NEW Conical Fermenter - The Catalyst: 3" Butterfly valve, Mason jar compatible...

[CraftaBrew]

I think that is great you want a "high quality" product, but in the end, you are in the business of selling that product and you have to look at what your competition is doing. We, the consumer, have a lot of places we can spend our money. You are saying with your price, that your fermenter is twice the product as the FastFermenter. In the end, they are both plastic conical fermenters. Why is your "twice" as good? Yes, the mason jar feature is great, but with the FastFermenter, I can mount it on the wall and put my keg right underneath it, that is also a fantastic feature.

I am not trying to be a dick, but trying to help. I am your target market. I own a FastFermenter and I am looking at getting a second. Your product looks interesting, but I am trying to figure out why it is worth twice as much.

Those are definitely things we consider and we are offering a high quality product that does come with a higher price tag and it does limit our market. We want to give people unique features that are not available on other products and let them decide what works best for their budget and situation. I can say that we spent a lot of time on development and fixed a lot of the issues seen on other plastic vessels.

I do forced CO2 transfers with my PET carboys now. You're saying these can't withstand 1-2lbs of pressure to to the forced transfer?

In our testing our seal did not begin to leak any CO2 until a consistent internal pressure of 3 PSI was achieved. While we have not yet tested pressure transfers on this I would say that our tank and seal could definitely withstand these pressures, you may just get very slight pinpoint leaks if using over 3 PSI with shouldn't be necessary if going from The Catalyst to a keg.

 

[jimmayhugh]

Why not just rely on gravity with these?

No oxygen introduction with 1-2 lbs of CO2??

 

[arnobg]

I was curious about this tritan material and how it is so much higher quality so I did some research...I have to say it is legit and I am impressed with the specs however, for the price I would pay a little more and get stainless with tons of extra features, valves, racking ports, etc.

 

[sidehatch]

Somewhat a n00b at HBT
but my understanding is that light is really bad for beer

So since this is clear have you noticed that to be a factor?

Looks great and the price is definitely higher than FF, but I think this is a much better looking product
I think the FF is kinda of ugly and would want to hide it away

 

[TorMag]

Somewhat a n00b at HBT
but my understanding is that light is really bad for beer

So since this is clear have you noticed that to be a factor?

Looks great and the price is definitely higher than FF, but I think this is a much better looking product
I think the FF is kinda of ugly and would want to hide it away

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..... You should buy your gear based on functionality.

 

[CraftaBrew]

Somewhat a n00b at HBT
but my understanding is that light is really bad for beer

So since this is clear have you noticed that to be a factor?

Looks great and the price is definitely higher than FF, but I think this is a much better looking product
I think the FF is kinda of ugly and would want to hide it away

We took this into consideration and are coming out with a cover for the unit which will have integrated handles for easier moving. These should be available within the next few month.

In the mean time this can be treated just like any other clear vessel, obviously you will not want exposure to any direct sunlight for any period of time and it is best kept in a dark closet or covered with a towel if it is somewhere that has exposure to a constant light source.

 

[beskone]

All my carboys are clear, They go into a closed and dark fermentation chamber. I don't see how this would be any different. Just make sure it's either covered, or in a dark environment.

Somewhat a n00b at HBT
but my understanding is that light is really bad for beer

So since this is clear have you noticed that to be a factor?

Looks great and the price is definitely higher than FF, but I think this is a much better looking product
I think the FF is kinda of ugly and would want to hide it away

 

[akthor]

This is a waste of time 5 gallon brewers in general don't spend much on equipment. Most do stove top and hand bottle. You should have focused on larger sizes. There's room for an economical alternative to full on SS Conicals for 10 gallon brewers and larger.

 

[akthor]

Wow I just looked at your Kickstarter. I will firmly remove foot from mouth. Carry on!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

We took this into consideration and are coming out with a cover for the unit which will have integrated handles for easier moving. These should be available within the next few month.

In the mean time this can be treated just like any other clear vessel, obviously you will not want exposure to any direct sunlight for any period of time and it is best kept in a dark closet or covered with a towel if it is somewhere that has exposure to a constant light source.

First, I really am impressed with this fermentor. The butterfly valve and ability to use a mason jar, rather than a $20 plastic trub trap as in the other popular conical is really a big plus for this design. But speaking of light, what was your thought process about not adding Amber color to the high grade plastic? Just wondering.

 

[arnobg]

This is a waste of time 5 gallon brewers in general don't spend much on equipment. Most do stove top and hand bottle. You should have focused on larger sizes. There's room for an economical alternative to full on SS Conicals for 10 gallon brewers and larger.

This doesn't make much sense to me and I completely disagree even though I'm not even interested in this product. I'd bet that SS Brewtech sells more 7 gallon conical a than 14 gallon conicals. To say that 5 gallon Brewers don't spend as much money on equipment as 10 gallon Brewers I think is completely false.

 

[jabba11]

You can get a stainless steel SS brewtech brewbucket for the msrp of this. I guess that's my biggest nope. Theres always gonna be a market for low cost fermenters especially for brewers just looking to do this part time once in awhile etc. Tons of guys are just using buckets and yes you can make really good beer in a bucket if you want to do it right. I think the cost of it when compared to stainless is a serious detractor. To each his own though.

 

[arnobg]

I agree that this is too much money for the material...but a SS brew bucket isn't a conical, it's just a fancy overpriced bucket. This thing might be expensive for plastic, but it is a conical and it isn't as much as a stainless conical for folks that can't afford those.

 

[cegan09]

My only thought looking at that. How much spills when you remove the mason jar? Because it looks like it sits below the butterfly valve, and once you let that fill up, your options appear to be remove jar and deal with spilling liquid, or wait until you empty the fermentor and pour out the extra first.

 

[jabba11]

I agree that this is too much money for the material...but a SS brew bucket isn't a conical, it's just a fancy overpriced bucket. This thing might be expensive for plastic, but it is a conical and it isn't as much as a stainless conical for folks that can't afford those.[/QUOTE

ya, I guess ya cant dump trub and capture yeast. So youre right maybe not a good comparison. A 7 gallon SS chronical is about 100 bucks more though. I dunno. I have a SS conical but still have some speidels I use from time to time etc. They are quality items have a valve in them etc. a 30 liter is half the cost of this. Of course again not a conical and cant dump trub or collect yeast.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

My only thought looking at that. How much spills when you remove the mason jar? Because it looks like it sits below the butterfly valve, and once you let that fill up, your options appear to be remove jar and deal with spilling liquid, or wait until you empty the fermentor and pour out the extra first.

Did you watch the video? How steady is your hand? I think it wasn't editing that made the jar removal look good. Just saying.

 

[frettfreak]

really like the idea but i am with others.. at $200, i would rather spend a little more and get an all stainless SS brewtech or similar. 150 would be more in the ball park for me with this material. Really like the idea though!

 

[CraftaBrew]

really like the idea but i am with others.. at $200, i would rather spend a little more and get an all stainless SS brewtech or similar. 150 would be more in the ball park for me with this material. Really like the idea though!

While the BrewBucket is $225 it does not feature the benefits of a true conical such as being able to remove trub or yeast from the bottom of the conical. They do have a conical that has a bottom dump valve but it retails for $395.

With our system you are able to see the trub build up in a mason jar and see when the trub has all settled and a layer of yeast begins to form. This allows you to close the valve and swap the mason jar for a smaller one to catch fresh yeast that doesn't require a wash. Also while the material we chose is not stainless it does have some great benefits over any other plastic seen in a fermenter.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think most of the hold outs will just need reports on the durability to become converts. I don't personally have any problems with good plastics, and combining a crystal clear fermenter with the function of a conical has great merits for people that don't like fermenting blind (me). Stainless has the one advantage and that is the sanitary nature of good welded TC ports. It is conceivable however that running the wort into the catalyst when it's still near boiling temps and doing the immersion chill there would heat sanitize anything hiding in the valve area. Then wait, dump the break material out of the jar, replace with a jar that has your yeast slurry and away you go. $200 feels like too much to me, but so does a $12 hamburger and I order those all the time.

 

[petrolSpice]

If only the stand were narrower to fit into my 5 cuft chest freezer.

 

[texaviator23]

I just backed the project, so I hope to have it in time to brew my October beer!! Great idea and perfect for my apartment.

 

[frettfreak]

While the BrewBucket is $225 it does not feature the benefits of a true conical such as being able to remove trub or yeast from the bottom of the conical. They do have a conical that has a bottom dump valve but it retails for $395.

With our system you are able to see the trub build up in a mason jar and see when the trub has all settled and a layer of yeast begins to form. This allows you to close the valve and swap the mason jar for a smaller one to catch fresh yeast that doesn't require a wash. Also while the material we chose is not stainless it does have some great benefits over any other plastic seen in a fermenter.

I understand the differences for sure, but still think the pricing is just off. I love the idea and i am not trying to down play it, just giving feedback. I can get a 7.3 stainless conical from stout for $330. Wish you guys the best!

 

[jaw005]

When screwing on empty jars and opening the valve arent you letting in Oxygen? is there a way to reduce this?

 

[jabba11]

the way I do my yeast catch is I put it on. I open the valve a tiny bit and watch the water get sucked up the blow off. Then I shut it off until the blow off starts burping again, then I open the valve again etc until the catch is full. As far as air in the jar I guess you could flood it with co2 before attaching but not sure how much youd gain by that. In any event its not very much.

 

[TorMag]

When screwing on empty jars and opening the valve arent you letting in Oxygen? is there a way to reduce this?

This is a topic discussed to death in the FastFermenter threads. It really is not enough to do any damage. The air goes straight up and out the airlock. Contact is very minimal. You have no more problems then when opening the top to dry hop.... Here comes the discussion on C02 blanket.

 

[Bobby_M]

I would not let a jar full of air burp up through my post ferment beer. At that stage, the jar can be pretty small since you've already dumped most of the yeast. I think filling it with sterile water would be better than air. If you had a sampling port, you could fill the jar with the beer.

 

[texaviator23]

After primary you can always use a smaller jar. Say 8oz pepper jar.

 

[jimmayhugh]

When screwing on empty jars and opening the valve arent you letting in Oxygen? is there a way to reduce this?

Flush the jars with CO2 first? I have a Preservino, and I just use CO2 cartridges instead of argon, although argon would work just as well.

 

[tahmores]

Any plans on selling the butterfly valve separately from the rest of the unit? Is it proprietary? Love the mason jar idea and might be a great addition to my current conical.

J

 

[r8rphan]

I would not let a jar full of air burp up through my post ferment beer. At that stage, the jar can be pretty small since you've already dumped most of the yeast. I think filling it with sterile water would be better than air. If you had a sampling port, you could fill the jar with the beer.

Open the valve before primary, and just leave it open the whole time, only closing just before removing the jar?