts a few times. Also be careful about your gaskets and valves being installed properly (more below)
  
  
• DEFINITELY get the stand...they have a flat bottom for the collection jar so it will stand up on it's own but it'd be REALLY easy to tip over by accident.
  
  
• The lid can be hard to seal (especially if it's missing the silicone gasket)...my quick fix was to seal using teflon tape around the threads and that worked fine.
  
  
• Mine leaked from the start...turned out the valve didn't get installed properly and so it wasn't sealing. It held water for a few days without leaks so I assumed it was good...tightening down the valve properly using the handle was a hard thing to figure out link to show you
  
  

  Mods I've done
  

  
  

• Drilling and installing a sampling port is super easy and extremely useful.
  
  

• It's a bit weird taping a rectangle shape heating pad it around the cone but I was able to do it just like with my plastic/glass carboys.
  
  

• Drilling out another hole in the lid for a temperature probe was very straight forward and can be done very easily.
  
  
  

  Other thoughts
  

  
  

• I haven't re-pitched yeast yet but I plan to start doing brew-days on back-to-back weekends so I can re-pitch my yeast.
  
  
• I specifically bought this because I wanted to do 6.0-6.5 gal batches so I can keg 5gal and then have 6-12 bottles to hang onto (so I can enjoy the kegs and then use bottles to compare recipe tweaks and share with friends)
  
  
• I'm definitely not able to speak to sanitizing yet with only one brew...that's supposed to be a potential downside to a plastic conical.
  
  
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  So yeah...that's a shitload of text for you to read over but I wanted to try and give you a bunch of info. I'm really happy with my decision so far and if you have any questions ask away.
  
  I will say that I got a killer deal on these ($120 for two, with all accessories...$300 new, possibly more) but if I were paying full price I'd have likely waited around for the FermZilla.

Here's the hardware I ended up with for a simple continuous brew setup. For me, two gallons is a lot for a batch brew mostly just handling the vessel. Good luck! You're mostly limited by your imagination here.

Beverage dispenser Target is supposed to carry it also, but I never found one in the store.

Stainless spigot

Rubber bands

Heater

Temp controller outlet

Adhesive thermometer

I've been loving this one. Spreads the heat out evenly around a large portion of my fermenter, rather than concentrating it like a lot of the "brew belts" and such do.

Not sure why it's $40 now though...when I bought it, it was only $25.

If the fridge is your only option and you can't get above 45F then you can look into getting a heat wrap and a temp controller. There are several options to choose from. I personally use these (you can find both for quite a bit cheaper than those listed prices):

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Max-1200W-Temperature-Controller-Greenhouse/dp/B01HXM5UAC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501262251&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=inkbird&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Weekend-Brewer-COMINHKPR125665-Fermentation-Heater/dp/B01J1WZNM2/ref=pd_bxgy_86_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01J1WZNM2&pd_rd_r=RFQ7WFS8YVB9XMBQQY2D&pd_rd_w=gm24D&pd_rd_wg=Nn18Z&psc=1&refRID=RFQ7WFS8YVB9XMBQQY2D

Oh and to convert a chest freezer for temp controlled fermentation is way easier then a keezer build .

-Find a chest freezer or (upright freezer is even better), sometimes they are free on Craigslist ( mine was)

-Drill hole, use inkbird or similar
Thermometer and run it into the freezer.

-Plug in heating element I used this for a long time and it worked great

Fermentation Heater by The Weekend Brewer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J1WZNM2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_RQoCDbWTTXHDD

-Plug in chest freezer and heater. Temperature controlled fermentation done.

That way when it’s time to crash you just adjust the temp on the thermometer and the freezer turns on. Heat turns off. My beer got markedly better when I started controlling my fermentation temps and it became possible to rebrew the “ same”beers

Just take any 5 gallon recipe and divide by 5 ( 5.5 # wheat malt = 1.1 #. As for temp control just Google son of a fermentation chiller. And Temperature Controller paired with a heater.

Now your recipes, Google the recipe you want ( IPA, Pilsner) or ask r/Homebrewing.

there's this https://www.amazon.com/Weekend-Brewer-COMINHKPR125665-Fermentation-Heater/dp/B01J1WZNM2/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=fermentation+heater&qid=1571247432&sr=8-4

which you could just leave rolled up on the bottom of the fridge. and you won't need much power so something like this aquarium heater is probably good enough

https://www.amazon.com/Hygger-Submersible-Thermostat-Controller-Thermometer/dp/B07H31LG15/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=tube%2Bheater&qid=1571247476&sr=8-11&th=1

the stove top light i have, it might only be a 50 or 100w bulb, but it's enough to raise the temp of my fermentation jars by 5F just sitting on the stove top.

I picked up a heating wrap and a temp controller to run mine in the colder months.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J1WZNM2/

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Max-1200W-Temperature-Controller-Greenhouse/dp/B01HXM5UAC/

This handily fits my one gallon jugs and my three gallon carboy, which I then wrap in a towel or two. Although it's a bit bigger than the gallon jugs I haven't had any problems using it, just use a few pieces of masking tape to hold it to the carboy. I have not tried with the five gallon bucket but I don't normally brew in that batch size much.

Ferm wrap look at Amazon. Fermentation Heater by The Weekend Brewer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J1WZNM2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_T1kbAbQNPKDTJ

Not sure if it has any limits for pumping out heat like the reptile pad. I tape it to the side of the fermenter fridge with duct tape. I use a fan to circulate the air

The temperature to use when you're using a calculator is the highest temperature the beer reached at any point during fermentation. So I would use 73.2 in your case.

I've heard that the stick-on thermometers are great. You might also want to look into some more temperature control options. You can go as simple as putting the fermenter into a tub of water, adding frozen water bottles as needed to maintain a cooler temperature, or as far as buying an extra fridge or freezer with a temperature controller. In my case, this time of year, my basement is reliably in the upper 50s/low 60s, so I just use one of these heat wraps plugged into an Inkbird temperature controller with the probe taped to the side of the carboy with a flattened koozie on top of it to insulate it from the ambient air temperature.