The stainless steel makes it incredibly easy to sterilise. The temperature gauge makes for better temperature monitoring for trickier brews such as lagers. In addition, the cone means the yeast etc settles at the bottom, so you can just pour it out as pictured at the end. No syphons, reducing chances of bacteria. All really high quality and will last a life time.
Read more

Okay, so I would like firstly to say this fermenter is of exceptional quality, the stainless steel, the general build etc. however, the instructions aren’t great, and their reference to the parts, washer, and assembly thereof is somewhat short of good enough. The one thing I did manage to understand (and I’m glad I did) is that you absolutely must fill the fermenter with water to check for leaks before filling with your wine juice or whatever you’re making. After testing mine, it leaked from the dump valve and also from the thermometer as well as the drain valve. Let me make this clear that the dump valve at the bottom had already been fitted. But you are left to assemble the thermometer and (I think) the drain plug yourself. Upon undoing the dump valve, which was screwed on very tightly, I discovered that they had put a clear, squashy washer between the male and female coupling. Straight away, I realise this didn’t look right as I know a little about plumbing. Luckily, I knew what should be in there (a thin, hard, rigid washer) and luckily I had one of those in my toolbox, which I used as well as some PTFE tape around the thread to ensure a water tight seal. That worked perfectly. I noticed afterwards that in the little bag of washers which they provided, there was indeed a hard washer, which I think should’ve been put in the dump valve from the beginning. Moving onto the drain valve, which leaked…… I did my best to follow the instructions, but wasn’t really convinced from the beginning (due to poor references in the instructions) that the washers I was using were the right ones or right for the fitting I was working on. To stop the drain valve from leaking, I used a much better, thicker, squashier washer for my toolbox, and used it on the inside of the fermenter in conjunction with a smaller supplied washer on the inside and outside. It no longer leaked. Moving onto the thermometer ….. well, I think it’s a bad design all round and my other fermenter (a grainfather) is designed much better and doesn’t even have a hole from which it can leak from. Once again, the washer it comes with appears to be inadequate, so I reached into my toolbox and found a more appropriate washer which was larger and squashier, which I placed on the inside of the fermenter along with two smaller supplied washers as I did before before tightening the nut against it. Again it worked and no longer leaks. don’t know whether you followed all of that and I don’t know whether it’s helpful or whether I was just unlucky but one thing is for sure, the manufacturer/supplier needs to up their game by improving the instructions, especially when it comes to identifying which washer to use where (larger pictures and dimensions would help greatly), probably provide better washers???, and make sure whoever is assembling the dump valve doesn’t insert the wrong washer as I’m convinced mine was assembled incorrectly???. Apart from my initial problems, I still think the fermenter is worth the money I paid, but I’m afraid I’m only going to give it four stars as it is let down by poor instructions and confusing ambiguity associated with the washers, resulting in, a leaky fermenter for me. I’m just so glad I filled it with water first and I suggest you do exactly the same.
Read more

The media could not be loaded. It’s now been some months and multiple brews fermented in this. It works a treat every time. It is exceedingly well made Reliable (ie easy to control temperature) and the seals are still doing their job! I wish they would design a sleeve for it for the colder months but that’s not a design flaw it’s something to remember if you brew in winter. It would have gotten a 5 star if the thermometer was threaded properly instead of the way it is designed at the mo.
Read more

The fermenter itself is really good. I have managed to brew some very nice beers with good clarity from the concical design. However, there are several seals on this fermenter, notably the one at the dump valve. Once you remove this valve to clean that seal becomes useless, Klarstein do provide 1 spare. I now require a new seal as my current one leaks and Klarstein informed me that they do not sell spares. This has effectively rendered my fermenter useless.
Read more

It's a great product, seems well made and much more practical than just using a big old bucket. The two drain valves on the pro version are very handy. One gripe is that the thermometer comes with a silicone gasket to seal it, but the diameter of the shaft that fits against the hole in the side of the cylinder isn't really big enough. The end result is that when you tighten the nut, the gasket is easily damaged by the sharp edges of the hole. This seems like a bit of a design flaw - I had to find a replacement gasket for it. A washer might help as well, but as sold, it's prone to dripping where the thermometer goes through the side wall. Two observations: 1. The amount of fluid left in the conical section at the bottom when you drain it using the racking arm is quite a bit, like 1.5 litres or so - certainly more than what you'd leave in a bucket if you were racking carefully. 2. The markings are in litres and US gallons. So 30L is marked as 8 gallons. In imperial (UK) measures 30L would be more like 6.6 gallons.
Read more