For Sale: 30l Stainless Steel Conical Fermenters

[huscre]

Hi fellow AHBers,

A couple of months back I organised a shipment of conical fermenters direct from the manufacturer in China. I only wanted 2, but to save on shipping and get a better unit price I decided to buy 10 and hock the remaining 8 at pretty much cost price.

This is great news for you if you're considering buying a Conical fermenter. I've already done the hard yards dealing with banks, freight forwarders, customs and of course, my broken-english-speaking supplier in China to get these babies landed safely. (and believe me it wasn't easy!)

Anyhow, I promised myself I wouldn't start using my new fermenters until I got off my arse and offloaded the remaining 8 to recoup the hole in my savings account. So here goes...

Here's a pic of the fermenters taken by the manufacturer (I can email a technical diagram and more photos to you upon request):



You know the kind... These are selling at local brew shops for around the $850 mark which is already pretty good value.

But since I'm cutting out the middle man, I'm able to pass these on to fellow AHBers for $587 each.

As for postage, I tried to get some quotes from the usual couriers but they generally don't handle this kind of stuff.
Instead, I'm using a company called Pack & Send. Prices to metro areas are as follows:
Sydney $66
Melbourne $91
Brisbane: $93
Adelaide: $ 110
Perth: $144
Wollongong: $55 or Free if you pickup yourself.

PM me quick if you're interested, what I can't sell here I'll have to list on eBay at a higher cost to account for PayPal and eBay fees (and for not being fellow AHBers).

 

[MarkBastard]

predicting megathread

predicting input from experts in welding, racists, scientists, trolls, tight arses, DIY enthusiasts, patriots, hmm have I forgotten anything?

 

[Batz]

Hi fellow AHBers,

A couple of months back I organised a shipment of conical fermenters direct from the manufacturer in China. I only wanted 2, but to save on shipping and get a better unit price I decided to buy 10 and hock the remaining 8 at pretty much cost price.

This is great news for you if you're considering buying a Conical fermenter. I've already done the hard yards dealing with banks, freight forwarders, customs and of course, my broken-english-speaking supplier in China to get these babies landed safely. (and believe me it wasn't easy!)

Anyhow, I promised myself I wouldn't start using my new fermenters until I got off my arse and offloaded the remaining 8 to recoup the hole in my savings account. So here goes...

Here's a pic of the fermenters taken by the manufacturer (I can email a technical diagram and more photos to you upon request):

View attachment 32594View attachment 32595

You know the kind... These are selling at local brew shops for around the $850 mark which is already pretty good value.

But since I'm cutting out the middle man, I'm able to pass these on to fellow AHBers for $587 each.

As for postage, I tried to get some quotes from the usual couriers but they generally don't handle this kind of stuff.
Instead, I'm using a company called Pack & Send. Prices to metro areas are as follows:
Sydney $66
Melbourne $91
Brisbane: $93
Adelaide: $ 110
Perth: $144
Wollongong: $55 or Free if you pickup yourself.

PM me quick if you're interested, what I can't sell here I'll have to list on eBay at a higher cost to account for PayPal and eBay fees (and for not being fellow AHBers).

Looks nice, I'm not sure about $850, one of the sponsors sell them for $699, still $112.00 savings is $112.00 savings.

Still out of my reach for a fermenter but

Batz

 

[pokolbinguy]

Sexy...but out of my budget

 

[hoppinmad]

looks like you're still stuck with 10 of them! :unsure:

 

[Pumpy]

How tall are they?

So I can measure my fridge to see if it fits
Pumpy

 

[Batz]

Sorry I see Craftbrewers are $699.00 .

Batz

 

[bum]

Had a quick squizz, Batz, and the tax is included in the quoted price it is just declared separately at the checkout.

 

[bradsbrew]

Had a quick squizz, Batz, and the tax is included in the quoted price it is just declared separately at the checkout.

Thats what I thought too bum. Have never noticed an up in price at checkout while shopping at craftbrewer.

Brad

 

[Batz]

Had a quick squizz, Batz, and the tax is included in the quoted price it is just declared separately at the checkout.

Hell it is too h34r:

Cheers bum, fixed it before I look even sillier than usual, removing foot from mouth now !

 

[Doc]

Here's a pic of the fermenters taken by the manufacturer (I can email a technical diagram and more photos to you upon request):

Have you got any pics of the ones you landed ?
You say you haven't used one yet, but have you pressure tested one ?
Are they rated for pressure ?

Doc

 

[komodo]

I'm keen SWMBO isn't keen on me spending more money though

Someone else had a couple for sale earlier in the year.

Are they 30L including the dome lid or plus the space in the dome lid?

 

[huscre]

predicting megathread

predicting input from experts in welding, racists, scientists, trolls, tight arses, DIY enthusiasts, patriots, hmm have I forgotten anything?

Lol, I hear ya. Amazing how easily people get stirred up on these forums. Though you do remind me of some information I left out..

On the topic of racism, is it unethical to buy from China? Before I committed to importing these fermenters I got in touch with a local metal manufacturing company that specialises in stuff like this (Wollongong has many metalworking companies being so close to BHP). I just wanted to find out if it would be feasible to have these puppies made up locally in Australia instead of importing from China.. Heck I'd make a huge saving on shipping and import duties, and I'd be willing to pay substantially more for an "Aussie Made" product. I described to them what a conical fermenter was made up of, and at first things sounded promising, but when I sent through a diagram with taps, lids, seals and legs their response was that they wouldn't be able to even look at building them for under $1500 a piece. I guess this is why you can't get "Aussie Made" conical fermenters (to my knowledge). We just can't compete on price, so you have 2 options, pay for an American made unit, or pay for a Chinese made unit. I have similar ethical reservations buying from either. But at least the Chinese units cost a LOT less meaning less of our dollars going overseas.

How tall are they?

So I can measure my fridge to see if it fits
Pumpy

Hey Pumpy, total height with legs is 1010mm. I've seen people cut the back leg shorter to fit over the compressor part in the bottom of their fridge.
Here's a screenshot of the tech diagram:

Have you got any pics of the ones you landed ?
You say you haven't used one yet, but have you pressure tested one ?
Are they rated for pressure ?

Doc

Hey Doc, I haven't used one nor pressure tested. I'll take some pics tonight and post them up here, they look real smooth inside. I guess it would help to have some of my own piccies to assure people that what I've got is what they'd expect.

As for the tax issue, I paid all due customs duties and GST when I imported these fermenters (and a hell of a lot of other hidden fees). That means I paid every cent oweing to our buddy Mr.Rudd, and may give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside.. The kind you don't get when you buy computer parts online. The price I quoted includes GST, so prices are final with no hidden gotchas.

Cheers for all the feedback.

 

[komodo]

The problem with getting them made locally is that unless you're going into "mass production" its not that ecconomical to produce.

Now I dont know what stainless is worth per tonne (I deal in mild steel only) but lets say its worth about double mild steel about $3k per tonne
Say the fermentor weighs in at 40kgs = $120 in raw material
Rolling the conical shape (im assuming its rolled not spun? again I have NFI I dont deal in such light weight material) say thats worth $150 and about 6 weeks lead time
You also need the dome lid spun say $30
you need the main section rolled say another $20
you need to make a racking arm assembly - theres probably $200 worth of components and design time involved in that assembly unless the manufacturer has experiance in making similar items

Now you need to assemble the items and fully weld it all out theres probably 3 meters of welding @ approximately 20 minutes per meter to prep and weld thats an hour @ labour and overhead charges of about $80 per hour (thats without allowing for assembly time / labour)

Your looking at $600 before you've added taps/valves, assembly bolts, transport from suppliers, administration costs, any CAD / drafting costs etc. I could easily see $1300 - $1500 in them and thats without looking too deeping into to the manufacture

 

[technocat]

The problem with getting them made locally is that unless you're going into "mass production" its not that ecconomical to produce.

That's why manufacturing for export is stuffed in Australia, we just can't compete so agricultural and dig it up out of the ground mentality has prevailed. A note on stainless steel out of China is that unless specified S/S 304 is subbed with 201 which is food grade but much cheaper as it has a lower nickel content which does lower the price quite a bit.

:icon_cheers:

 

[huscre]

That's why manufacturing for export is stuffed in Australia, we just can't compete so agricultural and dig it up out of the ground mentality has prevailed. A note on stainless steel out of China is that unless specified S/S 304 is subbed with 201 which is food grade but much cheaper as it has a lower nickel content which does lower the price quite a bit.

:icon_cheers:

Hey I just thought I'd chime in here to avoid any confusion.

I'd just like to confirm that these fermenters are indeed made of 304 Stainless Steel (the good stuff).
It's listed as the material in the technical diagram above as well as my correspondence with the supplier.

Not saying Beernut was suggesting otherwise about these fermenters, thanks for the input. :icon_cheers:

 

[Beermatt]

Good luck selling these off!! I imported 2 of them just before the GFC and it took me six months to offload one and at a great loss to me!! People like the idea of quality but certainly don't like to pay for it, so great idea but really....good luck. :icon_cheers:

 

[jbirbeck]

would love one of these but it's a fair investment and Kegerator is next inline after the brew rig is complete.

Out of interest what was the saving on the unit price?

 

[komodo]

^thats the member I was thinking of! (too slow - beermatt was who I was talking about)

 

[huscre]

Good luck selling these off!! I imported 2 of them just before the GFC and it took me six months to offload one and at a great loss to me!! People like the idea of quality but certainly don't like to pay for it, so great idea but really....good luck. :icon_cheers:

Sorry to hear about your loss Beermatt. Had I known when I was in the market I'da picked one up from you to save the hassle of this import.

So far I'm not too worried. I can't imagine people finding a better deal elsewhere so the fermenters should move in good enough time. Despite my effort and capital outlay I've also learned a hell of a lot through this venture. I'm sure it'll all be to my credit in the long run.

would love one of these but it's a fair investment and Kegerator is next inline after the brew rig is complete.

Out of interest what was the saving on the unit price?

Agreed, I got on the kegerator train before the conical fermenter train, though it costed a lot more than a fermenter
As for unit price, they were around US$80 less per unit when I bought 10 of them which translated to around $100AU after the bank's crappy exchange rate, $110 with GST etc.