These are a great replacement for the typical brew buckets. I would have to buy new brew buckets every year or so because they start to stink, get scratched easily, and even harbor off-flavors that have ruined subsequent batches of beer for me to the point where the beer was completely undrinkable. These fermonsters are easy to clean and the pet plastic doesn't scratch or harbor any smells. Advice for the lid: Don't try to remove the lid when transferring, it is a pain in the butt! Instead transfer by removing the bung. Once it is empty, the lid will be MUCH easier to remove.

I like this product. You can reach your arm inside to clean it, and it is smooth and easy to clean, unlike a competing product. I like that the O-ring is removable and replaceable, so you get a good seal and can clean and sanitize it well. It takes a little fussing to get the O-ring into the groove in the lid, but is possible with a little persistence. I've used it so far for three batches of beer, with good results.The one problem is that it is hard to turn the lid, especially at the end of fermentation when there is apt to be some dried-up wort in the threads. My first attempt to deal with this was to put a very thin coat of vegetable oil on just the threads, carefully not extending to the O-ring. This helped some, but it's not ideal. My newer solution has been to make a "wrench", which I cut out of a piece of 3/4 inch plywood with a hole in the center that just fits over the lid, with grooves that engage the ridges on the lid, and a handle that sticks out about 3 inches. This seems to work well, but it was a tedious process to get it to fit right. I think the manufacturer should make something similar and include it with the fermenter as standard equipment. It could even be molded out of matching red plastic.Another complaint I've seen is the lack of a harness. I've made a harness out of nylon cord, tying knots to hold it together. But again, a manufacturer could easily make and sell such an item. Actually, I've made similar harnesses for all of my fermenters, and leave them on permanently.But other than these two issues, I think this is an excellent product, so much so that I've just bought a second one, this one with a spigot.