fermenting large volumes

pequod · 02-01-2012, 06:36 PM

Planning on stepping up to fermenting 50+ gal at a time... tired of dealing with carboys and going to make our own conical out of a 55 gal drum.

Can anyone give me any tips or warn me about pitfalls at this level of production?

hopsalot · 02-01-2012, 06:53 PM

are you going to weld the cone onto the drum? Is the drum stainless steel?

GinKings · 02-01-2012, 08:48 PM

Is the drum stainless or food grade plastic? What do you mean by build a conical?

I used to use closed head blue and white food grade barrels, but was fortunate to get some open head 25 and 55 gallon open head barrels. Stainless is definitely better than the plastic, but is much more expensive. Closed head barrels have openings approx 2" diameter and open head barrels have the entire top of the barrel removeable. As you would expect, open head are much easier to clean. I used to use a small mirror on the end of bendable copper tubing to check the underside of the top of closed head barrels for cleanliness. What a pain!

I would suggest buying a pump sprayer. They are typically used for insecticides and you can get them in the lawn and garden section at Home Depot for about $10. Fill it with Star San solution and you can easily sanitize any open head barrels. A squeeze sprayer for a buck or two also works, but takes more effort.

I believe the closed head barrels have 2" threaded openings. We used to try and put a large stopper in the hole, but the threads made it impossible to get a good seal. Screw in a 2" male threaded PVC connector with a PVC bushing and we could use a regular stopper with no leaks.

pequod · 02-01-2012, 08:52 PM

no, stainless is expensive and we happened to find some open head steel drums with a foodgrade "polyceramic" coating, which would be ruined if we tried to weld them.

Our plan is to weld a steel cone onto a rolling base, apply a food grade powder coat, and then clamp the barrel to the cone.

GinKings · 02-01-2012, 08:54 PM

If you're in Amherst, I assume you've been to the Moan and Dove.

Where do you get your cider? Even though I live in Jersey, I get most of my cider from Pine Hill Orchards in Colrain, MA. They press cider specifically for fermentation the first weekend in November for less than $4 a gallon.

hopsalot · 02-01-2012, 08:55 PM

Post some pics if you do it, but I would go with multiple carboys

GinKings · 02-01-2012, 09:00 PM

I'm not familiar with that type of drum, but why not use it as-is? You could add a weldless ball valve on the side near the bottom if you don't have a pump. It would take an hour and cost less than $50.

I'm not sure I follow your plan, but it sounds like a fair amount of work. Will you invert the barrel when you put it on the cone? How do you clamp the barrel to the cone and get a watertight seal? How do you fill and empty the barrel once it's clamped together.

pequod · 02-01-2012, 09:08 PM

it takes a lot of carboys to make a lot of cider. we're fabricating the cone so we're going to put drain valves on the bottom. The design is the same as a stainless conical fermenter. Yes, invert the barrel onto the cone, figure out how to seal it water tight, most likely the same way the lid seals on water tight, maybe adding a gasket. We're going to put a hole in the bottom, so when inverted, the hole will be on top for filling/bung. We're going to transport the cider in plastic drums, then pump it into the conical set up.

I thought about just putting a weldless valve on the side, but there must be good reason people pay good money for the convenience of being able to drain out of a conical bottom. Drain the yeast out instead of racking, drain the cider into carboys or other containers, etc...

If i'm going this far, I might as well try to do it as well as I can.

Waltzie · 02-01-2012, 09:37 PM

Have you thought about one of the plastic induction tanks to use as a conical fermenter? They would probably be cheaper, and be pretty much turn key.

LeBreton · 02-01-2012, 10:52 PM

One thing to watch out for in larger batches is stratification as a result of adding a denser sweetening liquids.