Considering getting the 30L fermenter…has anyone tried these? Results?
Friends of mine love them.
I have both the 20L and 30L and absolutely love them. They are seriously heavy duty plastic with two big handles on the side which makes carrying them easy and safe. The large screw on top makes cleaning them really easy, as you can get your hand in there to scrub if needed. I really like the giant 3-piece airlock, too. Less need for a blowoff tube, though I still use one on really big beers. They only drawback I have experienced is that the plastic is not clear, so you can’t see into them as well as a plastic carboy. You can see the level of the liquid, though. For me, that’s a minor issue compared to all the positives. I’d go with the 30L if you mostly do 5-6 gallon batches.
I have a 30L. My first batch with it is in the fermenter. I could kind of make out that a krausen had formed but that was about all I could see. I couldn’t see when the krausen fell.
But I like it.
I am not sure if I will ever use the spigot to remove the beer. I have heard that grabs lots of yeast.
I have a 30L also and love it. I use the spigot every time. So far the level of yeast has been below the spigot. However I have not brewed a lager nor a big beer in it. The nice thing is the OD of the spigot is the same OD as the Ball-lock connector, so I just run a hose from the spigot to the beverage-in post to transfer to the keg. works great!
I can’t wait to see if my beer line is below the spigot. Your transfer method sounds great.
People in my club have been selling off their carboys in favor of these. They seem to be universally loved. I haven’t seen or heard anybody criticize them outside of something not being able to use the spigot.
I recently bought a 60L. Used it for the first time this weekend. I am very impressed with it. I like that the spigot port is offset from center to allow you a little more space from the yeast cake.
I’m leaning on getting the 60L myself. I’ve been fermenting in sanke’s but I hate pulling the spears.
One major upgrade these things could use is a racking arm that you can rotate off (and on) the yeast. I might try to come up with a mod for that.
Question: How sanitary is that spigot? Is it like the ones on the bottling buckets? I hate those. They don’t disassemble and they are not sanitary.
I’ve got two of the 30L fermenters and really like them. The spigot works great and seems to be at the perfect level for leaving yeast behind. Then again, I mostly do 3 gallon batches but haven’t had an issue with any of my 5 gallon ones.
Keith, here’s a like a saw a while back about a stainless valve and rotating racking arm:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/speidel-fermentors-now-stainless-rotating-racking-arm-449546/
So far, I haven’t had any sanitary issues with the spigot. The parts on them are larger than those on a bucket, however, it doesn’t come completely apart so you have to be careful when cleaning them so you don’t leave anything behind.
If you got a second spigot and put that on top, you could possibly us CO2 to push the beer out into the keg. I’ve seen where people have done so and the fermenter had no problem holding 5psi, just haven’t tried to do it myself yet.
That’s awesome! Thanks Jeremy!
Nice, I’m really liking the look of those 60 liter fermenters. This mod makes them pretty awesome and it looks like you should be able to take them totally apart and boil the ss part so super sanitary!
You can pull the orange lever out of the spigot. As such you can get the spigot into its three separate pieces. However, pulling that orange lever may cause leaks overtime. I am not sure.
I bought a 2nd spigot, and took it apart to use the ring from it on the top. Then I put a two-hole stopper in the top secured by the ring. In the two holes in the stopper I put a thermowell and an airlock. When it comes time to keg I put a valve with two hose barb ends in the hole where the airlock was, and attach co2 to it at 2-3 psi. Works great!
With respect to sanitation of the spigot, I just spin the valve handle several times while soaking in in Starsan.
To clean the spigot I use a 1/2 silicone tubing connected to a faucet and run hot water through it. Have not had any issues with this method. BTW I own 2 of the 8gal and a 15 gal Speidel.
I’m intrigued about this. Does this mean you can simply screw a second spigot on the top or is there a mod that has to be fabricated?
Sorry for being confusing. No, I just used the ring section of the spigot. I use it to hold the stopper in place. I can post a picture later today if that would help.
The spigot and cap share the same connection. A second spigot can be used as a blowoff.