Written by John Biggs for Crunch Gear
While you may be thinking, given my current reviews streak, that the V Vessel involves the genitals and/or aliens dressed up like humans who live among us only to spring out and attack us with the time is ripe, it, in fact, does not. In fact, the V Vessel is a brewing vessel designed to hold up to 23 liters of liquid. It allows you to produce alcoholic beverages in the comfort of your own home and prevents many of the major headaches associated with home-brewing.
The process of brewing involves a number of steps, the most onerous being the steps involving transferring the beverage out of the primary fermenter and clearing it of dead yeast and insect parts. The V Vessel captures all of the dead yeast and parts in the little bulb at the bottom, allowing you to disconnect that part of the mess, pour it out, and be rid of the primary to secondary transfer. If you’ve ever spilled an eight gallon jug of wine on the basement floor, you’ll know why this thing is a lifesaver.
The V-Vessel is the only conical fermenter with a collection capsule at the base. With the collection capsule, you will be able to take sediment or trub from the bottom — no more racking! It reduces the liquid-to-sediment contact area by 99.6% compared to using a pail, and you can remove the collection capsules on 13 units in the same time it would take you to siphon one batch from a pail to a carboy.
To use it you mount it to your wall using massive bolts. The vessel sits on the mount and can be swung back and forth to drive out bubbles, if necessary. When you’re ready to bottle, you take off the collector and snap on the hose attachment. A few squirts later and you have a nice, clear beverage in bottles, ready for aging.
I just started a batch of beer but this works equally well for wine. It’s a little expensive – $174 at Northern Brewer, for example – but it’s a great time saver and easy to clean. I’m also glad that my wife bought it for me because that way I didn’t have to dither over the purchase.