KK - 'Fermentasaurus' conical PET fermenter

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So, silly question, but I assume you get oxygen exposure when you attach the collection jar say with 30g dry hop pellets in it, and open the valve, as the air in the jar does a huge bubble up into the wort? I read some discussion a few pages back that you could mostly fill the jar with boiled water or siphoned off beer - was this to prevent the above?
 
Basically, yes. Boiled water is deoxygenated, but the moment it starts cooling, it'll start re-absorbing O2. Since you wouldn't want to add very hot water to your beer, you'd have to dick around trying to cool the water without introducing O2, ie using a sealed minikeg and pressurising with CO2 to offset the vacuum.

If you just dry hop at least 10 points above FG though, I'm fairly confident that any introduced O2 would be consumed by the fermentation. I'd need someone more knowledgeable to confirm or deny that though.
 
So, silly question, but I assume you get oxygen exposure when you attach the collection jar say with 30g dry hop pellets in it, and open the valve, as the air in the jar does a huge bubble up into the wort? I read some discussion a few pages back that you could mostly fill the jar with boiled water or siphoned off beer - was this to prevent the above?

I was under the impression that once you open the valve after dry hopping the oxygen will travel through the beer to the top ( not causing any trouble) and then you give the relief valve a few pulls and that will release the oxygen though the top because the co2 is heavier than the oxygen and forces it out.

This process has worked for me so far but I’m no expert.
 
Greater minds than mine have debunked that "CO2 is heavy" myth many times over. If you bubble oxygen through your beer it's going to be absorbed into it, to some degree. Whether you notice oxidisation as a result is a different story.
 
So, silly question, but I assume you get oxygen exposure when you attach the collection jar say with 30g dry hop pellets in it, and open the valve, as the air in the jar does a huge bubble up into the wort? I read some discussion a few pages back that you could mostly fill the jar with boiled water or siphoned off beer - was this to prevent the above?

Oxbars you tube video suggests that when dry hopping with the collection bottle to purge it with co2 before screwing it back on to the fermenter, not sure it would get rid of all the o2 but can’t hurt.
 
Perhaps a little off topic. But does anyone know (perhaps those with a Fermentations) what the thread size and type is between the cone and butterfly valve. I'm looking at using a different valve arrangement so I can attach different connections at the bottom other than the bottle.
 
Perhaps a little off topic. But does anyone know (perhaps those with a Fermentations) what the thread size and type is between the cone and butterfly valve. I'm looking at using a different valve arrangement so I can attach different connections at the bottom other than the bottle.
From a previous post.
The sodastream bottles us a double helix thread which we have not found anywhere else other than in our yeast collection bottles and sodastream bottles.
 
Has anyone had their fermentasaurus leak through the dump valve? I left my two unattended for a couple of weeks happily fermenting saisons (not under pressure), came back and they'd leaked about a litre each THROUGH the closed valves (no collection bottles attached) which was then fragrantly rotting in the base of the 26 degree fridges. The valves are both hard up against the stops - they're definitely "shut". Thoroughly cleaned before use too so there shouldn't be any grit or anything in the valve seats.
 
Has anyone had their fermentasaurus leak through the dump valve? I left my two unattended for a couple of weeks happily fermenting saisons (not under pressure), came back and they'd leaked about a litre each THROUGH the closed valves (no collection bottles attached) which was then fragrantly rotting in the base of the 26 degree fridges. The valves are both hard up against the stops - they're definitely "shut". Thoroughly cleaned before use too so there shouldn't be any grit or anything in the valve seats.
Nothing like that but on mine the flanged top Gasket will let go before the red PRV has a chance... Still keeps the pressure to some extent but it does leak.
 
Made a bit of a mess this batch. After 4 batches it's going to need a clean. Cleaning the spunding valve may be a different story.
Lucky i am changing yeasts for the next batch anyway.
View attachment 107722

If you use a frisbee or baking dish under the colletioni bottle this helps to catch the mess when you are fitting and removing the bottle.
 
Has anyone had their fermentasaurus leak through the dump valve? I left my two unattended for a couple of weeks happily fermenting saisons (not under pressure), came back and they'd leaked about a litre each THROUGH the closed valves (no collection bottles attached) which was then fragrantly rotting in the base of the 26 degree fridges. The valves are both hard up against the stops - they're definitely "shut". Thoroughly cleaned before use too so there shouldn't be any grit or anything in the valve seats.

Thats a bit strange. Have not heard of this before.

Normally we would recommend that customers always have a yeast collection bottle attached throughout the whole process so the dump valve is open all the time. This means your heast and other solids have the maximum amount of time to settle out of suspension. It's really ideal to have at least 2 of the collection bottles.
 
Thats a bit strange. Have not heard of this before.

Normally we would recommend that customers always have a yeast collection bottle attached throughout the whole process so the dump valve is open all the time. This means your heast and other solids have the maximum amount of time to settle out of suspension. It's really ideal to have at least 2 of the collection bottles.

I agree it's very strange - and frustrating, especially since I love the product otherwise. I decided to stop using the bottles with these batches because I've found that the open valve gets blocked too easily by settling solids and it winds up trapping beer in the bottle rather than filling with solids. I also always have at least 1 litre of yeast/sediment so at least half of that is still going to be in the vessel body rather than the bottle even if the valve didn't clog. For me it's just one more thing to clean without really achieving anything useful unless you want to re-use the yeast which I don't. You'd normally think it's safe to assume that a valve would seal anyway - especially on a pressure vessel - so the bottle really shouldn't be necessary.

It's a bit surprising that I'm the only one that's experienced this based on the lack of responses so far, but that it's happened to both of my vessels. Maybe others haven't noticed the problem because the use of the bottle hides it? It's not exactly rocket science to close a valve so I'm comfortable it's not operator-error, and if it was a poor seal between the valve and the vessel it would be leaking around the outside of the valve body, not the inside. I'll be checking everything over for damage once I've emptied and cleaned the FVs and if there's nothing self-inflicted I'll be returning them.
 
I agree it's very strange - and frustrating, especially since I love the product otherwise. I decided to stop using the bottles with these batches because I've found that the open valve gets blocked too easily by settling solids and it winds up trapping beer in the bottle rather than filling with solids.

Try squeezing the collect bottle a little occasionally - this till cause wort movement through the valve / throat area and help dislodge trub, which will settle into the bottle.
 
For this reason I've started fermentation with the valve closed. If it's going to form a plug anyway, it doesn't matter. Then after 24hrs, simply open the valve; the plug will be gone right quick, and re-settle in the bottle. Works for me anyway.
 
Yeah thanks guys, there's certainly solutions to the plugging issue but I just don't see any benefit to using the bottle in the first place for my workflow - if it was going to catch all the solids then fair enough but it's too small so there's alway going to be some still in the cone anyway. I did buy some 1L sodastream bottles to fix the capacity issue but they're too tall to fit under the FV without mods to my fridge shelves which I don't want to do. I make the effort to keep most of the hot break out of the FV so I'd rather just let the conical do its thing. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that the included valves should hold a seal.
 
Yeah, the seal thing is a problem. At what pressure did it start to leak?

The bottle is helpful for me. Plugging issue sorted with my workaround above, any residual crud in the throat area is just stuck to the sides - it doesn't come through when transferring to keg. I compare the experiences with my Fermentasaruses to my stainless kegmenters and aside from the height issue, I prefer the 'saurus hands down.
 
No pressure - just the weight of the beer. Yeah I love the things, although I curse those gaskets under the cap - takes three or four goes to get them to seat properly each time I use it. Would also like the top opening to be another inch wider to get my arm in easier, and a slightly larger valve so that the plugging was less of an issue. V2 maybe...
 
Bad batch of gaskets maybe. Have them send you replacement gaskets I reckon, send the old ones back
 

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