Well, it must have been quiet a day at work today because I came in the back door and after I was inside and settled for 10 minutes my wife asked if I'd seen the huge box on the back porch for me. Immediately I knew - the Vvessel had arrived! I rushed right out and grabbed the box and took it into the living room where I tore into it while watching our son. When I'd seen folks in rec.crafts.brewing asking for opinions on this new product the other day, I went to the website and took a look for myself and have to admit that my initial reaction was not very positive at all. But that quickly changed as I started pulling pieces out of the box! As I pulled the hard-plastic conical fermenter out I noticed some markings on the side, and was quickly able to determine from them that the vessel held at least 23 litres or 5 imperial gallons, with probably another liter or two of headspace after that. There was another mark clearly identifying the 19 litre or 5 US gallon level so both of the common carboy sizes are covered.

• 23+ litre conical fermenter
• heavy-guage steel wall-mount
• achors and heavy screws for above
• number 13 drilled rubber bung
• S-type fermentation lock
• 6 feet of 1/2 inch ID hose
• collection capsule attachment
• bottling / kegging attachment
• carboy brush, pre-bent to fit the Vvessel

As mentioned, when I first saw the Vvessel I of course noticed the wall-mount and thought it to be rather gimicky. But it only took a few minutes of looking around my small house before the lightbulb went off over my head and I realised that this little fella could actually save me a lot of room if I found the right place for it. At present I have 1 carboy of Koelschy beside the TV, two carboys of mead under the picture window to the living room, and a bucket of apple cider chugging away right beside them. (It's a good thing I have an understanding wife!) Unfortunately the room which will likely become the permanent home for my Vvessel is under renovation right now, so I'm currently considering where to mount it in the meantime for the batch I intend to brew this weekend.

Conicals Change Everything! After the initial elation died down, I went about my normal business this evening, but of course the Vvessel was always in the back of my head. A few hours after arrival I finally came to realise that there was a serious logistical challenge involved with using this thing : how was I going to fill it? In summer I brew outside and my fermenters are out there with me, and it's cold enough now that my brewing has to move indoors, which means the kitchen. But that's obviously not where I'll be mounting the Vvessel (my wife isn't that understanding!). My initial elation suddently gave way to a very pragmatic acceptance that things would have to change if I wanted to use the Vvessel. My initial thought was "well, what's the good of this thing?", and it wasn't until a good 10 or 15 minutes later that I realised the same holds true for any conical fermenter.

A conical fermenter is an extremely stationary object, whether it be wall mounted, or standing on a base. So this isn't just an issue with the Vvessel it is something that has to be considered when going to any kind of conical fermenter. Admittedly a regular stand-mounted conical that is only 20 litres (5 US gallons) could be carted out into the back yard stand and all, but you certainly wouldn't want to ferment your beer out there, and carting the whole thing - full - back into the house would not be easy (or wise) to say the least.

So at present my plan is to mount the Vvessel in the basement near the bottom of the steps, and run a siphon hose down to it from the kitchen. I know a number of people who on brew day siphon down a flight of stairs from the brewpot to the fermenter, so this is really nothing out of the ordinary. This way I can brew in the kitchen as I normally would this time or year and run the chilled wort from the stovetop through some 20 feet of hose to the Vvessel. I've got basically what amounts to only slightly better than a dirt basement with not quite a 6 foot ceiling, and the plan is to screw a couple of vertical 2x4s to the joists that go right to the floor, and mount the required 2x6 between them to support the fermenter. This should only take 10 minutes and since I already ferment and lager down here I'm not the least bit worried about sanitary conditions. In fact, if it works out well I may even make this the permanent home of the Vvessel instead of putting it into the room which is currently under renovation.

As for mounting, the obvious really has to be stated : as we have all learned a full carboy weighs about 50 lbs, so your Vvessel must be mounted onto an extremely sturdy wall. My century old house has walls made of inch thick pine boards, so I can mount it just about anywhere I please. For more modern homes that are not built quite so sturdily, the manufacturer recommends screwing a 2x6 to the wall such that it spans 2 studs, and mounting the Vvessel to that. The instructions state that this product is not for use with metal studs, BTW. If mounting in a normal basement (not one like mine!) holes should be drilled in the foundation wall and the provided anchors and bolts used to mount it.

This weekend I plan to brew with my new toy, so please stay tuned after that for an update and a complete review with all the gorey details.

A complete review of the Vvessel is available here