20 Gallon Glass Fermenter

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MonkeyChops

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My buddy has a 20 gallon glass fermenter with the basket and a bottom valve. He wants $110 for it. Is that a good deal, he says they are ultra-rare and I'm inclined to believe him as I can't find hardly any info on them.

The other reason for this topic is for general discussion on how to properly use such a vessel. As I understand it, the carboy was made and used in Italy for wine fermenting. I have plans to try my hand at wine some day but I intend to use it for beer first. I'm hoping I can use this vessel as my primary and secondary, but not sure if that is possible. The bottom of the bottle is raised up in the middle and that is where the valve is. Is it possible to flip these babies upside down so it's conical? I was going to spend my money on one of these:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=25197&catid=513&clickid=searchresults
so I could do the conical thing but Glass is better, about the same price, and ready to rock.

So if I strain my wort into the carboy and add nutrients, will I be able to bottle/keg from this fermenter without getting a ton of sediment in my beer. The raised area with the valve is raised about 3 to 4 inches I'd guess. The bottom of the bottle is about 24" diameter. I'm not sure if that will hold all the sediment from a 15 gal batch and keep it from being sucked through the valve or not. I know I could run it through a filter before bottling, and I may do that, but I don't want to buy the pump and filter system that I've been eying just yet. Although I may need the pump just to transfer the wort to the carboy, not sure yet.

I'm hoping someone here has used one of these big glass bad boys and can give me some pointers. Thanks. :)
 
IMO, I would just go for the plastic conical. A 5 gallon carboy is heavy and dangerous enough, but a 20 gallon, even with the basket and bottom valve will be extremely difficult to move and clean.
 
Personally, I wouldn't use it, I'd be afraid of breaking it at some point while it is full. You wouldn't be able to move it at all after filling it, figuring it has to weigh in at 40 pounds, and adding in 8 pounds per gallon for the contents. So, a 15 gallon batch in it would weigh in at 160 pounds or so.
 
Four 5gal brand new carboys would be about $124. I would much rather do that or one conical than a giant glass carboy. Tough to clean, tough to transport, used, etc.
 
It's similar in shape to the demijohn but it's 20 gal and has a valve in the bottom. The basket has a little door for the valve. The valve is actually attached to the basket and then a hose connects the valve to the hole in the bottom of the carboy. The basket is tan in color I believe and it is only the bottom half, no top basket lid.

@brewthruyou, I already have a bunch of 5 gal glass carboys but I want to ferment all in one vessel for consistency purposes.

About moving it and it being dangerous, I don't plan on moving it and the glass is very thick. Long term plan is to put it in a kegerator with a controller for a stable fermentation environment. For now I plan to put it in the corner, fill it with gravity through a long hose, cover it, and let it ferment where it sits. Getting the beer out of it for kegging and bottling does pose a challenge though. Yea, to make this work I probably will have to break down and buy a pump :(

Here's a question, if this thing doesn't work out for me, is there any interested people here that might want to buy it?
 
For now I plan to put it in the corner, fill it with gravity through a long hose, cover it, and let it ferment where it sits. Getting the beer out of it for kegging and bottling does pose a challenge though. Yea, to make this work I probably will have to break down and buy a pump :(

It would have to be a self priming pump otherwise its going to be hard to get a march style pump primed
 
Here's a question, if this thing doesn't work out for me, is there any interested people here that might want to buy it?

That would be a PITA to ship. Not only is it heavy and you'd have to find a giant box, you'd have to be obscenely careful about it not breaking during shipment.

I'm sure you could unload it on craigslist, but not sure if you'd gain/lose money on it.
 
Midwest ships the 15 gal demijohn fedex for around 30, so it is possible. But I was thinking more someone local to the northeast Ohio area.

He dropped it off to me yesterday but I haven't paid for it yet. I'm still not sure if I will keep it though. First he told me it was 25 gal, then it was 20, I just measured it - it's 15 gallons on the nose. Although it will work out fine for my converted sanke setup, in fact better than if it was 20 gal. I just feel like he wants too much for it and I don't like him pulling the bait and switch on me. Still though, I can't find any online that have a bottom valve. It does seem pretty unique and the valve does seem pretty handy.

With the bottom valve, I could theoretically make a stand and flip this baby upside down for a conical fermenter. I'd fill it through what would become the top valve and then also use that valve for blow off. Thoughts?

Here's some pics:
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/3350/sam1130.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5714/sam1131u.jpg
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7884/sam1132.jpg

[edit] sorry for the megasize pic, I thought they'd get auto-resized. Is there a way to tell this forum to do thumbnails?
[edit2]just switched them to links
 
at the price my buddy wants for the demi or at the price for the conical plastic tanks? How much does it cost to convert a keg? Wouldn't a plastic conical be better than a non-conical converted keg?
 
Took the advice here and ordered the keg conversion kit. I plan to rack half to corny kegs and half to bottles. I'm wondering if I should keep the demi for a secondary. I know conditioning in cold kegs is similar to secondary fermenting, but since I plan to bottle also should I keep the demi? I do plan to make wine for swmbo in the future. Or should I just keg it all, bottle from the kegs after conditioning, and tell my buddy to shove his demi?
 
I wouldn't want the demi at my place. They are clumsy when empty and really shouldn't be moved when full. 3 kegs or 1 sankey are much more durable and long lasting. IMHO
 
I brew pretty often in my demi johns and IMO the valve in the bottom wont be as convenient as you thing. Its going to be PITA to clean it. mine are so long that my carboy brushes don't fit to the bottom so it just gets a good soak with PBW. with the valve at the bottom you wont be able to control if you trub transfers or not. Mine are green so its really hard to see the bottom also, so i just use my auto siphon and adjust when needed. A lot you WONT be able to move it once its full. mine probably gets upward of 100lbs and theres no way i trust the basket to hold that.
 
Yea, I think I'll pass on the demi. I just found a cl post for the exact same thing for 100 in my area from about a month ago. Not happy that my "buddy" offered me it at 25 more than he listed it on cl, then came down 15 for me (yay). Kinda shady, don't ya think? I'll spend another 80 on a second conversion kit if I feel I need to secondary. I really want to save up for a brewhemouth anyways.
 
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