MrKelly
Active Member
MrKelly,
The only true way to know if the batch fermented, is to take a hydrometer reading.
You were right, SG said it was done. Thanks, saved me from doing a ton of doing the wrong thing.
MrKelly,
The only true way to know if the batch fermented, is to take a hydrometer reading.
You were right, SG said it was done. Thanks, saved me from doing a ton of doing the wrong thing.
As far as the thermometer goes, would you guys recommend just buying the one that's made for the FF? Or would it be a better to buy a wire/probe one and just stick it in the thermal-well? Sadly I don't have a fermentation chamber, so it'll be going in the second bathroom shower we don't use lol Living in Southern California, the weather has been 75 ish outside most of the week, so lucky us. I know fermentation is pretty much the end up be all most important thing about making beer, so I want to get it right
Really interested to see how those 3mm seals work. I just bought the FF from Northern Brewers this past weekend, should get it by Friday. Emailed up the guys at FF about trying to get a set of these seeing as I just ordered the fermenter. We'll see what they email me back with
The apparent gasket issue you all are stressing over is not a big deal in the long run. If you follow my logic you will agree. When you set your wort to ferment and pitch your yeast, the yeast will go to work. They eat sugar, pee alcohol, and fart CO2 (OK I tried to make a funny, but you get it). The CO2 will displace the air above the wort and ultimately seep out the airlock and the possible leak from the gasket. Since CO2 is heavier than air, you should not have a contamination risk as long as fermentation is going on.
As home brewers we need to start trusting our yeast. Forget about bubbling airlocks and use you hydrometers and/or refractometers to determine whether fermentation is going on.
This is a separate issue as to whether FF did us wrong.
The apparent gasket issue you all are stressing over is not a big deal in the long run. If you follow my logic you will agree. When you set your wort to ferment and pitch your yeast, the yeast will go to work. They eat sugar, pee alcohol, and fart CO2 (OK I tried to make a funny, but you get it). The CO2 will displace the air above the wort and ultimately seep out the airlock and the possible leak from the gasket. Since CO2 is heavier than air, you should not have a contamination risk as long as fermentation is going on.
As home brewers we need to start trusting our yeast. Forget about bubbling airlocks and use you hydrometers and/or refractometers to determine whether fermentation is going on.
This is a separate issue as to whether FF did us wrong.
Sorry but I don't agree with your cutsie attempt at logic. It's not about trusting the yeast but about trusting a product will perform as it should. And having a top on a fermenter that seals should be a reasonable expectation. Most of us have found work arounds but making light of a product flaw does not help anyone.
Sorry but I don't agree with your cutsie attempt at logic. It's not about trusting the yeast but about trusting a product will perform as it should. And having a top on a fermenter that seals should be a reasonable expectation. Most of us have found work arounds but making light of a product flaw does not help anyone.
in reference to the lid not sealing, my question is: Are you planning on using the yeast ball to capture yeast? Do you know that when you open the valve at the bottom and let the yeast fall into the ball this will remove some of the mass inside the fermentor? And guess how it gets replaced? Yup, through the airlock!
So your concern about the potential to allow a tiny bit of air into the system through the lid pales in comparison to the amount of air you will let in when you harvest yeast.
Of course there is an easy solution to the airlock problem. You could replace the airlock with a sterile filter while you harvest yeast, or you could feed Co2 into the airlock opening when harvesting. Having a good seal to begin with would be nice, of course, but it doesn't solve the question of letting air in when you harvest yeast, and harvesting yeast is really the big reason to have a conical in the first place.
I always figured you should leave the ball and valve in the open position when filling up. Then when changing the ball just fill it with co2 if possible. If not, I'm not sure if the air bubbling through would actually do any damage as far as contamination. I've heard all the worries about it, but have yet to hear it actually coming to fruition
That's not a bad idea, but I thought people drained a little bit of the heavy stuff (hops debris, etc.) into the ball to toss away and then put the ball back to collect the good yeast after that.
That's not a bad idea, but I thought people drained a little bit of the heavy stuff (hops debris, etc.) into the ball to toss away and then put the ball back to collect the good yeast after that.
So if you weren't concerned about collecting yeast could you forgo the collection ball and just dump trub and yeast out before racking into a keg
So if you weren't concerned about collecting yeast could you forgo the collection ball and just dump trub and yeast out before racking into a keg
What I was thinking was dumping twice actually. Once after primary and then again after secondary. Forgot to clarify. I'm gonna do the Westy 12 clone and its recommended to not reuse the yeast.
I'm going to pick up a FF today. Looks like it will work for me. Do you take SG readings or do you just wait for a specific time?
Sure you can do that, but then why are you using a FastFerment? You wouldn't be doing a two stage fermentation, just a long primary. Your beer would be sitting on trub and dead yeast for the whole time. At that point save your money and stick to buckets.
The purpose of the FF is to be able to do primary and secondary fermentation in one vessel. Before FF I would ferment in a bucket for the first week (primary), then rack to a carboy and finish (secondary) in that vessel. Now I do it in one vessel with no fuss.
I move the FF to its home on the wall before swapping the collection ball or draining into the bottling bucket. I can't hang it on the wall during fermentation because the garage gets too cold and my fermentation chamber is not built.
Here is a pic
Just wrap you arms around it & pick the thing up...
I was thinking about doing something like that. Yes please takes pictures, and do a step by step install if you can, that would be AWESOME and greatly appreciated. I know I'm not the only FF owner that would love to get as many good ideas as possible for this thing
OK, all the parts finally arrived, here are pics and step by step how I used the existing port for the thermowell and made it accommodate both a thermometer and a sample port
Ball valves, reducing gasket, threaded nipple and PVC 'T' section are all from US Plastics. The thermowell is from Brewers Hardware and the Min/Max thermometer id from Amazon, make sure you get one with a probe that is no larger than 1/4 " in diameter or it will not slide into the end of the thermowell. Its nice to have the min/max as well, and its an indoor, outdoor, so you can see the difference between the inside temp of the fermentor and the ambient air around it.
No leaks, and wort samples come out just fine, I will probably replace the thermometer with a smaller one as soon as I have time to order one
Awesome! Would you mind sharing the dimensions of the plastics?
That's not a bad setup. Good idea with the concrete forms. However, I would worry about the thermowell. It looks like it is laying on the edge of the form. I fear any pressure on it will ultimately cause a failure at that point and it might start leaking there. You might want to make sure it is not on that edge, or making a small cut out to accommodate the thermowell.
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