FastFerment conical fermenter??????

[clarkt]

I know I need to find something. It has worked fine (a year) up until now If i shake the fermenter just a little, the air lock goes nuts. So I know there is a leak, and it is just tiny enough to let the CO2 escape, and not much else. I will stop by the dollar sttore tomorrow and see what I can find. Thanx

 

[Fast_Rack]

@clarkt email [email protected] and we can see if we can help you out

 

[kaffeenjunkie]

@clarkt- don't go to the dollar store, you will only experience more frustration. I use two of the FF silicone gaskets stacked inside the lid, it works very well. I just take a second to make sure that they are pushed down all the way around. They will fall out but only with a good amount of shaking on my part. I did nothing to my FF except add another silicone gasket.

As you can see in the vid I posted, on 2/6/17 they seal very well. I can post a vid of me inserting the rings and shaking them but the FF's are full right now.

I got my o-rings from Advetures in home brewing.
http://www.homebrewing.org/Lid-Gasket-for-FastFerment_p_5881.html

Nice to see Fast Rack reaching out and standing behind their product.

 

[Fast_Rack]

@kaffeenjunkie - Thanks for the support. We always want to make sure everyone is happy using our products.

Attached is the image of our Hollow Silicon Gasket. We began adding these into all FastFerments kits later in 2016.

 

[clarkt]

I read where several people have had this issue. I had seen these gaskets but thought it was just something that was being pushed as an accessory. I will get these ordered immediately

Thank you

 

[ElmCityWobblyPops]

The flat gaskets that come with the FF work fine, but you have to tighten it down so tight to get a good seal, that it is impossible to get the cover back off.

What I use is one foam ring from dollar store foam that can be found in the craft section and the flat silicon gasket that comes with the FF. This what when you cinch it down, the foam together with the silicon seals it, but the foam ring keeps it so you can actually get the cover back off. Plus the foam ring cut slightly bigger, keeps the silicon ring in place.

The hollow one looks good, but it is still silicon on plastic, which means it has to be cinched down tight, which makes it hard to get back off.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Don't waste your time buy a spidle 7.9 gallon

 

[clarkt]

I agree that all solutions are imperfect

 

[ElmCityWobblyPops]

@kaffeenjunkie - Thanks for the support. We always want to make sure everyone is happy using our products.

Attached is the image of our Hollow Silicon Gasket. We began adding these into all FastFerments kits later in 2016.

Any chance of getting this part for the bottle fill:

Like this one, with a 90 degree bend and the barb for a 3/8" line instead of the 1/2"

90 degree as I find that the one that comes with it now, your hose is kinked at bit out of the bottom, and 3/8" to take the smaller line. With the 1/2" line gravity fed, the beer comes out pretty quickly (using the hose and a 3/8" bottle filler), and foams up too much in the bottles.

3/8" would slow the flow quite a bit.

 

[ElmCityWobblyPops]

Don't waste your time buy a spidle 7.9 gallon

Sure, but you are giving up the relatively easy yeast collection with this.

Besides, most of us on this thread already have the FF, so buying one of these would be redundant.

I love the FF, just needs a couple of tweaks.

 

[markk308]

Hey guys, how often do you clean the thermowell? There is an area inside that my fingers can't reach. I'm worried about infections. Do you just unscrew, clean and retape? Can I just soak the conical in pbw cleaner without removing the thermowell?

 

[ElmCityWobblyPops]

Hey guys, how often do you clean the thermowell? There is an area inside that my fingers can't reach. I'm worried about infections. Do you just unscrew, clean and retape? Can I just soak the conical in pbw cleaner without removing the thermowell?

Haven't removed mine in a year, and about 15 batches through it. So long as it is well taped prior to use and it doesn't leak, and you well sanitize the inside, then shouldn't have to worry about it.

I soak my FF with oxyclean after each batch for a day, and rinse well, and then just a spray of Starsan when ready to use. No issues with infection.

 

[preamble]

I pretty much do the same thing as ElmCity. Always mostly fill with PBW and let it sit for a day or two. I typically reuse the PBW solution transferring it to an empty korny keg and back again to the FastFerment after the next batch. Always Starsan afterwards before filling with wort. Never had a problem. You may want to disassemble the valve after every few batches and clean it well.

 

[clarkt]

Specifically? Never.
When I am done kegging I fill the FF with water and a half scoop of OxyClean.
Rinse after 24 hours and the whole thing is spotless, even the little corners, like aroi nd the thermowell.

 

[kaffeenjunkie]

Almost at the two year mark I broke mine down completely, cleaned, sanitized and reassembled.

 

[Fast_Rack]

@ElmCityWobblyPops
@preamble
@clarkt
@kaffenjunkie

Thanks for jumping in with your cleaning suggestions guys - All make sense and we always finish up with some Star San at our office and have never had a contaminated batch.

 

[TorMag]

Thermowell is fine with what everyone is saying. However, the ball valve needs to be broken down every few batches. Liquid gets trapped in the ball valve, at the minimal, open and close the ball valve, with both your BPW and Starsan multiple times so both liquids get trapped behind the ball valve. You can test this by filling your FF up with water, open and close the ball valve several times and then dump out the FF and let it air dry upside down, then turn it right side and open the ball valve, you will get water dripping out.....

 

[clarkt]

Hmm Perhaps I should look into that the next time I empty my FF (in about 10 minutes). I never considered that.

 

[sjporr]

So I completely tore down my Fast Fermenter to clean it prior to filling it. I was very surprised to see the amount of "yuck" that made it onto the thread tape on every threaded part (there were only 3 previous brews in it). So after a good cleaning and replacement of all thread tape I ran a leak test with sanitizer. The fermenter was about 1/4 full and started leaking out the top of the ball valve threads on the fermenter itself. I had a small leak from that spot from the very 1st time I used it. So I went to tighten the ball valve up a little onto the fermenter and snapped the bottom clean off! You can imagine the surprise of that happening with about 2 gallons of sanitizer rushing out. Made a huge mess all over the floor. Thank goodness it was full of wort!
Anyone else heard or seen this issue? I cannot believe it snapped off like that! I would have thought the threads would have stripped 1st.

 

[Fast_Rack]

@sjporr Sorry to hear this happened. The only thing I can think of is that it is a random manufacturing defect. Email us an image at [email protected] and we'll get you fixed up.

 

[elreplica]

@sjporr Sorry to hear this happened. The only thing I can think of is that it is a random manufacturing defect. Email us an image at [email protected] and we'll get you fixed up.

Now that's performance!

 

[DrDance]

Just thought I'd share this on the forum...
Big Rock Brewery in Etobicoke, ON uses FF as well. I figure, if it's good enough for the pros...View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1488934342.510801.jpg

 

[DustyBrew]

Beautiful!

 

[Fast_Rack]

@elreplica - Thanks man!

@DRDance thanks for the share. I had to check it out and went to Big Rock in Liberty Village Toronto this week and met the brewer there

 

[DrDance]

@elreplica - Thanks man!

@DRDance thanks for the share. I had to check it out and went to Big Rock in Liberty Village Toronto this week and met the brewer there

@fast_rack what are they using them for? I mean, except the obvious, but are they trying out new recipes in them? Looks like they have a bunch.
I thought it was kinda cool...

 

[Fast_Rack]

@DRDance just doing some test batches

There are a lot of breweries who use them for this. Some of the largest breweries in Canada (name cannot be mentioned) use them for the same purpose.

 

[DrDance]

@DRDance just doing some test batches

There are a lot of breweries who use them for this. Some of the largest breweries in Canada (name cannot be mentioned) use them for the same purpose.

That's what I figured.
Seems you have a very worthy product @Fast_Rack
Glad I'm a user!
And it does make great beer![emoji482]

 

[Volare]

Visited the Silver Star distillery in Fort Worth yesterday. They had 2 FFs in their research lab.

 

[shelbymedic]

Anyone purchasing the new 14 gallon fastferment? I may pick it up soon.

 

[elreplica]

Anyone purchasing the new 14 gallon fastferment? I may pick it up soon.

Be brave...be the first!