[deckerhand]

Has anybody actually used the craft a brew catalyst Fermenter yet ? It’s got great reviews online but I want to know if anybody has actually had it,and what’s their opinion of it is. Looking at getting this come tax season.


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[roger]

I have not tried it. Did a quick search and found that there are some youtube videos that might be of interest. The ones below are  from BEER N BBQ by Larry. He documents his first brewing session using it. There are other videos, I just find his are generally useful.

https://youtu.be/IuYIZFUVpNA
https://youtu.be/QfI8kaXfRic

[deckerhand]

I have not tried it. Did a quick search and found that there are some youtube videos that might be of interest. The ones below are  from BEER N BBQ by Larry. He documents his first brewing session using it. There are other videos, I just find his are generally useful.

https://youtu.be/IuYIZFUVpNA
https://youtu.be/QfI8kaXfRic

I saw his videos good video I like his reviews on fermenter‘s.


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[RC]

Haven't used this, but I've seen it and handled it at my LHBS. The ability to harvest through the bottom is useful. The heat-resistance is useful. It can't hold pressure. If it were $60-$70, I'd be interested. But it's $200 for what boils down to a bunch of plastic. Massively overpriced, AFAIC. There's really nothing I could do with this that I can't do with my Fermonsters, which only cost ~$35 each.

[majorvices]

I have the 7.1 gal FermZilla and I like it a lot. It's pretty cheap considering what you get. I have not fermented under pressure with it.

[deckerhand]

Haven't used this, but I've seen it and handled it at my LHBS. The ability to harvest through the bottom is useful. The heat-resistance is useful. It can't hold pressure. If it were $60-$70, I'd be interested. But it's $200 for what boils down to a bunch of plastic. Massively overpriced, AFAIC. There's really nothing I could do with this that I can't do with my Fermonsters, which only cost ~$35 each.

Good points I am not interested in harvesting yeast, but it’s nice to have the Ability to do a second fermentation without having to re-rack and the easy of getting rid of the trub with little effort


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[majorvices]

All the things RC stated aren;t a problem in the FermZilla - it's a little more than $100 so not $70 but worth it. You can harvest yeast, ferment under pressure, temp up to 180 (IIRC I have not nor do I intended to heat it that hot). Check it out - I like mine. That said, only used it once.

[deckerhand]

I’ll look into them as well.


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[RC]

Haven't used this, but I've seen it and handled it at my LHBS. The ability to harvest through the bottom is useful. The heat-resistance is useful. It can't hold pressure. If it were $60-$70, I'd be interested. But it's $200 for what boils down to a bunch of plastic. Massively overpriced, AFAIC. There's really nothing I could do with this that I can't do with my Fermonsters, which only cost ~$35 each.

Good points I am not interested in harvesting yeast, but it’s nice to have the Ability to do a second fermentation without having to re-rack and the easy of getting rid of the trub with little effort

If I may add then: if it's just about dumping trub/sediment in order to achieve a "clean" secondary fermentation, do keep in mind that there's no such thing as secondary fermentation unless you add fermentables (e.g. fruit, sugars) after primary has completed. And even if you do, there is no need to rack to secondary; everything can be done in primary (that's the topic of many other threads :-). If you're not harvesting, my two cents is that you can easily get away with something cheaper.

The 7.1 gal Fermzilla: I've been eyeing this for a long time. It would be absolutely perfect for me, except its diameter is about 1.5 inches too wide for my main ferm chamber, so can't close the door. Sigh. Otherwise I would have bought a fleet of them a long time ago! Fermonsters are a very useful, and cheaper, second choice for how I ferment.

[ynotbrusum]

I like the All Rounder fitted with a floating dip tube - no yeast dump valve, but pressure capable and I spund with it.

[Richard]

How do you dump the yeast/trub without having a lot of oxygen-containing air bubble up to replace the volume dumped?

[deckerhand]

From the videos I have seen you open and close slowly. With replace what you loss use one big jar and one small jar


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[Richard]

I am still not understanding the dumping situation. If you have 100 ml of liquid going from the fermenter into the jar below then you will have 100 ml of air going from the jar up into the fermenter. It doesn't matter how fast or slow you open the valve. Can you post a link to the videos?

[ynotbrusum]

Just add CO2, maybe?  As long as the system is closed, there should be no oxygen intrusion...

[erockrph]

All this talk about the pros and cons of a $200 plastic fermenter makes me thankful that I settled on fermenting in kegs