KegLand Questions and Answers

[kadmium]

@KegLand-com-au As it is coming up to Christmas I was wondering if you could give us an update/teaser on the Rapt fermentation fridge? This is something that I think many are waiting for, as it is a great idea.

I do have one question that I wonder if you guys have given thought to, what do you expect users to do between fermentations?

• Turn it off?
• Set the temp to ambient?
• Set it to fridge temps?

I expect I would use the cabinet as dedicated for fermentation, I don't think I'd use it as a fridge in between sessions as I would want it available whenever I put down a brew. I'd rather not waste power running an empty chamber.

Is there something that could be done to help with storage in between sessions?

It would be nice to have it at ambient temp but with the fan running to keep humidity out. Worst thing about the ferm fridge at the moment is I keep it sprayed down with Rapid Mould Killer and run a little dehumidifier when it's on warm mode, but it would be nice to have it just sitting at ambient, maybe venting fresh air in to keep the mould at bay?

 

[CJW]

It would be nice to have it at ambient temp but with the fan running to keep humidity out. Worst thing about the ferm fridge at the moment is I keep it sprayed down with Rapid Mould Killer and run a little dehumidifier when it's on warm mode, but it would be nice to have it just sitting at ambient, maybe venting fresh air in to keep the mould at bay?

Yeah, had similar issues with an old fridge I used. I was wondering/hoping if they might have a novel solution.

 

[fdsaasdf]

Yes it's funny that you mention this. The carbonation unit is coming along well.

We are making small 2.8L keg sizes at the moment that fit into a domestic fridge more conveniently. This is the smallest keg we can manufacture that still uses the standard oval corny keg lid so you can use it just like a normal keg too for beer. I personally prefer to use this shape much more than the current mini kegs that end up a bit tall and bulky once you fit the tapping head.

So the idea is that customers can fit one of these small 2.8L mini kegs into their domestic fridge and put one of our standard carbonation keg lids in the top so they can dispense carbonated water. If you use this setup then you will be able to dispense about 1-2L per hour and the unit will keep up. With that said if you are able to pre-chill water it will be able carbonate instantaneously so you can pretty much keep pouring carbonated water continuously. We set the CO2 pressure on this system quite high at 50psi and get good results. The easiest way to pre-chill is to use a second keg inline that just holds water in it so it can pre-chill the water before it goes into the 2.8L carbonation keg. Alternatively you could use a glycol chiller if you are a high soda water turnover customer.

Thanks, this all sounds good, look forward to it getting to market.

It would be nice to have it at ambient temp but with the fan running to keep humidity out. Worst thing about the ferm fridge at the moment is I keep it sprayed down with Rapid Mould Killer and run a little dehumidifier when it's on warm mode, but it would be nice to have it just sitting at ambient, maybe venting fresh air in to keep the mould at bay?

I run a USB fan in my fermentation fridge to avoid mould in summer in QLD, but when it's not in use I just chock it open to let it ventilate.

I haven't really looked at the RAPT fridge but I would think they could pretty easily integrate a controller with USB power, or just a USB hub somewhere. Or 3d print a 20c wedge to chock the door open

 

[kadmium]

Thanks, this all sounds good, look forward to it getting to market.


I run a USB fan in my fermentation fridge to avoid mould in summer in QLD, but when it's not in use I just chock it open to let it ventilate.

I haven't really looked at the RAPT fridge but I would think they could pretty easily integrate a controller with USB power, or just a USB hub somewhere. Or 3d print a 20c wedge to chock the door open

Supposed to be a single stop all inclusive unit. So rather than a usb port and buying a fan an integrated venting fan would be nice!

 

[KegLand-com-au]

It would be nice to have it at ambient temp but with the fan running to keep humidity out. Worst thing about the ferm fridge at the moment is I keep it sprayed down with Rapid Mould Killer and run a little dehumidifier when it's on warm mode, but it would be nice to have it just sitting at ambient, maybe venting fresh air in to keep the mould at bay?

We have been thinking about having a feature in the software that will reduce humidity for food drying. In order to do this it would cycle the fan and cooling on so the water condenses on the evaporator and drip down into the collection tank at the bottom of the fridge. Then the heating would remain on to keep the unit at a constant temperature. This might be desirable for certain applications like drying food or making beef jerky or something like that. I know it sounds like it will use a bit of power to use the heating and cooling at the same time but it would not be worse than a food dehydrator and using refrigerated dehumidifying is quite effective.

This same feature could be used in the fermentation profile but instead of dehumidifying all the time we could have a setting whereby we turn this on only 2 hrs out of ever 24hrs. This would probably be just enough to prevent mould in the fridge (different settings would probably be required for different parts of Australia so high humidity locations like QLD might require 6hrs every 24hrs). This is the type of thing we might include in future firmware updates. As the RAPT Fermentation Chamber will have over the air updates it's quite easy to update the firmware once it's available so even if you purchase one of the first units we can update the firmware easily over time.

So if we had this type of "mould reduction" or "dehumidifying setting" do you think it's still necessary to have USB power in the fridge? We can have different settings for the fan if you think that would help. At the moment the fan settings are:
1. On all the time
2. On only when heating and cooling is turned on

 

[KegLand-com-au]

It's probably worth noting that the RAPT Fermentation Chamber also has an I2C plug on the main board and we have designed the top of the fridge with a track to run a wire into the fridge. The reason for this is so that a humidity controller can be installed and/or other devices such as dual temp control or pressure transducer.

So if you install the humidity controller we could have a dehumidifying/mould reduction function automatically come on if a specific humidity is reached. Perhaps this would be the best way to solve the problem. What do you guys think?

The humidity sensor would be about $10-20 with cable and plug to suit the fridge.

 

[Meddo]

Is this product going to be tied exclusively to your rapt ecosystem or will it be accessible to other third-party systems like craftbeerpi, brewfather, brewblox etc?

Bump please @KegLand-com-au, re your floating pill hydrometer.

Thank you

 

[kadmium]

It's probably worth noting that the RAPT Fermentation Chamber also has an I2C plug on the main board and we have designed the top of the fridge with a track to run a wire into the fridge. The reason for this is so that a humidity controller can be installed and/or other devices such as dual temp control or pressure transducer.

So if you install the humidity controller we could have a dehumidifying/mould reduction function automatically come on if a specific humidity is reached. Perhaps this would be the best way to solve the problem. What do you guys think?

The humidity sensor would be about $10-20 with cable and plug to suit the fridge.

Are you telling me I could turn my keg fridge into a biltong maker between brews?

Sign me the duck up!!!!

A humidity probe, with the ability to set RH and ambient temps would be ******* awesome.

Really strange question but could you add some hanging points up the top for hooks? I might even hang meat in there...

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Bump please @KegLand-com-au, re your floating pill hydrometer.

Thank you

Sorry about that. I forgot to reply to this one. It's a bit too early to say right now but most likely we will have an API to allow further integration.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Are you telling me I could turn my keg fridge into a biltong maker between brews?

Sign me the duck up!!!!

A humidity probe, with the ability to set RH and ambient temps would be ******* awesome.

Really strange question but could you add some hanging points up the top for hooks? I might even hang meat in there...

How heavy were you thinking? It will be possible to hang stuff on the shelves. We are making some high strength shelves that are more heavy duty than your average fridge shelf. We have done this to take 50L fermenters/kegs for instance. As a result you should be able to hang a carcus or leg of meet off these included shelves.

 

[kadmium]

How heavy were you thinking? It will be possible to hang stuff on the shelves. We are making some high strength shelves that are more heavy duty than your average fridge shelf. We have done this to take 50L fermenters/kegs for instance. As a result you should be able to hang a carcus or leg of meet off these included shelves.

Oh man... when I tell my wife I'm buying a fermenting fridge and she comes out and sees half a deer hanging in there she might turn green hahahaha.

Great idea that would be awesome. Love the idea.

 

[brisie]

I don't own a BZ yet but would like to ask or put something out there for next gen BZ.
Why don't or can't make them with 2 power plugs? Houses generally run two lines one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom so the clothes dryer doesn't trip the fridge vs versa.
If you plugged the main supply into 1 side of the sub board to run the 2.1A 500W and 4.2A 1000W heaters relays and accessories. Then ran another lead from the other side of the sub board that would power up the 8.3A 2000W element when the other side opened the relay?

 

[fdsaasdf]

So if we had this type of "mould reduction" or "dehumidifying setting" do you think it's still necessary to have USB power in the fridge? We can have different settings for the fan if you think that would help. At the moment the fan settings are:
1. On all the time
2. On only when heating and cooling is turned on

Thanks for explaining this, it is seeming like quite a capable unit. I would advise that you have additional fan settings to allow the fan to run with heating and cooling off too; and for a configurable amount of time to run per day e.g. number of hours or frequency.

As far as USB power goes, I still think it would be a good idea to include a few individually-switched ports for what I presume is very negligible cost. This extensibility could allow you to also look at other relatively unique products to build on the rapt ecosystem.

Some potential uses for USB power in the fridge I can think of are:
- fancy / mood lighting in the fridge
- additional fans for very humid climates
- powering arduino-style boards for additional sensors (e.g. humidity if you don't include it, co2/gas regulating/spunding)
- wifi cameras
- temperature alarms
- a remotely actuated dry hop valve

 

[MashBasher]

I must say we did not find the ball added any benefit and it cleans just as well without the ball. With that said we did not test with the Chronical Fermenter. When you cleaned the SS Brewtech Chronical did you try without the ball? How did the results compare?

Here’s a short video of the setup I use in action.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ulce78htniaz84/IMG_0586.MOV?dl=0
I must admit I’m confused by your reply. You talk about manufacturing a “super slippery” CIP ball, in response to a request for a CIP specific pump. Then you go on to say that a CIP ball is not necessary.

I’m hoping this demonstrates a use case where you can see the use for a CIP ball. The conical is too bloody big to wrestle around and invert.

The point of my original post, which remains, is that for my purposes you already supply a perfectly adequate CIP pump.

Works for me, anyway. Still love my bucket blaster.

 

[Wolff]

We are making small 2.8L keg sizes at the moment that fit into a domestic fridge more conveniently. This is the smallest keg we can manufacture that still uses the standard oval corny keg lid so you can use it just like a normal keg too for beer. I personally prefer to use this shape much more than the current mini kegs that end up a bit tall and bulky once you fit the tapping head.

Hey @KegLand-com-au any dimensions and/or renders of the 2.8L keg?

 

[RRising]

@KegLand-com-au

Do you have any instructions or documentation for the counter pressure bottling wand? I bought one and there is no instructions in the box or on the store page.

 

[cb341982]

4 Minutes! 4 minutes is how long it took you guys to receive my order and get it packed in to a pickup locker. That's damn FAST! Thanks Guys

 

[ozdevil]

@KegLand-com-au

Do you have any instructions or documentation for the counter pressure bottling wand? I bought one and there is no instructions in the box or on the store page.

connect gas on the purge gas side and liquid on the otherside

1 chill your bottle down
2 open gas line and purge the oxygen out of bottle using the black knob
3 fill the bottle with co2
4 turn the blue tap to the liquid side and fill bottle
5 if liquid slows to halt open the purge valve slowly
6 once the bottle is full cap and ya good to go

 

[RRising]

connect gas on the purge gas side and liquid on the otherside

1 chill your bottle down
2 open gas line and purge the oxygen out of bottle using the black knob
3 fill the bottle with co2
4 turn the blue tap to the liquid side and fill bottle
5 if liquid slows to halt open the purge valve slowly
6 once the bottle is full cap and ya good to go

Awesome thank you,

There is absolutely nothing on the wand to say which side is which, i guess it's the same as the pics on the store page. A quick and dirty A4 page with some basic instructions would be nice.

 

[ozdevil]

Awesome thank you,

There is absolutely nothing on the wand to say which side is which, i guess it's the same as the pics on the store page. A quick and dirty A4 page with some basic instructions would be nice.

the gas-in is the same side as the purging valve as shown in the picture