FastFerment conical fermenter??????

Viable? A long time, pitchable without a started a good couple of weeks, the full ball is not ideal, I added some beer after removing some to help keep it fresh.

 

I racked to a keg, couldn't be easier, stout boiling and going in next

 

Like a well oiled machine...

 

Stout's in, I'll let it settle for several hours,dump the ball,reinstall and pitch the yeast harvested yesterday:rockin:

 

I have a fridge and either need a stand or better yet has anyone tried to glue/jbweld the supports on to the rear of the fridge and put the conical on. Not sure it would hold thou and I didnt want drill into the fridge

 

I don't think you're going to find a run of the mill adhesive that would support that much weight.

 

It would never support the weight.. take it from a guy who has made all those same mistakes..

 

Didn't think it would but I am considering bolting a 2 X 4 through the side of the fridge... One one the inside & outside with fridge wall sandwiched in between.

 

You must have better luck than me. I would be paranoid that I would hit one of the cooling lines when I drilled/screwed into the frig.

 

It's certainly a risk but you would only need two per side... The odds are in your favor though. Many more square inches without tubing in the wall than with.

 

About the screw top lid, how tight do you think it should be?
After the first half-turn I find that I have to hold the V-barrel in a vice grip between my legs in order to screw it further on. Worried if it's going to be like that when going to take a gravity sample.
I already gave the threads the craft knife and sand paper treatment.

 

I wonder the same thing. Whenever I tighten my life, I have to contort in the same sensual position to 'screw' it on.

However, I get it as right as possible. Not sure I bottom it out, and I suppose it does not leak. I'd be curious on other responses as well.

 

Same here. I'm convinced I never actually get mine screwed on tight

 

Small update on the screw top lid and how I managed to fix it (it still doesn't feel particularly smooth but I can manage fitting the lid with using just one hand and it will do).

Reface and chase the threads with a pin/needle file like the one displayed. I used a sharp pointed file with a circular profile. Spent 30 mins or so doing so, ending up with clothes and carpet filthy with white plastic dust.
Finish off by applying a smidgen of keg grease, and massage it in by attaching/re-attaching the lid about 10-20 times.


And if anyone's still looking a an easy way aerate the wort before pitching the yeast: I'm planning to use a smaller cement mixer mounted on a drill.

 

I have used a paint mixer on a drill to aerate wort and it works great. I concur!

 

I'm sure it works great to aerate I would just be worried I might hit the sides with it. One slip up and your plastic fermenter is toast

 

They have purpose made plastic aeration rods for drills so you don't need to worry about scratching the sides.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/mix-stir-agitator-rod.html

 

So maybe I'm just being to paranoid. I have one of those also but it's a hard plastic and spinning in a drill it would still leave some surface scratches on the fermenter I feel like. I was actually looking for some food grade rubber I might be able to put around those paddles to prevent scratches. Again this might not be necessary I'm not sure

 

FYI. On my second Irish Red Ale batch. And both times no action on Airlock. I believe everything is sealed up fine. The yeast strain WY1084 is bottom fermenting so active bubbles not present. My Amber Ale had lots of visual activity in airlock.

Brew On............

 

With respect to aeration, why not just use an oxygen bottle and stone???? Why bother with mechanical aeration at all???

 

I wondered the same...

Since I bought mine - I'd never go back. It isn't that expensive..

 

I got lucky on this, I still had my burnzomatic brazing kit from the early 80's stashed in a tool box. Grabbed the O2 fitting, added a 1/8 ID tube fitting, a $6 airation stone, and a fresh O2 bottle, done! Well, almost. I disassembled and cleaned it first.
Looks just like the new brewing ones, but it's an aluminum body. Only worry I have is that I remove it from the bottle every time (to avoid a leak) and it's got to be wearing on the aluminum threads. Lubrication is a no-no on anything O2.

 

anyone know the dimension of the FastFement stand where the fermenter sits? I have something that I think might work, but I need to know how big to cut the opening... will post pics!

 

Not sure about the factory stand but here are the dimensions I used:

The top ring, cabinet grade 1/2" ply, is 9-7/8" ID and 13" OD. The bottom ring, 3/4" ply, is 13" ID and 16" OD. The legs are 21" in length which gives a 3-3/4" space between the bottom of the collection ball and the floor. They are made from oak for strength and stiffness.

 

dude can you make another I will pay you?

 

I did 10" ID on the stands I made. Hindsight, I would have made it 11" ID just so it sits a little lower.

 

I took a little different angle on mine. I'll post pic's tomorrow when I finished it up. I recycled something around the house and it's going to work out pretty good I think.

 

Here is a fermenter stand that I fashioned out of stuff laying around the house. This is on wheels and I lined the opening of the fermenter hole with a pipe insulation sleeve.

I'm currently working on a basement brewery, so I'll post more pics as I get it in order.

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The stand is great. I think I am going to make one just like it.

but...

The oxygen should not be a problem when you reattach the ball. The air will flow throught the wort/beer but there will be very little contact time. Additionally, whe the air gets to the headspace, which should be full of CO2, the air will go to the top and out the airlock.

In order to ease my worries in this area (yes I did worry about this like you), after I sanitaize the ball, I blow some CO2 in it just before I reattach it. Kind of like what I do when I fill my corny kegs.

 

Repitched for the first time today. Ball was 75% yeast 25% beer. Brown ale to imperial stout. Put the ball in my fridge for 1 week. Steady airlock activity in about 40 minutes. Crazy, I've never had such fast fermentation , even with big starters.

 

why did you repitch?

 

I meant that I pitched yeast from one batch (Brown ale) to another batch (imperial stout).

 

You didn't use it all did you? That would be a bit of an overpitch.

 

I did, my og was 1.12, and the yeast calculator said I would need about .4 liters of slurry.

 

Nice!

 

Here is a picture of mine. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1418674000.145243.jpg I have 3 kits waiting for the green flag to get started. Must admit it was very helpful to read the issues some of you had setting up and brewing with the fastferment. I was able to take care of the issues and lucky enough to read ahead of time to catch and repair the problems.Thanks to you "hopefully" my brewing sessions ahead will be non complicated and frustrating with on the fly fix's.

 

I dont mean to overpost this as I posted it in another thread on HBT, but I thought i would copy here just in case the FF users missed it.

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I brewed a solid IPA, OG 1.060, nailed all my numbers.. I did a 1L starter with Wyeast1056 and pitched… Well, 24 hours later not a sign of activity in the bubbler!? I recall that I didn’t necessarily aerate the wort as well as I normally do, so I was thinking that could be the reason.

I did a little research and thought heck, it’s only been a day. I’ll take this thing down and shake the heck out of it to wake it up. I came to the basement and the first thing that I noticed is that the valve was closed to the collection ball… I reached over and gave it a slight crack (and I do mean slight!) and this thing erupted like nothing I’ve ever seen. I’m talkin' Mentos in Diet Coke here… At this point there was nothing I could do. I threw a towel over the geyser and put a bucket underneath and walked away until it slowed down and I could come in and assess the situation. It was scary for a moment, could have been dangerous...

In any case, it calmed down to a point where I could add a blow off tube. I cleaned everything up and it’s bubbling away as expected.. But let this be a lesson and a warning to you all. Once you’ve pitched and wort has fell into the collection ball, keep that valve open or you’re gonna’ shoot ‘yer eye out!

I realize this is a rookie mistake, but the collection ball adds a whole ‘nuther dimension to think about. I likely ruined a few things and I don’t know if I did any damage to the ball valve or what-have-you, but I wanted to share this with you as the FastFerment conical is a relatively new item and like anything, there are some learning.

Anyone know if this will harm my beer in any significant way?

Here are a couple videos:

This is after it settled down a bit : http://youtu.be/NDlZVJz6eP0
This is the after clean up: http://youtu.be/kEEhylt3UOs

 

If you want to replace the factory seal on the screw top, order a pack of these. Fits very nicely.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#5018t429/=v2jylb

 

To seal the top, what worked for me is a foam craft sheet from wally world. I put the homemade foam gasket in first and put the factory gasket on top of that. Together, they provide enough thickness to seal the top.

Such an easy fix you have to wonder why FastFerment won't just fix it??

 

The gaskets for the BigMouth Bubbler from NB can be trimmed to fit. They sell a 5pk for .99. If you happen to be ordering from NB just add them on.