🍺 CraftABrew BE-CAT Catalyst Fermentation System - 6.5 Gallon Conical Fermenter for Home Beer Brewing & Wine Making Review

Excellent product. Easy to clean. It's easy to reduce the amount of accumulated yeast before pouring it into the keg. Stable stand, easy to carry even when fully loaded. The lid and cork seal were fine although the headroom was small. So if someone was brewing a beer with a high initial specific gravity and strong yeasts, I could possibly see problems holding the cork in place, but that could be the case with glass bottles, because well. I added an optional stopcock kit and got better results…

Short shelf life, everything came well packaged. The assembly took a maximum of 15 minutes and is very simple. I love visualizing the brewing process, to be honest it's a game changer. The valve and rock can at the bottom are also good because they are easy enough to use and they remove dirt and excess material from the beer. The top snaps into place fairly easily and the connector at the top works great. As for the plug, I personally soaked it in hot water with Star San along with the…

I want this system to work and both times I've brewed two batches while harvesting the yeast. Ever since I started my first batch of beers I have struggled with a throttle body leak where it attaches to the tank. After the last cleaning, I noticed chipping on the plastic threads at the junction of the valve and tank. Every brew has had a leak and the only way to stop it is to tighten the valve on the tank even more. Can I have torn the thread? I have no idea. The alternative to puffing was to…

Made 2 beers with this fermentation system and all is good. 1) For $200, I wish the stand was more durable. 2) The cone angle is too small. Yeast and whistles come across. It's fine until you switch to a keg. As you decant, you create a vortex that helps collect unwanted yeast and yeast. However, once you've attached the transfer funnel, opening the valve will slowly break the feel of the conical shape, adding to the frustration. 3) Cleaning the trap glass is good, but you'll need to do this a…

Used in wine making. and I usually make enough wine each year to keep all my friends happy and well taken care of, but not enough to warrant a license. OK, pluses. This item occupies the same footprint as a regular bottle and is very easy to install. Unscrew the bottom valve and glass jar and leave the top lid on (after disinfecting, of course). The conical design allows the sediment to be channeled down to the valve, so when opened the sediment falls into the stone jar. The unit comes with a…

This year's big investment was a pair of Catalyst fermenters. I really liked what the product promised. The overall concept of the conical fermentation was very motivating because what I hate most is wasting time and effort with constant decanting. This type of system seemed to fix that problem because you were removing the sediment from the product rather than separating the product from the sediment. No more vacuuming after big or small steps. No more decanting into a bottling container. Just