Fermzilla Gen 3.0 doing away with the dreaded collection jar

[jwill911]

I bought a Fermzilla 3.0 on sale, should have bought the Gen 3.2 and paid full price as now I'm spending enough to make up the difference. The Gen 3.0 has a 3" - 2" butterfly valve. Now I've decided to do away with the dreaded collection jar. But to do so I need to buy the 3" - 3" butterfly valve to use the 3" to 2" elbow. Being in the USA I can't buy directly from Kegland, and even Aliexpress won't ship to California. I did however find most of the parts at William's brewing all but the 3"-3" butterfly valve. which Morebeer sells but they don't sell the 3"- 2" reducing elbow.
From William's website
This 3" to 1.5" Tri-Clamp Elbow is perfect for attaching to the Fermzilla Gen 3 in case you want a 1.5" Tri-Clamp butterfly valve instead of a yeast collection jar.
1 x R83 Tri Clamp Butterfly Valve
2 x R72 1.5" Tri Clamp Seals
2 x R82 1.5" Tri Clamps
1 x R69 1.5" Tri Clamp Hose Barb (for ½" tubing)
1 x R34 3" to 1.5" Tri Clamp Elbow
Below is a picture off what I want to do. PITA to have to jump through hoops to buy the parts. Kegland will probably include all of this in Gen 3.3.

 

[jwill911]

To add to my previous post, I bought most of the items from William's Brewing but they didn't stock the 3" - 3" butterfly valve or the three piece 3" tri-clamp, which I had to buy from Morebeer. So with luck I'll never have to use the collection jar ever again! Yea!

 

[genixia]

What do you hate about the collection jar? What do you do instead? Asking as someone that is about to upgrade fermentation vessels with Fermzilla an option...

 

[jwill911]

Well several things I hate and a few I like. I had a Fermzilla 2.0 for over a year, sometimes the collection jar is nearly impossible to get off. I used a bunch of strategies to help; 1. put skateboard grip tape on the jar so the strap wrench didn't slip, 2. use keg lube on the o-ring and the thread of the jar, 3. never tighten it other than hand tight.
Then I upgraded to the Fermzilla 3.0 (should have bought the 3.2 in retrospect). The upgrade is one-half better, but you had to crank the hell out of the thumb screw on the 2" tri-clamp or it would slip when attempting to remove the jar. I did like dry hopping via the jar however, especially with a large dry hop. Once you got it off just clean/sanitize, dump the hops in, flush with co2 pressurize and open the butterfly valve.
So now with the jar gone I need to develop a new strategy for dry hopping, but I'm up to the challenge. I just received all the pieces and plan to brew tomorrow or Monday.

 

[hotbeer]

I did similar with my FastFerment conical. It's collection jar and the plastic ball valve with the threaded connection to the conical were a PIA.

I built a stand to get it higher so I could have a sight glass vertically underneath. Didn't know AliExpress couldn't ship to California. I got the adapter to go from pipe thread to sanitary fittings, butterfly valve, sight glass and more from them for quite a savings. Just have to be very patient as stuff sometimes takes weeks to go through customs.

Nice setup you have. Glad to see some one else got rid of the stuff that doesn't quite work like it should and found their own solution.

 

[genixia]

Thanks. I'm looking at it for cider to remove yeast and lees easily.

 

[detraw]

Very nice setup you have! I'm looking for an alternative to the collection jar on my gen 3 and found your thread, exactly something similar I want but also can't order from kegland. Unfortunately neither from morebeer or william.

Are you happy with 1.5" as the final size? I will probably buy a 2" elbow and then maybe a reducer to 1.5", or I might continue with 2" but then everything becomes a bit more expansive. Can't find a combined elbow and reducer on aliexpress.

Would be nice to have a sight glass as well but due to the hight of the stand it would have to be after the bend but I'm not sure how well trub and yeast would collect in it then.

 

[jwill911]

Very nice setup you have! I'm looking for an alternative to the collection jar on my gen 3 and found your thread, exactly something similar I want but also can't order from kegland. Unfortunately neither from morebeer or william.

Are you happy with 1.5" as the final size? I will probably buy a 2" elbow and then maybe a reducer to 1.5", or I might continue with 2" but then everything becomes a bit more expansive. Can't find a combined elbow and reducer on aliexpress.

Would be nice to have a sight glass as well but due to the hight of the stand it would have to be after the bend but I'm not sure how well trub and yeast would collect in it then.

Too bad you can't order from Kegland, Morebeer, and William's, kind of limits your options. So I you have the Fermzilla 3.0 you have the smaller 2" - 2" butterfly valve. I had the same thing and bit the bullet andd bought the 3" - 2" butterfly the Fermzilla 3.2 uses and the 3" - 1.5" SS reducing elbow. I haven't seen a reducing elbow from 2" - 1.5". Good luck with you search.

 

[Haze Crazed]

Is there any advantage to keeping the Fermzilla butterfly? Couldn’t you go from the tank directly to the elbow?

I want to do this!! I can’t wait to get rid of the damn collection jar like I have on my gen 2.

 

[jwill911]

Wi went through all the gyrations, eliminated the butterfly valve, but trying to dump the trub out the bottom was getting a lot of beer so now I’ve upgraded to the Fermzilla (a step at a time) and today is my first brew since the change. And I bought the hop bong too.

 

[hotbeer]

Have you had any more thoughts on your Fermzilla? I'm thinking of getting the 27 litre gen 3.2. How is the PET holding up after your uses so far? Staying clear and relatively scratch free?

I realize you only have the Gen 3, but figured you might have more thoughts that might apply to the Gen 3.2 also.

Haven't quite found what the differences are for the gen 3.2 vs gen 3. In some pictures, it looks like the cone on the bottom might have steeper sides and that IMO will be a plus. Do you have any idea if that is so?

About the one and only thing they seemed to do right with my Fast Ferment is to give it steep sides. The trub and yeast all go to the bottom and I'm able to get it all out with the additional fittings I purchased to make the thing work like it should have. And that allows me to bottle directly from the FV.

If nothing else, I give Kegland props for listening to others and finally putting sanitary fittings on it instead of some proprietary connection or worse, threads. Not sure it needed to be a 3" fitting though. 1½ - 2" will have been plenty and even more ideal IMO.

 

[BrewBarrymore]

Wi went through all the gyrations, eliminated the butterfly valve, but trying to dump the trub out the bottom was getting a lot of beer so now I’ve upgraded to the Fermzilla (a step at a time) and today is my first brew since the change. And I bought the hop bong too.

Hello, it's been a while since you started this thread. I had a miserable time with the collection jar on my 3.2 as well. Namely because after dryhopping and crashing, there was a substantial amount of trub/hops and I had to use the collection jar 3 times to get it out. Of course, whenever you dump, the air in the collection jar (I do purge with co2) gets shot up through the beer causing a lot of agitation of the beer.

I'm considering doing away with the collection jar and getting the elbow that you've shown us in hopes that I can more easily dump trump without agitating the beer with bubbles. In your opinion will the upgrade you've done with the elbow and additional valve help the dumping process? Also, why not just do away with the black fermzilla valve entirely and use a 3"TC to attach the elbow directly to the vessel since there is already a valve on the 1.5" side of the elbow?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Broothru]

Well several things I hate and a few I like. I had a Fermzilla 2.0 for over a year, sometimes the collection jar is nearly impossible to get off. I used a bunch of strategies to help; 1. put skateboard grip tape on the jar so the strap wrench didn't slip, 2. use keg lube on the o-ring and the thread of the jar, 3. never tighten it other than hand tight.
Then I upgraded to the Fermzilla 3.0 (should have bought the 3.2 in retrospect). The upgrade is one-half better, but you had to crank the hell out of the thumb screw on the 2" tri-clamp or it would slip when attempting to remove the jar. I did like dry hopping via the jar however, especially with a large dry hop. Once you got it off just clean/sanitize, dump the hops in, flush with co2 pressurize and open the butterfly valve.
So now with the jar gone I need to develop a new strategy for dry hopping, but I'm up to the challenge. I just received all the pieces and plan to brew tomorrow or Monday.

NorCal has a really slick dry hopper that attaches to the bottom drain, and it works beautifully. I’ve had the 1.5” TC model for several years and it works great. I’m not sure if he offers a 3” TC model (there is a 2”), but you could certainly use a 3”: 2” reducer cap, or whatever size cap you need to fit the sight glass to your bottom dump valve port. Lots of options available, and the gear is very robust.

 

[jwill911]

Hello, it's been a while since you started this thread. I had a miserable time with the collection jar on my 3.2 as well. Namely because after dryhopping and crashing, there was a substantial amount of trub/hops and I had to use the collection jar 3 times to get it out. Of course, whenever you dump, the air in the collection jar (I do purge with co2) gets shot up through the beer causing a lot of agitation of the beer.

I'm considering doing away with the collection jar and getting the elbow that you've shown us in hopes that I can more easily dump trump without agitating the beer with bubbles. In your opinion will the upgrade you've done with the elbow and additional valve help the dumping process? Also, why not just do away with the black fermzilla valve entirely and use a 3"TC to attach the elbow directly to the vessel since there is already a valve on the 1.5" side of the elbow?

Thanks for your help!

Hi, I ended up abandoning the SS elbow altogether and going with the 3.2 collection jar. Also added hop bong, I dry hop via hop hong then following day I rouse the hops/trub w/co2. After two days on DH I close butterfly valve and dump the hops/trub.

 

[BrewBarrymore]

Hi, I ended up abandoning the SS elbow altogether and going with the 3.2 collection jar. Also added hop bong, I dry hop via hop hong then following day I rouse the hops/trub w/co2. After two days on DH I close butterfly valve and dump the hops/trub.

Ahh I see. I would love to use the hop bog too, but I have the cooling coil so that's not an option. I decided on dry hopping by using the muslin bags + magnet trick before spending money on the elbow/valve. Just putting this out there, if you still have the SS elbow and valve I might be in the market for it if yours is for sale.

 

[jwill911]

Ahh I see. I would love to use the hop bog too, but I have the cooling coil so that's not an option. I decided on dry hopping by using the muslin bags + magnet trick before spending money on the elbow/valve. Just putting this out there, if you still have the SS elbow and valve I might be in the market for it if yours is for sale.

The SS elbow and valve is just in a box on a shelf. I’ll let it go, I’ll check what I paid and make you a good offer on it. Watching the Olympics now. I also use a TempTwister with the hop bong, it’s a tight squeeze but it works. I bought a cheap tubing bender which helps, I had to abandon the thermowell and just tape temp probe to the Fermzilla which works good enough.