KK - 'Fermentasaurus' conical PET fermenter

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brewermp said:
It’s more the pressure fermentation that attracts me to this purchase than anything else
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I think the pressure ferment, the ease of fitting into a fridge, and of course price will be the selling points. Picking up some bits and pieces from KK yesterday and asked how the sales were travelling almost 200 in just over 2 weeks so not going too bad.
 
malt and barley blues said:
Mine is from KL. Worked well first 6 months then same issues as above. Won't get to temp, takes ages and ages to get even near temp (upwards of a week) and has to be defrosted every 2-3 weeks ATM. This is after a tap failed (room covered in a keg of beer) that they insinuated was my fault (pigs arse) and a temp controller that keeps failing. PITA to deal with and won't ever accept their product is shite. Currently in a situation that if I want it fixed I have to pack it up (damage is my risk), send it back (they graciously pay for this), wait for them to 'test' it and when (given past efforts) they determine there is nothing wrong I have to pay to get it back. FFS. They won't use local repairers I guess because of the risk the locals will say "mate, this is a pile of shit". I'm going to put up with it as long as possible while I organise a keezer build. DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THESE GUYS IT'S NOT WORTH IT. That includes lines etc etc. You WILL regret it. Rant over.
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Off topic for the thread, but uh, just remind them about your Australian consumer rights/guarantees? Don't forget that this includes the fact that you can claim shipping costs back from them for returning the faulty product.
As long as you have photo/video evidence of it not operating correctly and you can show that it's not through any fault/damage of your own, you're absolutely fine and can easily get a refund when you start talking about liaising with consumer affairs
 
Could someone give overall height/diameter of this item?
I couldn't see the dimensions on the KK site.
Just want to make sure it will fit in my fridge before heading out there only to find it's a cm too tall or something :)
 
brewermp said:
It’s more the pressure fermentation that attracts me to this purchase than anything else
Click to expand...
The pity of this is I bought the full deal very recently from my local shop who I very much like to support and we also ordered the pressure kit with it as it's an extra $40, he has been told by KK that the pressure kit is out of stock, then a week after the purchase this model comes out with a pressure kit as standard. I reckon I know now where all the pressure lids went, I'm not that happy about it but not much we can do. They show them as available on the website and people might say grab the pressure kit from there but you would think that they would supply their resellers! Plus the postage adds another $7, can buy the pressure lid from you know who for $30 might go there!
 
I watched the snub nose video doing the pressure transfer, missed the bit that it comes complete with the pressure kit, that and the size has me sold.
 
Interesting that the size is a selling point.
Some people whinged about excess headspace in the original FS which I believe is partly why the new one is 27L.

I don't use my FS as much as I should, mostly because hot water is a no no.

Any issues using a pressure washer on the inside of these to get a decent clean?
 
I have found them easy to clean, even the stout I made I thought I was going to have trouble cleaning but some hot tap water and some perborate came clean really easy. I did buy a brush for cleaning them but I haven't used it as yet cost me $9.00 or there about may have to take it back for a credit note.:)
 
goatchop41 said:
Off topic for the thread, but uh, just remind them about your Australian consumer rights/guarantees? Don't forget that this includes the fact that you can claim shipping costs back from them for returning the faulty product.
As long as you have photo/video evidence of it not operating correctly and you can show that it's not through any fault/damage of your own, you're absolutely fine and can easily get a refund when you start talking about liaising with consumer affairs
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Yeah I know it was OT, I was just replying to the post above mine. It isn't my Kegerator that has the problem it was some one on the other site, I felt like joining up just to tell him his rights as a consumer.
 
Fro-Daddy said:
Interesting that the size is a selling point.
Some people whinged about excess headspace in the original FS which I believe is partly why the new one is 27L.

I don't use my FS as much as I should, mostly because hot water is a no no.

Any issues using a pressure washer on the inside of these to get a decent clean?
Click to expand...
Agree with the excess head space but if you are not pressure fermenting the krausen can certainly crawl up the saurus. I would say no to any problem using a pressure washer, though I haven't had to resort to that.
 
Fro-Daddy said:
Interesting that the size is a selling point.
Some people whinged about excess headspace in the original FS which I believe is partly why the new one is 27L.

I don't use my FS as much as I should, mostly because hot water is a no no.

Any issues using a pressure washer on the inside of these to get a decent clean?
Click to expand...

Do you have any way in which one calculates optimum headspace? Seems to be lots of different opinions.
 
Excess head space, doesn't really make any difference, I would prefer excess to too little, give the krausen room to move. I was sure someone put up a pic of the krausen taking up most of the headspace.
 
York said:
I think I will try and ask more questions about it to see what the various streams of thought are.
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The beer will produce many, many times the volume of the average headspace in CO2 during fermentation. Even fermenting 20L in a 50L fermenter shouldn't be an issue, provided that you can prevent O2 ingress post fermentation
 
goatchop41 said:
The beer will produce many, many times the volume of the average headspace in CO2 during fermentation. Even fermenting 20L in a 50L fermenter shouldn't be an issue, provided that you can prevent O2 ingress post fermentation
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Extra head space for me.
Hocked the gas post my FS up to a second FS full of sanitizer it displaced the contents within 24 hours and it was a slow ferment (lager at 10c). Plus the yeast will use the oxygen in the head space early in the ferment. Have seen the post Reg refereed to with the FS totally full of kraeusen.
My 2c
 
My 2 cent. I have already a Gen 1 saurus. I love it. Waiting to purchase the Kegland version till I saw the snub. As I already have the Gen 1, the snub has all the same parts that are interchangeable. Love the transfer to kegs. Cleaning easy. Love watching yeast at work. 35L in good as I use spunding and doesn’t clog. Good head space. I drop the trub and yeast much. The price is good. So I have ordered one.
 
Having the extra head space and letting the yeast do its stuff is a plus, if someone wants to pressure ferment cap it after 2 days, still plenty of co2 to get to pressure. This is the pic I posted of the fermentation after pitching dry yeast on to an zero aerated/oxygenated wort.
003.JPG Both fermenters got the krausen all the way to the top.
 
One of the things I have noticed with this fermenter is the differences in potential which people have spotted. I was musing over raising it a few inches and fitting an 90 degree elbow on the bottom, and a valve on the horizontal. No need for a bottle just dump into a bucket.
 
I have to admit that I'm sceptical about the benefits of the reduced surface area of the yeast in the cone. The yeast cake would be very porous and I tend to think that all of the yeast would be in contact with the beer, regardless of the shape.

My understanding of the original fermentasaurus is that it was based on the design of plastic, single use kegs. I think you could get rid of the cone altogether and just have a transparent keg with the pressure lid (essentially a PET kegmenter). Such a design would be more fridge friendly, easier to transport and cheaper to make than the snub nose, while offering the same benefits of closed transfer and pressurised fermentation (and of course the joys of watching your yeast go nuts).
 

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