FastFerment conical fermenter??????

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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
 
@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. :D

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.
 
@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.

Hollow Gasket Alone.png


Hollow Gasket in Lid.png
 
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
 
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.
 
Fast_Rack said:
@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.
Click to expand...

Any chance of getting this part for the bottle fill:

plastic-fitting-mpt-x-1-2-barb-2.jpg


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

plastic-fitting-mpt-x-3-8-barb-2.jpg


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.
 
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?
 
markk308 said:
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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
@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.
 
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.....
 
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.
 
@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

IMG_3409.JPG
 
Fast_Rack said:
@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
Click to expand...


@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...
 
@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.
 
Fast_Rack said:
@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.
Click to expand...


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]
 
Visited the Silver Star distillery in Fort Worth yesterday. They had 2 FFs in their research lab.
 
shelbymedic said:
Anyone purchasing the new 14 gallon fastferment? I may pick it up soon.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about making the leap to 10 gal batches so the 14 gal FF would fit right into that plan. I still have to work through a keggle conversion so not quite ready yet.
Report back if you beat me to the punch.
 
jbb3 said:
I have been thinking about making the leap to 10 gal batches so the 14 gal FF would fit right into that plan. I still have to work through a keggle conversion so not quite ready yet.
Report back if you beat me to the punch.
Click to expand...


" Do it! Do it! What are you waiting for?" (In my best Awnie Dutch Schaefer voiceover)
 
Fast_Rack said:
@shelbymedic - Email me at [email protected] if you need anything answered specifically.



@elreplica - I grew up in Grand Lake, NS and my grandfather had a cottage in Bridgewater





Cheers Guys!
Click to expand...


Hey Mitch, remember you sharing that with me back when you were prereleasing the fast ferments...I bought two with all the fixings before they went public...
 
This may have been covered in one of the 111 pages at some point (I did read about 105 pages a while back) but here we go: have any of you (with a sampling port installed) tried dry hopping bagless in the fermenter, crashed it, then racked out of the sampling port? This would be realistically the closest way to mimic a professional dry hop at a brewery in a nice SS conical. I want to try it with the pale ale im going to make next.
 
Looks like my 2.5 year old FF gave up the ghost. Somehow a small crack developed just below the mounting point. Lost almost 1/2 gal of brew, before SWMBO discovered it. The beer is fine but the FF is finished.

IMG_0053.jpg
 
kaffeenjunkie said:
Looks like my 2.5 year old FF gave up the ghost. Somehow a small crack developed just below the mounting point. Lost almost 1/2 gal of brew, before SWMBO discovered it. The beer is fine but the FF is finished.
Click to expand...


Wow that really stinks! Do you have any idea what may have caused the crack? I'll make sure to look mine over. I have had mine for two years come this June.

Out of curiosity it is above or below the mounting bolt? I wonder if they get weak after X number of batches? Also how many batches did you get with it?

Again I'm sorry to hear this happened but I'm glad you were able it catch it before you lost the entire brew.
 
kaffeenjunkie said:
Looks like my 2.5 year old FF gave up the ghost. Somehow a small crack developed just below the mounting point. Lost almost 1/2 gal of brew, before SWMBO discovered it. The beer is fine but the FF is finished.
Click to expand...


You have be careful not to overtighten those mounting grommets. In order to use it now you could JB Weld or epoxy it and either get or make a FF stand. I hung my two on the wall but imagine that it would stress those mounts over time.
 
elreplica said:
You have be careful not to overtighten those mounting grommets. In order to use it now you could JB Weld or epoxy it and either get or make a FF stand. I hung my two on the wall but imagine that it would stress those mounts over time.
Click to expand...


pshankstar said:
Do you have any idea what may have caused the crack?

Out of curiosity it is above or below the mounting bolt? How many batches did you get with it?
Click to expand...

The crack was below the mounting bolt.
No idea what caused the crack. I suspect elreplica may be right, although I could not say for sure. Perhaps sideways stress from moving my rolling stand might be the issue. Perhaps the sideways stress of opening the FF against the silicone seals. Could be just dumb luck.
I have brewed 28 batches since Jan of 16, so 14 batches, is all I have record of.

No JB weld or epoxy, no thanks. I just ordered another one.

48623A99-6ED9-4EAF-9C8E-0BD0D66D8DD0.jpg
 
kaffeenjunkie said:
The crack was below the mounting bolt.

No idea what caused the crack. I suspect elreplica may be right, although I could not say for sure. Perhaps sideways stress from moving my rolling stand might be the issue. Perhaps the sideways stress of opening the FF against the silicone seals. Could be just dumb luck.

I have brewed 28 batches since Jan of 16, so 14 batches, is all I have record of.



No JB weld or epoxy, no thanks. I just ordered another one.
Click to expand...


Well..you've got two...just like me...looking at the bright side!
 

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