FastFerment conical

[DeBrewer]

I ended up buying a SS coil and bulkhead qc fittings for an internal chiller. Basically a wort chiller with ice water / glycol. I will wrap the outside in heat tape of the equiv just like my carboys. Then use the same two stage controller to run the pond pump / heat. Not a jacket like the carboys I know. But I really do expect this to be a more efficient means of cooling.

Now if I only had time to put the pile of parts together...

Bottom of this link has images of where I stole the idea from...

http://discussions.probrewer.com/showthread.php?22617-temp-controlled-plastic-conical/page3

I have done almost the same. I have SS coils mounted to the lids that I pump glycol through accompanied by a pump and valves controlled by a BCS. My SWMBO has/is sewing jackets for them. Basically using multiple layers of the same material that a heavy quilt is made from. It seems to be able to drop temps and maintain all 4 of the fermenters decently.

FF recently released their jacket but it does not contact the fermenter fully. Merely maintains ambient temp around the fermenter.
http://fastferment.myshopify.com/

 

[augiedoggy]

I have done almost the same. I have SS coils mounted to the lids that I pump glycol through accompanied by a pump and valves controlled by a BCS. My SWMBO has/is sewing jackets for them. Basically using multiple layers of the same material that a heavy quilt is made from. It seems to be able to drop temps and maintain all 4 of the fermenters decently.

FF recently released their jacket but it does not contact the fermenter fully. Merely maintains ambient temp around the fermenter.
http://fastferment.myshopify.com/

unfortunately the lid on the older V vessels are actually much smaller rubber stoppers.... they seal great compared to the FF lids from what Ive read but they leave a lot to be desired for cleaning options and limit cooling options...
I was really hoping the insulated bags would have cooling capability like these, which is what I use on my conicals with straight sidewalls..
http://www.gotta-brew.com/products/cool-zone-cooling-jacket.html

 

[Brewski_59]

Any one else have an issue with the collection balls breaking? So far I have 2 that broke in the same location. Where the threads meet the thicker neck of the ball.

 

[trailrider]

I've used the FF for a year and have broken one in the same place. I guessed I just tightened the ball to much to often.

 

[Brewski_59]

I've used the FF for a year and have broken one in the same place. I guessed I just tightened the ball to much to often.

One of the users on the facebook group also had this happen to him. I think its a production flaw. The first one I assumed like you that I had overtightened. The second I doubt it. it was stored in my gear box waiting to be used.
I sent a message to their website. I suggest you do the same.

 

[danngoodbeer]

I also had an issue with the collection ball breaking. The neck basically started separating from the rest of the ball (which led to me losing a few pints during racking - luckily I had backup carboys). I contacted FastBrewing, and they had a replacement collection ball sent to my LHBS. As others here have mentioned, their customer service has been excellent. Shoot them an email with a picture of the breakage and they should take care of you.

 

[Brewski_59]

Update. I contacted them last night and this morning had an email requesting information for replacements.

 

[Chris K]

Do you have to use the collection balls during fermentation? Can you ferment without the collection balls and just do a trub dump into a bucket?

I don't have a fast ferment but have been following this thread for a while. I would not plan to harvest yeast so the collection ball just looks silly to me, I'm just not sure if the valve would leak without the collection balls.

 

[Brewski_59]

Sure you can do just that. What I like about the collection ball is that all the trube settles there during fermentation. Makes it easy to separate.

 

[CTS]

I really have to stop searching for stuff....guess i better start saving! haha

 

[VTCCbrewer]

I just wanted to add my two cents to previous comments about customer service.



I don't think I have ever had a better customer experience with a company than I have with this one. On multiple occasions I pinged them about cooling jackets and temperature control. Each and every time they responded with the current state of their project and when I could expect to see it on the market. When I bought this I didn't realize the box had been opened and some of the parts were missing. It took precisely one email and another entire bag of hardware, including a new lid gasket, were on my doorstep within days. no hassle of any kind.



These folks have a great product and awesome customer service. If you are on the fence about this product and either of those concerns are important to your decision then pull the trigger now. This is a great company to do business with.

I'm another recipient of fantastic customer service.....sent them an email about concerns I had with the gasket.....received replacements in less than a week!
No Charge!

I do have a question for all users of the conical......how do you man handle the awkward shape and the 40+ pounds of wort?. I have the "official" strap and the wall hanging bracket, but lifting, positioning and tilting (to pour out the sanitizer, et al) the fermenter is not easy. Any suggestions?

 

[VTCCbrewer]

I just wanted to add my two cents to previous comments about customer service.



I don't think I have ever had a better customer experience with a company than I have with this one. On multiple occasions I pinged them about cooling jackets and temperature control. Each and every time they responded with the current state of their project and when I could expect to see it on the market. When I bought this I didn't realize the box had been opened and some of the parts were missing. It took precisely one email and another entire bag of hardware, including a new lid gasket, were on my doorstep within days. no hassle of any kind.



These folks have a great product and awesome customer service. If you are on the fence about this product and either of those concerns are important to your decision then pull the trigger now. This is a great company to do business with.

I'm another recipient of fantastic customer service.....sent them an email about concerns I had with the gasket.....received replacements in less than a week!
No Charge!

I do have a question for all users of the conical......how do you man handle the awkward shape and the 40+ pounds of wort?. I have the "official" strap and the wall hanging bracket, but lifting, positioning and tilting (to pour out the sanitizer, et al) the fermenter is not easy. Any suggestions?

 

[VTCCbrewer]

Kept getting error messages.....kept trying to send....

 

[VTCCbrewer]

I want to add to the praise....I sent an email to them questioning the gaskets, and received 2 new ones for free....how can you beat that!!

I do have a question for all users of the conical......how do you man handle the awkward shape and the 40+ pounds of wort?. I have the "official" strap and the wall hanging bracket, but lifting, positioning and tilting (to pour out the sanitizer, et al) the fermenter is not easy. Any suggestions?

 

[Brewski_59]

I want to add to the praise....I sent an email to them questioning the gaskets, and received 2 new ones for free....how can you beat that!!

I do have a question for all users of the conical......how do you man handle the awkward shape and the 40+ pounds of wort?. I have the "official" strap and the wall hanging bracket, but lifting, positioning and tilting (to pour out the sanitizer, et al) the fermenter is not easy. Any suggestions?

I would suggest dumping sanitizer through the valve instead of tipping. I don't use the bracket, instead I use the small stand inside my fermenting fridge. I just carry the filled fermenter with the stand. Same as I do with filled carboys. Maybe I can use the brackets on a two wheeled cart for transport. Hmmm.

 

[HopsSolo]

Yeah. the tops don't seal worth a crap on these things...

My wife had some foam sheets that are used for crafts (she's a pre-school teacher). I traced the factory gasket onto the sheet and cut one out. Then I took the foam sheet gasket and placed it in the top first with the factory gasket on top of it. The double thickness of the factory and foam sheet gasket sealed it.

View attachment 249786

This worked flawlessly. Thank-you!

As I'm new to the hobby I was excited to brew my second IPA in my brand new FastFerment only to be disappointed when there was no activity in the airlock. I removed the screw on top lid and noticed lots of fermentation happening. I sprayed the supplied gasket with some Star San and replaced the lid. Instantly the airlock started to bubble. About 5 hours later the bubbling stopped, at that point I assumed the gasket dried out again. So I googled the issue and came across this thread. I went to Staples and picked up some of this foam paper to make a new gasket. It works perfectly!!

Thanks again.

 

[jbb3]

This worked flawlessly. Thank-you!

As I'm new to the hobby I was excited to brew my second IPA in my brand new FastFerment only to be disappointed when there was no activity in the airlock. I removed the screw on top lid and noticed lots of fermentation happening. I sprayed the supplied gasket with some Star San and replaced the lid. Instantly the airlock started to bubble. About 5 hours later the bubbling stopped, at that point I assumed the gasket dried out again. So I googled the issue and came across this thread. I went to Staples and picked up some of this foam paper to make a new gasket. It works perfectly!!

Thanks again.

Glad it was helpful.

Good luck with your IPA and welcome to the hobby!

 

[2Kegger]

So I've done two batches with the FastFerment. Neither of them went well. I did the primary, removed the ball, sanitized the ball and put it back on. I sprayed sanitizer on the connections and reattached to ball. After two weeks, I still had solids clinging to the sides of the connical. I couldn't get it to clear. It was a simple cream ale the first time. When I finally transferred it, I got a ton of trub in the keg. The second one had the same issue, so I put a wine whip on a drill, sanitized the whip and stirred it to knocked the trub off the sides. A few days later, i dumped the ball again, and reattached it. About a week later, it looked clear. Until I took the lid off to start the transfer. I had a nice layer of something bubbling on top. It was contaminated. It was a great idea, but I think I'm going back to regular fermenters. I may try again some time, but at this point it's just not working for me.

 

[PeteNMA]

I use the strap as follows. Put your hands all the way through the loops, then brace the strap against your wrists. Then use your hands on the body of the conical to help lift and orient the thing.

I want to add to the praise....I sent an email to them questioning the gaskets, and received 2 new ones for free....how can you beat that!!

I do have a question for all users of the conical......how do you man handle the awkward shape and the 40+ pounds of wort?. I have the "official" strap and the wall hanging bracket, but lifting, positioning and tilting (to pour out the sanitizer, et al) the fermenter is not easy. Any suggestions?

 

[gotbags-10]

Sadly I have retired mine as well.

 

[helterscelter]

I do have a question for all users of the conical......how do you man handle the awkward shape and the 40+ pounds of wort?. I have the "official" strap and the wall hanging bracket, but lifting, positioning and tilting (to pour out the sanitizer, et al) the fermenter is not easy. Any suggestions?

I usually sanitize by putting the bare minimum necessary in the fermentor. once it's clean, I usually add enough to fill the bottom collection ball and just enough in the cone to swirl around the inside. then dump.

to fill, I've tried a number of things. I've got the wall brackets, tall stand, carry strap, etc. I've never hung it on the wall. it's a tough sell to me hanging something that heavy on a wall, high enough up to make it worth it.

I used to fill it and "muscle it" around full of wort using the strap. but that's not very happy -- pretty cumbersome. so mostly now I use a bucket for the drain from the kettle and aeration and carrying from my brew area to my fermentor. then I dump from the bucket into the fermentor. this is less than happy as well, since I have to clean and sanitize, and I still have to deal with an unwieldy heavy fastferment full of now fully fermented wort sitting in a stand that is too short by any measure of the imagination to be drained. so I still have to "muscle it" up onto something higher. not easy, but doable.

I guess the gist of it is, I deal with it using muscles. it's not easy. but the ability to dump trub and collect yeast as easy as it is, makes it worth it.. esp since it's only slightly more cumbersome than a bucket.

 

[jbb3]

So I've done two batches with the FastFerment. Neither of them went well. I did the primary, removed the ball, sanitized the ball and put it back on. I sprayed sanitizer on the connections and reattached to ball. After two weeks, I still had solids clinging to the sides of the connical. I couldn't get it to clear. It was a simple cream ale the first time. When I finally transferred it, I got a ton of trub in the keg. The second one had the same issue, so I put a wine whip on a drill, sanitized the whip and stirred it to knocked the trub off the sides. A few days later, i dumped the ball again, and reattached it. About a week later, it looked clear. Until I took the lid off to start the transfer. I had a nice layer of something bubbling on top. It was contaminated. It was a great idea, but I think I'm going back to regular fermenters. I may try again some time, but at this point it's just not working for me.

They do have their issues but you can plan around them. For the solids that stick to the sides of the conical; make sure there room left in the collection ball so the solids have room and a place to go. Then, the day before you plan to drain to the keg/bottles, I take the back end of a flashlight and rap on the sides of the conical all the way around. It creates a trub-slide of sorts inside. The next day, everything has slid into the collection ball and settled.

As far as something bubbling on top of your wort; It is possible you contaminated it when you stirred it. But more likely, you woke up some yeast and that's what you saw floating on top and bubbling.

FF certainly are not perfect but there is usually a process or work around that will deal with the issues it presents. It's a matter of using them and figuring out what works best and deciding what you can or want to deal with verses racking from carboys or fermenting buckets...

 

[Bellybuster]

trub stuck to the sides stays stuck to the sides during transfer....win!

 

[CTS]

See more and more people have stopped using them. Not want I want to hear as I just got one in the mail a few days ago. Hopfully do a brew next week and see how it works out.

 

[PeteNMA]

Like anything there is some technique associated to making the most out of all of the features. However I've only used mine for a couple of brews and am already sold on getting a second

 

[CTS]

Like anything there is some technique associated to making the most out of all of the features. However I've only used mine for a couple of brews and am already sold on getting a second

I'm curious if you keep the ball valve open or closed? Have read that people are getting diacetyl flavors when the valve is open. Not sure how many people are experiencing this problem.

 

[PeteNMA]

You're supposed to keep it open. You need to correctly manage your yeast whilst using a conical, which means ramping temps at the correct times.

You need to hold temperature whilst the yeast is in its growth phase, then ramp up as fermentation progresses to ensure that the yeast finishes out and cleans up any diacetyl in the process. Which is what you should do with buckets or carboys too for the best quality finished beer as well.

 

[Bellybuster]

I'm curious if you keep the ball valve open or closed? Have read that people are getting diacetyl flavors when the valve is open. Not sure how many people are experiencing this problem.

How could the valve being open or closed possibly correlate with diacetyl

 

[Bellybuster]

See more and more people have stopped using them. Not want I want to hear as I just got one in the mail a few days ago. Hopfully do a brew next week and see how it works out.

You could use a $100,000 golden conical and some will have complaints. It's just a different shaped bucket, they all are. You'll like it

 

[jbb3]

I'm curious if you keep the ball valve open or closed? Have read that people are getting diacetyl flavors when the valve is open. Not sure how many people are experiencing this problem.

You didn't ask me but...

I usually keep the valve closed until the yeast becomes active. Usually a day or two then I open the valve for the remainder.

As far as diacetyl goes, I don't think having the valve open or closed is going to have an affect on the amount of diacetyl in your beer. Some of the lager brewers out there may argue that but I don't think there is anything to it.

Temperature and time are what's needed for the yeast to clean up the diacetyl.

 

[CTS]

How could the valve being open or closed possibly correlate with diacetyl

I'm guessing the amount of yeast that is in contact with the wort. Just read it before and wondering if it's a common problem or not.

Will have to do some more reading on cooling the wort while fermenting. My basment is usually around the 65 mark and past beers have turned out pretty dam good. There is always room for improvement and tinkering.

Going to try making a jacket for bottles of ice and see how that goes.

 

[CTS]

You didn't ask me but...

I usually keep the valve closed until the yeast becomes active. Usually a day or two then I open the valve for the remainder.

As far as diacetyl goes, I don't think having the valve open or closed is going to have an affect on the amount of diacetyl in your beer. Some of the lager brewers out there may argue that but I don't think there is anything to it.

Temperature and time are what's needed for the yeast to clean up the diacetyl.

Was thinking the same thing, probably will wait a couple days then open the ball valve.

 

[PeteNMA]

Open it at the start. There is no advantage to keeping it closed.

One of the reasons we use conicals is that they encourage the yeast to drop out of suspension. If you are not keeping the yeast active until they have cleaned up any diacetyl then it can be very hard to get them roused and working again, as the conical encourages them to floc out into the ball. If you run your fermentation well then this does not happen

 

[chezhed]

Going to try making a jacket for bottles of ice and see how that goes.

Jackets are supposed to be available in January Check with your LHBS

 

[CTS]

Jackets are supposed to be available in January Check with your LHBS

Ya I see fastbrewing has a pre sale on for 55 bucks which isn't to bad. Have to see if that's in US or Canadian dollers. This horrible Canadian doller is really putting a damper on my southern shopping.

In the mean time I got some cardboard to box in the fermenter. Plan on brewing a holiday ale again Friday.

 

[pgbrewing]

Jackets are supposed to be available in January Check with your LHBS

I put a large freeze pack on top of the fermenter, draped an old sleeping bag over the whole thing, then zipped it up. I changed the freeze pack every morning before work and every evening when I returned. Temperature stayed pretty steady at 64 - 66 degrees.

 

[Dade0]

Rant:
Do you realize Adventures in Homebrewing sells O'Ring (4 pack) for FastFerment for $2.00. That sounds good. Then they charge $8.00 to ship it. That is the least expensive shipping rate and will not be processed for 1 week. There is no reason these simple pieces cannot be shipped in a more economical fashion. I have made FastFertment and AIH aware of my displeasure. Pleas copy the text and send them an email from their contact us pages. I have not found another place to by them yet.

I got an email from AIH. They will send via USPS if I mention it in the notes. Good on them. Crow Eaten.

 

[Dade0]

A few days ago I noticed one of the wall mounts for my FFs was not looking right. The screw in the top hole of the wall mount had sheared off. I have not seen this on the other 7 mounts I have (2 for each FF). Now I can't simply put in another crew since the majority of the old one is still in the hole. I will need to move all of my FF's since they are in a line, attached to a board, attached to the wall. I will replace the screws with something a bit beefy'r. Hopeful that I can find some made in USA. FFs = little problems that are just a PITA.

 

[augiedoggy]

A few days ago I noticed one of the wall mounts for my FFs was not looking right. The screw in the top hole of the wall mount had sheared off. I have not seen this on the other 7 mounts I have (2 for each FF). Now I can't simply put in another crew since the majority of the old one is still in the hole. I will need to move all of my FF's since they are in a line, attached to a board, attached to the wall. I will replace the screws with something a bit beefy'r. Hopeful that I can find some made in USA. FFs = little problems that are just a PITA.

Just get a better grade lag screw.. They should make them in different harnesses like #5 and #8 (strongest) the marking lines on the top often denote this on the bolt headed ones. Where its made isnt as important as the grade of material its made from for different uses.

 

[CTS]

Also make sure to pre drill for lags.