Fermzilla Dump Valve Adaption?

[christian86]

so, I have the fermzilla for a time now, never liked that colector jar, and now I broke it, and dont wanna buy another one, so I have some questions
saw this on the internet, but think is a fermentassaurus

I wanaa fo something similar with fermzilla

Have anyone found any way of improvising a real dump valve like the photo? so you can colect trub/yeast without all that screwing?

any way of ataching a part like this one?

the other thing Im thinking is, do someone have the actual dumension of the colecting jar thread? So maybe I could 3D print a part that could have the same thread of the colector jar but it is a cone with a 90º tybe with tri clover at the end

to me its much more obviously something like this instead of that jar

have anyone already have a project like this that could be shared?

thanks

 

[DuncB]

That is a fermentasaurus I can confirm.
I haven't ever got my hands on a fermzilla so can't offer advice re your problem.

Any way to fit a bulkhead connector onto you broken fermzilla jar ( not sure how it has broken ) then you can fit tri clover stuff on.

 

[christian86]

the jar broke on the cap threads (too much screwing and unscrewing with unecessary strengh)
thing is, the thread of the jar is 4.5", the inner thread seems smaller, though I can't verify that now because Im fermenting on it right now. I searched for 4.5" bulkheads and reductors to fit the jar spot, found a firehose on 4.5" but it really expensive, and its risky because I dont even know if thethreads are NPT, BSP or even worse
I didnt quit yet, I'm looking on 3D printm but to start to make the project I'll need the size of the partsm the thread twist size...
For the looks, fermentassaurus seems to have smaller lid and dump valve, so its probably easyer to find something that fits and hold the wort and pressure

Thanks anyway, and if something comes in mind, please share
cheers

 

[DuncB]

I didn''t have much luck when I contacted Kegland about the thread type on the top of the fermentasaurus, so I doubt they will be particularly forthcoming about the fermzilla thread.

Maybe an engineer can work it out for you, it's unlikely that they developed a unique thread. Then there will be a source for an alternative somewhere. 3d print forum might be able to scan the thread perhaps. But if you found out the spec easier to get the 3d print done or the off the shelf.
Will await your updates.

 

[christian86]

thanks for the tips, and do you know any 3D forums where I could ask for help? already though about object scanning, but having troubles finding a good free software (will search a little more, if you have one good name for me...)
I was suprise about the quality of 3D print I saw on some videos, thread printing wont be a problem, though have to be a good project...
so I painted white my colector jar (its broken, so its useless anyway) read that scaning transparent objects can get a little tough, took some photos circulating the jar, put in meshroom program but didnt get much from it yet...

this is the project, the not the final, just to see if I could project something like this, threads werent measured. upper size ir 4,5", down is 1", thinking if it is worth putting another 1" conection on the side
thinking on how thinck should be the walls for sustaining pressure, this model is 3mm
thinking about the material, gonna see what type of plastic can be used in 3D print
I will need to scan the female thread to be sure of the fitting

 

[DuncB]

@christian86
I don't know any forums, just have to search and try some for advice. Maybe a company doing commercial 3d prints might be able to help.
I think that you should go bigger with that lower hole. Perhaps just go the whole hog and 3D print it to take 1.5 inch triclovers.

 

[apache_brew]

Is this the assembly you have?
If so, why don’t you wanna buy another collection jar? Has anyone successfully 3D printed parts to touch beer and be reusable (cleanable/sanitized)?

 

[DuncB]

@christian86
If you do find out about printing threads, I'm interested in a 3d printed lid for the petling bottle that the ispindel goes in.
Had one leak under minimal pressure and it's now sank in the beer and is partly obstructing the outflow of the fermentasaurus. Grrrr.
Also as the lid deforms under pressure it sends the readings haywire.

 

[christian86]

Im trying to use meshroom for photogrametry since its free, It takes loooongs times to transform Photos into 3d, so I tested few times, not entirely succesfull, but alrrady see it could be done, maybe its my photos quality, light... Its says It have dificulty on thin objects, so maybe I fill It with papper or socks
Also, If 3d print its not suitable for pressure, I guess I can send to usinate in polypropilene ir another sanitary plasticor even inox, in inox could vê a little more expansível than buying the original colector, talk abaout converting dollars to brasil real...

Apache_brew, yes, this os the set I had, I live in brasil and buying one replacement its not cheap, and for something that proves to be fragile and not very practical for me... And a 3D printed piece should be much more cheaper and way faster to reach my hands. A cone and a valvr would be way more usefull, since It would be much more easy to separate trub, Young yeast/good yeast/old yeast, gelatina, etc, without screwing/unscrewing, testing for leaks... A cone and a valvr, on humana measuremnts (not unique 4,5" shape). Way I think, eorked some years on beber industry, and if beber industry uses a cone and a valve Works wide, its probably because its the best practical choice, even though its diferent scale.

DuncB, I serached for 3d pronta on yhe internet and round some vídeos with Very good quality screw, só its doable, anoyher search and I see that its possível to do the schematics in Autodesk inventor, (maybe SketchUp?) On inventor there is alll kinds of ththreads sizes in inches or cm, npt/não/nbsp/etc, Im still lrarning but tou can find tutorials on youtube

 

[DuncB]

@christian86
Thanks for the reply.

I will start looking into this over here and see what I come up with.

I was all over the fermzilla when first announced but thankful that I didn't leap on the bandwagon after all the issues there seem to be.

 

[christian86]

Thing is, buying an pet keg could prove to be almost the same, if you change the siphoon for a floating dip, but way more cheaper

I've manage to do some photogrametry and a little cleaning, but it is still raw material, most because my lack of experience and equipment for taking a good photo to be processed in meshroom and then treated on blender.
I searched a little about what kind of plastic is used on 3d print, there is one PETG, that probably is suited for this project (food grade, pressure, temperature and chemical maybe)
I tried to atach the progress so far here, if anyone wants could use it somehow, but the files are too bigm maybe if I generated a google drive link, gonna see this later. Im gonna ask for my brother help, he knows how to use skecthuo and CAD and these 3d programs

*Edit - Link for the 3d .dae potogrametry of th colector

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1euXCm8XupZF6vWiiHvc0gUWGKZSkIKTs/view?usp=sharing

 

[DuncB]

Not made any progress on this over here, but will ask in the brew club tonight.

 

[christian86]

so, I imported the 3d scan to autodesk inventor but it got a LOT of feometry to adjust, and since my skills and equipment for a 3d photogrametry is poor, the model came into inventor with a lot of imperfections to reconstruct, though it would be something close to insanity trying to solve that, so I move to create from zero...
Measuring all dimensions as close as I can and a little learning and I think I got something here...
the thread that conects with the fermzilla valve piece its a Buttress type, and the thread is a double start thread (this one I missed on the first model attempt)

specifications:

Cone angle is 60º (or something really close to taht)
I added an extra thickness to the walls (maybe it will resist higher pressure?)
Made the lower thread a 1/2 BSP non-conical, mostly because the 304 valve and knee I have is a 1/2, if I get a trub/yeast stucking I can just close the fermzilla big valve and stick a wire or something to clear the way.
And because of the extra thickned walls the inside dimension should be different from the standart BSP, but the important is the outside thread dimension, that I made as the standart table informs
Added a "gear" just bellow the upper thread, so it could helo whit screwing/unscrewing when mounting or dismounting

Even though it proves it cannot hold pressure, it could be used only during non pressurized fermentation step, and if you want to hold pressure just close the big fermzilla valve (but lets hope it holds pressure ;-) )

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IMPORTANT!!

I didnt 3d printed this yet, so I really dont know if it will fit and not leak, or resist pressure or anything, so I dont wanna be responsible for any damage to anyone fermenter, extra care when messing with pressure

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Also, dont wanna see someone picking this project and proffiting on my work

I think its gonna be some time untill I could send this to a 3d printer service to really test it, so if anyone test before me, le us here knows the results

Maybe in some near future we could project anotherfermzilla lid, one that makes sense! hehehe

Link to colectorcone aautodesk inventor drive file
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jCOEgU-GM9EVVACa-BoKsFvHujpt4eFf/view?usp=sharing
Cheers!

 

[DuncB]

@christian86
That looks great progress you are making on the design.
Have a look at this thread, I asked how a new lid was made and the method is described at the end, might be an option.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/can-i-bottle-from-a-pressure-barrel.94330/#post-1037945

 

[DuncB]

@christian86
Bit more info on the above forum about measuring the threads.

But this thread details how he cast a lid thread for a pressure barrel and might be a better alternative.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...ssure-barrel-“bung”.86949/page-3#post-1039084
I also watched this yesterday and the collection vessel looks suspiciously like the Fermzilla one and you might enquire of them their source and details



about 4 minutes 18 seconds is the bit of interest.

 

[DuncB]

@christian86

Found this thread and they may be able to help as well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/homebrew-talk-3d-print-thread.596124/page-3

 

[christian86]

Bice tips, I though of doing somthing like that, picking the foriginal orms with ballistic foam, silicon or plaster , hehehe... that should work easily and good for a lid, but for a cone I think its a little harder, althoug what could be done is a lid for the bottom, with a centered exit for a valve, could make a hole and a female thread on that lid, a cone doesnt seem essential, since the low part of the fermzilla already is a 75% cone and I take the beer out with a floating dip...

that dispenser and lid form that video its exactly the yeast dispenser of fermzilla, not the original lid, but now they have on kegland site that alternative lid, didnt think it was for that fermenter...

Now Im thinking about the thread, the original has 4 intervals, 2 of them are a paralel cutm and smaller, the other 2 are bigger and theur cut seems to be an X

Made this outline, an top viw and a lateral viw, showing in green the thread and how it is cutted.

dont know if there is a practical use for this, its probably the same as if it wasnt cutted...

 

[DuncB]

Thing about Kegland is they are good copiers so I think that somewhere out there is a lid or thread that will work finding it is the tricky bit, Aliexpress is a big shop to look around. Shame that it's not a female part you are trying to make as I'm sure a bit of grinding and a clamp would allow a triclover fitting.

 

[christian86]

I already searched the whole aliexpress for this, a bit of exagerating, but its been more than a year that I ocasionally look for this on the internet, Specially for a fermzilla lid, steel and with those caps in inches/clamp. Aliexpress has the exactly same pieces for fermzilla even the whole body.
Nice tip, although if I find the original product that kegland copied, it probably would be compatible with each other, since this design objetive seem to be that no other piece will fit with theyrs, so you would have to nuy it from them
but I'll keep loking on aliexpress for a steel alternative, but if this project manage to actually work, it would be much more cheaper than buying one steel part from china, or even those plastic copies, thats the whole reason Im trying to solve this myself

I have a beer on fermentation right now, maybe when I transfer it to keg I could measure the lid and start working on another one, and them try to 3d print both parts

 

[Broken Crow]

Hi,..long time lurker here (slowly recovering from spine/CNS/brain injury years ago and returned to brewing as therapy)
I was just looking up the fermzilla to learn more about it before buying one and as I'm usually totally broke I have to do a lot of research over a long time. I was wondering if this might be what you're looking for: FermZilla Harvest Adapter for Conical Fermenter - 2'' Tri-Clover
Best, : )

 

[DuncB]

@Broken Crow
Good to hear you are on the mend. Hope your research shows that there are quite a few problems with the Fermzilla, I use 4 Fermentasaurus of different generations and pretty happy. They have their idiosyncracies but are simple and do have options to convert them as top post shows.
Unfortunately @christian86 has broken the collecting vessel so needs a male thread to fit into the female on the base of the fermzilla ferment vessel.
The link is a lid and adapter for the broken vessel he has.

Now you are in the forum welcome.

 

[Broken Crow]

Thanks! (that's exactly the kind of detail that should be obvious but I keep missing!) I'll be keeping an eye on this thread as I've read all the problems and still am determined to get one. I will eventually be wanting the same kind of adapter so if I come up with anything I'll report it back here first. BTW: Thank You to Everyone on this site! You've all been helping my neurons regrow for at least 4 years now. : )

 

[DuncB]

@Broken Crow
For dry hopping I've found the magnet and bags the easiest. No trying to blast hops out of the vessel at the bottom and worries about oxygen getting in.
The bag and magnet means I can swish it around so it stirs up and also I can lift the hops out of the brew as well. I just use the collection vessel for taking out the settled yeast and hop fragment escapes. Quite a lot on fermzilla on US forum also.

 

[christian86]

good to hear youre recovering!
about the lid, as DuncB said, it wont fit on the base, where the collector jar fits, maybe it'll fitas a lid for the fermenter,
Thing is Fermzilla works just fine, but as I worked on beer industry, I got used to collect yeast trough a bottomvalve, for me its way more practical than the colector jar
also, a lot of videos doing the dry hop using the collector jar, but it doenst matter how much they say pressurizing with co2,it will always have oxigen on that jar. another thing is that with the jar, trub and yeast(young to old) are all in there, it would be much more easy to separete with a valve, and all that would be a walk in the park ifwe couldfind a vale/conection/reductor that fits there, but they made in a size that you cant improvise. Thats why Im trying to make something that can be 3d printed to fit there with all the advantages of a bottom vale has... count with me, take that jar and screw in the fermenter to colect the trub/some yeast, screw off, put it again to take the good yeast, screw off,...and it goes, clarification, dry hop... I nlnowyou could do it 2 times. 1 - trub/yeast, 2 -clarification/ dry hop. but its easy if you could do that separetely, also every timeyou screw the collector you have to check for leaks

DuncB, I aso see people doing dry hop with a magnet, but didnt realize you could take the hops "out" whenever you want

 

[DuncB]

Best to use the computer hard drive magnets on the outside and then I vacuum seal a normal magnet or rare earth for inside the bag. Works well, sliding them out does mean that you get drainage and can prevent over extraction. Found it easiest.
My post is 44 on this thread with pictuers of hops in bag waiting to be put in.
You want to hang onto the hops with the magnet in the beer really otherwise they sink to the bottom of the fermenter, interfere with dumping etc.

 

[DuncB]

@christian86

Saw this on the Aussie forum looks like they might be making what you want?

The link is to the lid we saw above that goes on the collection vessel but they seem to be talking about triclover on the dump valve.