25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
As mentioned earlier, I bought a 'fusti' off ebay last week to use as a fermenter. It came from here for £62 plus about £25 postage from Italy. It arrived this morning in good nick, and my, does it look nice:
So what's it like on the inside? Well, pretty good. It's not as polished as the outside -- it has a matt sort of finish -- but it is smooth and mostly flawless.
Even where the handles have been welded on, there are no indentations inside.
The weld halfway up has been ground pretty well, with just one dodgy spot ...
... but it's not as bad as it looks, there's a tiny little pinhole that'll need some attention, but mostly it's just a blob of excess weld.
Another dodgy bit is where the lid has been rolled over, and there are lots of metal splinters:
But that is outside the seal, so hopefully it won't matter too much.
The real Achilles heel is the tap hole, which is both threaded and not finished very well:
That's going to need a lot of attention. My plan is to screw in a tank connector from the inside, with a big fat silicone seal to keep the wort away from the threads. But it's not ideal. If I pluck up the courage I might try grinding away the thread, leaving me with a clean hole. In the meantime I can always sanitize the fermenter by boiling it on the stove -- the blue plastic bits can be removed -- and I can also flame the tap hole. That should deal with any hidden nasties.
The lid is nice and wide, so cleaning should be easy. It seals okay but not perfectly. It can hold a gentle pressure for a while, but there's no danger of the fermenter exploding. I suppose you could grease up the silicon gasket if you wanted. In fact for fermenting it might be ideal as it is.
Another thing worth mentioning is that a lot of the pictures of these fustis -- including the box it came in this morning -- show the lettering on the front embossed in the metal itself. But that's not how it is: it's just etched onto the outside. They must have changed the design.
In summary? It's not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with it. Okay, I'd probably be less indulgent of its flaws if I found them in an ugly old stockpot rather than in a chic Italian fusti, but hopefully they won't be too much of a problem. It's not bad for £87, although I can see further expenses on the horizon such as a cooling coil -- it's far too nice to stick in a fridge.
So what's it like on the inside? Well, pretty good. It's not as polished as the outside -- it has a matt sort of finish -- but it is smooth and mostly flawless.
Even where the handles have been welded on, there are no indentations inside.
The weld halfway up has been ground pretty well, with just one dodgy spot ...
... but it's not as bad as it looks, there's a tiny little pinhole that'll need some attention, but mostly it's just a blob of excess weld.
Another dodgy bit is where the lid has been rolled over, and there are lots of metal splinters:
But that is outside the seal, so hopefully it won't matter too much.
The real Achilles heel is the tap hole, which is both threaded and not finished very well:
That's going to need a lot of attention. My plan is to screw in a tank connector from the inside, with a big fat silicone seal to keep the wort away from the threads. But it's not ideal. If I pluck up the courage I might try grinding away the thread, leaving me with a clean hole. In the meantime I can always sanitize the fermenter by boiling it on the stove -- the blue plastic bits can be removed -- and I can also flame the tap hole. That should deal with any hidden nasties.
The lid is nice and wide, so cleaning should be easy. It seals okay but not perfectly. It can hold a gentle pressure for a while, but there's no danger of the fermenter exploding. I suppose you could grease up the silicon gasket if you wanted. In fact for fermenting it might be ideal as it is.
Another thing worth mentioning is that a lot of the pictures of these fustis -- including the box it came in this morning -- show the lettering on the front embossed in the metal itself. But that's not how it is: it's just etched onto the outside. They must have changed the design.
In summary? It's not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with it. Okay, I'd probably be less indulgent of its flaws if I found them in an ugly old stockpot rather than in a chic Italian fusti, but hopefully they won't be too much of a problem. It's not bad for £87, although I can see further expenses on the horizon such as a cooling coil -- it's far too nice to stick in a fridge.
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Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
Nice.. and now u have me looking at the inox vessels on ebay.it as if ebay.fr wasnt bad enough....
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
Wait till you hear that the 50ltr version is barely more expensive -- it's £66.61. I'm thinking of getting one for a boiler.Fil wrote:Nice.. and now u have me looking at the inox vessels on ebay.it as if ebay.fr wasnt bad enough....
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
Looks good. What diameter is the threaded fittings? Would it not be possible to drill it out and fit a bulkhead through it?
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- Telling imaginary friend stories
- Posts: 5229
- Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
- Location: Cowley, Oxford
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
it was the 300l jobbies for E140 that caught my eye...
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
It takes a standard 15mm fitting, so the actual hole is 20-ish mil. Yeah, I'd like to remove the thread, but I'm not sure what the best method would be.Belter wrote:Looks good. What diameter is the threaded fittings? Would it not be possible to drill it out and fit a bulkhead through it?
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
How thick is the skin? Can you qmax it?
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
I doubt it. The tap fitting is a separate piece that's been welded on. It's about 3mm thick. I think filing or grinding it would probably be the way to go.
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
That's a beaut. Keep us posted on your mods Hogarth
Re: 25ltr Sansone Olive Oil Fusti Fermenter -- with pics
How did this turn out, Hogarth? Anyone else used one as an FV?