My Brewhemoth came in today

Like it says just got my brewhemoth in. Saw UPS truck pull up and got giddy like a kid on christmas morning then I saw the box and my mood went way down. This thing was beat up. Wanted to wait for girlfriend to come home with my camera to take a pic of the box, but couldn't wait. not impressed with how it was boxed up. The foam pieces were obviously not in there intended place, tank was against a corner and legs were up against side of the tank. I'm sure it was abused during shipping, but I don't really see how they expected the small amount of foam to do the job. I'd happily pay $10 more just to get proper packing.

Ok so there's the rant. The good news is that everything is in good shape. 4" lid is sratched a bit on top, legs are painted then cut so nothing protecting the ends from rust, and mounting bolts are bent a bit. Nothing that would make me return anything. All and all this thing is pretty sweet. Welds look good at bottom were cone meets the cylinder. Only weld I'd say is suspect is the handle welds. They penetrate into the inside of the cylinder and leave excess globs of weld, so I'll have to wash them carefully. Got a pbw soak going on and have it under pressure to check out the seal.

Fits into my fridge with the back leg raise to sit on the hump correctly. Gonna be making a stand to fit in the fridge that I can move it out for cip cleaning. Fermenter won't stand up correctly do to having to raise back leg and I'd like to keep water from cleaning out of my fridge anyways

In their defense package is very very expensive. Foam padding designed for each product they sell can cost $$$$. I'm sure they paid a lot of money to ship it. You would think that UPS wouldn't drop kick it all the way there.

Any pics of the set up? I really respect what those guys do; great products!

I'd rather see a minor price increase for something at this price range than have it come packaged this way. Just getting a consumers(my) opinion out there.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow. Pressure didn't hold, but I don't think I got a gasket seated properly. Will redo pressure test tomorrow after I rinse everything out.

Have squeeze trigger valves. 3/4" 90 degree on dump and sample valve on racking port. Sample valve is for gravity test and I have a 1.5" to male beer thread for transfer to kegs. Spunding valve on top.

1/2" pvc pipe with locline connected to 1/6th hp pump. Good pressure and water drains from fermenter faster than it gets pushed by pump. Hope this works after some soaking to get the krausen line off. Otherwise I bought a long handled brush that I can reach to the bottom with. Was thinking about attaching the locline pvc pipe to the brush so I could scrub and push debris down with the water at same time.

The fermenter fits between the left side of the fridge and the coils at the bottom on the right by a couple of inches. Might do a 5 gal batch to test out everything will I fabricate a stand for the next batch. Don't exactly trust the leg on the hump.

Would of liked to get better pics of locline cleaner in action but my camera isn't water proof.

Anybody have experience in spunding valve cleaning? I don't think I should get water into the gauge area.

Any thoughts on connecting a 1.5" tube to dump valve with a cap on end then leaving dump valve open to let trub settle in there and then to let yeast settle in it later? Probably have to be a 1.5" elbow because of clearance.

Here's my cleaing brush, large mirror, and male beer thread to 1.5" triclamp. Got the brush in the farm supply area of a Farm n Fleet.

The second pic is of the brewhemoth at full height compared to two sankes stacked. When I was looking at buying one of these I had trouble picturing how big it is. Thought this might help give an idea.