SS Fermentor Options?

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LeverTime

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What are the options for stainless steel fermentors for ~5 gallon batches? I know about conical fermentors, and that some people use kegs. Is that pretty much it?
 
Watch the classified section here or eBay for 10 gal corny kegs. They will run $100 to $150. I have one and love it. Plenty of head space for a 5 gal batch. Biggest advantage is being able to do closed transfers from fermenter to serving keg. Beer never see's oxygen.
 
Watch the classified section here or eBay for 10 gal corny kegs. They will run $100 to $150. I have one and love it. Plenty of head space for a 5 gal batch. Biggest advantage is being able to do closed transfers from fermenter to serving keg. Beer never see's oxygen.

This might be a dumb question, but I've never used a keg, although I plan to start kegging once I have the funds. What do you need besides the keg? For example, do I need to put an airlock on it? I tried searching for brewing in a keg, but most of the results seemed to be about brewing (ie: boiling the wort) in the keg, not about fermentation.
 
yes, you need either a air lock or a blow off tube. What you do is attach a gas side quick disconnect to the gas side of the keg. YOu can rig a air lock up to the disconnect with a short piece of tubing. Or, what I do is hook up a hose from the disconnect and run it to a jar of sanitize solution as a blow off.

do some google searching on fermenting in 10 gallon cornelius and keg to keg transfer. There are also some videos out on youtube about both of these methods.
 
Untill I got a steal of a deal on a conical, I used to ferment 5 gallon batches in 5 gallon corny kegs (actually aprox 4.5 gallons).
Works great! and CHEAP!
Search fermenting in corneys on this board, you'll find LOTS of info.
 
+1 for fermenting in cornys. People complain about the smaller batch size, but I generally get 45 x 12oz bottles (rather than the "usual" 48) by fermenting under a bit of pressure and using a few drops of FermCap.
 
How do you do a pressurized transfer out of a corny keg that you've fermented in without sucking up all the trub/sediment?

Rather than derail this thread, I'd point you over here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/closed-system-pressurized-fermentation-technique-44344/index2.html

But, the short answer is that you either cut your dip tube a bit, rig up a dip tube with adjustable height, or just dump the first half pint that comes out cloudy (imo, the easiest option).
 
Yeah, for transfering I leave my dip tube at its regular length (joke in there somewhere). I use a picnic tap to pour out about only 1/2 pint actually before it starts running perfectly clear. I then pour just a little for a taste and gravity test. Finally unhook the picnic tap (all very easy since they are hooked to disconnects) and hook up an transfer hose (liquid disconnect on both ends).

If you don't go the corney keg route for a fermenter, there are other stainless options besides conicals:

Stock Pot. Come up with a way to lock down the lid, drill hole in top for a stopper and your good to go. Trust your sanitization skills? If so, you can add a ball valve.

olive oil stainless steel fusti - this is something I looked at. Do some google searches. I ran across some people who used them as fermenters.

Sanke Keg. There are many posts here about converting or fermenting in regular 15.5 gal sanke and smaller 7.25 gal pony kegs.
 
I have been using a converted 7.75G pony keg and love it. I got this from Sabco. Basically ordered their select sanke keg without the valve. so just the Keg with the 4" TC fitting welded on the top. I think they charged me around 160 which wasn't bad. I then ordered a 4" TC end cap and clamp and was good to go. I plan on pressure fermenting at some point but for now i just removed the Pressure release and added a blow-off hose. works great and i have a 4" port on the top for easy cleaning

https://brewmagic.com/products/conditioning-storage/select-sankey-pr766
 
Blichmann has some really nice-looking fermenters, but I was never able to pull the trigger. I lurked on ebay for a while, even bidding occasionally on a couple of fermenters--until I realized that they were auctioning off "Stout" fermenters for not much less than you can buy a new one. www.conical-fermenter.com

But think hard about what you want to do with it. Glass works great, is readily available, and reasonably easy to clean. Conical fermenters have more moving parts than a carboy, which means you have to clean them. And they cost about 10x more than a carboy.

So why? Because you want clearer beer (less trub, less yeast in the bottle or keg). Because you don't want to risk contamination in transferring to a secondary fermenter (and you do secondary fermentation). Because you want to more easily harvest and re-use your yeast. Because you want some real, industrial-looking stuff with thermowells and ball (or butterfly) valves. If those are reasons enough to take the plunge, then do. I'm glad I did.
 
Blichmann has some really nice-looking fermenters, but I was never able to pull the trigger. I lurked on ebay for a while, even bidding occasionally on a couple of fermenters--until I realized that they were auctioning off "Stout" fermenters for not much less than you can buy a new one. www.conical-fermenter.com

But think hard about what you want to do with it. Glass works great, is readily available, and reasonably easy to clean. Conical fermenters have more moving parts than a carboy, which means you have to clean them. And they cost about 10x more than a carboy.

So why? Because you want clearer beer (less trub, less yeast in the bottle or keg). Because you don't want to risk contamination in transferring to a secondary fermenter (and you do secondary fermentation). Because you want to more easily harvest and re-use your yeast. Because you want some real, industrial-looking stuff with thermowells and ball (or butterfly) valves. If those are reasons enough to take the plunge, then do. I'm glad I did.


The main reason is that I want something more durable than plastic. I don't like glass because of the safety issues with it. I have to carry my brews from my second floor rear deck into my basement, through two doors and a set of stairs. My house is 100+ years old, and these are narrow stairs and hallways. I know lots of people use glass safely, but I am clumsy. I am the guy who would drop it down the stairs and fall on top of the broken pieces, face first.

I also want something that fits in my chest freezer, so that I can control the temperature. I have exactly 27" of vertical space, so that seems to rule out conical fermenters.
 
The main reason is that I want something more durable than plastic. I don't like glass because of the safety issues with it. I have to carry my brews from my second floor rear deck into my basement, through two doors and a set of stairs. My house is 100+ years old, and these are narrow stairs and hallways. I know lots of people use glass safely, but I am clumsy. I am the guy who would drop it down the stairs and fall on top of the broken pieces, face first.

I also want something that fits in my chest freezer, so that I can control the temperature. I have exactly 27" of vertical space, so that seems to rule out conical fermenters.

All good reasons. And Stout has a "short" 7.3 gallon fermenter that measures 25.5 inches. Not sure what happens with an airlock, but you might check.
 
After smashing a carboy and injuring my hand, i switched to using 6 gallon SS bayou classic pots to ferment in. I drilled a hole in the lid to fit an airlock and use a large oring and binder clips to seal them.

After adding a collar on my mini fridges, I can fit 2, 6 gallon pots into one fermentation chamber(mini fridge).

In my opinion they are the best thing between buckets and carboys.

The more i read about open fermentation the less often i bother sealing them airtight and just cover using the lid.
 
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