Your experience with PET Pressure Fermenters - Open Discussion - feedback invited

[kadmium]

Well what an interesting evening I had yesterday. It seems my efforts to try and undo the confusion in end user's minds about PET tanks and their different qualities was very useful to quite a number of you who contacted me subsequently. My reason for opening up this sort of discussion is that a lot of people are thinking Fermentasaurus but then confusing it to the point that similar looking products are equivalent or even from the same source. So our efforts are concentrated on what kind of burst pressure our PET vessels achieve, how they are protected and how best to use them. Working with pressure in Fermentation is not really all that hard if one follows some basic rules and it definitely helps brewers to make better beers. It is also important that people are aware that "FERMENTASAURUS" is a registered and protected trademark which belongs to Keg King. Our tank products are made on highly specialised equipment which allows large size tanks to be made in one operation rather than the two stage processes involving the reheating of formed PET vessels to then blow them into larger vessels. Reheating PET has a serious disadvantage in that it reduces the strength of the end product because it messes with the chain structure of the polymer. So happy to answer any of your questions and help you get more from your favourite pastime. If it gets real technical then I will get help from our team so bear with me.

How many PET vessels do you sell vs Stainless? WONT SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Sorry for the sarcasm but I love my snub nose and won't be changing to SS. Keep up the good work.

 

[CKK]

How many PET vessels do you sell vs Stainless? WONT SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Sorry for the sarcasm but I love my snub nose and won't be changing to SS. Keep up the good work.

Well there are a lot of PET vessels compared to SS that go out the door. Here is a PET Cotta army getting ready to battle with a malt near you.

 

[Ballaratguy]

PET has a very small market, people try it and move on. Recycled landfill that will again become landfill. The CEO paints a picture of caring and duty of care, meh. If he truely backed his written word why ask the mouths your feeding.

I would love a tc on the bottom of the G3
I have had a problem with being able to seal the bottom of the tank especially as there are 4 threads Involved get it to hold pressure
Twice I have lost brews Due to not being able to get it tight enough to seal, until I tightened the 2 middle thread connections as tight as I could (using large Spanners) and then made spanner for the large nut to seal the first thread (the one that fixes everything to the tank)
Would it be possible to have a similar set up as the top of the tank on the bottom?
Have a formed section where a spigot with O ring drops from the top as the way it is now, and a thread similar as the top is moulded to the bottom and a threaded collar is then screwed on to pull the spigot down and the O ring seals the whole lot together
The threaded collar could then have a tc filling moulded to that
The inside of the spigot could have a recess formed to take the current plunger/thermowell

 

[CKK]

I would love a tc on the bottom of the G3
I have had a problem with being able to seal the bottom of the tank especially as there are 4 threads Involved get it to hold pressure
Twice I have lost brews Due to not being able to get it tight enough to seal, until I tightened the 2 middle thread connections as tight as I could (using large Spanners) and then made spanner for the large nut to seal the first thread (the one that fixes everything to the tank)
Would it be possible to have a similar set up as the top of the tank on the bottom?
Have a formed section where a spigot with O ring drops from the top as the way it is now, and a thread similar as the top is moulded to the bottom and a threaded collar is then screwed on to pull the spigot down and the O ring seals the whole lot together
The threaded collar could then have a tc filling moulded to that
The inside of the spigot could have a recess formed to take the current plunger/thermowell

I would love a tc on the bottom of the G3
I have had a problem with being able to seal the bottom of the tank especially as there are 4 threads Involved get it to hold pressure
Twice I have lost brews Due to not being able to get it tight enough to seal, until I tightened the 2 middle thread connections as tight as I could (using large Spanners) and then made spanner for the large nut to seal the first thread (the one that fixes everything to the tank)
Would it be possible to have a similar set up as the top of the tank on the bottom?
Have a formed section where a spigot with O ring drops from the top as the way it is now, and a thread similar as the top is moulded to the bottom and a threaded collar is then screwed on to pull the spigot down and the O ring seals the whole lot together
The threaded collar could then have a tc filling moulded to that
The inside of the spigot could have a recess formed to take the current plunger/thermowell

Do not really understand this. We have a lot of these now out with brewers who do not have this problem. The tri-clover adaptor is standard.

 

[Ballaratguy]

Do not really understand this. We have a lot of these now out with brewers who do not have this problem. The tri-clover adaptor is standard.

Will I’ve sent you a message

 

[CKK]

Not sure if everyone understands that our new Fermenter King Units come with a tri-clover adaptor as standard. Also a standard cube lid spanner fits the spigot nut on the bottom. We sell those if you don‘t have one. Probably should not need it but for those who struggle with things like age and arthritis as I do myself it can be useful.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Not sure if everyone understands that our new Fermenter King Units come with a tri-clover adaptor as standard. Also a standard cube lid spanner fits the spigot nut on the bottom. We sell those if you don‘t have one. Probably should not need it but for those who struggle with things like age and arthritis as I do myself it can be useful.

I'm looking forward to getting old sounds like fun.

 

[CKK]

You have a Fermzilla! Do you feel dirty?
Good to know that the lid fits, could be a good upgrade for me.

If anyone feels their Fermzilla is dirty then here is how you can clean it easily. Our washer kit and gen 3 lid will do it nicely even reaching to the bottom of the collection jar.

 

[Nickedoff]

I have the G3 fermenter King. Just did my first brew and it turned out great, and dispensing from the fermenter is awesome. Looking forward to doing many more brews in it.

Only complaint is, when I was doing a closed transfer tonight to my keg, the floating dip tube was half in/half out of the beer, so mainly picking up co2. I had to use the plunger to raise it up, shimmy the ring down the thermowell then slowly lower the dip tube to submerged it, which worked for a while then I'd have to do it again.

I think I'll put a stainless nut on the tube end to weigh it down next time. Other than this minor issue, it's great.

 

[Dilligaf]

I think I'll put a stainless nut on the tube end to weigh it down next time. Other than this minor issue, it's great.

I did this with mine - the extra bit of weight has fixed this for me

 

[CKK]

Recently there has been a lot of activity on social media about PET fermenters failing in a dangerous manager on several European forums. We would like to re-assure our customers that our PET vessels have given no cause for this. The Fermentasaurus/Fermenter King range of vessels are individually tested once they come out of our plant and get packed for sale. To date we have not seen any of our vessels rupture other than when we do destructive testing on them. Such ruptures or bursts occur well above 6-7 bar usually and of course they should never be used at such high pressures. Each of our vessels must be able to sustain 5 bar for at least one minute during the testing and it is inspected after the test to ensure that there is no unacceptable stress cracking.

Normal operation of the vessels should not see them over 40 psi at which time the PRV should be opening. It is expressly recommended that the PRV be cleaned and inspected before using the vessel. In fact all threaded parts should be disassembled, cleaned and sanitised before use. We have heard of instances where people have not done this and then the PRVs can be compromised by dried wort.

Keg King PET Fermenting tanks are the strongest PET tanks available to Home Brewers and some time ago we decided to do a fun test to prove their strength. We squashed down 4 of our 35 litre snubnose units so they would fit under the axles of a 1.6 ton utility. They were then inflated with a CO2 bottle to see if they could withstand lifting that load. As you can see from the video the vehicle was cleanly lifted off the ground. We repeated this several times and then retrieved the Snubnose fermenters and brewed a beer under pressure in one of them to prove they could still be used after getting such punishment. Link is provided below.