FastFerment conical fermenter??????

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bd2xu said:
I'd be interested to hear what people using ss conicals experience. They don't have the balls on them and people dump yeast. Do they have bigger openings? SS is more slippery than plastic?
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I don't have any experience with a SS conical but I have read that they have a racking port above the level of the yeast. I think they leave the yeast in place and rack the wort off through the racking port. They only open the bottom valve to drain the yeast after the wort has been racked off. At least that is how I interpreted what i read...
 
No with a conical one of the ideas is you dump your yeast to secondary in the same vessel, off the yeast. Yes they also have a racking port if you want to rack off the yeast but I think the idea is to dump trub, add yeast, ferment, dump yeast, condition, bottle/keg.



Primary: Maibock, Helles (first partigyle batch), Oatmeal Brown Ale
Secondary:
On tap: Orange Belgian IPA, Turbo IIPA, Mojave Red, Black Magic Stout
Bottled: Dwarven Gold Ale, La Fin Du Mond clone, Hefeweizen
 
After our long wait to get these fermentor's, mine arrived shortly after I had a house fire so I have been unable to use it. I had it in the box stored in my house while the house was being restored, cam e home last Friday to check the mail and all the stuff I was storing in my house including my fermentor was stolen!

Guess I'll need to order another since you guys seem to like yours so much.... What a pain!
 
I haven't been able to get any satisfaction from them over my broken lid, they insist it wasn't defective (ok then, its just a piece of crap). I am selling if anyone is interested, pm me an offer. You will need to buy a lid for $15 and pay actual shipping cost so consider that in any offer. Comes with all of the original stuff, 2 collection balls, 2 unions and wall brackets.:mad:
 
p40whk said:
After our long wait to get these fermentor's, mine arrived shortly after I had a house fire so I have been unable to use it. I had it in the box stored in my house while the house was being restored, cam e home last Friday to check the mail and all the stuff I was storing in my house including my fermentor was stolen!

Guess I'll need to order another since you guys seem to like yours so much.... What a pain!
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the old Hee Haw song; "If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all..." ;)

This too shall pass.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune P40. Hang in there! Things will turn around!!

fhk said:
I haven't been able to get any satisfaction from them over my broken lid, they insist it wasn't defective (ok then, its just a piece of crap). I am selling if anyone is interested, pm me an offer. You will need to buy a lid for $15 and pay actual shipping cost so consider that in any offer. Comes with all of the original stuff, 2 collection balls, 2 unions and wall brackets.:mad:
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fhk, It is a little troubling that FastRack - FastFerment folks would not help you out given the issues with the top not sealing. Even if they only paid for shipping, at least it would have shown they have some stake in the game for satisfying their customers. Especially since most of us on this thread helped to fund their roll-out by pre-ordering their product.

P40 could use a break. Maybe you guys can get together and kill two birds with one stone?? :mug:
 
fhk said:
I haven't been able to get any satisfaction from them over my broken lid, they insist it wasn't defective (ok then, its just a piece of crap). I am selling if anyone is interested, pm me an offer. You will need to buy a lid for $15 and pay actual shipping cost so consider that in any offer. Comes with all of the original stuff, 2 collection balls, 2 unions and wall brackets.:mad:
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You should donate this to P40WHK... the guy had a fire then his FF stolen. I'm sure he would be happy to accept the gift. :)
 
Here is my setup. Built a 12" collar on a freezer to fit the fermenter and then mounted the bracket on the side of the collar. Hopefully I'll be able to just lift it out and hang it for transfer to keg. Still on my first batch, so I haven't tried it yet, and so far my lid is not sealing.

View attachment 1416938092661.jpg
 
gregorywbrown13 said:
Here is my setup. Built a 12" collar on a freezer to fit the fermenter and then mounted the bracket on the side of the collar. Hopefully I'll be able to just lift it out and hang it for transfer to keg. Still on my first batch, so I haven't tried it yet, and so far my lid is not sealing.
Click to expand...

Awesome!

The freezer mod that is.

The lid not sealing, not so much.

I used the teflon tape to get mine to seal and every time I removed the top, the tape would unravel and I would have to re-wrap it with new tape.

FastFerment needs to step up and offer a solution.
 
gregorywbrown13 said:
Here is my setup. Built a 12" collar on a freezer to fit the fermenter and then mounted the bracket on the side of the collar. Hopefully I'll be able to just lift it out and hang it for transfer to keg. Still on my first batch, so I haven't tried it yet, and so far my lid is not sealing.
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Did you clean up the flash and try to level the top? Really shouldn't have to but it is what it is, I did and it seals with no tape.
 
ChefRex said:
Did you clean up the flash and try to level the top? Really shouldn't have to but it is what it is, I did and it seals with no tape.
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Yeah, I cleaned the flash and chamfered the inside edge. It sealed up good first time.


Sent from my magic box, using only my thumbs.
 
MaddBaggins said:
Tried to dump the yeast today.

Not using the collection ball made that difficult. The beer punched a hole thru the yeast layer and I just got beer.



So, I do need to use the ball, but I'm not concerned about dumping trub. I can use 1 ball and just leave it there for a week or so, then pull it.



I'm 9 days in on the pale, installed a collection ball and, of course, it bubbled up thru the beer, which is what I didn't want to do. Hopefully the yeast will settle into it.
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The yeast all dropped into the ball. Sweet.


Sent from my magic box, using only my thumbs.
 
Hi All,

So here are a couple updates from my second run using the conical.

1) -the bad- One of the mounting bolts for the bracket snapped off right where the threads start on it. I heard a pop as I was filling it and just tossed a clamp on it for now.

2) -the good- As someone else did, I taped some sandpaper to my table saw top and then rested the fermenter upside down on it. Then holding it by the threads, I just swirled it around on the sand paper and kept checking it until I had sanded off a little material all the way around (this clearly showed the high/low spots on it when I started). After doing that, it seals up fine with just the supplied gasket.

3) -the neutral- I let my trub settle for 6 hours before pitching to get it into the ball, but I forgot to open the valve. This formed a plug in the bottom that didn't move when I opened the valve. I got it free by taking my palm sander and just holding the back of it to the cone while vibrating. I think this caused some liquefaction of the trub material and it flowed into the ball.

4) -cleaning- I got a carboy/keg/bucket washer ('Marks keg washer' from Northern Brewer) and it works nicely on the conical for cleaning without worrying about scratching. If I messed around with aiming just right, I could get it up into the ball too.

My batch (English Best Bitter) is bubbling along nicely now (and I can see it in the airlock).
 
Record warm outside yesterday and day 3 of fermentation equals a killer yeast party today. Only got to 67 so not a crisis. First brew on new electric was flawless so hoping to keep it going good. Time to add temp control. Thats a glycol chiller under it.

View attachment 1416969066276.jpg
 
Here are some things I've learned with the first batch I've put into the conical's.

After reading through the forum I took the advice and sanded the top and had no problem with the lid sealing.

Maybe it's me but I literally snapped three of the mounting bolt heads off when screwing them in. A carpenter told me to put some soap on them (I used keg lube) and make sure you drill the pilot hole the length of the screw. After that I had no problem putting the new ones in.

I let the trub settle for about an hour with the valve open and then pitched the yeast. I really didn't have much to begin with and as you can see in the pics the yeast settled out nicely in the ball.

Shout out to trussell for the stand idea I made mine a bit bigger and plan on putting caster wheels on them. Still have to build the fermentation chamber off my stand up freezer.

Dry hopping tonight will post on how the transfer goes to kegs when it's ready.

fermenter1.jpg


fermenter2.jpg
 
rebelhill said:
Here are some things I've learned with the first batch I've put into the conical's.

After reading through the forum I took the advice and sanded the top and had no problem with the lid sealing.

Maybe it's me but I literally snapped three of the mounting bolt heads off when screwing them in. A carpenter told me to put some soap on them (I used keg lube) and make sure you drill the pilot hole the length of the screw. After that I had no problem putting the new ones in.

I let the trub settle for about an hour with the valve open and then pitched the yeast. I really didn't have much to begin with and as you can see in the pics the yeast settled out nicely in the ball.

Shout out to trussell for the stand idea I made mine a bit bigger and plan on putting caster wheels on them. Still have to build the fermentation chamber off my stand up freezer.

Dry hopping tonight will post on how the transfer goes to kegs when it's ready.
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Very nice! I need to make one of those stands too for racking to the bottling bucket. And I like the idea of adding casters. If you add casters, I would suggest adding another brace across the front of the bottom legs. Should be fine as is if left stationary.

I like that beer storage tank in the background too! ;)
 
After having made 2 batches in this fermenter, the one improvement I would like to see is a valve of some kind in the body of the fermenter above where the trub/yeast collects. This could be used to draw samples easily during fermentation so the specific gravity can be checked easily without removing the ball.
 
pauld315 said:
After having made 2 batches in this fermenter, the one improvement I would like to see is a valve of some kind in the body of the fermenter above where the trub/yeast collects. This could be used to draw samples easily during fermentation so the specific gravity can be checked easily without removing the ball.
Click to expand...


What about using a wine thief and unscrewing the lid? I like your idea, but I think the problem would be making more holes in the plastic and reducing strength. I think it's the payoff from buying a cheaper plastic version rather than stainless.
 
For the people that have sanded the top of the fermentor to get the seal to work correctly, have you done anything to smooth that surface back out to make it more sanitary? that scratched surface is not ideal for sanitation by a long stretch, but fortunately it is in a place that doesn't directly touch the beer unless you get some condensation on the lid that drips back down into the beer.

One thing I had considered is sanding it with papers down to 320 grit or so and then fire polishing it (does that work on HDPE?). That should return it to begin a smooth surface that can be sanitized.
 
My two of these found a door leading to my bulkhead! About 68F filling them up tomorrow night !

image.jpg
 
pauld315 said:
After having made 2 batches in this fermenter, the one improvement I would like to see is a valve of some kind in the body of the fermenter above where the trub/yeast collects. This could be used to draw samples easily during fermentation so the specific gravity can be checked easily without removing the ball.
Click to expand...

I would love a spigot or something that I could slowly stream out 2 oz of beer.. thinking about adding a spigot.. any suggestions on how?
 
How about one of these? I've used them on soda bottles and glass growlers for force carbonating. They are $13 at Mcmaster Carr, in brass.
1/8" pipe fitting will pass through a 1/2" hole, mounted like a bulkhead fitting this should be perfect for taking samples.

valve.JPG
 
jleiii said:
How about one of these? I've used them on soda bottles and glass growlers for force carbonating. They are $13 at Mcmaster Carr, in brass.
1/8" pipe fitting will pass through a 1/2" hole, mounted like a bulkhead fitting this should be perfect for taking samples.
Click to expand...

I went to that site, I did not find that particular spigot? Can you send the link?
 
NateBrew said:
For the people that have sanded the top of the fermentor to get the seal to work correctly, have you done anything to smooth that surface back out to make it more sanitary? that scratched surface is not ideal for sanitation by a long stretch, but fortunately it is in a place that doesn't directly touch the beer unless you get some condensation on the lid that drips back down into the beer.

One thing I had considered is sanding it with papers down to 320 grit or so and then fire polishing it (does that work on HDPE?). That should return it to begin a smooth surface that can be sanitized.
Click to expand...


I didn't sand mine. I shaved it with a razor. Nice and smooth, good seal.
 
for those using the FF, at what point to you suggest changing out the collection ball? I have an ale going, fermentation seems to have slowed or stopped and has been in the FF conical for 4 days. Should I swap out the collection ball now or should i give it a solid week?

Just wondering the timing of when the collection balls get changed. thanks
 
redwing_al said:
for those using the FF, at what point to you suggest changing out the collection ball? I have an ale going, fermentation seems to have slowed or stopped and has been in the FF conical for 4 days. Should I swap out the collection ball now or should i give it a solid week?

Just wondering the timing of when the collection balls get changed. thanks
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I'm almost 2 weeks in. The ball has about 1 inch of yeast in it. Seems a shame to waste the beer on top of it. I think I'll cold crash, decant and drink it.

Personally, I'm going to go with a single collection ball use. Attached from the start and removed about 2 weeks in. After that, everything goes in the keg.
I'm only going to be using the FF for kegged beers. No long term conditioning.
 
jleiii said:
I finally got my first batch into the fast ferment last night. A 1.049 hefeweizen. Let it sit about 3 hrs for any trub to settle, and when shined a light on the ball it was clear, no trub. Not sure why but even the kettle had very little.
So I pitched wyeast 3333 and realized that it is so flocculent that it was chunked up in the flask and probably sank to the bottom, and into the ball. I pulled the ball and dumped it back in, leaving the valve closed. This morning it was bubbling away nicely so I opened the valve. Epic fail. Within seconds of it bubbling up, the air lock started spraying sanitizer up in micro streams, then the foam arrived and did the same. I grabbed a blow off tube for my bungs, and swapped it for the air lock and in the time it too to swap about 2 cups of foam escaped, plus another cup or so through the tube.
After about 5 min it settled back down and I was able to put a fresh air lock on it. This was about 2 gal of foam forming in like 30 seconds. I know that disturbing it during fermentation will cause the co2 to come out of solution, by holy beer foam. Never like this.
Anyone else had this happen?
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Had this happen with a beer a couple of weeks back. No airlock activity for 26 hours so what did I do I nudged the better bottle. Then turn away from it and look at my dry yeast packets. I was shocked when I turned back to see 6 streams of foam shoot out of my airlock, and hit the ceiling. I name it Vesuvius Red ale.
 
MaddBaggins said:
I'm almost 2 weeks in. The ball has about 1 inch of yeast in it. Seems a shame to waste the beer on top of it. I think I'll cold crash, decant and drink it.

Personally, I'm going to go with a single collection ball use. Attached from the start and removed about 2 weeks in. After that, everything goes in the keg.
I'm only going to be using the FF for kegged beers. No long term conditioning.
Click to expand...

When I left for the holiday my hefe was on day 4 and the ball was about 90% full of yeast, and most of that dropped in the previous 24 hrs. I've never used WY3333 before, so no idea if this is typical for this strain.

My plan is to primary in the FF, and then secondary in carboys for any that need it.
 
redwing_al said:
I would love a spigot or something that I could slowly stream out 2 oz of beer.. thinking about adding a spigot.. any suggestions on how?
Click to expand...

Easiest way is to just use the thermowell fitting, 1/2 inch NPT. If you need the thermowell you could thread in a tee. I just used a reducer and a 1/4 ball valve with hose barb.
 
fhk said:
Easiest way is to just use the thermowell fitting, 1/2 inch NPT. If you need the thermowell you could thread in a tee. I just used a reducer and a 1/4 ball valve with hose barb.
Click to expand...

great idea.
 
Too bad to hear about the guys lid. A collar on one of my valves didn't tighten correctly and they sent me a new one right away.

Made the centennial blonde and everything worked fine. I didn't modify the lid so it only bubbled a day or so. Beer turned out tasty still.

Just wanted to chime in.
 
Harvested yeast from my second batch today, filled 100% with yeast, pitched to a breakfast stout,1.077 sg bubbling away in an hour.

Happy:rockin:

IMG_5310.jpg
 
ChefRex said:
Harvested yeast from my second batch today, filled 100% with yeast, pitched to a breakfast stout,1.077 sg bubbling away in an hour.

Happy:rockin:
Click to expand...

So, what exactly is the process for reusing yeast from FF collection balls? Pour off the beer and empty yeasties? How do you get the yeast cake out of the ball?
 
There was no beer in this ball, full to the top with yeast, none in the FF above the valve so I might have an inch at most.
Sprayed everything down poured out approximately what I wanted and pitch.
Dumped the last ball down the drain, same yeast, lots of healthy yeast.

IMG_5313.jpg
 
ChefRex said:
There was no beer in this ball, full to the top with yeast, none in the FF above the valve so I might have an inch at most.
Sprayed everything down poured out approximately what I wanted and pitch.
Dumped the last ball down the drain, same yeast, lots of healthy yeast.
Click to expand...

Cool! Definitely all yeast.

I have a full collection ball collected last weekend in the frig. How long can I keep it in the frig and still be viable?
 

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