KegLand Questions and Answers

[KegLand-com-au]

Some people like the black chrome look, not me, but it might be worth considering.

We will look into it. The only thing is that the black chrome finish is not as durable as the polished stainless finish so it's possible that after some time that you might get the coating come off. We do have some concerns with this coating coming off damaging the brand. Perhaps we could have the black ones sold with no brand and then the uncoated ones were still sold as nukatap taps. If the black ones had no branding on them do you think you guys would mind?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

The “beer engine” spout that was originally going to be made for the Intertap faucets would be good.
Also an option for no black logo on would be great, I’m another that thinks it looks much better with just polished SS (like on the Intertap).

Yes we still get the odd request for this and we have considered it but beer engines if anything seem to have declining popularity in Australia so we would be concerned that we would be working on a shrinking market. I will speak to the others about this and see what they think. We have a few die hard customers who are really into traditional English beers but not a lot of customers in this category.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Any details on the changes to the FermZilla Dr Hans has on his YouTube channel?

Like many of our products we are looking for areas that we can continually improve on. I have not seen this video so not really sure exactly what changes you are talking about however in the past 6 months we have made the following changes:

1. We have changed the blow mould cavity and the dome ontop of the FermZilla has changed to a slightly different shape that distributes material a bit more evenly and makes the tanks more robust. We had a small number of the tanks with some damage around the neck or crack around the neck that we have had to replace and to eliminate this we have changed the shape of the tank.
2. We have different processing conditions in processing the raw material to improve product consistency.
So these two factors 1 and 2 above have both contributed to a signifciantly more robust tank with higher burst pressure.
3. We have changed the o-ring with the lid so this o-ring is about 0.35mm going by memory. So the lid is a tighter fit. This is the new oring on our website here that is already included with the unit:
https://www.kegland.com.au/fermzilla-thicker-lid-o-ring-od106mm-x2-65mm.html
4. We have changed one of the dimensions on the butterfly valve so we get a very slight more compression in the butterfly quote.
5. We have made a change to the stand. Previously the stand had wire that would wrap around the bottom ring but now it's more like a butt weld where the wire terminates on the circular loop. This spreads the load more evenly on the fridge floor while the previous legs may have possibly punctured the fridge floor with ongoing use.
6. We have made a change to the dip tube so the floating dip tube has larger side holes so the dip tube doesnt stick to the side wall of the fermenter.
7. We are very soon going to have stock where the red carbonation caps come included with the FermZilla units. The price will increase accordingly but some customers will not have to worry about purchasing them separately.

We are continually updating all the products we sell not just this one. There is barely a product that has not been under review at some stage. As the FermZilla is the worlds most popular conical fermenter it gets a bit more of our attention than other products we sell. We are also working on a few other new accessories for this unit but I don't want to mention too much about these until we are closer to releasing them.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Yeah, seeing that was a bit of a worry to say the least. Cracking must be occurring for it to require a mould change? Do those who haven't had a chance to brew many batches with it yet just have to wait and see?

So far we have had approximately 12 failures in total where the vessel got damaged enough that it would no longer hold pressure. We also had another 15 replaced that still held pressure but had stretch marks around the neck that may have caused an issue at some stage so we decided to de-commission these. None of the failures have been from recent tanks that have been manufactured so we are quite sure the problem has been solved for quite some time and the problem was solved before the mould change. The problem was primarily solved with changing the machine parameters for the manufacturing process. With that said the new mould has a slightly different torispherical shape that further increases the burst pressure of the tank. This shape was first used when the FermZilla All Rounders were made and then this change was then implemented on the Conical Unitanks after that. So the burst pressures on all these tanks is significantly over 8 bar so considering the size of the tanks and the large opening I would say this has been a reasonable engineering feat.

Also given that we have sold in the 10s of thousands of these the percentage of failures is still very small.

I should say we will release a new video on tips and tricks to assist people taking the valve apart, removing the lid, changing the o-rings, dry hopping etc. So hopefully you guys find this video useful when we finish it.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I can’t see @KegLand-com-au replacing an item that isn’t broken yet.

also can’t see them replying to my question about the flow control disconnects...

Sorry what was the question about the flow control disconnects? Were you wanting to know when the new G2 Model is arriving? We have a few delays at the moment due to the CNY and the corona virus unfortunately. So I think they will be delayed for another couple months now. Sorry about this it's really taken a lot longer than we expected.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

With all these 'continual' updates it doesn't make me want to purchase any new products from you guys. I feel like I've been dudded with being first in with a couple of items I've purchased. Looks like the KK early purchasers of 70 litre guten seem to be fairing about the same.

 

[S.E]

Yes we still get the odd request for this and we have considered it but beer engines if anything seem to have declining popularity in Australia so we would be concerned that we would be working on a shrinking market. I will speak to the others about this and see what they think. We have a few die hard customers who are really into traditional English beers but not a lot of customers in this category.

I think you may have misunderstood or perhaps I have but I think f00b4r is referring to an attachment that gives a pour from your Intertap and a keg set up similar to that you would get from a beer engine with a sparkler fitted?

If so your stout spout would be the nearest thing to that wouldn’t it?

 

[Reg Holt]

With all these 'continual' updates it doesn't make me want to purchase any new products from you guys. I feel like I've been dudded with being first in with a couple of items I've purchased. Looks like the KK early purchasers of 70 litre guten seem to be fairing about the same.

70 litre Guten could be a quick fix, a couple of stainless steel self tappers would do it.

 

[Nullnvoid]

With all these 'continual' updates it doesn't make me want to purchase any new products from you guys. I feel like I've been dudded with being first in with a couple of items I've purchased. Looks like the KK early purchasers of 70 litre guten seem to be fairing about the same.

I got one of the first ones. Personally don't feel dudded at all. Mine has worked perfectly without these modifications. Maybe I got lucky.

 

[Paddy]

What Nullnvoid said!

 

[Plyplema]

@KegLand-com-au - thanks for the transparency.

I got one of the first ones. Personally don't feel dudded at all. Mine has worked perfectly without these modifications. Maybe I got lucky.

I don't care about missed upgrades but modifications being made to prevent product failure 6 months after purchase are a concern, especially when it's a failure that may take time to appear; this is why I mentioned it. As long as the new moulds are compatible then all good I guess.

 

[onemorecell]

With all these 'continual' updates it doesn't make me want to purchase any new products from you guys. I feel like I've been dudded with being first in with a couple of items I've purchased. Looks like the KK early purchasers of 70 litre guten seem to be fairing about the same.

thats a very negative way of looking at continuing innovation...

 

[TheBeerBaron]

With all these 'continual' updates it doesn't make me want to purchase any new products from you guys..

You definitely don’t want them to stop improving & innovating!

Apple launch a new phone for $1500 bucks and the next year ‘improve’ it and the year after completely replace it.

Mine has worked from the beginning, zero issues.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

I bought the brand new 27litre fermzilla. Then a few weeks later it comes out with a handle for an extra $10. To purchase the handle after, cost $12.95, plus postage.

I also bought the fc disconnect, didn't work with my portable setup, except to have beer spray out between the disconnect and post if it gets sideways pressure applied accidentally. Now there's a new model coming.

Then there's the maltzilla which has some pretty big claims which after my mates first run with it I'm hoping for his sake it just needs some tweeking because he's nowhere near what he was getting with my mashmaster fluted mill when he borrowed it while waiting for the maltzilla to arrive.

So yeah, I stand by what I said about not running rushing to buy the first generation items.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

With all these 'continual' updates it doesn't make me want to purchase any new products from you guys. I feel like I've been dudded with being first in with a couple of items I've purchased. Looks like the KK early purchasers of 70 litre guten seem to be fairing about the same.

Yes I know this can be an issue and almost all the products are continually under review. We have staff here full time in product development and R&D so it's only natural that we continue to come up with new product otherwise the staff are not doing their job. With that said if you genuinely feel dissatisfied about anything you purchase from us please just let us know and we will find a solution for you.

Our business is very low margin and relies on repeat business to ensure we have the turnover we required to keep the lights on. So if for any reason if you find any product doesn't work as you expected let us know as it's our job to ensure every customer is not only happy but comes back again and again.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I think you may have misunderstood or perhaps I have but I think f00b4r is referring to an attachment that gives a pour from your Intertap and a keg set up similar to that you would get from a beer engine with a sparkler fitted?

If so your stout spout would be the nearest thing to that wouldn’t it?

Sorry about that. Yes you are correct. The stout spout is the closest thing we have to giving you a "sparkler" effect without actually having a beer pump. I am not a English beer fan myself but it would be good for someone else to step in here. Is there an English beer expert who could give us some feedback?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I bought the brand new 27litre fermzilla. Then a few weeks later it comes out with a handle for an extra $10. To purchase the handle after, cost $12.95, plus postage.

I also bought the fc disconnect, didn't work with my portable setup, except to have beer spray out between the disconnect and post if it gets sideways pressure applied accidentally. Now there's a new model coming.

Then there's the maltzilla which has some pretty big claims which after my mates first run with it I'm hoping for his sake it just needs some tweeking because he's nowhere near what he was getting with my mashmaster fluted mill when he borrowed it while waiting for the maltzilla to arrive.

So yeah, I stand by what I said about not running rushing to buy the first generation items.

I have not heard of customers having issues with the MaltZilla. I think the only thing I have heard of is customers setting the gap too fine and they get a finer grist than they would with a standard mill as the way it works is different. Also the MaltZilla with the DC motor is specifically geared down to give a slower RPM which we found also gives a better grist so some people find the 1-2kg or so per minute too slow. With that said if you set the gap slightly larger than you normally do and happy to run the mill at this speed then you should get as good results as us. We have been using the maltzilla already for half a year. Can you please share specifically what mates first run was like?

 

[Schikitar]

We also had another 15 replaced that still held pressure but had stretch marks around the neck that may have caused an issue at some stage so we decided to de-commission these.

I've got two FZ's, both have hairline fracture marks that run vertically all around the neck - should I follow this up with you guys? I got these when first released, they still hold pressure but if they're going to explode with beer in them one day then I'm concerned..

 

[sherwicf]

I was wondering if you ad considered making something similar to the hopstopper2.0 for boil kettle filtration. I know a lot of people use the hop spiders( myself included) but there is a definite decrease in bitterness when using..

I know its not terribly difficult to add some more bittering hops, but the results from the hopstopper do look very impressive. I just don't love the shippign costs, and there's probably something neat you guys could come up with

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I've got two FZ's, both have hairline fracture marks that run vertically all around the neck - should I follow this up with you guys? I got these when first released, they still hold pressure but if they're going to explode with beer in them one day then I'm concerned..

No worries. Please email photo and they will be replaced. To make the process as fast as possible email photo of the issue, photo of the date on the side of the tank in black ink and then also your order number. This means they they can be replaced without too much back and forth.