Anyone have a Fermentasaurus?

[lagermeister1]

Lagermeister: thanks! Does this keep the valve from getting plugged?

well i have finished 2 batches in there without anything getting stuck. i have a maibock in it now i am fermenting at 70F under 10psi pressure with saflager 34/70.

 

[lagermeister1]

The new and improved Fermentasaurus Gen2

this sounds exciting, i am going to want one.

 

[Mark Solomon]

So I just brewed my first batch with the Saurus, a NEIPA 3 days ago. I was worried about leaks, but took the advice here, used some lube on the lid, and no issues at all. I am fermenting at 20psi, with a spunding valve from BrewHardware. This one has the upgraded spring and to get to 20psi, my valve is set to 90%.

I dumped the first bottle at the end of day 2 (full krausen), then just did a second and third dump tonight (krausen has begun to fall). I added 3 oz of hop pellets (not realizing that the suggestion is 1 oz max....oh well). The hop pellets do seem to be stuck, so I pulled the pressure release valve and the "boiling" effect seemed to pull at least a third of the hops out of the bottle. I then re-pressurized with my CO2 tank and the foam created by the boiling went down rather quickly. I am going to leave it be overnight, then see where I am at and maybe pull the release valve again tommorrow. I am just worried that yeast will be settling out at the bottom of the cone, preventing more hops from escaping.

-Mark

 

[Mark Solomon]

After writing my post above, I couldn't resist, and took the pressure down again to zero. Again, as the pressue was releasing from the collection bottle, the hops were shooting up into the fermenter. I am fermenting at 20 psi. Now at least half of my 3oz hops are floating in the fermenter. Only drawback is removing the amazing aroma from the fermenter.

Definitely think that dumping them into the top after de-pressurizing is the better option....thoughts?

-Mark

 

[lagermeister1]

Definitely think that dumping them into the top after de-pressurizing is the better option....thoughts?

Yes, as much as i would like the dry hops in the bottle to be effective, we are going to get better aroma by cracking it open from teh top and adding them. my English pale ale tastes great but the aroma is just not there and i added 2oz from the bottom. somebody else in the string stated they didnt get good aroma from the bottom also. but yea if you are going to add them from the bottom, try and add them after the yeast has all been removed.

Now im thinking i need more then a 5# co2 cylinder for all these purgings and closed transfer with the saurus. the EPA was my first pressure batch and me and several others agree it is a really good beer. i still havent tasted my dubbel after i closed transferred and keg conditioned it a month ago.

 

[Sadu]

Now im thinking i need more then a 5# co2 cylinder for all these purgings and closed transfer with the saurus.

Gas is really expensive where I live so I'll avoid having to repressurise the fermentor at all costs.

So there's 2 methods I use with success. The first is to depressurise, and add the dryhops at the same time as your simple sugar addition. If I'm brewing an IPA or decent pale ale I will build 3-5% simple sugars into the recipe for this purpose. This kicks the fermentation off and purges the headspace.

The second method is to remove all the slurry over the course of fermentation. Then add your hops to the bottle, fill it up with beer/foam, reattach. Then turn the fermentasaurus upside down as many times as necessary combined with twisting the valve to get the hops into the main fermentor. This is kinda awkward and with 30L/7G batches it helps if you've been going to crossfit 4 times a week - but it's about the only way to get 100g/4oz of hops into the fermentor under pressure. It feels weird all that shaking of the beer, but I can't see more than a tiny amount of air getting in via this method.

Also you don't need CO2 to do a closed transfer. If you push the beer out using your CO2 tank then yeah it's gonna use a heap of CO2. But if you connect liquid to liquid and gas to gas with the FV on the bench and the keg on the floor then you can closed siphon the beer into the keg. Uses no CO2, which in my case is a couple of bucks saved each time.

 

[lagermeister1]

This is great info thank you for sharing. what should the psi be for both vessels using your closed transfer technique? i was investigating on these forums how to reuse co2 from recently tapped empty kegs to purge cleaned and sanitized kegs for closed transfers from the saurus. i hooked up a hose to my laundry tub foucet onto the out connector of the used keg and connected a hose on the in of that keg to the out connector of the cleaned and sanitized keg . spund valve set to 10psi on my cleaned keg in post, turn on the water , wait till used keg was full of water and started coming through the tie in hose and shut everything down . it worked great .

 

[Sadu]

This is great info thank you for sharing. what should the psi be for both vessels using your closed transfer technique? i was investigating on these forums how to reuse co2 from recently tapped empty kegs to purge cleaned and sanitized kegs for closed transfers from the saurus. i hooked up a hose to my laundry tub foucet onto the out connector of the used keg and connected a hose on the in of that keg to the out connector of the cleaned and sanitized keg . spund valve set to 10psi on my cleaned keg in post, turn on the water , wait till used keg was full of water and started coming through the tie in hose and shut everything down . it worked great .

It can be any psi you like, so long as its the same in both. You don't want to be changing the pressure of the saurus at transfer time as that mixes the sludge up. So measure the saurus pressure and make sure the keg matches.

 

[lagermeister1]

this worked good for me until about the last 1.5 gallons left in the saurus. i had to vent my keg to start the siphon again and of course some yeast started floating up to the top in the saurus but luckily by that time i had removed most of the yeast and trub from the bottom so wasnt a big deal. Im pretty sure the siphon stopped because i only had a length of 2 ft on the out to out keg connection. im thinking a little more height on the saurus and a 3 ft hose on the saurus out to keg out connection should do it would you agree? very nice technique to save alot of gas so thanks again.

 

[Mark Solomon]

I just finished my first beer in my Saurus, and did the keg transfer. A couple things I noticed are that I needed about a 5-7 psi differential to keep it flowing nicely. I am thinking this is because my CO2 tank and regulator are in my kegerator, and the readings were not apples to apples. Overall, the transfer took me about an hour. I was able to keep it going until the diptube got buried in the yeast/hops at the bottom....I ended up leaving almost .5 gallons of clear liquid in the bottom. Is this what others have experienced?

-Mark

 

[lagermeister1]

the only wort i have not transferred to the keg is what is left in the collection bottle pretty much. That is because i do not transfer until almost all the yeast and trub has been removed from the bottom.

Sounds like you may have had some yeast stuck ? are you fermenting with the valve open ?

 

[andyn2001]

First pics of Fermentasaurus 2, 27L version:

 

[Mark Solomon]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like the valve was widened significantly, which is a big improvement over the old design. Also the slightly smaller size is better for those of us that stick to 5-6G batches....will fit better in a fridge. The stand looks sturdier, not that the old one wasn't, but curious why the handles were moved to the top, as opposed to keeping them on the stand. They actually work really well where they are now...

-Mark

 

[andyn2001]

Yes the handles on the neck is a bit of a concern for me, as I have to carry mine about 20 metres from my house where I brew, to my shed where my fridges are. I need to carry both fermenter and stand at the same time, else I will need two stands....but I'm sure I'll work it out, maybe use a strap of some sort. Other than that, I can't wait.

 

[Dory Rules]

Any update on when they will be available in the US?

 

[andyn2001]

Oxebar emailed me and said end of year in Australia and early 2019 in UK, so I suspect same sort of time for US.

 

[Dory Rules]

Oxebar emailed me and said end of year in Australia and early 2019 in UK, so I suspect same sort of time for US.

I was hoping you would say the end of the month! Oh well . . . I think I'll still wait for it.

 

[Harvestsmiles]

It would be nice if Santa has access to them come December. Is there a spec sheet available? Height was too tall on the first generation for my fridge so I cut the bottom of the stand and have juuuuuusssssttttt enough room to get q.d. connections on top and room to unscrew the collection bottle.

I too think the handles on the stand made more sense, not sure how to load fermenter into stand when the stand is in the fridge. I'm sure I will make it work though.

I've been real happy with the robobrew v3 to fermentasaurus set up. I brew 8 gallons, ferment and carbonate in the fermentasaurus, and sample out of a picnic tap until under 5 gallons then do a closed transfer to a corny keg. I've built up a nice yeast bank via several spare collection bottles.

 

[Benjamin Pitts]

If so would you reccomend it?
Thanks.

I just bought one for cider and apple ale as I can pressurize it and use natural carbonation I'll keep you posted

 

[Mark Solomon]

I noticed that Kegland is now listing the generation 2 on their website, but it says they are out of stock. Here is a video that they posted about it. They also have a larger version too.

-Mark

 

[dantodd]

Has anyone heard anything about the new "FermZilla"? They were advertising it last year, released the above videos etc. but it's completely disappeared from their website even though MoreBeer is listing it as coming soon. I'd really like to get one or two but I'm getting a bit worried about the company

 

[Julian Høstan Urrea]

I recently got a fermentasaurus for cheap and I have some questions about bottling directly from the fermentasaurus that I can't find any good information about.

1. Can you get fully carbed beer from it and then bottlefrom it? I have a spunding valve and sodastream gas with all the adapters as well as the ekstra fermentasaurus pressurelid with the ballconnects and the floating ball. I'm looking into a counter pressure bottle filler. And before you say use kegs, I don't have the gear or space

2. If so, how much do I set the spunding valve on for a well carbed ale.

3. Is it very important the get all of the yeast/trub out before bottling.

4. How much should I set the sodastream gas on to get a good flow?

5. Any additional tips before attempting this and ruining my beer?

Please help. I've been searching for days

 

[Julian Høstan Urrea]

I recently got a fermentasaurus for cheap and I have some questions about bottling directly from the fermentasaurus that I can't find any good information about.

1. Can you get fully carbed beer from it and then bottlefrom it? I have a spunding valve and sodastream gas with all the adapters as well as the ekstra fermentasaurus pressurelid with the ballconnects and the floating ball. I'm looking into a counter pressure bottle filler. And before you say use kegs, I don't have the gear or space

2. If so, how much do I set the spunding valve on for a well carbed ale.

3. Is it very important the get all of the yeast/trub out before bottling.

4. How much should I set the sodastream gas on to get a good flow?

5. Any additional tips before attempting this and ruining my beer?

Please help. I've been searching for days

No one?

 

[Julian Høstan Urrea]

I recently got a fermentasaurus for cheap and I have some questions about bottling directly from the fermentasaurus that I can't find any good information about.

1. Can you get fully carbed beer from it and then bottlefrom it? I have a spunding valve and sodastream gas with all the adapters as well as the ekstra fermentasaurus pressurelid with the ballconnects and the floating ball. I'm looking into a counter pressure bottle filler. And before you say use kegs, I don't have the gear or space

2. If so, how much do I set the spunding valve on for a well carbed ale.

3. Is it very important the get all of the yeast/trub out before bottling.

4. How much should I set the sodastream gas on to get a good flow?

5. Any additional tips before attempting this and ruining my beer?

Please help. I've been searching for days

No one?

 

[Mark Solomon]

Yes. Once fermentation is complete, dump the settlement, then put in in the fridge and hook it up like a keg.

You can’t bottle from it using the bottle adapter that comes with it, but you could use a beer gun or similar counterpressure filler.

-Mark

 

[Julian Høstan Urrea]

Yes. Once fermentation is complete, dump the settlement, then put in in the fridge and hook it up like a keg.

You can’t bottle from it using the bottle adapter that comes with it, but you could use a beer gun or similar counterpressure filler.

-Mark

Thanks. I think I'll be going for a beer gun. How about dryhopping? I've seen some vids that show it's really bad trough the bottle. Any tips?

 

[cpham574]

Can anyone comment on the durability of the PET plastic? I’m considering the new fermzilla, but my main concern is the plastic.

How does it feel? Is it really thin? Does it scratch easily? Does it ding?

 

[cbier60]

I've been using my 35L Fermentasaurus for ~15 months and am very pleased with its durability. The plastic is very scratch-resistant; I'm not aware that I have any scratches on the inside or outside of mine, including where it sits on the metal stand. And I treat mine pretty roughly. I pick it up and turn it over to rouse the dry hops and squeeze the collection bottle to get the hops out (both initially and after they settle). Either no or negligible dings in the fermenter, but quite a few in the collection bottle, though it's still intact. The plastic is pretty thin, except at the cone where it is built up, but it is very strong (and extremely lightweight, which is important since the beer is damn heavy). I'm not sure if the smaller new fermzilla is the same or thicker.

 

[cpham574]

I've been using my 35L Fermentasaurus for ~15 months and am very pleased with its durability. The plastic is very scratch-resistant; I'm not aware that I have any scratches on the inside or outside of mine, including where it sits on the metal stand. And I treat mine pretty roughly. I pick it up and turn it over to rouse the dry hops and squeeze the collection bottle to get the hops out (both initially and after they settle). Either no or negligible dings in the fermenter, but quite a few in the collection bottle, though it's still intact. The plastic is pretty thin, except at the cone where it is built up, but it is very strong (and extremely lightweight, which is important since the beer is damn heavy). I'm not sure if the smaller new fermzilla is the same or thicker.

Thank you for your insight! Any troubles with cold crashing? I’m not sure how others are doing it, but I imagine with the new fermzilla, I could just connect some co2 on low psi while cold crashing to avoid any oxygen ingress.

 

[Sadu]

Agree about the durability of the plastic. It's fine. PET doesn't like too much heat, mine got slightly warped when I accidentally left the heat belt going with the thing empty. Don't do that.
In terms of cold crashing, very easy. If you have the pressure kit then connect your gas at 12 psi and finish carbonating while it cold crashes with zero oxygen suckback. It does really help if you put clean wort into the fermentor, this means less bottle changes later and much cleaner yeast to harvest.