FV taps.

[quixoticgeek]

I've been using a mix of 60L buckets and 25L wine fermenters as my FV's. Both work, but to get the beer out involves a lot of faff with a siphon tube. I notice the wine fermenter has a moulding for fitting a tap. It's quite high up so would need some plumbing to make work, but has anyone tried fitting a tap to one of these fermenters? How did you do it?

Julia

[wanus]

I bored a 24mm hole in one of my 25l FVs.I fitted a plastic keg tap with a back nut.Its better than syphonin in my opinion.

[Fil]

the tap molding in a wine fermenter is at the right height, you just need to gently tip the vessel when the level approaches the tap entry to keep it submerged, as 2/3rds or more have been drained by then its not a heavy job, and using a Waddington and duval water butt tap which afaik is foodsafe allows you to use 1/2" pvc tube and a hozelock fitting for a larger bore faster draining solution.

with a steady tip the sediment remains static for the most part and when any cloudy beer approaches the exit simply drop the tip back to cut off the drain.

Do guard against sucking any air into the drain hole by allowing the level of the beer to drop below the tap entry as you will run a REAL RISK of oxidising the beer.

its great for kegging or draining into a bottling bucket for a batch prime but if your transfering directly into bottles its less suitable a solution due to the need to tip the FV.