Fermzilla

[Half-baked]

I purged first then filled and sealed in my swing top bottles right away

What temp was the fz while you were carbonating?

When I bottle from a keg (using a beer gun), I like to have the beer around 2oC at 15 PSI. Then vent it to around 3 PSI as you did. Bottles at 2oC too. You’ll lose some carbonation during the bottling, in fact you want to, to ensure you’re capping on foam to reduce O2.

I find that gives me the carbonation I want when I pour.

Btw, you can’t trust the carbonation if the bottle stays cold after filling, you need to warm it up then cool again to really see its carbonation.

(Ed: grammar)

 

[toddyboy]

What temp was the fz while you were carbonating?

When I bottle from a keg (using a beer gun), I like to have the beer around 2oC at 15 PSI. Then vent it to around 3 PSI as you did. Bottles at 2oC too. You’ll lose some carbonation during the bottling, in fact you want to, to ensure you’re capping on foam to reduce O2.

I find that gives me the carbonation I want when I pour.

Btw, you can’t trust the carbonation if the bottle stays cold after filling, you need to warm it up then cool again to really see its carbonation.

(Ed: grammar)

It would have started at 2-3C, whatever the ferm fridge is set to when I opened the door and hooked everything up. Not sure what temp it would have kicked up to by the time I finished bottling. I think having the bottles at fridge temp will help next time.

I usually store at room temp then chill for at least 6 hours before drinking so that part is already in the playbook.

 

[Prost]

I'm waiting for my Fermzilla 27l to arrive from the Netherlands, it won't be here before February because it's out of stock in a lot of shops here in Europe. Knowing about a lot of the issues it has (leaking, exploding and such) I thought I'd use the time and find some useful stuff here. Expected laid back Australien homebrewers and worked my way through the whole thread because in the beginning there were some extremely helpful ideas from actual users with a lot of experience. Then it got so painful. All this sulky bickering has killed this thread. Is there a better place somewhere to find ways to make the Fermzilla safer and easier to use?

 

[malt and barley blues]

Don't worry about it you will be fine, keep the pressure around 2 to 5 PSI would be the safest way to use it.

 

[Grmblz]

I'm waiting for my Fermzilla 27l to arrive from the Netherlands, it won't be here before February because it's out of stock in a lot of shops here in Europe. Knowing about a lot of the issues it has (leaking, exploding and such) I thought I'd use the time and find some useful stuff here. Expected laid back Australien homebrewers and worked my way through the whole thread because in the beginning there were some extremely helpful ideas from actual users with a lot of experience. Then it got so painful. All this sulky bickering has killed this thread. Is there a better place somewhere to find ways to make the Fermzilla safer and easier to use?

I have one of the original "exploding" 27L (they have changed the shape since I got mine so yours may not have the self destruct option ;-) as ^ m&bb says, keep the pressure down and you'll be fine, I've used mine up to 12psi many times with no issues and there are no stress fractures apparent, all the "he said, she said" bickering aside there is no doubt (plenty of pic's available) that they CAN fail, the question is why? I firmly believe in the case of the main vessel, it's due to over-pressure caused by the PRV and or the spunding valve disconnect becoming blocked with hop matter/trub, in the case of the collection bottle it's user error, people dropping yeast/trub into it then closing the valve, and forgetting about it.
A 23L brew doesn't leave a huge amount of head space in the 27L FZ, add in the current craze for large hop additions, couple it with a lively ferment, and you have an accident looking for somewhere to happen.
I would suggest keeping hops/pellets in a hop sock, and do an open ferment (air-lock) until the krausen has died down (about 3 days ish) then fit your spunding valve with absolutely no more than 15psi (preferably a little less) if you don't have the lid with the air-lock option, a piece of cling film held in place with a rubber band is a good substitute.
That's an easy fix, the "user error" on the other hand is a different matter.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I'm waiting for my Fermzilla 27l to arrive from the Netherlands, it won't be here before February because it's out of stock in a lot of shops here in Europe. Knowing about a lot of the issues it has (leaking, exploding and such) I thought I'd use the time and find some useful stuff here. Expected laid back Australien homebrewers and worked my way through the whole thread because in the beginning there were some extremely helpful ideas from actual users with a lot of experience. Then it got so painful. All this sulky bickering has killed this thread. Is there a better place somewhere to find ways to make the Fermzilla safer and easier to use?

Hey guys. Sorry we have not been keeping an eye on this thread so we have not replied to much here. We have made and continue to make changes on many of our products including the FermZilla. Often once changes have been implemented we publish documents like this that specify the design change:

http://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/FermZilla Design Revision - Google Docs Export.pdf

Or some people with the FermZilla said that they had an issue with the carbonation caps requiring too much force to seal so we made changes and released this document:
https://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/KL10788 - Carbonation Cap Improvements April 2020.pdf

We also continue to make other accessories and other improvements. If we do sell a product and for any reason we find that product to be faulty it would also be replaced.

We make a lot of new products every year and certainly if we get feedback that customers want something changed we generally act on this fairly quickly. If you do have any particularly difficult issue that you have not been able to solve I would make sure to send us an email and include any photos or video of the issue.

 

[frosty3]

I'm waiting for my Fermzilla 27l to arrive from the Netherlands, it won't be here before February because it's out of stock in a lot of shops here in Europe. Knowing about a lot of the issues it has (leaking, exploding and such) I thought I'd use the time and find some useful stuff here. Expected laid back Australien homebrewers and worked my way through the whole thread because in the beginning there were some extremely helpful ideas from actual users with a lot of experience. Then it got so painful. All this sulky bickering has killed this thread. Is there a better place somewhere to find ways to make the Fermzilla safer and easier to use?

Here is a video to start with, then check out all his other ones on the Fermzilla.



Other than that read the user manual and don’t be silly just because it says it rated to 35psi there is no need to ferment at that pressure.

 

[Prost]

Cheers! From what I've read I will absolutely avoid more than 15psi, that's for sure. This thing has its issues but I just love the general idea of it, so I want to try to make it as safe as possible. Should not be the users' job, but well...
For example avoiding a volcano that clogs the spunding valve with this thing here:

Great and simple solution! More like this!

 

[Prost]

Another thing that came to mind was a PRV for the colletion container. I asked KegLand if there is any way to attach one to the container. I didn't get a reply yet.
I plan on attaching a picnic tap to the container to release some pressure before screwing off the container when getting rid of trub/harvesting yeast. It will not be pretty I guess, but better than trying to depressure with turning loose the caps slowly. What do you guys think? In theory one could even harvest yeast like this directly without taking off the collection container.

 

[malt and barley blues]

Cheers! From what I've read I will absolutely avoid more than 15psi, that's for sure. This thing has its issues but I just love the general idea of it, so I want to try to make it as safe as possible. Should not be the users' job, but well...
For example avoiding a volcano that clogs the spunding valve with this thing here: View attachment 119645

Great and simple solution! More like this!

As you can see the only pressure in the fermenter is through the restriction of the post, though it is a great way to not damage the gauge and spunding valve. Don't connect it.

 

[Prost]

As you can see the only pressure in the fermenter is through the restriction of the post, though it is a great way to not damage the gauge and spunding valve. Don't connect it.

I'm sorry, but I don't seem to understand your answer. What wouldn't you connect? I have not actually built this yet, this is a picture of a setup I took from a Facebook group.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Cheers! From what I've read I will absolutely avoid more than 15psi, that's for sure. This thing has its issues but I just love the general idea of it, so I want to try to make it as safe as possible. Should not be the users' job, but well...
For example avoiding a volcano that clogs the spunding valve with this thing here: View attachment 119645

Great and simple solution! More like this!

Nice work. That is the cleanest fermenting fridge I have ever seen.

 

[Prost]

Likewise...

 

[Nullnvoid]

Nice work. That is the cleanest fermenting fridge I have ever seen.

Yeah I'm suspicious..... hahahaha

 

[MHB]

Nice work. That is the cleanest fermenting fridge I have ever seen.

Probably the newest, at a stab I'd say that's its first run.
Mark

 

[Grmblz]

What happens when hops/trub block the gas disconnect and PRV?
Anyone that dry hops in the keg has had blocked poppets, you soon learn to use a sock, and if a disconnect can get blocked so too can the PRV.
I used to use the airlock lid for initial ferment, and have had the airlock block and get blown out, so now have a 13mm blow off tube, no problems so far, the pressure lid gets fitted after krausen collapses, FZ v1.0 still going strong, although I never use more than 12psi/83kpa.

 

[Prost]

Hey guys. Sorry we have not been keeping an eye on this thread so we have not replied to much here. We have made and continue to make changes on many of our products including the FermZilla. Often once changes have been implemented we publish documents like this that specify the design change:

http://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/FermZilla Design Revision - Google Docs Export.pdf

Or some people with the FermZilla said that they had an issue with the carbonation caps requiring too much force to seal so we made changes and released this document:
https://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/KL10788 - Carbonation Cap Improvements April 2020.pdf

We also continue to make other accessories and other improvements. If we do sell a product and for any reason we find that product to be faulty it would also be replaced.

We make a lot of new products every year and certainly if we get feedback that customers want something changed we generally act on this fairly quickly. If you do have any particularly difficult issue that you have not been able to solve I would make sure to send us an email and include any photos or video of the issue.

Took me a while to get to read this... And great to hear that what I thought about is being worked on! Pressure release valve caps for the container. I guess they will be great for purging gas. Any idea how they will react when used for releasing pressure when the container is full of trub/yeast? I'd want to put a big towel around it...

 

[Prost]

What happens when hops/trub block the gas disconnect and PRV?
Anyone that dry hops in the keg has had blocked poppets, you soon learn to use a sock, and if a disconnect can get blocked so too can the PRV.
I used to use the airlock lid for initial ferment, and have had the airlock block and get blown out, so now have a 13mm blow off tube, no problems so far, the pressure lid gets fitted after krausen collapses, FZ v1.0 still going strong, although I never use more than 12psi/83kpa.

I guess waiting with pressure for after Kräusen is the safest route. I'd like some more safetyfeatures nevertheless.

 

[moovet]

Hey guys. Sorry we have not been keeping an eye on this thread so we have not replied to much here. We have made and continue to make changes on many of our products including the FermZilla. Often once changes have been implemented we publish documents like this that specify the design change:

http://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/FermZilla Design Revision - Google Docs Export.pdf

Or some people with the FermZilla said that they had an issue with the carbonation caps requiring too much force to seal so we made changes and released this document:
https://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/KL10788 - Carbonation Cap Improvements April 2020.pdf

We also continue to make other accessories and other improvements. If we do sell a product and for any reason we find that product to be faulty it would also be replaced.

We make a lot of new products every year and certainly if we get feedback that customers want something changed we generally act on this fairly quickly. If you do have any particularly difficult issue that you have not been able to solve I would make sure to send us an email and include any photos or video of the issue.

I have one of the original Fermzillas that does have stress cracks in the neck. Should I contact the NZ supplier for this or arrange someone to hydrotest it?

 

[kadmium]

I have one of the original Fermzillas that does have stress cracks in the neck. Should I contact the NZ supplier for this or arrange someone to hydrotest it?

I would be getting it replaced.