OnederBrew.....anyone try this?

[fpweeks]

5 Gal DIY conical....

http://www.onederbrew.com/doc/onederbrewDYIcatalogpage.pdf

 

[goybar]

It is interesting. Not very sexy (no stainless steel).

Do you think there would be any off flavors or smells from the plastic buckets?

Chris

 

[fpweeks]

It looks like it could be a real PITA to clean/use....

 

[Schumed]

whats the point of having a 5 gallon conical??? Kind of pointless other than to claim you have a conical

 

[Yuri_Rage]

They sell everything you need to blow bucket parts through the wall and soak your ceiling with beer, then disclaim it with this: "We do not recommend pressurizing and do not guarantee your bucket."

The name reminds me of the movie, "That Thing You Do." "What's the name of your band? The Oh-Need-Uhrs?"

Looks like an outstanding product...

 

[fpweeks]

I saw that disclaimer....pretty funny! I wonder how big the conical section is...is it even big enough to ferment 5 gallons in?

 

[OneFeather]

I thought I saw one of the vids say that it would fit 6.5 gallon buckets too. It seems like a cool idea to vent off the CO2 for the first part of the fermentation and then close it off to slowly carbonate it to whatever you want.

 

[Shooter]

They were demonstrating these at NHC in Seattle/Bellevue. Seeing that bucket inflated like a balloon and bulging out at the seams while under pressure did not fill me with confidence. Now, I have no direct experience with the product, perhaps it works a treat. However, it just looked like a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[JoeyChopps]

I say this in the current issue of byo. I was also wondering about this thing. The first thing that I thought was why did the use black buckets instead of white. I would be scared of the color leaching into the beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

I saw them at NHC and thought they were a joke. I haven't tried them out and I know it's not the best thing to form an opinion before trying it. The buckets are not rated for pressure, period and I think it's a horrible idea.

 

[JKoravos]

The name reminds me of the movie, "That Thing You Do." "What's the name of your band? The Oh-Need-Uhrs?"

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[starsailor]

I looked into their beta test program. I couldn't believe they wanted me to pay like $100 for the privledge of doing their testing for them. I told them "You've got to be kidding!".

I'd avoid these things until there's some solid feedback from some of their suckers, um, I mean beta testers...

 

[sudsmcgee]

Regardless of whether or not it works, it's made of plastic and fricking expensive. No thanks.

Edit: The maker is a member here if you have questions https://www.homebrewtalk.com/members/onederbrew

 

[microbusbrewery]

Couple problems I see. Like buckets, it's plastic and can get scratched and has higher O2 permeability than other fermenters. You also have a gasket between the cone and cylinder (bucket) which depending on how well you clean and sanitize, could be an issue. So really the only benefit is it's easier to dump trub and harvest yeast.

 

[mors]

yeah I may have had a bit too much to drink at the NHC... bought one. When it arrived I was scared by how terrible it looks inside and by the pact all the fittings are using picnic taps... I posted a video up on youtube with some close ups of the 'scary' areas. I have had this for about 3 months but have not been brave enough to use it yet.

It's not the pressure that scares me too much (there is a rubber bung in the bottom that should fail before the bucket does) It's the rough edges and seams on the inside in the plastic that worry me the most... also still wondering how I am suppose to get the beer from this to my keg... beer line doesn't stay on a picnic tap that well....

 

[goybar]

you don't move it to your keg. You serve from it. It is a fermentor 1st and then Keg 2nd.

 

[mors]

in that case it's even worse. you can't pressurize it except via fermentation...so once you're out of built up pressure the beer is going to start to go flat... I think this would be an awesome product if they made just the code... in stainless steel and with usuable fittings.

 

[Bobby_M]

It would be an awesome product if it were 100% stainless. Oh wait, that's just a regular conical and they (not onederbrew) do make them.

 

[mors]

heh yeah I have one....but still. The plastic isn't what I take issue with the most...the rough edges in the plastic are... It's like buying a new plastic bucket fermenter...that's comes pre scratched up...

 

[limulus]

I always like to give someone with entrepreneurial spirit some leeway, but after seeing inside closeups of that plastic fermenter, I have to wonder if the inventor has really ever brewed beer. I have no problem with it being plastic. That's one way to make it less expensive for the "average" homebrewer who is not so fanatical about his equipment. But, I would at least expect the first real production units to be better than that as far as quality control. You normally don't see things like that until demand kicks in and the manufacturer needs to ramp up production while at the same time cutting costs.

 

[motorhead69]

Thanks Mors for the video. Yeah those seems and chunks scare me too, they are to rough and look like great places to get bacteria growing.

It would seem to me that if the cone was cast without seams and the holes in place instead of being drilled out it may have turned out better.

As for the picnic taps you could stick a racking cane into the tap and a hose on to that to get the beer into a keg.

 

[mors]

Well they are just modeled after picnic taps. The nozzle seems shorter. I'm sure I can get some tubing on it... It will just be a pain.

I do feel like it could be a cool product if not for the manufacturing issues. I thought it was cool enough to buy at the nhc after too much drinking LOL.

 

[onederbrew]

I have tried it over 900 times. there are no flavors coming from the plastic. The plastic is polyethylene and polypropylene which adds less flavor than stainless steel.
(all cans are plastic lined)The product will continue to improve over time .
In reality it does every thing real breweries do plus more in that the cost is low enough that beer does not have to be transferred from the fermenter to a holding tank.

 

[jcaudill]

Love the idea and ingenuity - really. I'll stick with stainless though. No way I'd put that under pressure. I've been witness to a plastic keg exploding under similar pressures if not lower. Not a pretty thing.

 

[Jaybird]

These guys came by my store and asked us to take one and see it there was any interest in it from my customers. Victor took it and said "yeah we'll play with it" I took it out of the box and told him to ship it back just because of the poor molding. The drilled hole and the shards of leftover plastic still stuck to the drilled port. and the design issues I saw with the very small hole to dump yeast and trub. I guess if its under pressure it would assist in that but ahhhhh I dont know man looked a like an infection issue to me.

Now, Victor didn't send it back and if OnderBrew wants to "donate" it to me I would be happy to test it for them shoot a video and write a review. I'm just not going to do it "AND" pay the $100 for it.

He said he has used it over 900 times? Really thats a lot of brewing....How long have you been testing it? I have been brewing 12 years and I haven't brewed 900 batches myself....

 

[microbusbrewery]

I have tried it over 900 times. there are no flavors coming from the plastic. The plastic is polyethylene and polypropylene which adds less flavor than stainless steel.
(all cans are plastic lined)The product will continue to improve over time .
In reality it does every thing real breweries do plus more in that the cost is low enough that beer does not have to be transferred from the fermenter to a holding tank.

+1 on doubting you've brewed 4500+ gallons of beer in this. That's also the first time I've heard anyone claim that stainless steel adds off-flavor. And what does low cost have to do with the need to transfer?

 

[MalFet]

Yeah, the plastic is a deal breaker for me, too. It's too much money for something too easy to scratch.

I played with a design like this a few years back, and even called up some stainless fabricators. My goal was to get a conical bottom that could mount firmly on top of a commodity kettle. Finish your boil, chill, strap on the cone, let the trub drop out, and pitch your yeast. Eventually I lost interest, but I think it would be a very cool product if anyone ever did the details right.

 

[mors]

I have tried it over 900 times. there are no flavors coming from the plastic. The plastic is polyethylene and polypropylene which adds less flavor than stainless steel.
(all cans are plastic lined)The product will continue to improve over time .
In reality it does every thing real breweries do plus more in that the cost is low enough that beer does not have to be transferred from the fermenter to a holding tank.

I don't think getting off flavors from the plastic was on anyones mind. Getting infections from the poor molding inside the cone however... Honestly. I think with proper fittings instead of modified picnic taps and smooth molding on the inside of this... It would be a decent product.

 

[onederbrew]

You can change out any of the fittings to any 1/2 npt part.
This started 5 years ago with a 1 gallon version.
I can make so many batches because of the simplicity, when I want to make a quick batch I use Hop Extract YC-Tetra from YAKIMA CHIEF ( for bittering) and then only have to boil for a short time.
I also make alot of smaller batches in the 5 gallon set up. There is still plenty of C02.

 

[mors]

This is true, but to me with the poor molding on the side of the code and the holes drilled in the plastic cone for the ports... it wouldn't be worth it to replace those fittings.