SS Stainless Bucket fermenter - ?

I think these look interesting, but curious about the valve/spigot on it.

*Is it all SS, or are parts of it plastic?
*Can it be taken apart easily for cleaning/sanitizing?
*Is it good quality?

Any thoughts from someone who has one/has used one would be great. Hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like it is possibly on the cheap side (the spigot part). The rest looks great. But, I would be kind of leery if I could not easily and completely clean and sanitize that portion of the fermenter.

http://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/brewbucket

Thanks

Bump....

Anyone?????

Without a pic or a name it's kind of impossible to know what you are even talking about. Help us help you.

brewingmeister said:

Without a pic or a name it's kind of impossible to know what you are even talking about. Help us help you.

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He's referring to this http://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/brewbucket

yep -sorry - I guess with the discussion on the SSbrewtech Chronicle fermenter, I thought people would know - my bad. Thanks Dr. M

Looks like it's all stainless other than some gaskets and possibly the handle on the valve maybe being plastic or some kind of painted metal. For those of us that ferment in chest freezers though, getting it up out of that thing to transfer may be a pain. The unit weighs about 10 lbs. With 5 gal of water weighing somewhere around 40 lbs, that's 50+ lbs to lift out.

They look pretty great, honestly. The ball valve looks a bit cheap and it's a shame that there's not a valve straight out the bottom to dump trub (one of the primary benefits of a conical bottom, IMHO), but stainless and the large accessible open top makes cleaning, dry hopping, and transfers to the keg a BREEZE.

The only downside is when you factor in capacity and then compare it to a sankey keg fermenter which is dish bottomed, stainless and 15 gallons in capacity. -A keg with a bottom drain tri clamp welded in is a pretty badass 15 gallon fermenter, honestly; especially when cost is factored in.


Adam

Only one thing is for certain. It's of Chinese origins.

What's the dead give away that it is from China?

Mainly an assumption. Certainly nothing is certain if that makes sense to you at all?

The stock gets "shipped in" not manufactured.
They ship out of California.
The long lead times on production.
The price.
They do not say Made in the USA.
There is also this quote from their webpage:
[quote/] A quick scan of public domain US customs data will bare that out, and it is no secret that 99% of the home brewing hardware out in the market today is made overseas somewhere. Our Team of course is exploring options for Made in USA products, but it will be some time yet before we put that together, and most likely those products would be positioned as a very premium or limited edition line. [/quote]

Is this really your first post since 2008?

It doesn't seem like they can keep anything in stock and a business like that isn't likely to stay operating for long. Take a look at Deep Woods' products, their stainless fermenters are ported to accept ball valves and the two port model can also presumably have a thermometer installed.

grathan said:

Mainly an assumption. Certainly nothing is certain if that makes sense to you at all?

The stock gets "shipped in" not manufactured.
They ship out of California.
The long lead times on production.
The price.
They do not say Made in the USA.
There is also this quote from their webpage:
[quote/] A quick scan of public domain US customs data will bare that out, and it is no secret that 99% of the home brewing hardware out in the market today is made overseas somewhere. Our Team of course is exploring options for Made in USA products, but it will be some time yet before we put that together, and most likely those products would be positioned as a very premium or limited edition line.

Is this really your first post since 2008?

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Never read those details... Makes sense though!
I found this pic on Keg Outlet you were right on.

I've been a long time lurker and last posted in 2011... Why does that matter?

It doesn't matter. It was like DejaVu with the other thread for me. Happy lurking!

I order one but I have not seen it yet.

I was wondering if any one has received one.

grathan said:

Only one thing is for certain. It's of Chinese origins.

Click to expand...

Do a little research...almost all the stainless products out there get their stainless from China including Blichmann and Stout tanks

It's just reality

And you know what it all works just fine

I just got my Brew Bucket

Here is my initial review ...very nice product

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=5724279

I also received mine yesterday and I like it. It is made well and it will work nicely.

free shipping?

Yes Free shipping. In BYO there is an article with this free shipping code SS1BYO.

grathan said:

free shipping?

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Yep

For those of you who have the buckets, how hard are the valves to disassembly and sainitize? The buckets look awesome, but I do a lot with sour bugs and i don't want to end up contaminating a nice Helles with Brett.

malador said:

For those of you who have the buckets, how hard are the valves to disassembly and sainitize? The buckets look awesome, but I do a lot with sour bugs and i don't want to end up contaminating a nice Helles with Brett.

Click to expand...

its just attached with a simple nut. the racking arm is held into the ball valve with an oring. its easy to take a part and sanitize...having said that..If I was doing sour beers I would use only a dedicated fermenter for sours only and not use it for anything else

helles with brett does sound interesting

Schumed said:

its just attached with a simple nut. the racking arm is held into the ball valve with an oring. its easy to take a part and sanitize...having said that..If I was doing sour beers I would use only a dedicated fermenter for sours only and not use it for anything else

helles with brett does sound interesting

Click to expand...

So you can take apart the ball valve an clean the seat?

With glass carboys I've always gotten away with going back and forth with sours. I just boil the stopper and just use stair san on the carboy.

malador said:

So you can take apart the ball valve an clean the seat?

With glass carboys I've always gotten away with going back and forth with sours. I just boil the stopper and just use stair san on the carboy.

Click to expand...

its not a 3 piece ball valve...one piece

To give some pics... Here it is assembled outside the bucket.


Here is the nut and washer removed



Then removing the dip tube (literally pull it apart)





As you can see, because you can just pull it apart and put it back together, you can make it face any direction. SSbrew tech recommends that you set it up how I originally had it so that it siphons away from the stuff on the bottom and as you get closer you can spin the entire ball valve/dip tube 180*. Even of you spin it it does not leak.

My only issue is with the amount of beer that is left behind if you don't tip the bucket when siphoning and even if you do it still leaves a decent amount behind.

The fix to this would be not including the dip tube and just using the ball valve. The setup does NOT need the dip tube to work in any way.

Other than that it works perfectly. Hope these pictures help