BeerBorg

I just found out about this yesterday, so apologies if it's old news. Craft-a-Brew, known for its 1G dry extract w/steeping grain recipes is bringing out a new 6.5G fermenter, Catalyst. I've bought some of their 1G recipes and thought they was fine. I don't need another fermenter but thought it was interesting. It looks similar to the big fermenter from BrewDemon. What do you guys/gals think?

Two thoughts from me. I think the mason jar compatibility would be cool for those that harvest yeast. Right into the jar and your done. Second, the first "benefit" listed is "Clear as Glass". I'm not so sure that's a benefit as you'll have to be careful UV light doesn't reach it.

Wonder what the pricing is going to be. Clear would be no more a problem than any carboy. No spigot means you still need to rack it out, a spigot would be a selling point for this, would not have to open it till you're ready to clean it.

Here's a reply from them I received today.

Hi Tony,

Thanks for reaching out and for sharing the Catalyst on BeerBorg!

To answer your question, the Catalyst does come with a bottling attachment. It screws on beneath the butterfly valve and connects to clear flexible tubing for bottling. No racking required! The conical shape and natural downward flow eliminate the need to begin a siphon when bottling.

Pricing and other information will become available this month.

Nice reply you got Tony.

Steve, you're right about not being any different than a glass carboy, but those have the same concern....just need to keep the UV light out.


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Thanks Tony, sounds like they have pretty good customer service dept.

I like it, but the price will be a determining factor. I need a new fermenter, I would give this a shot if it's not crazy high.

I like it but it would never work for me (at this time anyway). This looks like a very stationary unit, mobility is a factor for many when a lot of us ferment in a chest freezer or temp controlled chamber of some sorts. Looks like this would be nice for an upright fridge setup. I don't brew enough to re-use yeast, just never got into it. Regular ol carboys are doing the trick at the moment but I am curious to the price range for something like this.

It does look interesting and the fact that you can both drop yeast and bottle/keg without a racking cane is nice.
I do love my SS Brewing Buckets though. I just decided that after a long time I wanted to get away from plastic and the inevitable scratches I had picked up along the way.

CraftaBrew just sent out a post on twitter THE CATALYST IS HERE! And live on Kickstarter.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/96 ... nav_search

This looks interesting but I'll pass at least until it's out for 1 year. My process seems to work and based on their video on saving time, how many brewers actually use a secondary these days except for aged and specialty beers?
I've said it before, even if something doesn't blow my dress up, it's great that we have all these options.

I checked out the kickstarter page. $160 pledge will get you the fermenter, they plan to retail at $199. For that kind of money I would just buy stainless. (But I'm not going to buy that either) Thanks for keeping us updated Tony. I hope that if anyone buys one they will review it.

While it does look nice, I think I'll pass. I went looking at my old bookmarks, I thought I had seen something like it before. 15 Gallon Cone Inductor Tank *Fully Draining*

Figured I'd resurrect this topic for those interested.

FWIW Northern Brewer sells this now.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/catalyst-fermentor