Fermenator and Pressure Fermenting

[AlbinoRaven]

Hi All! I inherited one of these from a friend years ago. I haven't been able to get a good seal and had to buy some replacement parts for it initially. I also had the problem that my dump valve got clogged with hops when I tried to use it (now I use hop bombs/infusers for dry hops). I was just starting brewing so I also didn't have any TC stuff. I also didn't have any temp control at the time, my basement is 57 year round and I use heaters to keep fermentation where I want (only ales one day maybe I'll get some cooling ability). I've been accumulating TC parts for use with my Anvil and Catalyst so I'd like to tackle this monster again.

I have this version:

http://www.homebrewing.com/equipmen...n-fermenator-conical-standard-fittings-BL107/
I believe my leak is coming from the pressure relief on top on the corny lid, it never sat down on the springs enough to form a seal (I shoved plastic wrap into it to get a seal once). I'm going to work on it this Friday. Since moving everything into my basement my problem is temp control, so I was thinking of replacing the corny keg top with a ball lock/corny lid and having a spunding valve on that new ball lock connection. I then was going to take the other top hole and using a weldless bulkhead TC fitting it came with and putting a TC thermowell in it. Then I was going to get a jacket and using my existing wrap heaters in the jacket with the temp controller going into the thermowell (similar to my catalyst).

I'm really not sure what the pressure capabilities of it is. The entries I'm looking at say you can connect C02 for transfer to your keg, but I'm not sure what the max then would be, can I use a spunding valve at all? Thank you for any help!

 

[NSMikeD]

A spundling valve should be fine on the ball locks. We use them on plastic fermentors. You don't need a lot of pressure. fwiw I use a food grade lubricant/sealant (looks like vaseline) on my gaskets and that seems to help keep things air tight. Also you don't need much pressure to do a transfer. Here moving your spundling valve to the keg wide open I find helps relieve the pressure in the keg without letting ambient air in to reduce the pressure needed to push the beer.