N5629

Recipes 

I've been thinking about procuring a couple of these...

- Plastic-Mart -

...5 gal HDPE conicals from Plastic Mart for primary fermenters. The next size up is 10 gallons, but since I am doing 5 gallon batches, that seems excessive headspace.

So my question is this - for 5 gallon batches, which would be better, the 5 or the 10 gallon conicals? In one case possibly too little headspace, in the other possibly to much. Any opinions?

__________________
Primary - Nothing.
Secondary - Nothing.
Bottled - Nothing.

This semester needs to end. Now.

Nugu

Recipes 

Head space is pretty desirable for primary fermentation. Prevents blow off and the resulting mess. The whole thing with head space is you want the least surface area exposed to air - but in primary the beer puts off so much co2 that any air in the conical will get pushed out. Most/A lot use 7+ gallon buckets for their 5 gallon batches. Others use 6-6.5 carboys. 5 gallons will lead to a lot of blow off loss in a 5 gallon batch.

I'd say get the 10 gallon if you can swing it.

__________________

Orangevango

Recipes 

I say get the 10 gallon and move up to 7 gallon batches.

chainsawbrewing

Recipes 

wow. thanks for the link! i think i need to get one of those 15 gallon ones for 10gallon fermenting!

i would go with the 10g for 5g batches by the way.

__________________

my bar build

Homercidal

Recipes 

I'd like a 4 gallon for 2.5 gallon batches, but the price is too high for me. I'm cheap. It would be cool though. Just add a spigot or two.

LooyvilleLarry

Recipes 

Ya know what one of these plastics manufacturers need to do? Find a certain brand or two of mini fridge and create a 10 gal that will take the hump into consideration!

Like a "7" shape, that allows the door to close ! I want 2 !

ajwillys

Recipes 

Ha, that's funny you mention that because I was just looking at these tanks for that exact purpose. I have the Sanyo 4912 and I'm 90% sure this tank will fit in there.

- Plastic-Mart -

I've measured before for this purpose. I need to remeasure when I get home.

I'm pretty sure this one would fit too.

- Plastic-Mart -

__________________
Going Pro? | Shade Tree Brewing Company

N5629

Recipes 

Well 10 gallons it is. And the 7 gallon batch idea is intriguing. I am pretty sure that if you fabricated the stand properly, one of these would definitely fit into a mini fridge. Whether there would be sufficient room in there for a heater is questionable, so maybe it wouldn't be best for attenuation, but the cooling would work great for conditioning and cold-crash.

__________________
Primary - Nothing.
Secondary - Nothing.
Bottled - Nothing.

This semester needs to end. Now.

LooyvilleLarry

Recipes 

If you used a dual stage control, a simple heating pad taped to the side of that fermenter, or a brew belt, would provide the heat.

N5629

Recipes 

Totally valid point.

New plan - Kenmore Mini Fridge, 10 gallon HDPE conical, heating pad, dual stage controller (Love brand, in all likelihood).

Everybody needs one of these.

__________________
Primary - Nothing.
Secondary - Nothing.
Bottled - Nothing.

This semester needs to end. Now.