Thank you to HBF Contributor Aaron Nord for this hands on review! Aaron is an advanced award winning brewer, a long time reader and a serial tipster!
Fermenting under pressure has been a technique I have had my eye on for some time now and have felt the urge to experiment with it more and more lately. To me the most appealing benefit of pressurized fermentation is that at the end of fermentation the beer is fully carbonated and ready to drink (not accounting for beers that benefit from a period of conditioning). Other benefits include a potentially quicker fermentation, a higher retention of desirable aroma compounds that otherwise might be off gassed (e.g. hop aromas), and the ability to ferment at warmer temperatures without a high presence of unwanted esters.
From the product description, check product page for current description, price and availability:
Many home made products can greatly be improved with perfect temperature control. The Rapt Temperature Controlled Fermentation Chamber gives you an efficient means of setting, monitoring and controlling temperature, which is perfect for beer and wine making, salami making, leavening bread, fermenting yogurt, kombucha, germinating seeds, growing sprouts, kimchi, sauerkraut, olives, cheese, making spirit washes, mushroom growing, and more. Accurate temp control is the key to getting reliable and repeatable results.
The control panel comes complete with an integrated color TFT screen, the integrated secondary regulator that can be used to regulate gas into the chamber with our Inline Regulator with an integrated gauge or alternatively this can be switched over to the Gauge integrated BlowTie unit to regulate residual pressure in your fermenter. The 4 button color display conveniently shows a log of historic temperature graphs, allows you to start, set/stop temperature profiles and gives you access to other critical information for that particular fermentation.
The top of the unit also has room to install an optional item C16 Spunding Valve and or item C11 Mini Regulator, so you can ferment under pressure and not cut any holes in the unit for hoses. See Kee’s video below for more on this.
This multi purpose chamber can also be used as a kegerator. In particularly cold climates where the ambient temp is below zero, this chamber can warm your kegs and prevent them from freezing. This chamber also has a higher keg storage capacity than a conventional kegerator that takes up the same footprint. This unit can hold four 5 gallon Ball lock kegs on the floor and has enough headroom that you can also fit another layer of four 2½ gallon ball lock size kegs above this. A provision for keg faucets is not included, so you would have to drill holes in the door if you decided to use this as a tall kegerator.
What is RAPT?
RAPT is a dedicated Internet of Things (IOT) Hub for fermentation logging and control. It’s a free service whereby any RAPT enabled product can both log and store data to the hub where you can conveniently access this data. The RAPT hub can also allow you to control your devices remotely giving you control of the device regardless of where you are.
For more information on the portal, and how to create a free account, click HERE.
The RAPT portal enables you to make complex temperature profiles that involve different temperature settings over time. This means you can start/run a temperature profile that is fully automated, and you can also use the app to monitor and or change a temperature setting remotely. It even interfaces with the RAPT Pill floating hydrometer to give you real time specific gravity readings remotely. Note that the KegLand RAPT Pill hydrometer is currently not available in the USA, but can be ordered for USA delivery through AliExpress.
The RAPT Chamber is not compatible with the Barron Tilt Bluetooth Hydrometer, although you can of course still use a Tilt with this, it will just not interface with the RAPT portal.
Specifications:
- Integrated Heating: 50watt Heating Power
- Cooling Capacity: 300watt Cooling Power
- Max Power Consumption: 225 Watts
- Refrigerant: r600a
- Connectivity: Wifi (802.11) and Bluetooth
- Temperature accuracy: +/- 0.1C
- Temp Resolution: 0.1C
- Integrated Screen: 2.8inch (diagonal) Color LCD
- Interior Temperature Range: 29°F to 100°F
- External Dimensions:
- Width: 22″
- Depth: 24″
- Height: 70″
- Internal Dimensions:
- Width: 17¼”
- Depth: 19½”
- Height: 55″
Why buy this over a glycol chiller?
Typically in the past, some customers have needed to resort to glycol chillers to chill fermenters but this represents several issues:
1. Glycol chillers often require a very cold liquid to enter into a fermenter causing an excessively cold part in the fermenter core.
2. Glycol chillers consume significant amounts of power and in most instances more than double what the RAPT chamber would consume.
3. Glycol chillers often result in spilling sticky glycol especially when hoses are connected and disconnected to the fermenter.
4. Glycol chillers generally require penetrations through the walls/lid of the fermenter making the fermenter less sanitary and requiring more cleaning.
5. Many glycol chillers and fermenter combinations do not have sufficient power or are not well enough insulated to cool to sub-zero temperatures. So crash chilling is not possible. This is a significant compromise to a temperature-controlled solution and also results in less ability to clarify the finished beer.
From William’s Brewing: If you want the ultimate in year round temperature control, the KegLand RAPT Fermentation Chamber is the clear choice. Featuring both cooling and heating, and a precise WIFI Thermomstat linked to the RAPT Online Portal, the RAPT is expandable in many ways.
Already a very competitive $1299.99 with free truck shipping, we are now throwing in two 30 Liter All Rounder Fermenters at no charge. Just enter coupon code 2ROUNDER at checkout.
