Fermzilla

I was pretty excited to try out the new Fermzilla pressure fermenter. because it promised so much, but would it deliver.

I was attracted to the prospect of being able to:

• Ferment under pressure.
• Minimise oxygen ingress,
• Self carbonate finished beer.
• Drink straight from the fermenter.
• Dry hop without adding oxygen.

The first thing I noticed was that 24 hours after pitching that the pressure had risen to almost 20 PSI. Thankfully I had a spunding valve and set it top 28 PSI where it remained for the entire fermentation.

Even although the yeast was active there was no visible sign of fermentation. The beer appeared deceptively as calm with no  murk or bubbles.  It was only after releasing the pressure that the familiar churning chaos of fermentation  began. I assume that this was due to the fact that the CO2 produced by the yeast had nowhere to go and remained in suspension in the beer.

 

 

After fermentation was complete , I tried to dump the yeast. This appeared to be simple in theory. After closing the valve I tried to empty the trub container of liquid by removing a screw-cap. I expected a spurt of liquid until it fell below the level of the opening. I had a jug ready to catch the contents, What I was not prepared for was the force and quantity of beer that spewed out. The butterfly valve clearly does not provide a proper seal under pressure because the beer kept flowing until I managed to force the screw cap back on. What a mess!

Cleaning up was also a major chore. In particular removal of the trub container seemed to be impossible at one point. The screw threads and plastic fittings have to be so substantial to work under high pressure that they really chunky and hard to manipulate. This is made clear by the inclusion of a large strap wrench with the Fermzilla.

The problems didn’t stop there either.  I had problems transferring all of the beer to a keg. The beer is extracted from the top using a ball float. The problem I had was that the end of the dip tube sat above the level of the beer. Despite nudging it, releasing some pressure, adding some pressure, it resolutely refused to push out the remaining beer.

Having said all that the beer was quite delicious. I am not giving up on the Fermzilla yet and plan another brew quite soon. I hope this will go better after having  learned some lessons.