14 thoughts on “Hands On Review: Chapman Brewing Equipment SteelTank Fermenter + Kettle”

1. Kris Herambourg February 18, 2019 at 8:38 am

   I have 4 of these fermenters, 2 with ports, and 2 without. Both of the ported fermenters have been leaky from the start. From my observation is that they drilled the port hole through the welded seam in the side of the bucket so the o-ring in the weldleess fitting doesn’t seal completely. I tried multiple fittings, valves, and I-rings trying to resolve this issue. Finally I took an auto body hammer to them and flattened the seam around the port. This worked on one of the fermenters but one still leaks.

   I also found that the small air lock o-ring in the lid failed immediately so I drilled out the hole with a step bit and use a rubber plug. I believe the newer fermenters now come with this instead of the o-ring.

   I did contact the manufacture about the leaking valve issue and was told I didn’t know how to properly install a weld less fitting. I have been brewing for over 10 years and have 12 weld less fittings in many different pieces of brewing equipment and none of them leak. Customer service is definitely lacking a bit.

   Despite my issues I do believe Chapman fermenters are the best bargain for the money. The second 2 fermenters I purchased were without ports and they work properly and clean up easily. I am planning to add more of these to my collection in the future.

   Hope this helps clear up some questions.

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2. Ken Hammel December 9, 2017 at 1:10 pm

   Just wondering- What is it about the Chapman’s ball valve that makes it not “conducive to bottling or gravity transfer?” I thought gravity transfer is what it’s there for. Seems like the unit could be used as an easily sanitized bottling bucket too, unless there really is something about the valve that makes it unsuitable for bottling.

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3. alex July 25, 2017 at 8:31 pm

   so do you do the boil in this, and then go straight to ferment after coldbreak, or would you still have to do the boil in another vessel and transfer>

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   1. admin Post authorAugust 1, 2017 at 2:00 pm

      I have never boiled in mine, but you it can be used as a kettle. Personally, if I did that, I would use it as a true univessal and boil, chill and ferment in the same vessel. I know you’d have more trub that way, but I think the benefits of skipping the transfer outweigh the trub.

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4. Matt March 26, 2016 at 8:41 am

   Mike or whomever,

   I just bought two of these and racked my first 5 gallon batch into one fermenter last night. My question to you is, did you rack into a secondary? If the beer is clear and the ball valve sits above the trub, I won’t use a secondary. What’s your experience?

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   1. Mike Salsbury April 4, 2016 at 10:00 pm

      Matt,
      Hopefully this will answer your questions.

      With about 30 batches under my belt now, mostly Belgian styles but not exclusively, the number of times I felt I absolutely HAD to transfer to a secondary were pretty low. Only twice, with really high gravity beers that generated a lot of trub and yeast, did I need to do it to avoid sucking yeast into my bottles at bottling time. A couple of other times I did it because I planned to let the beer condition for 6+ weeks past fermentation and I wanted to get it off as much of the yeast as I could, to avoid off-flavors from autolysis.

      In most of the remaining cases, I’ve not bothered with a secondary and I’ve been unable to tell a difference. If I transfer out of the primary at all, it’s usually at bottling time, so I can mix the beer with priming sugar and perhaps some bottle conditioning yeast. (The bottle conditioning yeast will help make sure high-gravity styles carbonate properly – sometimes you wear out the yeast and they won’t carbonate.)

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5. Mike March 16, 2016 at 10:40 am

   The rubber washer on the chapman’s lid that the airlock sits in is flimsy. My one broke recently (bought in Dec 2015). I am planning on borrowing a step drill to make the hole large enough for a rubber stopper.

   The ball valve/gasket setup is somewhat flimsy too…it leaks sometimes, I find.

   Other than that, they’re great. I got 2 for $240 or so and have really liked using them over glass.

   Because the stainless is fairly thin, it’s easy to alter these to your liking.

   I am buying a used speidel fermentor this weekend. It’ll be interesting to see how they compare.

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6. Jake March 15, 2016 at 8:39 pm

   Is this pot induction ready? If so I am pulling the trigger!

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7. Dale March 10, 2016 at 9:49 pm

   Is the port basically a weldless port? Or did they solder it in place? Looks like a great buy, I wish I had the space!

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   1. admin Post authorMarch 10, 2016 at 10:28 pm

      Yes it is a weldless port, which I think is a good call for cleaning and sanitation purposes.

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      1. Chris March 11, 2016 at 3:22 pm

         I disagree. I don’t ever want to see threaded fittings anywhere post boil. Threads, especially internal/female pipe thread are nearly impossible to clean and have no place in fermentation.

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         1. admin Post authorMarch 11, 2016 at 3:25 pm

            I get what you’re saying. My point is, considering that this does have threads, I think it’s good they come completely out for cleaning, sanitizing and boiling as needed. I have talked to Steve about the use of a ball valve and such and it is done to keep costs down. As it’s designed now, it’s a matter of disassembling and boiling each time.

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8. EchoTony March 10, 2016 at 1:36 pm

   I’m thinking this would be a great secondary for dry hopping. Put a screen on the port intake and keep most of the hops in the fermenter. Might have to get one … or two.

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9. Jeff March 10, 2016 at 12:08 pm

   I’d be interested on an update once you brew and ferment in it, namely what volume level the valve is at (how much volume is left inside) AND with standard yeast if you get clear beer without much hassle.

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