Fastferment

[99bottlesofbeeronthewall]

I’m as new as can be at this. Lol

for my first attempt: lite Munson can kit using dextrose

did everything except the hydrometer reading as I’m bored in quarantine and my hydrometer is still in the mail.
All went well with tons of bubbler action about 12 hrs after starting. Continued bubbling for about a day but then bubbling stopped.
I read some reuse the yeast in the collection ball so I shut off the lower valve and gently poured the collection ball contents in the top of the fastferment (without separating yeast) and boom, bumbling like crazy for about a day. reinstalled the ball, opened the valve and things started to slow again.
What the heck, I’m bored so I poured the contents of the ball back in again and boom, bubbled like crazy. I left the ball off and it’s very active for a few more days and only now after about a week slowing.

I’d love to know why when the yeast seems to collect in the ball over a day, things seem to stall?
Or maybe there’s a different explanation?

BTW had a taste sample it’s tastes very flat but good. Not sweet, definitely contains alcohol and should be a very dry crop finish if all goes well from here

 

[VikeMan]

Fermentations always slow down as the amount of sugars is reduced.

BTW, when people talk about reusing yeast, that doesn't mean for the same batch. After only one day of fermentation, I'd bet that most of what you got out of that collection ball was not yeast, but other trub components. When you added the contents back into the fermenter, you probably stirred up CO2 that was in solution/suspension, reinvigorating the bubbling.

 

[Jag75]

Your lid on the FF may not have been secured right , allowing co2 to escape there . I have a 7.9 and the lid has to be put on just right. You were dumping trub back on the top . Then when you opened the valve you've created a pressure change causing o2 and co2 to exit the airlock.

Do you have a spigot on your FF ?if not I highly suggest adding one. When I use mine I would dump the collection ball on day 7 then leave it off .

 

[Nate R]

Also, every time you opened the top you probably introduced some amount of oxygen. The yeast may have appteciated a little more oxygen (hence more visible activity?), but at this point you really want to eliminate as much oxygen as possible.

One of the BEST things i ever did for my beer was just leave it alone... it is so hard too do that though!!! I now wait at least 4 to 7 days before i even check gravity. Jag75 i think leaves his beer in primary two weeks.

Patience is rewarded in this hobby!!

(Note- some beer and some yeasts have different schedules to ferment. Also the amount & health of yeast you pitch can affect time.)

 

[Jag75]

Absolutely right about the oxygen Nate. My norm is 3 weeks

 

[99bottlesofbeeronthewall]

Thanks to all for the info

 

[Nate R]

Absolutely right about the oxygen Nate. My norm is 3 weeks

My bad! Three weeks!
I cannot stress enough (although I read it a lot!) about how letting beer age is so important!
My latest batch in the keg has gotten just so much better- it is on week 4 now.

 

[Bart Taylor]

Fastferment 3 gallon "unintentional ball valve disassembly" solution rant​

Ok, this is maddening. Let me start by saying if someone else posted this solution I'm sorry for the enclosed rant but I couldn't find the post. Also let me say I really like my Fastferment fermenters but....

I've had the problem with the ball valve coming apart when trying to replace the ball valve adapter with the bottling adapter on a 3 gallon fermenter (as have many other people). This tends to dump the contents of the fermenter. It turns out Fastferment has the fix but isn't advertising this or offering the piece separately that solves the problem. The mason jar adapter for the larger fermenters comes with a botting fitting that replaces the mason jar. This same bottling fitting fits a 3 gallon fermenter. You don't have to remove the mason jar adapter, which can cause the valve disassembly, to bottle or keg. However you have to buy the full mason jar kit for the larger fermenter to get the bottling adapter. They don't sell the bottling adapter separately.

In the picture, the two pieces on the left make up the mason jar adapter for the larger fermenters. The piece on the right is the mason jar adapter for the 3 gallon fermenter. The piece on the far left is the bottling adapter that comes with the larger fermenter kit. This piece fits the mason jar adapter for the 3 gallon but you cannot buy it separately. I don't know how may threads that I've read that complain about the valve coming apart and this solves the problem... AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGG

 

[hotbeer]

I feel your pain. I had the same problem with my 3 gallon FastFerment and lost my first beer and most of my second beer that I used it for.

Fast Ferment never answered any of the two emails I sent them. Morebeer that I bought from was more than willing to to send me an entirely new 3 gallon FastFerment. However I decided to just get an adapter to make that threaded pipe fitting on the end a 1.5" sanitary fitting and get a sight glass, butterfly valve and other needed fittings and clamps.

I got them from the Cenzo Fittings Store on AliExpress. This is the actual butterfly valve I got. Pretty inexpensive and works very well 1.5" Butterfly Valve Sanitary Tri Clamp Clover Pull Handle SS304 Stainless Steel 38mm Ferrule OD 50.5mm Homebrew

Took just over a month, to show up and shipment tracking for things coming from overseas will have you going mad until you get use to it. But the prices are very good and the quality and finish is very good. If you use AliExpress, you might have to shop around to find the best deals at the moment. And the way they spec the sizes sometimes can leave you very confused.

The adapter that I put on it fit better than the original valve that Fastferment provided. I used a little teflon tape as well as some food safe thread seal compound and so far have not taken the adaper off after 4 brews. I might after a few more brews take if off and be sure yeast and gunk aren't getting up in the threads. But at the moment the thread seal compound still seems to have that sealed up.

It was a mistake on FastFerment's part to design the mason jar adapter to unscrew in the same direction as the valve core that it seals against. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why they didn't mold a sanitary fitting on the end instead of a threaded connection that even from their videos and instructions you can tell was giving them issues from the very beginning. I have seen PVC ball valves and fittings with sanitary connections that are just as inexpensive as the threaded fittings that they originally provide.

 

[Bart Taylor]

I feel your pain. I had the same problem with my 3 gallon FastFerment and lost my first beer and most of my second beer that I used it for.

Fast Ferment never answered any of the two emails I sent them. Morebeer that I bought from was more than willing to to send me an entirely new 3 gallon FastFerment. However I decided to just get an adapter to make that threaded pipe fitting on the end a 1.5" sanitary fitting and get a sight glass, butterfly valve and other needed fittings and clamps.

I got them from the Cenzo Fittings Store on AliExpress. This is the actual butterfly valve I got. Pretty inexpensive and works very well 1.5" Butterfly Valve Sanitary Tri Clamp Clover Pull Handle SS304 Stainless Steel 38mm Ferrule OD 50.5mm Homebrew

Took just over a month, to show up and shipment tracking for things coming from overseas will have you going mad until you get use to it. But the prices are very good and the quality and finish is very good. If you use AliExpress, you might have to shop around to find the best deals at the moment. And the way they spec the sizes sometimes can leave you very confused.

The adapter that I put on it fit better than the original valve that Fastferment provided. I used a little teflon tape as well as some food safe thread seal compound and so far have not taken the adaper off after 4 brews. I might after a few more brews take if off and be sure yeast and gunk aren't getting up in the threads. But at the moment the thread seal compound still seems to have that sealed up.

It was a mistake on FastFerment's part to design the mason jar adapter to unscrew in the same direction as the valve core that it seals against. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why they didn't mold a sanitary fitting on the end instead of a threaded connection that even from their videos and instructions you can tell was giving them issues from the very beginning. I have seen PVC ball valves and fittings with sanitary connections that are just as inexpensive as the threaded fittings that they originally provide.

That's a bunch of work for an inexpensive fermenter. I like the fermenter but I'll like it more now that I have an easy fix.

 

[hotbeer]

The cost of what I bought on AliExress was less than what it cost to get another fermenter that I felt was decent enough. And a 3 gallon conical isn't an easy thing to find either. I didn't want to move up to a 5 gallon or more FV.

I do really like the steep sides of the FastFerment. Virtually all of the trub and yeast go to the very bottom and when I bottle directly from the FV, there isn't even enough sediment to worry about making my beer cloudy again after swirling it to mix in the priming solution.