KegLand Questions and Answers

[KegLand-com-au]

I think the description needs updating. They have the 3 element controls like the 65L robo. I have the 2400w one and I love it. Great for kettle sours.

This is interesting, I don't agree with idea that KL don't have a great opportunity, if they got their **** together they could own the market for brew bits and ingredients. For example, I'm not aware of another >50L 1V brewery for ~$650 (or under $5K actually), and nothing competes with the robobrew 35 at $399.

KL's grains are far cheaper on demand than I can get locally pre-shipping, the hops are cheap (albeit potentially sold above weight like my Centennial), but they currently ship hops and yeast warm for the 2-6 days it takes to get to my house via shipping company and delivery agent. Good reasons to avoid them if you have a better option.

In any case I don't think a monopoly is what we want as a consumer.

As an observer I speculatively wonder if KK's current ownership situation came to be because MCH thought they had (or could establish)such a privileged position.

From the consumer's perspective, there are many people who don't have a particularly good LHBS available. I live in the 3rd largest city in the country (can see the CBD from my verandah) but I'm over half an hour's drive (on a good day) from any credible LHBS; and those I'd give my dollars to are open <= same hours that I work.

Thankfully one of my locals does decent courier rates; and has accommodated the occasional out-of-session pickup from the store, but if I'm waiting on the postman for equipment am I going to care where here it comes from if KL are (for example) $50 cheaper directly?

Thanks for the feedback. We just started to get stock of the Techni Ice Packs so you should see them on our website soon so you can select these to be packed in your order. All of our yeast and hops is stored in a 40ft reefer container set at 4C. So definitely while in storage at our factory the goods are refrigerated but in order to ensure they stay cool on the way to you it will be up to the customer to purchase the techni ice packs in your order. I should say that hops can quite easily handle a few hot days in transit and the dry yeast is fine without the ice packs. The liquid yeast is really the issue though and they degrade quite fast in hot conditions so would recommend people purchase the ice packs during checkout especially if you look at the forecast and you see days above 30C.

 

[user3673]

I note that your website still lists hops at 100g +/- 10% are you going to update this to 90g to reflect legislation and be respectful to the other site sponsors who comply?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Did anyone who received underweight hops actually get in touch with Kegland and discuss the issue before posting here, also that post re-marking the hops as 90g seems a very good response.

We only had 2 people contact us as far as we are aware and we offered both customers a partial refund on the hops.

 

[user3673]

That is irrelevant. You may not label items sold by weight at anything other than a minimum net weight

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Agreed! It looks like they are really trying, and not shying away from the fact there are issues. They could just not respond, but are actively engaging and trying to do the right thing despite some opposition.

The new bags have just arrived by the way. As mentioned previously we will pack the new hops that have been packed to a +5% tolerance in a different bag. We have gone for a foil membrane as this gives the best barrier from gas transmission and light. The bags will be used on all new packed hops with the higher packing tolerance as requested by you guys on the forum. It's taken a few weeks to get these custome bags made up but you can see what they look like in the link below.

As mentioned previously when we start using these new red bags the price of the hops will increase very marginally but they will still be very competitive.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I don't look for negatives without good reason, I was waiting on the Fermentasaurus 2 but got sick of the excuses, ended up getting the original.

That's a real shame. We have been testing out the new FermZilla Fermenters today and we will probably do a video on the product next week:

We have been very keen to release this product earlier but the reality is we don't want to release a product that we are not 100% happy with. As you can see from the photos above we already have the fermenter pretty much finished. But we would like to make some very minor adjustments to the lid and dump valve assembly as we have some other features that we would like to also include in this product.

We have spent thousands of hours in product development on this one product and even though we might make a few extra bucks by releasing this new fermenter early we are in this business for the long term and we believe it's worth waiting slightly longer for us to make a good product an excellent product. What I can assure you is that this new fermenter design will change the home brewing industry.

Certainly previous fermenter designs were great but once you have used the new FermZilla we really believe you will be able to appreciate the benefits of this new design.

We have also invested heavily in a much larger production facility to manufacture these containers. This new facility has significantly higher output than the previous blow moulding plant. The previous plant was able to produce 1 fermenter in about 90-100 seconds. One the new plant has been completed it can produce a fermenter every 3-5 seconds.

We have optimised the polymers used, we have made the lid opening larger, the dump valve double the size, the stand has been improved and as you can see from the images. We have a new collection container with 3 openings so you have more options as to how to use it and this will be explained in detail later.

The lid itself we have also made several optional extras that can be sold separately that we will talk about in the coming months.

We are now at the point where I am really not sure it's worth purchasing a stainless conical as these new plastic ones are far better value for money and are more feature packed and most of the stainless fermenters can barely hold enough pressure to carbonate in.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I have ZERO affiliation with Kegland, I live in Brisbane so definitely aren't on the payroll. I've purchased from them and my experience has been nothing short of perfect, some of the best service I have received.

I agree underweight hops is an issue, personally for hops etc. I would go to my LHBS regardless however my point it is, it was brought up here (and probably directly) and they seem to have responded and also seem to be actively working resolve the problem and also to improve their services and products.

What I have seen is people who do have valid issues coming in all guns blazing, other jumping in for good measure and it's all super negative. Bottom line Kegland are providing good product, good prices and competition in the market.

People need to approach issues from a more positive angle instead of what I have seen here.

Thanks for that TheBeerBarron. We really appreciate the support. We have got competitors who hate us. That's no secret and I am quite sure we have those competitors commenting on this forum. With that said, for any genuine customers we believe that any feedback we get (positive or negative) we do what we can to respond in the best interests of our genuine customer. At the end of the day we are hear to serve you guys so if we don't do that we don't have a business.

 

[DazGore]

Hi Kegland,

I have a question about using the Icemaster G40 chillers pretty much exclusively for fermenters (and perhaps chilled fonts as a bonus), rather than mainly for chilling warm beer as intended. I have an Ss Brewtech Unitank and have ordered the FTSs kit, but I've now discovered I fundamentally mis-understood the difference between using the FTSs kit with the their glycol chiller vs the Icemaster chiller. While doing some research I came across how the Icemaster 100's are produced and sold in the US (example https://www.morebeer.com/products/icemaster-100-glycol-chiller-stainless-bulkheads.html) and now I'm wondering if it would be possible to adapt the G40 to operate in a similar manner?

As I'd initially only be using it to chill one fermeter, the easiest option would be if it's possible to squeeze the FTSs submersible pump down into the reservoir and run the coolant lines and power cable through the hole at the top of the unit (the hole for the agitator power cable), but it's hard to tell from pictures how much room there is in there. The other option, considering I'd be willing to forgo ever being able to chill beer, is to cut two or more of the eight "beer in/out" lines (one in, one out) and run hose off those to a submersible pump and return line straight back onto the tank (as described in the MoreBeer ad). The agitator pump may or may not be able to stay in place, but may not be needed anyway.

Anyway, hopefully that all makes sense? I'm really looking for ways to make my situation work, but sometimes I miss something important, so this might not be possible. I'd be interested to hear any other suggestions you have that might work with the equipment I have (Unitank with FTSs kit). I'll probably end up calling to discuss in more detail, but thought it might be worth posting here as well in case it helps someone else in a similar situation.


Thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve,
I have the g40, and have taken the stainless coils out of it, and have 3 of the ftss submersibles in the reservoir running out through the holes from the coils. I have john guest pushfit fittings immediately upon exiting and also have them at my ssbrewtech cooling coils. Works great.
I'm able to run 14 G fermenter, and 2 of the 10 G Brite tanks easily. Also having my flooded font cooled by the g40's impala pump.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Thanks for that TheBeerBarron. We really appreciate the support. We have got competitors who hate us. That's no secret and I am quite sure we have those competitors commenting on this forum. With that said, for any genuine customers we believe that any feedback we get (positive or negative) we do what we can to respond in the best interests of our genuine customer. At the end of the day we are hear to serve you guys so if we don't do that we don't have a business.

Keep up the good work guys!

Friday I was lucky to pick up a kegerator! After watching the instruction video online was a simple setup! Only comment I'll make is I should have got the duotight fittings for the barbs on the shanks. Trying to get the 4mm hose over the barbs was a friggen pain in the arse! But after a lot of effort and swearing we got there! Will still swap them over in due course!

Looking forward to pouring many many beers out of this!

 

[Twent]

Can someone tell me if the stainless steel floats fit in a normal CUB keg opening?

 

[Schikitar]

New hop bags with +5% tolerance setting sounds/looks great and it's really good to see you guys put that into action! I never reported my underweight hops with you directly, I raised it here as I wasn't interested in a ~20c refund, I wanted to raise awareness here and push for a solution - now we have one! Good stuff!

The FermZilla looks like it's coming along nicely, I'm fermenting in a corny keg until I can get my hands on one!

 

[gobac]

Good morning,

I purchased 2 x Intertap SS Flow Control taps last August from you. Haven't had time to install them on my kegerator until yesterday. When I did however all I got is foam from both. No matter what the pressure was set to or the FC dial was position at, it would just pour foam.
I swapped them out with my old intertaps without FC and the pour was perfect. I then put one of the FC taps on mini keg directly and had exactly the same issue.

Have you had any other customers with same issues?
Do taps need to be pulled apart and checked for machine residue? They were soaked in starsan prior to installation.

Never had issues with any other taps nor bronco guns on my system. Temperature, line length and all is as it should be for a balanced system. These things cost a fair bit more so I expected them to work a little better than my old taps.
Any help will be appreciated

 

[Ferg]

Hi Steve,
I have the g40, and have taken the stainless coils out of it, and have 3 of the ftss submersibles in the reservoir running out through the holes from the coils. I have john guest pushfit fittings immediately upon exiting and also have them at my ssbrewtech cooling coils. Works great.
I'm able to run 14 G fermenter, and 2 of the 10 G Brite tanks easily. Also having my flooded font cooled by the g40's impala pump.

Just wondering could you remove 2 ss lines and have enough room for a submersible pump or do you have to take them all out to create the space?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Keep up the good work guys!

Friday I was lucky to pick up a kegerator! After watching the instruction video online was a simple setup! Only comment I'll make is I should have got the duotight fittings for the barbs on the shanks. Trying to get the 4mm hose over the barbs was a friggen pain in the arse! But after a lot of effort and swearing we got there! Will still swap them over in due course!

Looking forward to pouring many many beers out of this! View attachment 114703

Thanks for the feedback. Yes we are just starting to make all the shanks the new duotight compatible shanks at the moment. I think kegerators purchased from now onwards already have these new shanks packed so I think you must have got one of the last kegerators with the older barb style shanks. Try using some needle nose pliers and hot water to stretch the internal diameter of the beer line open. This should solve the problem for you.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Just wondering could you remove 2 ss lines and have enough room for a submersible pump or do you have to take them all out to create the space?

Yes this should be possible. If you take out 2 of the SS lines you should have enough space for a small sumbersible pump. What model submersible pump do you have. What is the size?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Can someone tell me if the stainless steel floats fit in a normal CUB keg opening?

With the 50L kegs that we have it just fits but only just. Literally with about 1mm to spare. The CUB kegs do have some variation from keg to keg as they have used many different manufacturers over the past few decades. As a result not sure it will work on all CUB kegs but very good chance it will just fit in just like the ones we have tested.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes we are just starting to make all the shanks the new duotight compatible shanks at the moment. I think kegerators purchased from now onwards already have these new shanks packed so I think you must have got one of the last kegerators with the older barb style shanks. Try using some needle nose pliers and hot water to stretch the internal diameter of the beer line open. This should solve the problem for you.

Yeah it had the duotight t-pieces and I bought duotight MFL fittings for the disconnects but didn't think/realise at the time about the shanks. Will the new kegerator kits come out with duotight fittings for the shanks barbs or will this also be an extra? And also, is there a way I can see which shank I got? Ie is there a visible difference? Otherwise when I purchase the duotight fittings I will also have to purchase new shanks.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Also, can't wait to get my hands on the new FermZilla. My birthday is in Feb, hopefully it's released by then

 

[DazGore]

Just wondering could you remove 2 ss lines and have enough room for a submersible pump or do you have to take them all out to create the space?

You could I suppose, but it would be tight. I had to do some fancy zip tying to position my submersibles tubing from encroaching on the impala pump.


It was a while ago I did it, but from memory it has an outer coil and an inner coil, so say 40mm from all sides, so it adds up, or in your case just removing the inner would free up 20mm from all sides.

 

[McPhelly]

Hi Steve,
I have the g40, and have taken the stainless coils out of it, and have 3 of the ftss submersibles in the reservoir running out through the holes from the coils. I have john guest pushfit fittings immediately upon exiting and also have them at my ssbrewtech cooling coils. Works great.
I'm able to run 14 G fermenter, and 2 of the 10 G Brite tanks easily. Also having my flooded font cooled by the g40's impala pump.

Thanks for sharing your solution DazGor. It has given me the confidence now to know the G40 will work as i want it too. Now to convince the wife...although my birthday is coming up.....

 

[DazGore]

Thanks for sharing your solution DazGor. It has given me the confidence now to know the G40 will work as i want it too. Now to convince the wife...although my birthday is coming up.....

Good luck!!

 

[awfulknauful]

That's a real shame. We have been testing out the new FermZilla Fermenters today and we will probably do a video on the product next week:

We have been very keen to release this product earlier but the reality is we don't want to release a product that we are not 100% happy with. As you can see from the photos above we already have the fermenter pretty much finished. But we would like to make some very minor adjustments to the lid and dump valve assembly as we have some other features that we would like to also include in this product.

We have spent thousands of hours in product development on this one product and even though we might make a few extra bucks by releasing this new fermenter early we are in this business for the long term and we believe it's worth waiting slightly longer for us to make a good product an excellent product. What I can assure you is that this new fermenter design will change the home brewing industry.

Certainly previous fermenter designs were great but once you have used the new FermZilla we really believe you will be able to appreciate the benefits of this new design.

We have also invested heavily in a much larger production facility to manufacture these containers. This new facility has significantly higher output than the previous blow moulding plant. The previous plant was able to produce 1 fermenter in about 90-100 seconds. One the new plant has been completed it can produce a fermenter every 3-5 seconds.

We have optimised the polymers used, we have made the lid opening larger, the dump valve double the size, the stand has been improved and as you can see from the images. We have a new collection container with 3 openings so you have more options as to how to use it and this will be explained in detail later.

The lid itself we have also made several optional extras that can be sold separately that we will talk about in the coming months.

We are now at the point where I am really not sure it's worth purchasing a stainless conical as these new plastic ones are far better value for money and are more feature packed and most of the stainless fermenters can barely hold enough pressure to carbonate in.

Well I have got room for more I presume that it has been pressur tested, what sort of pressure does it hold? Also roughly how long for thr release?

 

[stevodevo]

Hi Steve,
I have the g40, and have taken the stainless coils out of it, and have 3 of the ftss submersibles in the reservoir running out through the holes from the coils. I have john guest pushfit fittings immediately upon exiting and also have them at my ssbrewtech cooling coils. Works great.
I'm able to run 14 G fermenter, and 2 of the 10 G Brite tanks easily. Also having my flooded font cooled by the g40's impala pump.

Thanks heaps for taking the time to respond to my question, especially with the pics. Yep, that solves the for me. The trigger would already be pulled but KL is once again out of stock of the G40's. It's blink or you miss 'em with the G40's at the moment.

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[DazGore]

Thanks heaps for taking the time to respond to my question, especially with the pics. Yep, that solves the for me. The trigger would already be pulled but KL is once again out of stock of the G40's. It's blink or you miss 'em with the G40's at the moment.

Thanks again,
Steve

No problems. Also note this would only work if using glycol, as if you are planning on using it as an icebank the ice will also freeze the submersible pumps if the bank is big enough.

 

[bbqzookeeper]

We just started to get stock of the Techni Ice Packs so you should see them on our website soon so you can select these to be packed in your order.

Pretty keen - These aren't that great on their own but work well in combination with ice in an esky. At $0.50 for 6 cells, it's $2 a sheet and far cheaper than buying direct from Techni Ice if you're after a small amount. Might grab some hops as well, but only once a few other nice things are back in stock...

 

[sixfignig]

Love checking the site periodically to check out your new stock, but it's way too hard to keep track.

You really need to expedite the development of a "New products" tab. This should be an insignificant amount of work for your developer, especially seeing as though you're using Magento.

As you bring new stock in so frequently, I'd consider having the "new products" tab show something like the last ~50 products at least.

 

[sixfignig]

Also, any chance your could share some more info on the can seamers in this thread (the same way you have the new gen fermentasaurus). Would love to get an early peak of what you guys are working on.

 

[goatchop41]

Do taps need to be pulled apart and checked for machine residue? They were soaked in starsan prior to installation.

Soaking in starsan won't really do much. Try soaking in or running through some PBW and then try again. I had issues with my FC intertap initially, but I disassembled it, soaked in PBW and gave it a good wipe on all interior surfaces. Works great now

 

[Ferg]

Yes this should be possible. If you take out 2 of the SS lines you should have enough space for a small sumbersible pump. What model submersible pump do you have. What is the size?

Haven't got one yet but may opt for the SS submersible one for reasons similar to Stevodevo - it appears SS Brewtech take the apple approach to design where they make everything incompatible with other gear. That being said if anyone has either the pump or the heat pad can you maybe tell me what size the barrel connector is on the end of the power cord? The website says they are custom but they may well be bullshitting - they look suspiciously like a standard 2.1 connection. If it is I will just use this (https://www.jaycar.com.au/2-1mm-dc-socket-to-2-1mm-dc-socket-adaptor/p/PA3701) and a 12v power supply on my inkbird controller for the SS heatpad which I have.
My original plan was just to plug the impeller pump of the G40 (I got the last one in stock this time round!) into my controller - I know Kee says not to on the website but I intend to use the quick connects on the lines that do not drip so in theory my volume should not drop. Does Kegland see any issue with this approach?
I'd like to keep 2 SS lines at least for pre-chilling / loop chilling my plate chiller water and also for hooking up a keg if the need arises!

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Haven't got one yet but may opt for the SS submersible one for reasons similar to Stevodevo - it appears SS Brewtech take the apple approach to design where they make everything incompatible with other gear. That being said if anyone has either the pump or the heat pad can you maybe tell me what size the barrel connector is on the end of the power cord? The website says they are custom but they may well be bullshitting - they look suspiciously like a standard 2.1 connection. If it is I will just use this (https://www.jaycar.com.au/2-1mm-dc-socket-to-2-1mm-dc-socket-adaptor/p/PA3701) and a 12v power supply on my inkbird controller for the SS heatpad which I have.
My original plan was just to plug the impeller pump of the G40 (I got the last one in stock this time round!) into my controller - I know Kee says not to on the website but I intend to use the quick connects on the lines that do not drip so in theory my volume should not drop. Does Kegland see any issue with this approach?
I'd like to keep 2 SS lines at least for pre-chilling / loop chilling my plate chiller water and also for hooking up a keg if the need arises!

The pump in the G40 is not just a pump. Its an impeller pump. If you are using water (not glycol) and if you are setting the temp close to 0C then ideally you want the impeller running all the time as this will prevent the water in the Icemaster completely freezing over into a block of ice. If you have glycol in the unit you don't have to worry about it. (please do not use the cheaper ethylene glycol as it's fairly toxic if consumed. Please use food grade propylene glycol).

If you keep the water level consistent then absolutely its possible to use the impeller pump but it's just not the best possible solution. Yes you can spill some that changes the level. In larger tanks you will notice the jacket will increase and decrease in size as the jacket expands and contracts too. So this is something you might also consider.

Thirdly if you are not using high concentration glycol you may have ice or partially frozen glycol in the system and this also causes a change in density and therefore the liquid level can go up and down for this reason too.