Possible fermenter?

I noticed this on Midwest homebrew supplies under plastic fermenters.

5 Gallon Plastic Hedpack with cap

I have a few of these, and they aren't damaged in anyway.

I do understand that it would need to be kept to about 4 gallon batches or so because of headspace, but does anybody think these could make a usable fermenter?

sure - as long as it is a food grade plastic which i think it is - that would work fine. Just make sure to get it REALLY clean like inside the handle.

The handle is definitely a concern.

My thought was to run a brush through the handle area with some good cleanser, then allow the interior to soak in a cleaning solution, hopefully upside down so the handle can soak. Then of course a good sanitize with starsan.

These containers are made for storing drinking water and the like, so I would assume food grade lol.

I was also thinking I could likely rig a stopper and airlock to the cap, does this sound like a workable idea?

If so, as soon as I make it to my LHBS, I'm starting some apfelwein!

I use similar containers, they're made out of HDPE so pretty much the same as a pail ale.

They're hard to clean though. I usually put a gallon of oxyclean-water in there and shake the hell out of it for 5 to 7 minutes, rinse & repeat and finish with some starstan whilst they're not being used

edit:
So far no infections but i'm only 4 batches in. Mine seem to have a bit of headspace after the 5g mark so I've had no issue getting 20L in with no blow-offs

Keep it filled with a mild bleach solution when not in use. It will kill anything, and also clean it. You can lay it on its side to soak the handle area. Rinse with a little very hot water prior to use to get the bleach out (cold water will not remove the bleach film which will form on the surface).

If you can drill a 0.5 inch diameter hole in the cap, you can insert a grommet that will hold and seal an airlock. The same grommets that are used in fermenting buckets. You can get them from your LHBS (about $0.35), or at hardware stores. I have bought a couple at Lowes; surprisingly, they were more expensive at Lowes (2 for $1), they were in the specialty fastener area.

cval said:

I use similar containers, they're made out of HDPE so pretty much the same as a pail ale.

They're hard to clean though. I usually put a gallon of oxyclean-water in there and shake the hell out of it for 5 to 7 minutes, rinse & repeat and finish with some starstan whilst they're not being used

edit:
So far no infections but i'm only 4 batches in. Mine seem to have a bit of headspace after the 5g mark so I've had no issue getting 20L in with no blow-offs

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I was worried about headspace with a 5 gallon batch of brew.

Of course, I'll probably be making some apfelwein in this, so headspace shouldn't be as much of a concern.

I have two of these sitting around, so i figure a good cleaning and a few parts and I'll be in business.

I picked up a couple of this type container at a local restaurant.. free. They had Canola Oil in them.. Might take some work to clean the oil from them.. but, should be great.

I deal with these on an almost daily basis at work (filled with canola oil also). I should grab one and see if I can clean it out enough to ferment in.

I work in the restaurant business and use these oil jugs for most of the ciders and meads I have done. Things I don't have to worry about head space as much. I have a couple in the basement bulk aging now.

thx997303 said:

I noticed this on Midwest homebrew supplies under plastic fermenters.

5 Gallon Plastic Hedpack with cap

I have a few of these, and they aren't damaged in anyway.

I do understand that it would need to be kept to about 4 gallon batches or so because of headspace, but does anybody think these could make a usable fermenter?

Click to expand...

My question is why would you want to use something that has nooks and crannies to clean when you can pick up a large opening bucket as cheap as chips?
I could see more use for them as a wort storage container (cube) than a fermenter.

Regarding suggestions you leave it filled with bleach when not in use that may help. I only use plastic fermenters and have done for 30+years and just clean them gently after use with sodium percarbonate solution (Napisan or similar), air dry them and then put lid on and store. Give them the Starsan treatment when ready to use again.

It's not that I want to use these containers per se, it's more, I have them already, and I'm a man of meager means at the moment.

el_caro said:

My question is why would you want to use something that has nooks and crannies to clean when you can pick up a large opening bucket as cheap as chips?

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Oxyclean can get into those nooks and crannies better than anything imaginable and loosen any gunk. It's no harder to clean than a bucket. Fill it with hot water and a couple scoops give it a good shake, let it sit for awhile, even over night, the rinse.....no problem whatsoever.

I haven't had "complete" success with oxyclean.. but, possibly what I don't see won't hurt me.. HAH. Anyhow.. I was glad to see the info on Oxyclean when I first started here.. and used it to clean my already clean bottles.. followed by a good rinse and StarSan prior to filling. Then, yesterday I found a couple of bottles that were not rinsed after I drank the goodness in them.. I think they were in my bottle recycling bin for quite some time.. there was dried gook in them.. dregs that I didn't drain into my body. I soaked those four bottles in Oxyclean for a full day and very little came out.

I also read an interesting note yesterday afternoon while waiting for new Black Friday items to come up at MoreBeer.com.. about using bleach. I've used it in the past and it worked quite well.. I followed that by a good soak and rinse and they were clean with no clorox smell.

The other thing I saw was to rinse the bottles with a vinegar solution followed by water before StarSan. What does the vinegar do..? It's acid and I believe Oxyclean is base.. and vinegar is a good glass cleaner. Is that the game? or is it neutralizing the Oxyclean or ???

Oxyclean works nicely, I'll have to remember that.

I filled this thing up with a bleach solution, and it's been in there for a few days.

I modified the vent cap to take a grommet, and it now fits an airlock.

There is a spigot on mine, I'm going to make sure I clean that extra well.

And I'm just about to put a batch of apfelwein in it. Probably either tomorrow or monday.

Another "cheap" alternative for brewing 4 gallon sized batches is to buy the white plastic 5 gallon buckets in Walmart's paint department. The buckets sell for about $3 each and the lids are $1. You need to drill a hole and add a grommet for your airlock and this is usually around 50 cents.

I use these for when I do either 4 gallon or 8 gallon size brews. At 8 gallons I can try two different yeast for comparison or dry one and not the other or plan on kegging one bucket and bottling the other.

I am not mentioning this as something that would be "better than" what the OP initally asked about but it is an alternative that some people might what to try if they didn't want to pay the shipping charge for these containers. I do have one of these containers that I use for 4 gallon lager brews because it will easliy fit inside my beer fridge.

HbgBill said:

The other thing I saw was to rinse the bottles with a vinegar solution followed by water before StarSan. What does the vinegar do..? It's acid and I believe Oxyclean is base.. and vinegar is a good glass cleaner. Is that the game? or is it neutralizing the Oxyclean or ???

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Our water has a very high lime content so I use a good vinegar soak to clean the lime off my glassware. I used to have to soak my bottles in vinegar after soaking them in oxyclean or bleach to get the scale off.