Conical fermenters - Now made in NZ!

[Liam Callaghan]

Hey guys,

 

Following up a long discussed project of manufacturing plastic conical fermenters in NZ.  Nicolas Jones (from the forum) has bought it and is well on his way to getting them into production! 

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/profile/NicholasJones  (I hope the link works...)

I'd like to give him and his partner a very warm thank you for picking this up and taking it forward.  They have a huge amount of drive and energy and I wish them all the very best with it.  Congratulations mate!

Nick's an industrial designer with a great eye for detail and understanding of the industrial processes, equipment and tooling.  He is looking to make a fantastic high quality product and I look forward to putting my order in shortly.

He's a bloody good brewer too, with some really interesting brews under his belt.  Made an awesome twist to a stout that I'm looking at tinkering with very soon!  Sorry Grant, but it's as good as your Scotch Ale.

Anyone with queries please feel free to hit him up and I'm sure he'll post up on here when he has things under control.   I'm quite amazed at how far he has taken it in a few short weeks, especially as he's running his own business too, baby in tow and building a brewery haha.  Legs, lid, seals and clamps are being detailed and priced as well as minor mods to the tanks.  Very impressive!

Fingers crossed this is just his first project and he'll roll into mash tuns, chillers, grain mills and maybe log splitters (I would like a hydraulic log splitter).

 

All the very best Nick!

 

Liam

 

[vdog]

What sizes are you planning to produce Nicholas? I'm looking for something around 100-120L. Any further details on distribution or pricing?

[Nicholas Jones]

Hey Vdog, as yet the tooling only allows for the production of a 35 and 70L model. The 70L is pretty tall so I may end up re-tooling that as a slightly larger diameter, in which case I might be able to make another size up (100-120), no promises though as I am still battling to get off tool samples for the current designs. I suspect we are about a month or so away from getting anything. I have all my pricing in hand but it is a little premature to offer pricing at this stage as I am looking at a couple of different options for distribution. I am really just waiting until I get bits in hand then I can update this post with some pics and details. Cheers

[vdog]

Hi Nick, any update on this? I'm still keen to get hold of something bigger than a 70L, did you end up going with the larger diameter that could be increased in height for bigger volumes?

[Nicholas Jones]

Hey Vdog, no further progress as yet. We are just waiting on our shipment of ball valves etc from China for our first runs of these smaller units. Im conscious of not trying to be all things to all people, and we really have to see these ones through to market before we look at any other projects, its easy to get sidetracked. Once we have some runs on the board and a bit of income from this project we will be looking at whats next. We stuck with the current diameter for the 70s for now. You could do split batches in to 2 x 70s! (we are actually labelling them 60s as thats their effective volume). Cheers mate, do keep in touch.

[vdog]

The idea behind going bigger is just to stop having to split the ferment across multiple vessels - we're normally fermenting about 90L. Will just have to wait until I can get a conical the size I want before we go making the switch. I'll be keeping an eye out.. ;)

[IPeeAye]

Nick, the wait is killing me! Any more info on price, dimensions, distribution etc. I need a 70 l conical real soon. Cheers. IPA

[Nicholas Jones]

Dude, its killing both of us. The Rotomoulders are doing my head in, I have been hammering them for tool mods and they just keep dropping the ball. If little action happens this week I will be pulling the tooling from them and moving to another moulders. I am doing my best but am at the mercy of other people. If I had more to update I would, sorry to all that are waiting.

[David Kennett]

Hi Nick, do you have dimensions of 35 l conical.  I'm buying a beer fridge for conditioning and want to make sure it will fit inside.  Height and diameter would be enough.  Keen to get one when you've got them to market. Good luck with the production. Cheers D

[Nicholas Jones]

Hi David, just whipped up a drawing below which will give you the information you need. You will need to allow for an airlock or blow-off tube also so I'd add 100mm to be safe to the height.

[Nicholas Jones]

Howdy all. Sorry it has been a while, but I can now confirm all tool mods have been completed and we are looking forward to first off-tool samples early next week for both the 35L and 70L conicals. I will be getting a brew into one asap and ensuring it lives up to the hype. All going well we may actually be able to book a production run for March! WTF??!! Hands up who wants a pink one?? With regards to pricing and distribution, this is still a bit up in the air, and will likely be confirmed once I have product in hand. I am talking to some distributors, but will be selling direct if we cannot form any relationships. Regardless, we will be making fermenters very soon. Apologies for all the false starts, but there are many hands in the chain, and unfortunately shit just takes time...especially when nothing happens... Will update with pics next week. Chur!

[Nicholas Jones]

First off tool sample was completed yesterday. I whipped home and put it together last night, it went together perfectly, with the only glitch being getting a good seal on the lid with the die-cut white nitrile seals I have sourced. I will test with some other seals I have at work, but I think I will be sourcing a different seal anyway. Will keep you posted. Mostly what you see in the picture is how they will come. Be great to have some feedback. I am also thinking I will need a show of hands for some beta testers..maybe about 20-odd. I will do them at a very reasonable price just to cover costs. This is the 35L, but I can run the 70L as well. First 20 to email me direct at [e-mail] will secure your sample.

[Peter Smith]

you have mail...    8)