Fermzilla Questions

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I have the all rounder. I like it quite a bit for a few reasons - very easy closed transfers, floating dip tube for clean beer into keg and i pressurize about half my ferments (majority of time I use pressure is very end of fermentation to get a jump on carbonation). I find it does a good job of temperature with the thermowell but the thermowell is a bit of a pain to keep secured and leak free. I have stripped at least one Duotight fitting due to difficulty to install the nut.

I do find it a bit of a pain to get sealed and apart. A strap wrench is a must to me. Getting the lid off can be tricky and I have never tried to pry it off for fear of damaging the plastic.

I don’t know about longevity. Currently at about 6 months regular use with the plastic pressure kit and no issues so far.
Overall it is my go to fermenter. Would be nice to have a better closed/dry hopping method and ability to dump trub (I have the all rounder) but for the price I think it’s a great value.
I second the strap wrench. Didn't have one at first but learned quickly after coming across the suggestion. Another suggestion I haven't added yet was putting a stainless nut on the floating dip tube. I need one for the All Rounder and kegs.

Have you tried the magnet trick for dry hopping? I've used it twice now with a lot of success. Two food safe magnets, muslin bag, and release when ready.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DTP4ZP...t_i_NJRHQTX90Q4H6Y6M673X?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
PXL_20220115_194358382.jpg
 
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Um..... that’s not going to work. Any recommendations on temp twister height in a 27l with a float tube?
 

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Um..... that’s not going to work. Any recommendations on temp twister height in a 27l with a float tube?
Are you talking about the excess tubing sticking out of the top? If so, a $3 multi-purpose pipe cutter from Lowes or HD.

If you are worried about the floating dip tube getting tangled then I think that's a common design flaw many have with the Fermzilla.
 
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Yeah, float tube getting tangled. Just curious if there’s an ideal height of the twister. Seems that pushing it down so the float doesn’t get stuck under the coils might work.
 
Pushing the temp twister down will sacrifice a few handles of beer - its quite nice when the dip tube draws right down near the butterfly valve...
 
Got my Fermzilla Tri-conical yesterday for small batches. I have a 20 gallon and 7 gallon SS conicals (latter was a mistake for small batches, hence my Fermzilla purchase.) I did plenty of research before purchasing it and yesterday I attached all the parts, put about a gallon of water with some PBW, gave it a good shake, put on my spunding valve, set pressure to 20 PSI to see how pressure would hold.

I had water leaking from the top of the collection jar, even though I hand tightened it as best I could. Here's my primary problem/complaint: the manual says to tighten the triclover lid until there are no threads on the jar showing. I had about one thread or a bit less showing, but I didn't want to engage heavy duty tools to tighten more (I will have to get the strap wrench apparently.) I used keg lube on the O rings, and I ALSO USED KEG LUBE ON THE THREADS OF THE JAR. I thought I read that suggestion somewhere. Was that a mistake or OK? Of course, now I can't separate the lid from the jar. :-(

Any tips on tightening/removing the lid from the collection jar? The top lid gave a small fight. but it came off much easier.

TIA and Hoppy Holidaze to all!

Mike
 
I'm guessing your problem must've been from the krausen overflow. I use my fermzilla all rounders a lot. I hand tighten the lid fairly tight, and don't use any keg lube on the lid or seal. I always have to use the oil filter wrench to get the lid off, but never at risk of collapse.

I've never had a krausen overflow mainly because of the cavernous headspace, but also usually run like 1-2 psi via spunding after the first 24 hours, and that does make a big difference on krausen. On other fermentors in the past where I did get an overflow, I do recall that dried crust being a serious glue.

Lastly, I have several different fermentors, and I find the opposite trend of @hottpeper13 - I find I usually grab the All Rounder and skip the stainless conical. All Rounder is just so easy to clean, has so few parts to assemble/disassemble, and it's small enough to just stick in my beer fridge to cold crash.
 
No krausen, just my initial cleaning/pressure test. So today, I removed as much of the keg lube from the threads as I could. That stuff is stubborn. I removed the O ring from the collection jar and screwed on the lid. Halfway on it meets a fair bit of resistance, then past that goes on all the way.
So next test with the O ring in place, I won’t be afraid to tighten past that resistance point knowing it has room to go without cracking the jar. 🤞🏼🤨
 
I have used my Firmzilla around 60 batches (all 10 gal). Never had a problem w the jar. I never use keg lube. I wash the O ring off. Only issue is sometimes it's really hard to take it apart (using that band tool).
 
For the lid, a plastic interior car trim kit has good tools to wedge in there without destroying. I bought one of ebay for $12 to pop those evil plastic rivets in car dash.
 
^ Finally pulled the trigger on this. So far so good. Should be dry hopping in a few days. The quality seems pretty good. The C clamps work great
 
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