Flotit

[Group W]

Sorry, but I just can’t get over my initial impression that this might be a product designed to aid in lactation.

 

[AlexKay]

I ferment more or less exclusively in kegs now and always use a floating dip tube to transfer beer out. The CBDS usually works but I have had two or three clogs, where I have to open up the fermenter and let air in and I am sad. The FlotIt 2.0 has never caused a problem, and is smaller and cheaper than the CBDS. Hopping rates up to 1 oz./gallon, no problem.

For IPAs and the occasional English ale, I then transfer into a second keg filled with my dry hop charge (and then purged), and also with a FlotIt 2.0. Again, rates of ~1 oz./gallon. Never an issue.

 

[vmaxept]

I much preferred the ClearBeer to the cheaper bare floating balls. I have never had issues with it getting hung up. Did you follow the installation instructions about which way the tubing should hang and how to attach to the float?

Anyway it seems like this Floatit functions better than the floating balls, and is still quite a bit less expensive than the clear beer. If I end up needing another I'll try one out.

Well I think I installed it correctly. I will re-read the instructions and try it again. Might be the tube length, I use 2 to 3 gal small kegs. I might have cut the tube too short. Will check on the next empty keg to check how it sits. Then fill with water to to check for correct float orientation

 

[DevilsCups]

I'm not knocking the product. I ordered a couple yesterday.

The UNI tube, however, seems to serve no purpose.

I just chatted with Trong, the owner of HBL and creator of the FLOTit. He agreed, and stopped making the UNI tube. I just received a FLOTit 2.0 and it came with a super-short, normal steel gas post with an o-ring. He said it's just a better solution. It's 1/2" long.

The guy is having fun in retirement making cool gadgets for homebrewers from home with his wife that, by all accounts and reviews, work very well. I like to support people like that.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Yeast got stuck to one of my Flotits, so I took it apart yesterday and looked it over. I had never done that before.

I no longer think this is a fantastic invention. It works, but so does a ball float with a nut for weight.

The long stainless liquid tube doesn't seem any better than the 4" tubes some ball floats and kegs come with. You cut a bevel in the end of your tube to make the silicone tube slide onto it more easily, and you have a setup which is pretty easy to deal with.

The literature says all connections are made outside the keg. Am I missing something? When the pipe and the float are connected, there is no way to run them through the liquid post. You have to put your hand inside the keg to attach the pipe to the flexible tube, or you have to grab the lower end of the tube and attach it to the float.

You can get a wire tool to pull the tube out to connect the float, but you're still going into the keg, and you can make a tool out of a coat hanger in 30 seconds. And why would you want to reach into your beer with ANYTHING if it isn't necessary? Help me out.

Personally, I connect my floats, install my liquid pipes, and attach my flexible tubing to the pipes. Then I sanitize everything before filling the keg. Is this wrong somehow? It's what I do for any type of float.

The filters don't do much for me. I never draw beer full of particles. The junk goes to the bottom. Doesn't it do that for everyone? And a floating tube is supposed to draw from the top, where beer is clearest, anyway. Seems to me the filter's big plus is that it weights the end of the pickup, which a nut can do.

I guess there must be something I am failing to notice.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Another issue which has bothered me: if I'm fermenting in a keg, and I'm filling it with hot wort before chilling, then I have to be concerned about the plastic tubing softening and slipping off the stainless pipe. This seems a lot more likely with a Flotit pipe that has a skinny end. Every time I take the keg out of the pool, I wonder if the tubing is connected.

 

[DevilsCups]

The filters don't do much for me. I never draw beer full of particles. The junk goes to the bottom. Doesn't it do that for everyone?

Personally I plan on using mine in a fermentation keg with big dry-hop charges, so I assume the filters will be crucial for me.

Also, the tubing is silicone. It shouldn't soften with heat.

 

[Broothru]

I just chatted with Trong, the owner of HBL and creator of the FLOTit. He agreed, and stopped making the UNI tube. I just received a FLOTit 2.0 and it came with a super-short, normal steel gas post with an o-ring. He said it's just a better solution. It's 1/2" long.

The guy is having fun in retirement making cool gadgets for homebrewers from home with his wife that, by all accounts and reviews, work very well. I like to support people like that.

I'm not sure exactly what it is that you're describing ("stopped making the UNI tube"). Is that the keg post insert piece where the keg diptube goes? If so, the FLOtit 2.0 I just got has about a 2.5"~3" diptube replacement attached to the clear liquid tubing. It seems extremely long when compared to the shortened (0.25"~0.5") diptubes I've cut down on most of my kegs. Unclear what the purpose of such a long connector to the beverage tubing is. Got pics?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

That is interesting. I hope it's correct. I'm Googling, and I see some sites saying you can soften silicone with heat. I also see sites saying silicone gets harder with heat.

I use bags for dry-hopping.

I guess I can heat some tubing and see what happens.

 

[DevilsCups]

I'm not sure exactly what it is that you're describing ("stopped making the UNI tube"). Is that the keg post insert piece where the keg diptube goes? If so, the FLOtit 2.0 I just got has about a 2.5"~3" diptube replacement attached to the clear liquid tubing. It seems extremely long when compared to the shortened (0.25"~0.5") diptubes I've cut down on most of my kegs. Unclear what the purpose of such a long connector to the beverage tubing is. Got pics?

Yeah, for sure. He used to ship the FLOTit with an all-in-one gas dip tube / o-ring. It looked like this. Mine came with the alternate updated 1/2" metal dip-tube (it was an option on Amazon. With or without.). The main use is for a touch more headspace when keg fermenting.

 

[DevilsCups]

That is interesting. I hope it's correct. I'm Googling, and I see some sites saying you can soften silicone with heat. I also see sites saying silicone gets harder with heat.

I use bags for dry-hopping.

I guess I can heat some tubing and see what happens.

I think you'll be a-okay. I boil my silicone on occasion to sanitize. It doesn't seem to change pliability. However, not all silicone is created equal so a bit of YMMV applies.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Nothing has happened during several fermentations.

 

[balrog]

pumping hop crud OUT of **anything** is hard

FTFY

shudder to think of how many batches had a ball partially filled with a mix of beer from prior batches

Ok. Just. Yuck.

I have made the DIY here
I have used the Clear Draught system
I have used the Amazon Fermzilla FLT DIP TUBE
I have used the Williams Brewing Top Draw

I have to say that the Top Draw and DIY are the ones I like best.

But that's me.

And I don't like Lima Beans.

Draw your own conclusions.

 

[stealthfixr]

Count me as another very happy Flotit 2.0 user. Bought 5 or 6 of them and never had a problem. Beer is definitely clearer out of one, but it's also really great for keeping out keg-hopped gunk out of the posts. I also have a random assortment of kegs and keeping which liquid tube goes with which keg is a hassle and a half--this eliminates that.

 

[Yesfan]

Yeast got stuck to one of my Flotits, so I took it apart yesterday and looked it over. I had never done that before.

I no longer think this is a fantastic invention. It works, but so does a ball float with a nut for weight.

The long stainless liquid tube doesn't seem any better than the 4" tubes some ball floats and kegs come with. You cut a bevel in the end of your tube to make the silicone tube slide onto it more easily, and you have a setup which is pretty easy to deal with.

The literature says all connections are made outside the keg. Am I missing something? When the pipe and the float are connected, there is no way to run them through the liquid post. You have to put your hand inside the keg to attach the pipe to the flexible tube, or you have to grab the lower end of the tube and attach it to the float.

Yep. I'm able to make the connections on the outside. I connect one end to the dip tube, slip the tubing through the top of the post. The tubing is smaller diameter than the tubing that comes with the other brands. Then I reach in to fish the tubing end out the top of the keg and connect it to the filter. Then lower it to the bottom of the keg. The others, like the Torpedo Bouy, I have to connect the tubing to the dip tube from inside of the keg, basically relying on touch/feel since it's hard to see what I'm doing.

You can get a wire tool to pull the tube out to connect the float, but you're still going into the keg, and you can make a tool out of a coat hanger in 30 seconds. And why would you want to reach into your beer with ANYTHING if it isn't necessary? Help me out.

The wire tool is stainless. Coat hangers are not.

Personally, I connect my floats, install my liquid pipes, and attach my flexible tubing to the pipes. Then I sanitize everything before filling the keg. Is this wrong somehow? It's what I do for any type of float.

The filters don't do much for me. I never draw beer full of particles. The junk goes to the bottom. Doesn't it do that for everyone? And a floating tube is supposed to draw from the top, where beer is clearest, anyway. Seems to me the filter's big plus is that it weights the end of the pickup, which a nut can do.

I guess there must be something I am failing to notice.

I do the same with my floating dip tubes, but the Flotit gives me the freedom to install the tubing to the dip tube outside of the keg. All of mine draw from the top. The beer might not be crystal clear, but it's still clearer drawing from the top vs from the bottom with a stainless dip tube.

 

[Yesfan]

Yeah, for sure. He used to ship the FLOTit with an all-in-one gas dip tube / o-ring. It looked like this. Mine came with the alternate updated 1/2" metal dip-tube (it was an option on Amazon. With or without.). The main use is for a touch more headspace when keg fermenting.

I have those. I'd like them if mine didn't leak. I never could get it to seal, so had to go back to the original gas dip tube to hold pressure. They are pretty much flush to the inside of the keg. I'd imagine you could just cut a regular gas dip tube down for the same effect.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

So when they claim you can connect everything from outside, they don't count the part where you have to reach into the keg to get the tube. I could not understand what they were talking about.

I'm not afraid to let a carbon steel coathanger get wet for a few seconds, and I have all sorts of stainless tongs.

 

[mac_1103]

Why is anybody filling the keg before hooking up the dip tube?

 

[conlun]

Personally I plan on using mine in a fermentation keg with big dry-hop charges, so I assume the filters will be crucial for me.

Also, the tubing is silicone. It shouldn't soften with heat.

I have floatit on all my kegs (fermentation and serving), I have no issue dry hopping with loose pellets with up to 500gr, it has never clogged on me.

 

[DevilsCups]

I have floatit on all my kegs (fermentation and serving), I have no issue dry hopping with loose pellets with up to 500gr, it has never clogged on me.

500g you absolute dawg

 

[Ramjet]

I have 2 flot-it dip tubes and have had no problems.

 

[DevilsCups]

Why is anybody filling the keg before hooking up the dip tube?

I don’t think anyone is.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Which makes you wonder what the advantage is.

 

[wdavis2003]

I use the Flotit 2.0 in my FV. No longer need to worry about dry hopping in mesh bags. Just toss 'em in and transfer is easy. Before, with the standard dip tube and mesh filter, it kept getting clogged.

I'd recommend it to anybody

 

[DevilsCups]

Which makes you wonder what the advantage is.

I’m puny, but I’d bet a bunch of homebrewers out there have issues with fitting their arm in a keg. Between that and the mechanics of this thing getting every drop of beer out of a keg, it seems good enough as a premium option for people willing to spend a few more bucks.

Idk man, more options are always better than few. Thankfully there’s plenty to choose from.

 

[mac_1103]

I don’t think anyone is.

I don't either, but read the thread. People were talking as though they were. Hence my (rhetorical) question.

 

[mac_1103]

Which makes you wonder what the advantage is.

The skinny tubing that fits through the post hole is definitely an advantage, but reaching in to grab that tubing and pull it out to connect the float is pretty simple without any tool. I guess maybe if you'd already sanitized everything you might not want to stick a hand in there, but that's easy enough to solve.

 

[odie]

I think the Flotit is too over engineered, with parts not easily replaced and total cost too expensive for a floating dip tube. I started out using the CaskWidge floats, which I still prefer. The simple ball floats work fine too, but I think I have one or two that misbehave sometimes.

I agree. most brewing contraptions seem to be a solution in search of a problem.

I use a very basic floating dip tube. just the round SS float and a SS nut to weight the tube down. No filters, no strainers.

Everything in the keg packs down to the bottom whether you ferment and/or hop in the keg or not.

 

[DevilsCups]

I don't either, but read the thread. People were talking as though they were. Hence my (rhetorical) question.

I think the topic was really about being able to install the tubing and dip-tube before the FLOTit, then being able to connect the unit to the tubing outside of the keg.

 

[mac_1103]

I think the topic was really about being able to install the tubing and dip-tube before the FLOTit, then being able to connect the unit to the tubing outside of the keg.

Well, yeah, but it drifted into why that was such a big deal, and someone went to "why would you want to reach into your beer?" (to pull the tubing out), presumably based on the assumption that making all connections outside the keg had something to do with avoiding that.