FERMZILLA ACCESSORIES - THE ULTIMATE PET PRESSURE FERMENTER? | THE MALT MILLER HOME BREWING CHANNEL

[@garrymcgaw4745]

Kegland have taken home brewing to a whole new level plus they are great to deal with, never had a problem with freight or late orders. Highly Recommend them.

[@jiffy176]

Been using the allrounder for the last 12 months, but on my last brew I moved to using RAPT controller and pill. The linkage is great being able to control remotely is useful. Love the ability to oxygen free transfer. Great kit and just as you have said I have been building mine up as I go along.

[@AlanAshcraftAstrophotography]

Thanks guys! One of my favorite videos of yours that cover a lot of different topics and products from Kegland. I’m just getting started but you blokes have helped me considerably!

[@themaltmiller8438]

Awesome! Thanks for this and really glad we’ve been able to help you!

[@simegeorge]

Great video! I have a fermzilla with the hop bong and thermowell / temptwister mounted to the conical lid (that took some figuring out and space is very tight - doesn't seem to be a common use case). The temptwister is fed by a G20 glycol chiller and I've rigged its pump to a Rapt temp controller and a Rapi pill :) Early days (seeing quite a difference in temperature readings from the thermowell to the pill but that's probably a calibration that I need to do) but Kegland are knocking it out of the park with their stuff at the moment :)

[@sorenedvardsson6180]

I totally agree, this product make beer brewing so much easier for a home brewer. I've had mine for 6 month and the beer that is so much crisper and favourable than before. Oxygen free transfer from Fermzilla to keg is so easy to perform.

[@padraickeogh]

They are some setup, love that heat wrap and what you can do with the RAPT profiles.

[@ZhuJo99]

I bought RAPT Pill and I'm just started brewing. Being able to watch fermentation remotely is great as I have my brewery in my workshop. Yesterday I brewed Kolsch as that is one good style for beginners from what I've heard. Already made a Pale Ale from extract and it came out great (for first attempt). Still plenty to learn but I consider fermentation as the most important step in brewing by pure logic.

[@themaltmiller8438]

Good stuff! Just remember to keep it out of the light as much as you can or the hops will “skunk”

[@ZhuJo99]

@@themaltmiller8438 Thanks for reply! Yep, it's in Fermzilla covered with entirely black trash bag outside of direct light. Have window blinds letting minimum light inside as I have scotch stored there too :)

[@richardcagle5475]

I skipped extract brewing completely and only plan to do all grain always. These fermenters remove a lot of the common problems us new brewers struggle with. I've made the same beer twice now and it was good the first time, but I learned a lot on it an the second one is better than beer I happily pay $2 a can for at the store, but only costs me $.50 to make myself. Gonna take 3 years, but this hobby will pay for itself. Especially if you drink a concerning amount of beer as I do. Unit makes a really clean cider too. At 15psi it comes out super clean and crisp.

[@ZhuJo99]

@@richardcagle5475 heck, I went with idea "let's try extract with steeping or partial mash later". Idea was "if it's good, let's stick with that". Well, I have Brewzilla on my list as I have no place for many pots and gas burner.

[@richardcagle5475]

@ZhuJo99 lol I drink an obscene amount of beer and knew from the start I could justify the all in one all grain brew systems. Using all grain recipes is cheaper too. I buy from a local shop an have my cost per 12oz beer down to $.50 usd. Pressure femermenting allows me to avoid a lot of common issues for new home brewers and even my screw ups come put pretty damn good. I have the g40 and I love it, but I do wonder if how much I paid just to get wireless control and it's cool and all, but it's definitely not necessary. I think cost difference between the g30 and g40 was like $1000 and other than slightly better build quality it seems most of that extra cost simply got me wireless. Save your pennies and go all grain ASAP if you're enjoying things so far. I did skip the cheaper systems so I have nothing really to compare it to directly, so take my opinion with a grain of salt

[@garethwv]

Just completed my 25th fermentation in the fermzilla allrounder. They are brilliant. I have it in an undercounter fridge using heat tube and inkbird WiFi. Great to control fermentation temperature and to cold crash.

[@carlkessler303]

I have one FermZilla and one all-rounder. I'm looking to sell my Fermzilla and buy another all-rounder. I don't do a lot of dry hopping and the bottom collection vessel is just a whole bunch of extra stuff to clean.

[@billybass4189]

You answered the question i wanted to ask you, which was if the hop bong can be fitted in situ with the standard pressure kit head. So you still had to remove the lid, how do you keep it oxygen free? Great system and I'm considering one but I'm guessing with all those extras it's probably north of £300.

[@themaltmiller8438]

You need to set up the lid with the large black valve from the hop bong kit from the start of fermentation, which will keep it sealed. You can then fit the hop bong cylinder as and when you want to dry hop. The great news is we've got this bundle on offer at the moment for just £239.99! Get in there while you can! www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/ultimate-fermzilla-bundle-27l-pressure-fermenter/

[@tortap]

I have basically this setup. Got a thermowell in the lid. Got two complete firmzillas in old fridges with some seedling mat as heat source. Ferment without pressure then bump up pressure for cold crash to 0(c) basically without sucking in oxygen. Also there are older kegland products that come in handy to dump the cone. There is a PET thread ball valve for some old hop dropper setup with a pet bottle. I thread that to the bottom yeast collection port. Then I use the red PET T-adapter to direct the flow down. Then crack open valve to dump cone into a sink without removing the collection jar.

[@idsullymichaels]

Curious... I'm in Texas. HEAT. So that heat wrap seems pointless for me (I thought...) I'm thinking of doing the fermzilla in a fridge, but may also have kegs in there. My first thought was putting a thermostat on the fridge (turning it off and on) to control the fermentation temp. BUT that would mean my kegs would not be cold enough to drink - could even have issues with continued fermentation and blow-up (would need to research pressure release). Maybe I do the fridge regular temp with the fermzilla (how often am I fermenting?) in a wrap? Reading your comment, that seems similar to what you are doing, yes? If so, how are yo getting power to the heat blanket inside the fridge? I guess I could run a wire along with my CO2 that I'd be putting there... Some concerns for me... the fridge is in the garage (Texas heat - that place is easily in the 90's-100's during the summer). I'm using electricity to power a fridge in an unconditioned space, THEN (during fermentation) more power to warm something inside that fridge... Hmmm... questioning how sensible that is...

[@tortap]

@@idsullymichaels the Kegland rapt temp controller (works really well) or a wifi inkbird 308 has power outputs for heating and cooling. So what you do is put fermenter in a unused fridge. Put a heat source in the fridge. Connect fridge power to cooling and heat wrap to heating and let the temp controller control both. Two wires coming out of the fridge, temp probe and power to heat, just make sure the door closes tight. This way it does not matter if you are in Texas heat or Swedish cold basement. But you will need another fridge for finished beer. Fermenting will be too warm and cold crashing too cold. During active fermentation I read the temp from the thermowell in the liquid. When it slows down after 3 days or so I let the temp probe read ambient air inside the fermentation chamber. This way it will be much more stable inside the liquid.

[@idsullymichaels]

@@tortap so, no way to have kegged beer and a fermenter (even using a heat blanket) in the same fridge...?

[@richardcagle5475]

Lot of these comments are asking for the cheap cip head from kegland and you guys really should get them in stock. For $15 usd here in the states its a great deal. It works like its supposed to with the pumps on these all in one brew systems that a lot of us have. I use mine to both clean my fermenter and aerate wort on transfer. I just spray off the heavy material and the head cleans the tank, cooling coil and thermowell with zero scrubbing at all. I love mine

[@themaltmiller8438]

We've got them coming with our next container from the wonderful @kegland!

[@adrianreed5464]

Just got one of these from you and fermenting fornl the first time. Am I right in saying if you need to do multiple trub/yeast dumps you need to purgebthe collection jar with co2 before dumping.

[@themaltmiller8438]

Yep! You don’t want the air being sucked in the the FV so with the collection tank attached and the valve shut, hook up your CO2 to the bottom port and then put a gas post on the second port and turn on the gas for a few moments to vent the air and fill with CO2

[@themaltmiller8438]

Yes, definitely purge the collection jar otherwise you will bubble air up through your wort/beer

[@adrianreed5464]

Thanks for the reply. I've also been really impressed with the heating wrap which I've used in the garage where its been really cold overnight and might have to get another for my fermenting fridge.

[@neilholder6337]

Another great video! I have slowly aquired everything here except the RAPT temperature controller (still on inkbird), I was considering a thermowell but think I'm going to have a serious look in the the RAPT controller, since it will use the Pills temperature reading if I understand correctly? Means less holes in my Fermzilla lid and less parts to clean and sanitise! Also, wish this had been release a couple of weeks ago, I brewed your Oil for the Neck kit and noticed all the hops quickly settle in the container at the bottom, I didn't think about stick CO2 in the bottom to rouse it up, great idea! Thanks.

[@themaltmiller8438]

Ah! Yes the bubbling method through the collection vessel really works well! We've just done a big NEIPA and were able to rouse the hops two or three times to get the most from them. You are correct, the temperature readings from the Pill can be selected as your main temp probe once you have connected the controller to the Pill, giving you very accurate readings.

[@andreamarcovaldi]

I’ve a question for you, does a pressurized fermentation/carbonation process affect the RAPT pill readings in terms of gravity and/or temperature? Thank in advance cheers from Roma Italy

[@themaltmiller8438]

It may well effect the readings, but the way we view devices like the RAPT Pill are that they are a tool to tell us when fermentation has started and stopped, plus getting the data from the fermentation curve, we always do a manual reading before and after fermentation for the true figures as the digital ones can be effected by the fermentation activity, such as Krausen stuck to the top of them

[@andreamarcovaldi]

@@themaltmiller8438 thank you!

[@ianjones6849]

Another great video. I am assuming that you need a suitably sized fridge in order to control the cooling phase during fermentation? Do you have any intention of doing a video on yeast harvesting/re-use using the same set-up? Cheers, Ian

[@themaltmiller8438]

Yes, we will look at that!

[@Ozzio18753]

Brilliant video and what a great product. I’m looking at doing 10 litre batches. Would this be too much head room for a batch that size at 27 litres?

[@themaltmiller8438]

No, not really. Especially if you use the pressure features and ensure the tank is full of CO2. But you might want to brew slightly longer batches as you'll loose some in the collection chamber. Also, having this size FV would give you the scope to do bigger or double batches in the future.

[@devilmaycare2809]

My mate started me off homebrewing, he gave me a all in one fermzilla along with a bunch of equipment. I'm now a couple of years into brewing and I'm hooked on Kegland equipment, easy to use, upgradable and the big thing relatively cheap as a system. I've got a hop bong and it works really well, the best thing though is the heat wrap it works great in my garage during the winter months, stable heating using a inkbird, well worth the money. Keep the great reviews coming guys! Question though, can you use the rapt temp controller with a icemaster v2.1 or do you use the icemasters temp probes?

[@themaltmiller8438]

I believe you have to use the one on the ice master but we've not looked into this too much yet. We will have an investigation!

[@BigBadDom83]

I love mine, used them since the original and how they've developed it and made it so usable (and now so easy to seal) has been great. Can you get the Kegland CIP effort into stock? Used one on mine this week, just hooked up to a G30 and for such a simple bit of kit it was really effective! Now if you'll excuse me, got my second Tribute kit brewing, can't get enough of this stuff!

[@richardcagle5475]

I have that cip permanently installed on mine. I use mine to both clean the tank and aerate cooled wort on tranfer. If I got the hop bong lid I'd have to ditch the cip an I really don't want to. Makes it so easy to just use the pump on my g40 with some oxyclean and 15 minutes later it's just clean and ready to go. I'd really hate to start cleaning the 55l fermzilla with brushes an stuff.

[@themaltmiller8438]

The Kegland CIP's are due with us on our next container order from kegland!

[@arson079]

I woud like to see how you can use the hop bong with the chilling coil. It seems like there no space to do it.🤷‍♂️🤔

[@themaltmiller8438]

We have the cooling coils coming soon, as soon as we have had a play with them we will put out a video 👍🏻

[@simegeorge]

I've done this - it is tight! It'd be easier if a pre-drilled lid was available (like there is for the normal lid) as the holes have to be drilled on an angled surface so my thermowell ended up a bit too close to the temptwister coil really. Also, the coil arms have to be bent to fit.

[@simegeorge]

- I tried to post a link to photos of my setup but YT won't allow it :(

[@growintheglass]

We need to add that to our arsenal for upcoming home brew videos on our channel

[@StuartEvans]

I have 3 Fermzillas and I love them. I use them for beer and I use them for wine kits as well. I bought a hop bong, but as them with a temp twisters and a glycol chiller I can't use it. There's no way to fit a twister, a thermowell and use the hop bong at the same size. I've emailed Kegland and a number of providers and they all recommend using a fridge.

[@themaltmiller8438]

That’s good to know, thanks. Do you dry hop just through the lid now or via the collection chamber at the bottom?

[@StuartEvans]

I bubble C02 through the collection jar and through them in the top.

[@richardcagle5475]

My understanding of the lid for the hop bong is that you can fit the coil and a thermowell, but you need to put a 20 degree bend at the top to make them sit straight. I'd lose the permanent kegland cip head for sure, which is one reason I hesitate buying the hop bong. That head is a deal breaker cause I love it and really don't wanna lose it for a fancy piece of kit I don't really need. The collection vessel and hop bags can do the same job just fine for me.

[@richardcagle5475]

Oh and I'm not buying a $500 fridge for each 55l fermzilla just to cool them down. Nope

[@StuartEvans]

If you find a way to get it to work please let me know. I forgot to add that I use them with a Grainfather Glycol chiller conversion kit. I could perhaps use a Pil, which means I could take the thermowell out, but I've no idea if it would work with the Grainfather app 🤔

[@chrisjohnsharp]

How much is the full key in this video whith all the accessories

[@Aeropars]

Hi guys. I've just ordered one with he Rapt controller and heat belt. How do i connect the controller probe to this?

[@themaltmiller8438]

To the fermzilla? We tape it to the side under a section of insulation such as bubble wrap. If you have the RAPT Pill you can choose to use this as the main temperature source once they are both in the RAPT app together.

[@FinalGravityBrewing]

Great video as always guys. Always look forward to my Sunday morning watching whatever you guys put out. I have a fermzilla and hop bong....just had a thought.....what if you put the hops in the hop bong at the end of brew day but leave the butterfly open a small crack so the hops don't drop through. This should then flush out all the oxygen in the hop bong with the CO2 from Fermentation right? Also, saves a bit of faffing on dry-hop day. Anything I haven't considered here?

[@themaltmiller8438]

You could, yes but you’re going to want to make sure they are not exposed to light as this will degrade the hops

[@FinalGravityBrewing]

Yeah of course, that's a given. I keep it in a Fermentation Chamber. Do you think though that the quality of the hops would be compromised being in there at 22C for a week?

[@themaltmiller8438]

Yes, there are three things hops "don't like" - Heat, Oxygen, Light - So avoiding all of those is the key for us.

[@stevecoppins6554]

I'm very pleased with my pill in combination with the temp controller and a fermentation profile , so the gravity readings aren't 100% accurate due to yeast sticking to it . But it is close enough to be useful and saves endless fiddling about taking samples to check gravity . Would like a fermzilla but it won't fit in the fridge . Any plans to stock the Kegland CIP spray ball ? .

[@richardcagle5475]

I have that cheap plastic cip head and it's "permanently" installed in my 55l fermzilla. Works great with the pump on my g40. It's clean in minutes and I use it to aerate cooled wort on transfer. Kegland offers 3rd party international shipping arrangements, but it seems cumbersome and probably expensive. But if you really really want one you can make it happen I guess.

[@stevecoppins6554]

@@richardcagle5475 yes was thinking down the same lines to use to aerate on transfer from my G30 and then use as intended to clean the GF . It is available elsewhere but I prefer to use the MM where possible for their customer service.

[@themaltmiller8438]

They are coming on our next order from Kegland!

[@richardcagle5475]

@stevecoppins6554 I don't see a need to use it in the brewer so I have it installed on a bulkhead in the fermzilla lid and just cap it when fermenting. It's just too easy to scrub out the grainfather. However you choose to use it though I think it's well worth the little bit of money they ask for the cip head. Surely it's just a matter of time till the MM starts carrying them

[@derhunter86]

If I pressure ferment, can I siphon to bottles and retain the carbonation created by the pressure fermention process?

[@themaltmiller8438]

Yep! - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZorSlomqqLqDlcksi=Er_PIuVU4FIAhvEM

[@martinpagett8649]

Sorry you lost me on "take another dump !!" 😂 . Brilliant product though, cheers.

[@themaltmiller8438]

Hahaha! We deliberately left that in during the edit 😂

[@STOLPILOT]

@@themaltmiller8438 Can't believe you guys were able to hold a straight face. I laughed so hard I missed a few minutes and had to roll the video back. I'll have to use that term when explaining to friends how I operate my FermZilla. Made first use of the FermZilla and Pill yesterday and am really enjoying watching data populate in the RAPT portal. You folks create some really nice content! Keep up the great work!

[@themaltmiller8438]

Ah! Thanks!! Glad you're enjoying it all!

[@jasonmhite]

Have you guys had problems with the tricamp lid rubbing on the posts and unscrewing when you tighten/loosen the collar? That's what happens on mine and it's the only thing I don't like about the whole kit.

[@themaltmiller8438]

No, we've not experienced this? We generally take off one of the posts when taking the collar off to allow for it to move over the lid assembly.

[@timgallop1589]

I don’t know bout the guys on here but I am struggling with my RAPT pill and controller. Could you do a movie while using them both and create brew and fermenter profile

[@themaltmiller8438]

We will certainly look to add this to the list of video projects. 👍🏻

[@JohnDoe-es5xh]

Nice product, but we unfortunately dont have the space to operate this monster in our flat. 😞

[@idsullymichaels]

Hop bomb seems unnecessary with what you've done using the collection tank at the bottom...

[@themaltmiller8438]

Agree with you that there are 2 options for dry hopping, some people will want the convenience of the hop bong over the collection vessel, some may want to remove the yeast and store in the collection vessel. Also the hop bong works with the all rounder, which doesn't have the collection vessel.

[@RickKeenan]

Are you worried about getting light on your beer?

[@themaltmiller8438]

Yes, we always worry about this! Nothing worse than skunked beer... For the FermZilla and similar FV's we always recommend covering in something - either in a chamber like a fridge, an insulted jacket or even just the cardboard box they come in!

[@RickKeenan]

@@themaltmiller8438 I'm not sure how sensitive beer can be to light, but I went as far as wrapping my transfer tubing in electrical tape 😅

[@rorym1967]

Why does it need to be kept in the dark

[@themaltmiller8438]

UV rays effect hops in a particular way, they cause the effect known as "skunking" which is when your beer smells and tastes weedy. Not pleasant! A few commercial breweries which use clear glass bottles have this effect, which they seem to embrace but in general it's classed as an off flavour.

[@dalejoy193]

LOL.