FerMonster 3 Gallon Ported Carboy With Spigot
FerMonster 3 Gallon Ported Carboy With Spigot
SKU: FE260
$43.99
SKU: FE260
$43.99
Love this! I use it for phytoplankton cultures and it very convenient to have a wide opening to clean and sanitize
Nice fermenter. seems durable and well made. I'm trying it with a batch of beer and so far so good. I'll probably get a higher quality valve at some point in the future however.
So far only one batch. It is a bit thinner construction than I expected . It is good for small batch fermenting.
Pros - the cap screws on so no fiddling with keeping it tight. Love the rubber gasket in the cap. Perfectly clear so you can see what's going on during a fermentation. Cons - I'm picking nits here - the side walls are a little thin - there are 2 seams running up the vessel from the blow molding process - it concerned me when I cleaned it with 130 degree water. I will be getting a solid cap and setting it up with a stainless thermowell and a second hole for a blowoff tube. There seems to be a lot of deadspace in it - 1.9 Liters in the ported fermenter. No marks for liquid measure. Overall - recommend if you need a lightweight inexpensive plastic fermenter. You might like the non-ported version more.
Perfect replacement to my plastic buckets. So far I'm very impressed with this fermenter. Hand tightening the spigot yielded no leaks and kept me from having to get out a wrench to crank it down. The lid was pretty tight after leaving it full for 3 weeks but I was able to get it off without the tool and the krausen ring pretty much rinsed off the side wall. Will likely buy more of these.
Love this! I use it for phytoplankton cultures and it very convenient to have a wide opening to clean and sanitize
Nice fermenter. seems durable and well made. I'm trying it with a batch of beer and so far so good. I'll probably get a higher quality valve at some point in the future however.
So far only one batch. It is a bit thinner construction than I expected . It is good for small batch fermenting.
Pros - the cap screws on so no fiddling with keeping it tight. Love the rubber gasket in the cap. Perfectly clear so you can see what's going on during a fermentation. Cons - I'm picking nits here - the side walls are a little thin - there are 2 seams running up the vessel from the blow molding process - it concerned me when I cleaned it with 130 degree water. I will be getting a solid cap and setting it up with a stainless thermowell and a second hole for a blowoff tube. There seems to be a lot of deadspace in it - 1.9 Liters in the ported fermenter. No marks for liquid measure. Overall - recommend if you need a lightweight inexpensive plastic fermenter. You might like the non-ported version more.
Perfect replacement to my plastic buckets. So far I'm very impressed with this fermenter. Hand tightening the spigot yielded no leaks and kept me from having to get out a wrench to crank it down. The lid was pretty tight after leaving it full for 3 weeks but I was able to get it off without the tool and the krausen ring pretty much rinsed off the side wall. Will likely buy more of these.
I love these things and have several of them. I have both the ported and non-ported for different uses. As others have stated yes they are thin but that hasn’t been an issue for me other then when they are shipped. FedEx has delivered some crushed boxes to request MoreBeer to box the Fermonster box to help guard against this. These are extremely light easy to clean and perfect size for me. One thing to note. I would strongly suggest buying different spigots than what these come with. The problem isn’t so much the spigot that you get but the single washer which are prone to leak juuuuust enough to give me concern. It has to be tightened just right. Rather than deal with that every time I bought PERA spigots on Amazon which come with 2 silicone washers so one goes on either side of the fermenter wall. MUCH better design much easier to tighten and ZERO leaks. Overall the Fermonster is a big winner.
Perfect size to split batches
This is my first time homebrewing and I've only used the 3-gallon ported FerMonster for two batches so far but overall it's been good. I've got two little ones in the apartment so going with a PET carboy that could fit in a mini-fridge was the way to go in my case. Pros: - Light weight and won't kill you when dropped. - Easy to clean. - Spigot hasn't leaked (sort of see below) and makes bottling easy. - Thick heavy plastic lip at the top helps when moving it around full of beer. - Lid feels very tough and created an air-tight seal - It's cool seeing the yeast in action. - Has the potential to do a closed transfer (with modifications) to another vessel. Cons: - Silicone bung would not stay put in the stopper hole in the lid. I tried drying it off before inserting but it always found a way to slide up and not creating an air-tight seal. Everything is usually wet from sanitizer so that’s definitely part of the problem. I haven’t tried a universal stopper or another rubber type yet though. But a couple pieces of duct tape kept it in place — nice and tight. - Hard to tell if you’ve installed the spigot correctly (see below). - Spigot port hole came with a small burr (on the outside) but easy to fix with some sanding. - Carboy flexes a little when full of beer and lifted up. Not that big of a deal but it will suck air or liquid back through a three-piece airlock. Overall I think this is a great product and I’ll get more if it comes to it. But if someone can tell me the secret to keeping that bung sealed without additional jiggering then this would be close to 5 stars. Initially I was very hesitant to buying a ported carboy since I really really didn’t want to ever have to deal with beer soaked into the carpet. After attempting to install the spigot and performing a water test it leaked from the gasket and spout. My nightmare was coming true. However I came across The Vintage Shop’s spigot installation video and it helped a lot (no more guessing how much torque). I don’t know why MoreBeer doesn’t have a link to it since The Vintage Shop makes the FerMonster. They’d probably get way less people complaining about leaky spigots. The interesting thing was the spigot would always have a very very slow drip during the water tests (which I figured would be manageable during fermentation) but as soon as wort was in the carboy no drip — I guess the thicker sugar solution sealed any tiny gap present. Neat.
I started with a 1 gallon Brewers Best kit which had me fermenting in a bucket. It went okay but I couldn't see the fermentation process through the opaque bucket and the lid was leaky so there was no airlock activity. I wanted to upgrade to a larger fermenter to make 2.5 gallon batches. The Fermonster was the answer! The wide mouth makes it easy to pour wort in directly from my kettle. Even with 3 gallons of wort there's enough headspace to not need a blowoff tube (airlock is all you need). And the spigot makes it so easy to bottle from -- I use three inches of tubing to connect the spigot to a bottling wand. Not only is this easy but it cuts down on oxidation too. I would definitely buy this. I opted for the Universal #10 stopper with one hole for my three-piece airlock and I also got the Fermonster Lid Opener which makes opening so much easier.
I brew 2 gallon batches and I reviewed every >5 gallon fermenter on the market before opting for these. After having used a pair of them for more than 30 batches of beer I'm convinced these are the most cost-effective solution for small batch brewing. They are very easy to fit with a heating wrap for positive temperature control accomodate a 12" thermowell drain into a keg via the port for no-hassle transfer and are simple to clean. The plastic is thin but not so thin that handling them feels unstable: I've hauled them from brew location to fermentation location many times without issue. The spigot requires wrapping with plumbers tape to maintain a tight seal and occasionally accumulates a little leaked beer but it just dries up on the bottom of the spigot. All and all these have proven to be a cost-effective durable adaptable and functional solution to my small batch fermentation needs.
Perfect size for my half batches love their light weight and the spigots are bone dry. The only trouble I had was when I tried to rack it using the spigots instead of siphoning. When I first turned on the spigot first thing to come through was some trub that apparently had settled in the spigot itself. After that it was still turbulent and kicking up trub if the spigot was full on but closing it partially seemed to leave the beer mixing with air in the drain tube- oxygenating it. Next batch I will probably go back to using a siphon
I bought this because I want to start doing small-batch brewing and my 6.5 gallon model seemed a bit big for that. I had no issues with the spigot leaking. I took off one star because it is made out of a much thinner plastic than the larger model and I don't feel it will be as durable. I can easily deform the walls of the carboy just by operating the spigot and I could see this leading to a failure at some point.
The plastic is very thin and easily dented or scratched. But as long as you’re aware of that going in this is a good product. I didn’t have any problems with the spigot and the size is just right for a half batches. Morebeer’s service is second to none.
I love this. I like the big top opening for cleaning and to me the spigot is a must have. Sometimes I don't want to have so much of a certain type of beer but what I've been using it for lately is to steep the left over grain rrom my main batch in another kettle and use that as a base for a 3 gallon batch on the side and get 2 beers done at the same time. A little DME or specialty grains or just diff hops and you got another brew
I bought 2 of these for split batch secondary to eliminate large headspace and the occasional small experimental batch. I had some issues getting the spigots to seal but I did get them to seal. It's really nice to be able to draw a small sample without pulling the lid off; just give it a little burp of CO2 from the top and draw the sample. Overall they get the job done for being inexpensive PET carboys.
How much beer is left in the fermenter when using the spigot to drain it?
what is the actual internal volume? Is it 3 gal or is there headroom to make a full 3 gal batch?
Measured 3 & 1/4 USG this leaves about 2” airspace in the neck. I use as a secondary fermenter for half batches (5G). The spigot makes transfer a breeze.
head room to make full 3 gallon
This was my first fermentation vessel and I was a bit timid and did only 2.5 gal batches. However I think 3 gal should work fine. My measurement put 3 gal at just below the shoulder of the carboy--so there is headspace.
There is headroom enough to make a full 3 gallon batch. I suggest using a blow off tube the first part of the primary fermentation
It's 3 gallons to the indentation on the shoulder there is headspace but if you're using a yeast that krausens high you should either use a blowoff tube or keep your volume to 2.5 gallons.
I believe 3 gal to ridge with head room.
What size tubing works with the spigot?
3/8” id
3/8" id
The spigot that comes with this fermenter is sized to use 3/8" ID tubing. It is always recommended to use a clamp even if using the 3/8" tubing.
The spigot on these is designed to use a 3/8" tube. If necessary you can use a larger tube with a clamp or potentially squeeze on a smaller tube that you've warmed in hot water first.
The spigot uses 3/8" ID tubing.
What setup for a blow off would I use with this 3 gallon fermonster?
I bought the #10 silicone stopper and SS blow off tube from MoreBeer. Blow off tube dumps into a large mason jar filled with starsan.
Standard airlock on top w/ rubber stopper.
If you have a 3-piece airlock you can just remove the cap and inner piece and add the blowoff tube to the center