KegLand Fermzilla User manual

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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Starter Kit Instruction Manual
(for 30L flat-bottom model)
This instruction sheet contains vital information that is related to the safe usage and
handling of the FermZilla Uni Tank. It is vital that you read this instruction sheet from front
to back before using the product! THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY
Simple to use and easy to clean.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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WARNINGS
1. Do not add any liquid which is above 50°C (122°F) to the Fermzilla. Only clean, wash
or sanitise the fermenter with cold water.
1. This is not a pressure vessel. Under no circumstances apply more than 0.15bar (2PSI)
to the fermenter tank.
2. If the fermenter is scratched, damaged or has been under any physical duress; do
not use the fermenter under pressure.
3. Keep the fermenter out of direct sun or heat. Do not expose to UV rays of any sort.
4. If you are using a heat belt to warm the fermenter then only have the heat belt
sitting below the liquid level. Do not use an unregulated heat source, only use heat
sources which are plugged into a temperature controller set below 45°C.
5. Do not use Sodium Metabisulphite or Stellarsoda in the FermZilla. Only use chemical
cleaners and sanitizers that are approved by Kegland. These include:
a) Super Kill Ethyl Sanitiser Spray (effective for santising the exterior of
theFermZilla)(KL05371)
b) StellarSan (mixed to the correct specification) (KL05357)
c) StellarClean (not to be left in the FermZilla for more than 24 hours) (KL05494)
… Or contact www.kegland.com.au for more information regarding other compatible
chemical cleaning products.chemical cleaning products.
6. Don’t leave cleaners such as stellarclean and stellaroxy in the fermenter for more
than 24 hours. It is fine to leave stellarsan in the fermenter for more than 24 hours.
7. Do not over tighten the stainless steel handles onto the neck of the FermZilla.
8. Avoid lifting the Fermzilla while full.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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What’s in the box
1 x Fermzilla –30L Flat Bottom Fermenter
1 x 3 Piece Airlock (KL01595)
1 x Easy Brew Bottling Wand 30cm (KL12607)
1 x Strip Stick on Thermometer (KL01618)
1 x Plastic Jiggle Auto Siphon Racking Cane with Vinyl tube (KL14083)
4 x 50g - Stellarclean PBW sachet (KL09430)
1 x Beverage Tag –Label Sticker (KL07153)
4 x KegLand Bumper Sticker (KL12355)
1 x Home Brew Hydrometer –Specific Gravity (KL04312)
1 x Twin Lever Bench Capper –Bottle Crown Sealer (KL12676)

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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Step-by-step instructions
1. Assembling the fermenter and other equipment
Once you have unboxed your KegLand 30L Flat-Bottom starter kit and checked everything is
included, begin by assembling your fermenter.
Stick the Stick-On Thermometer onto the outside of the fermenter. We suggest putting it
next to the volume markings between the 10L and 20L markings.
FermZilla –Lid Assembly
1. Ensure the lid assembly has the o-ring attached.
2. Apply some food grade lubricant to the o-ring to extend the life of this o-ring and
threads.
3. Place the lid onto the neck of the tank and screw down the threaded lid ring.
4. Use the two bottle caps to close the two threaded holes in the lid.
5. Push the three piece air-lock into remaining (central) hole of the lid
Auto-Siphon Racking Cane and Bottling Wand Assembly
1. Assemble the siphon by inserting the ball and spring into the siphon tip shown below
(left) and assemble the bottling wand by inserting the spring and pin valve with the
stopper as shown below (middle).
2. Insert the plastic tube of the bottling wand into the vinyl tube of the Plastic Jiggle
Auto-Siphon Racking cane as shown below (right).
HINT: If it is difficult to insert the bottling wand tube into the vinyl tube try placing the end
of the vinyl tube in warm water to soften the plastic.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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2. Cleaning and sanitizing the fermenter and equipment
1. Fill the rinsed-out fermenter with room temperature tap water up to the brim and
empty in the included sachet of Powerful Brewery Wash (PBW) and mix well. The
heavier the soiling, the longer it will need to soak. PBW is a proprietary blend of safe
chemicals that do the hard work for you. Larger replacement tubs can be purchased
here. Any other dirty brewing equipment can also be soaked in the fermenter.
2. Soak the siphon, vinyl tube and bottling wand in the cleaning solution in the
fermenter or in another large tub that contains PBW cleaning solution.
3. After a few hours of soaking, remove the siphon, vinyl tube and bottling wand from
the solution and empty the cleaning liquid. Any remaining soiling can be gently
wiped away with a soft cloth. Make sure not to use harsh scrubbers that may scratch
the plastic and create ideal places for batch-ruining bacteria to hide.
4. Once the fermenter is clean, rinse the PBW out with warm water.
NOTE: PBW acts as a cleaner and sanitiser however any equipment cleaned using PBW must
be rinsed with water. For an easier sanitisation option, a no-rinse sanitiser such as stellarsan
can be used following cleaning with PBW.
3. Mixing the wort (If your kit includes a Muntons ingredient kit):
Now the fun begins!
1. First, remove the yeast and instructions under the lid of your Muntons Ingredient
can and soak the can in hot water to soften its syrup contents to make it easier to
put in the fermenter. Spray the lid of the can with sanitiser and carefully open with
your sanitised can opener. Pour the contents of your Muntons can into your empty,
sanitised fermenter and scrape out the leftover syrup with your sanitised spoon.
2. Top up the fermenter with 10 L of cold tap water and stir vigorously with your
sanitised spoon to dissolve the syrup. Don’t worry too much about splashing and
foam here, the extra aeration and oxygen is actually good for the yeast!
3. Use your sanitised scissors to open your included 1 kg bag of Muntons Brew
Enhancer and carefully pour into the fermenter. Stir well again with your sanitised

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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spoon to dissolve. Don’t worry if you can’t dissolve all of the clumps, the yeast will
still eat them all up anyway.
4. Top up your fermenter with cold tap water until you reach the volume specified on
your can’s instructions. Most Muntons Ingredient Kit Can’s will make between 21-23
Litres. Give the fermenter one last stir with your sanitised spoon.
5. At this point, you should check your wort’s temperature with your fermenter’s Stick-
On Thermometer. You should ideally be in the 17°C-20°C range.
6. Once you are at the perfect temperature, take your sanitised scissors and carefully
cut off the corner of the small silver sachet of yeast. Sprinkle the yeast evenly over
the surface of the wort.
7. Place your sanitised lid on and take a ‘hydrometer sample’ to check how much sugar
is dissolved into the unfermented beer. This pre-fermentation reading will help you
calculate how much alcohol will be in your final product. Simply take your
hydrometer’s storage tube and fill that with wort (don’t worry! It’s only 100 mL!),
float your hydrometer in the tube and take your reading from the ‘meniscus line’
(see picture right). This pre-fermentation gravity reading is known as your Original
Gravity (‘OG’)
8. Half-fill the sanitised air-lock with liquid, this will keep the nasty outside air out but
allow the natural CO2from fermentation out.
4. Fermentation:
1. You need to find somewhere in your house to put the fermenter where it will
remain undisturbed for the next 3 weeks. This spot should ideally be out of direct
sunlight and consistently between 17°C-20°C at all hours of the day. Temperature
controllers attached to fridges and/or heater belts are perfect for this.
2. If the temperature gets over 20°C, it won’t ruin your beer, but the chances of
having off-flavours in your beer from the beer fermenting too fast increase
significantly.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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5. Bottling the finished brew:
1. After 3 weeks, gently move your fermenter to a bench where you plan to bottle the
beer from. Make sure when you’re moving the fermenter that you do your best not
to stir up the settled yeast that’s settled at the bottom of the fermenter.
2. Put your mixed sanitiser in a handy tub or bucket. At this point, you want to sanitise
again everything that will be coming into contact with your beer, just as you did
before (see, I told this whole ‘sanitation’ thing was serious business!).
3. Place your siphon and bottling wand in the bucket of sanitiser.
4. Take your clean bottles and caps and sanitise them all making sure to get every
surface wet with sanitiser. You can then put them to drain upside down in a clean
dishwashing rack (some people use their dishwasher drawers for this).
5. Priming: The beer needs more sugar added to the bottles so that the yeast leftover
in the beer eat it and produce more CO2gas to carbonate and fizz the bottled beer.
This can be done a few different ways: a. Carbonation drops [EASIEST]: these are
pre-dose sugar pills you can purchase from your local Woolworths or homebrew
shop. You simply add 2 to each 740 mL bottle and fill it with beer and seal. b. Bottle
priming: simply put one full teaspoon of sugar into each bottle before filling. c. Batch
priming: where you mix in the pre-measured amount of sugar into the entire bulk
batch before bottling and then bottle as normal.
6. Try not to aerate the beer during bottling. Oxygen is fermented beers worst enemy
and stales it quick.
7. Submerge the siphon into the beer in the fermenter making sure to keep the siphon
above the level of the yeast cake. Then place the bottling wand into the sanitised
bottle and push the bottle up into the bottling wand.
8. Shake the siphon until beer starts to flow.
9. Keep the bottle at a height which is lower than the level of the fermenter.
10. Once you have primed and bottled your beer, quickly put the sanitised cap on tightly
and rinse off.
11. Put the bottles in somewhere warm for the next 3 weeks so the yeast has time to eat
the extra sugar added at bottling and create your beers fizz. Do not put the beer in
the fridge until it is fully carbonated and fizzy.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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6. TRYING YOUR BEER!
Great! You’ve waited patiently these last 6 weeks, it’s time to be rewarded with a tasting
of your first batch of homemade beer! Take a bottle of your beer and place it in the
fridge 24hrs before you intend to try it. This will allow the carbonation’s fizz to settle
down, so it doesn’t foam too much. Careful not to stir up the yeast that’s settled at the
bottom too much.
Troubleshooting
Common Problems:
Air Lock not bubbling? Probably just the lid isn’t sealed or delayed/completed fermentation.
Air locks are only an indicator, so best bet would be to take a hydrometer sample (read how
below). Mould on top of beer? Bad sanitation or opening the fermenter too much. Turf this
batch and start again as it may no longer safe to drink.
Beer isn’t fizzy? Did you remember to put sugar in? If yes, then just wait longer or keep the
beer warmer. Foams everywhere when opening? Possibly too much priming sugar, bottled
too soon or bacterial infection.
Too fizzy? Possibly too much priming sugar. If it tastes sour too, it could be bacteria from
bad sanitation. Germs go into your beer somewhere along the line so re-check your
sanitation.
Looks cloudy/hazy? Completely normal. With time the yeast and haze will settle out. Will be
stirred if moved.
Common off-flavours:
Tastes sour/off/vinegary? Most likely bad sanitation. Bacteria or wild yeast have gotten in.
Tastes too ‘thin’? Use less water and simple sugars and add more malt next time to get a
heavier, richer body.
Tastes ‘cidery’? Could be bad sanitation. Could also be too much simple sugars or
fermenting too warm (20°C+).
Tastes ‘buttery’? probably diacetyl caused by bottling too soon or not fermenting warm
enough (below 17°C). This can be avoided by raising the fermenters temperature to 21°C
towards the end of fermentation.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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Tastes ‘yeasty’? beer could just be too young and need aging. Sometimes caused by yeast
being overheated.
Tastes ‘fruity’ (not the good kind)? Some exotic styles will. Often caused by fermenting too
warm (20°C+).
Tastes medicinal/astringent? Could be from a bacterial infection or airborne yeast. It could
also be from leaving too much sanitiser behind in the fermenter by not draining fully or if
you have a lot of chlorine in your tap water. Carbon filtering or campden tablets will help
with the chlorine.
Tastes ‘boozy’/’burning’/’hot’/solventy? Fusel alcohols caused by too high of a
fermentation temperature (20°C+)
Tastes like cardboard? Oxidation. Often caused by aerating the beer too much post-
fermentation. Too bitter? The specific Muntons can may have been too bitter for your
tastes. Try a lighter style like a lager.
Tastes/smells sulphury? The yeast was stressed. Did your fermenter get below 17°C during
the ferment? It could also be bacteria infection in some cases too.
Does your beer taste stale or skunked? The technical term for this is ‘light-struck’ and is
caused by your beer being left in direct sunlight. If you can see your beer, so can UV rays, so
use the darkest brown bottles you can.
Please visit this link for more in depth information on commonly encountered off-flavours
and how to solve them.
Taking Hydrometer readings
Hydrometers are used heavily in-home brewing to tell how much sugar is in your unfermented beer,
how much alcohol is in your finished beer and whether your beer is done fermenting.
You simply fill your hydrometers tube with wort/beer and float your hydrometer in the solution. The
gravity reading is the number displayed at the liquid level on the float (see picture right).
To check if your beer has stopped fermenting, simply take two separate readings three days apart
from each other. If the second reading is lower, the beer is still fermenting. If it is the same as the
first reading, Fermentation has finished.

Starter Kit Instruction Manual
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If your finishing gravity is much higher than you are expecting (eg. Above 1.020 for a normal beer),
your fermentation may have stalled. If this is the case, give the fermenter a gentle swirl to ‘rouse’
the yeast back into action and make sure the temperature isn’t too high. If this doesn’t work, you
can sprinkle in some more yeast.
If you want to know what alcohol by volume (‘ABV’) your beer is, you can use this easy-to-use online
calculator.
Click here for the in’s and out’s of using a hydrometer.1This resource is also excellent.2
Premium ingredient packs
The reality with ingredients is you get what you pay for. If you’re looking for a premium beer
without the additional steps, then look no further than our premium range of Muntons
products. These packs are tailored to their style: the oaked ale includes quality malt with
real oak chips, the American pale ale includes an additional packet of dry hops and a
premium American ale yeast, the Belgian saison ale includes an authentic saison yeast as
well as extra pack of malt to recreate that authentic secondary fermentation.
Suggested Additional Equipment
Looking to improve your kit and have the right gear on hand to do the job in the best
possible way?
Ethanol spray (part # KL05371)
Stellarsan (part # KL05357)
Powerful Brewery Wash (‘PBW’) 1kg (part # KL05494)
Heavy Duty Brewing Gloves (part # KL05289)
Digital Temperature Controller (part # KL01946)
Heating Wrap (part # KL01960) or Heating Belt (part # KL01953)
1Jeff Flowers, How to Use a Hydrometer in 4 Easy Steps (learn.kegerator.com, 15 July 2014)
<https://learn.kegerator.com/using-a-hydrometer/>
2 John Palmer, Using Hydrometers (howtobrew.com, 2015).
<http://howtobrew.com/book/appendices/appendix-a/using-hydrometers>