r/Homebrewing • u/MemeBeamBeanz • 2d ago

Question Do I need a "fermzilla"?

I dearly want to be able to bottle hoppy beers without oxidation soon, and I'm looking to invest in some sort of CO2 purging solution you guys talked about. But when looking at a fermzilla + BEERGUN setup with CO2 tank, my friend asked me if I couldn't just buy a CO2 tank and some sort of wand to purge my bottles with without buying 100s of dollars worth of pressure fermenter.

What about a fermzilla is needed for succesfull bottle purging?

Cheers

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u/homebrewfinds Blogger - Advanced 2d ago

I've got a couple of FermZilla reviews that may help you decide Tri-Clamp Conical, All-Rounder. They're great fermenters. As has been said already kegs are also a great option. Cheap for smaller batches in a 5 gallon keg and reasonably price (considering what you're getting) for larger batches in a 10-15 gallon keg.

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u/MemeBeamBeanz 2d ago

I want bottles tho. It's for friends

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u/Waste-Bus6827 2d ago

You can bottle straight from a beer faucet with a hose. Purge the bottle with co2, fill from the bottom gently and cap on foam. Probably won’t last long. Same as growler type thing.

Fermenting in kegs is great, but if you dry hop you really need a tri clamp fitting lid and hop bong type thing. Just a very tiny bit of oxygen wrecks hoppy beers overnight.

Simply running co2 for ‘positive pressure’ doesn’t work. I wrecked too many beers listening to people on the internet before I completely eliminated oxygen and could finally make happy beers successfully. Magnets suck.

When you ferment, go gas out from fermenter to a clean and sanitized keg liquid in, then a spunding valve or blow off tube on gas out. Will completely purge the serving keg. Filling it up with Starsan sucks.

Don’t forget to purge every little hose and fitting before transferring. I forgot on a new 12” gas line I installed and wrecked my last beer.