Speidel sadness

I brewed a beer last night and used my 30L speidel fermenter for the first time. I was so excited to use it. Got the beer down to pitching temp, tossed in the yeast and sealed it with the airlock.

Woke up this morning to find a pool of beer around the fermenter and what looks to be about 2 gallons worth.

The moral of the story, if you buy a new spiedel fermenter don't assume that the drain plug is screwed on fully.

Sorry to hear that. Now you know to always double check fittings. I hope you did sanitize it before filling.

IslandLizard said:

Sorry to hear that. Now you know to always double check fittings. I hope you did sanitize it before filling.

Click to expand...

Yup I did sanitize it and it didn't seem to leak at the time. It was probably such a slow leak that I didn't notice until it sat overnight.

Once some liquid makes it through, it creates a siphon (through cohesion). Damn sad.

Currently, in one of the 15 gallon conical fermentor threads someone has a hard time sealing up a sampler bulkhead/valve through the conical wall. At least he's still testing with water not beer.

Be careful with those plastic threads, they can cross easily or get ruined from over-tightening. Do you use teflon tape?

Just used mine for the first time about 10 days ago. I checked all the seals first though. No problems. Going to keg this weekend.

Is it recommended to use Teflon tape?

I don't have those Speidels, not sure, but I do think a thin layer of thin (!) teflon tape (1-2 turns) helps as a lubricant, as well as a seal. Maybe someone could confirm this.

PJM said:

Is it recommended to use Teflon tape?

Click to expand...

Haven't ever used teflon tape. As long as the seal is correctly positioned and tight you shouldn't have any leaks.

I have 2 60L Speidels and have not had any issue with leaking. I did however replace the plastic spout with the stainless racking arm, and added the thermowell and digital thermometer from ssbrewtech (accessories for their brew Bucket).

The seal on the spigot should come from the washer being compressed, not the threads, so teflon tape isn't necessary.

Just to re-iterate, i'm not unhappy with the Speidel and the leak wasn't a defect with it but rather was my own fault. The drain plug wasn't screwed on all the way. I just assumed it was screwed on sufficiently when I received it.

This is more of a cautionary tale post, letting any new speidel owners to make sure everything is tightened up when they first get it

Now I know to look out for leaks with the spigot though when I use it, so thanks everybody

Gameface said:

The seal on the spigot should come from the washer being compressed, not the threads, so teflon tape isn't necessary.

Click to expand...

That's what I figured. I like mine a lot so far. Can't wait to fill it with the next batch.

I've never seen that big of a leak. My 30L did sart to leak from the actual spigot. I ended up modding it with the ball valve from the brew buckets. Still works great.

Good thing you checked on it when you did. In a related story I built my BK, soaked overnight oxiclean, no leaks, time to get brewing! Guess what? Metal expands when heating, as soon as my wort was about to boil the threaded nipple between ball valve and kettle drip drip drip. OH CRAP! Panic time. Grabbed a wrench and gave it another 1/4 turn that was impossible the day before. To this day the valve handle point upwards when closed