15 gallon firmentation drum

I am looking for a cheeper way to get a firmenter large enough for a 10 gallon bacth. I found some 15 gallon plastic drums that contained bleach and detergents. If I cleaned the hell out of it could I make them into firmenters? I don't think they are food grade plastic. =( Any advice would be very appreciated.

kennethm said:

I am looking for a cheeper way to get a firmenter large enough for a 10 gallon bacth. I found some 15 gallon plastic drums that contained bleach and detergents. If I cleaned the hell out of it could I make them into firmenters? I don't think they are food grade plastic. =( Any advice would be very appreciated.

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sounds like you have 2 good reasons not to use them for fermentation. They had harsh chemicals and they are not food grade.

Try one of these

or one of these

Open Head Drums - US Plastic Corporation


or better yet, a conical
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...SPlastic&category_name=20726&product_id=33150

Do restaurants use them? Think i could get one there?

or use a keg

Would love to use a keg but don't want to pay the 50 fee to keep it, plus the beer. =(

Search craigslist for food grade drums. Should be a ton of them that had vegatable oil or syrups in them.

These are my large fermentor of choice:

15 Gallon glass Demi-John :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

The 15 gallon demijohn works well as a primary or secondary. They are a little bulky and unwieldy though.

kennethm said:

Would love to use a keg but don't want to pay the 50 fee to keep it, plus the beer. =(

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First, paying the 50 dollar deposit doesn't mean that you should can choose to keep the keg after you empty the beer out of it. That is just a deposit and if you intentionally keep the keg after you are stealing. If you are ok with stealing then go for it, but I just though you should know.

Second, call up a local brewery and ask them if they will sell you the used kegs that they have after they are no longer suitable for their purposes. The breweries normally ship these kegs off to scrap yards. However, they are often willing to sell them to homebrewers for the the amount that they get from the scrap yard. I just got some from my local brewery for $12 per. They are only 13.2 gallon kegs as opposed to 15.5, but they will still work for most 10 gallon batches (not high gravity batches). Or, you can just find a brewery near you that uses 15.5s. Good luck!