fastferment 7.9 Gallon Plastic Conical Fermenter with Floor Stand and Wall Mount by Strange Brew, white

Good

Very easy to assemble, follow the instructions carefully and use the supplied thread tape, I've had no leaks and made a few wines in it, makes clearing and bottling so much easier, check YouTube as there are some excellent assembly and usage videos from Fast Brewing and Wine Making, I purchased a thermometer separately as it wasn't clear it came with one but it did come with the thermometer, I bought the insulation jacket separately as well and it's excellent for maintaining temperature, I use a 2ltr bottle frozen to cool and a small hot water bottle when temperature dropped a bit low.

Seems like a good piece of kit so far. Pros: seems pretty well made, stand makes it easy to store and its not leaking Cons: the instruction manual that comes with it isn't worth its weight in paper. Its obsessed with telling you how to take the valve apart and how to tighten it etc...must be mentioned in 3 places/separate pieces of paper. I had to go on YouTube for proper instructions and there is a cracking video from the manufacturer on there showing you all the do's and don'ts. If the instruction manual was better I would give it 5 stars However, big point here is put the page tape on the threads and there are no leaks!!!

The lid was really difficult to get to seal properly which I’ve since found out is a common problem. Wish I’d read the negative reviews before I bought!

This made a huge difference with brewing some wine. I loved all the features - especially the wide easy to open top. Loved the ball on the bottom. Made racking so simple. Easy to clean the inside due to wide mouth top. Valves work well. A little stiff at first but getting better each turn. All materials supplied to setup (Teflon tape etc). The only things I do not like are the location of the thermometer holder, (on the side and a little awkward to see- would prefer on the front facing side) and the packaging - the drain tube was a little bent and has a permanent kink due to the way it was packed for shipping.

I'm never going back to brewing in carboys and jugs. The FastFerment is the real deal! I own two of these now, and they make it painless to bottle without sediment getting into the beer. So there is a lot of reviewers complaining that it leaks. Yes, it has the potential to leak, unlike a carboy. While I think this is a terrific product, the manufacturing of the plastic is average. There might be some burs and This is clearly to keep the cost to a minimum. The fermenter is actually made from two halves that have been sealed together, which leaves a bit of a seam around the whole thing, including the threads. This isn't actually a problem if you sand off any burrs, and if you screw parts on and off a few times before leaving them on. Use PLENTY of plumber's tape! (included in the kit) Always do a couple of dry runs with water to test for leaks! I promise you, this will not leak beer everywhere if you thoroughly test it beforehand. Let it sit with water for a few hours and, if it doesn't leak, you should be good to go. Don't be dissuaded if it leaks when testing it! Just unscrew the leaking part, replace the plumbers tape, and try again. You will get it! Some people don't like how the plastic is opaque. I don't mind this, especially since it is sufficient in blocking ambient sunlight, though I'm tempted to cut a little window in the lid. But really, if you've got a really bright flashlight, you can shine it through to see what's going on. The nice thing about this kind of plastic is, unlike most clear plastic, it isn't brittle, so there are lots of opportunities to mod this thing without as much risk for serious damage. The downside to this is little bits of plastic can easily scrape off. This can be prevented by doing a light sanding of the inside and deburring it on initial assembly, as well as using plastic scrubbing pads(not metal) when cleaning. After taking these steps, I never have any accidental plastic get in my beer. However, I do recommend you get an inline mesh strainer(can be found cheap on amazon). It's not critical by any means... you don't need it, but it's extra peace of mind that some chunk of something won't make it into your final product. So that's really it! I couldn't be happier with it. By the way, if you want your beer making experience to be even easier, get a cornelius keg! It's way, way easier than bottling. Bottling a small gallon batch isn't so bad, but try bottling 7.5 gallons! What a headache. Just get a keg!

I love this device. The valve is easy to use and doesn't leak as it has a quality ball valve design. The lid is large and makes stirring and adding additives easy. The threads are large and defined and I didn't feel that cross threading was a risk if just adding an ounce of care while threading. It was easy to sanitize as I used about 3 gallons of sanitizing solution and carefully laid the Fermenter on it's side and slowly rotated until all sides had been sanitized. I drained the solution thru the valve while closing and opening it slowly as to sanitize all parts that touch the wine. *

I think this is a well engineered product, however, I am having a bit of problem with the lever for the valve. I may have to order a new one as it sometimes falls off when I am trying to turn it.

The assembly of the fermentor is straight forward and do wrap the included pipe thread tape with what seem a lot of windings so take your time on this job. Mine did not leak during the several hour water test. The assembly instructions are very good with some help from their short videos. I also bought the FastFerment 7.9G Mason Jar Adaptor which has a problem solved in the reviews. The short metal stand included with the fermentor went together well for three legs with the last leg's screw hole was too corroded to thread or even chase. Contacting the company proved useless in spite of the instructions urging customers to contact them with problems. Crickets. Support is non-existent and the instructions clearly should have a footnote saying "We try to sound concerned." This was delivered on Apr 1, 2021 and I still haven't heard from FastFerment. In the end any help they might have offered made no difference. After a couple of days waiting I built a wooden stand that includes short "wall studs", sports locking wheels for moving it around and is customized to my size and the height I bottle or keg, not theirs. which would have been really short for bottling. I am quite pleased with the fermentor operation and more pleased with my stand. The mason jar attachment is a welcome addition which requires a hack because FastFerment didn't seem to test this add-on with the supplied undersized sealing ring, reviewers describing the gushes of good beer, if used.