FastFerment conical fermenter

[GeeWizz]

Does anyone here own and use a FastFerment conical fermenter?
I recently got one and brewed with it today. My brew day was typical up to the point of filling the fermenter. I got through it ok, but just wondered what other brewers do.
I racked to the fermenter and hung it on it's bracket. Because it was a hoppy IPA, I let it settle in the vessel for an hour with the valve closed to let the hop sludge settle. I attached the barbed fitting and slowly opened the valve to let the sludge drain into a bucket. About a quart and a half. I closed the valve, attached the lower ball vessel, pitched the yeast starter and then opened the valve. An hour later I saw even more hop sludge had collected in the cone. Too late to drain that because the yeast is in there too.
Does anyone here have a better process?

[tpcrouch]

I purchased one on NYE and did a wine kit in it for starters. Observations so far:

• Lots of parts to clean
• Documentation does not include part specs
• There's an o-ring in the union joint that can fall out. It is not listed in the parts as a separate piece and replacement is difficult (see last point)
• Collection ball can lead to increased loss of clean fermenting products, but will do well with most trub collection. Might be nice to have a larger ball as an option
• Thermowell is a little flimsy and there's little room for error in installation.
• Directions require that you install the cap, without gasket, 10 times prior to first use, to cut the threads. Do this with it full, much easier to leverage.
• Keg lube on the union joint threads help greatly, but is a pain to clean
• Lots of parts to clean

[noefite]

I purchased my FastFermenter a few months ago and brewed one batch in it so far.
While swapping out collection balls I realized that having at least two balls would make the process much faster. Does anyone know where to find accessories? I looked on their site, but they are saying you have to go to a brew supply store. It would be helpful for them to provide links on that end.

In response to your question, and I was leary of this approach, I opened my valve and allowed the trudge to slowly settle into my ball. This took time, and I thought it was clogged. I walked away and left it over night. The next morning all my sludge had gradually worked it's way down into the ball. I got worried at first about a clog, but eventually everything did work it's way out.

[Glenn1952]

Gentlemen!
I'm fairly new to all grain brewing - feb 2015, and also have used the conical about 5 times now
after boiling and cooling the wort , I fill the conical, aerate the wort for a few minutes, pitch the starter, and let ferment for about a week, with the valve closed
you can hold a light behind the bottom end to observe the solids settling, open the valve for a few days, close, unscrew the coupling to the collection ball and if you want to try to reclaim the yeast here this is the place to try it
I wait about two more weeks, attach the hose piece, drain to keg
I believe the idea is to use this as a primary and secondary( or conditioning stage)
I am thinking this would not be good for Lagers
good luck
Stoney Creek, Ontario