Popping a hole in my Fermonster

[Monk]

I bought a FerMonster a while back and decided I'd like to add a spigot. It has a nice little target on it already. Has anyone punched a hole in their FerMonster? How did it work out? Did you drill it? It kinda looks like you could use a red hot poker of some sort...

Thnaks

 

[jekeane]

I would not use a heat source to punch. You could turn the whole thing into a shrinky dink.

There is a ported version and I imagine they use a punch of some sort in the factory the indentation is probably where they punch it.

I would use a step bit or a decent hole saw.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

A paddle bit will likely leave melted plastic you'll need to cut off. The hole saw bit sounds good.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I drilled two BMB's recently, with a HF stepbit. Go slow and don't let it grab. Worked very well.

 

[lschiavo]

I'm not sure how thick the plastic is but I would be afraid of tearing it if it's thin. I'd probably drill a small hole and expand it a little at a time with a file or knife to be safe.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Take ancientmariner's advice, I did the same thing on my first two fermonsters and it worked out perfectly.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I'm not sure how thick the plastic is but I would be afraid of tearing it if it's thin. I'd probably drill a small hole and expand it a little at a time with a file or knife to be safe.

That's what I expected when I drilled my BMB's. If they were any thinner they'd disappear altogether. But it was not a problem at all.

 

[lschiavo]

Sounds like you guys have the experience here. Was it a single or double edge step bit?

 

[ancientmariner52]

I used a double edged bit. It came in a set of two from Harbor Freight. It had already made holes in aluminum and stainless, I was suprised how well it cut that thin plastic.

 

[seatazzz]

Hey guys, sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have a question; planning on making a hole in one of the two 7g fermonsters I now have, I have the same step bit that @ancientmariner has, not worried about that; how high from the base should I make the hole? With the "bump" in the center of the bottom (I know there's a fancy name for that but I can't recall it right now) I want to make sure the hole is high enough above the yeast/trub to not drag any into the keg. I was thinking of going at least 1/2 to 1 inch above the highest point of the bump thing. I don't really "need" to make the hole, since my autosiphon is plenty long enough to hit the bottom, but I like to pull samples the easy way without having to open the lid. Thoughts?

 

[seatazzz]

And never mind, I just found the "target" that OP mentioned...should have looked closer.

*edit* And five minutes later, voila! Fermonster with spigot! yay!!!

 

[Jayjay1976]

All 4 of my fermonsters came already drilled, and sometimes I wish the spigot were a bit higher up. When I brew IPAs that involve dry hopping, the hop trub frequently will be higher than the spigot making it hard to draw off clear beer.

On a side note, I don't own a racking cane and only use the spigot for transferring finished beer and never for drawing samples because of the chance of infection. The spigot has crevices that will allow things to grow after you pull a sample, and will contaminate the batch down the road when you either draw another sample or transfer the beer.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

All 4 of my fermonsters came already drilled, and sometimes I wish the spigot were a bit higher up. When I brew IPAs that involve dry hopping, the hop trub frequently will be higher than the spigot making it hard to draw off clear beer.

On a side note, I don't own a racking cane and only use the spigot for transferring finished beer and never for drawing samples because of the chance of infection. The spigot has crevices that will allow things to grow after you pull a sample, and will contaminate the batch down the road when you either draw another sample or transfer the beer.

While its fermenting, put something under the spigot side (a couple magazines, I use layers of cardboard) so the fermenter sits at an angle. The the true is offset away from the spigot.

 

[Jayjay1976]

While its fermenting, put something under the spigot side (a couple magazines, I use layers of cardboard) so the fermenter sits at an angle. The the true is offset away from the spigot.

Hey thanks!!