Was this a good deal?

A buddy of mine called me saying he was moving and wanted to know if I wanted a carboy and that he would trade for a 6 pack of homebrew.

This is what I got...



thats a 12 gallon carboy



and there it is with my 5 gallon to the left and my 6 gallon to the right

One major issue I can see right off the bat is weight. This thing is heavy enough empty and I cant imagine what it would weigh full. I think it would have spend all of it fermentation days on some sort of a stand so the beer could be siphoned out of it. I plan on maybe kegging 10 gallons out of it and bottling the other 2 if I do end up using this. Let me know what you think.

Can't see it, try just linking to the photo hosting site's link. You could certainly use a stand to keep it off the ground, or maybe fit a carboy cap over it and use CO2 to pressure transfer.

It's a pretty good deal if you can actually use it. The only problem I see is it's too big to secondary a 10 gallon batch, so the only real use I'd see is as a primary fermenter for 10 gallons.

wyzazz said:

Can't see it, try just linking to the photo hosting site's link. You could certainly use a stand to keep it off the ground, or maybe fit a carboy cap over it and use CO2 to pressure transfer.

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its liked to my photo links in HBT so i dunno why its not showing...
how about an actual link:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/members/beninan/albums/brew-eq/1169-12-gallon-carboy.jpg
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/members/beninan/albums/brew-eq/1171-5-gallon-12-gallon-6-gallon-carboys.jpg

To marubozo: maybe ill use it for 12 gallons of apfelwein

Only premium members can see those until you hit 25 posts.

wyzazz said:

Only premium members can see those until you hit 25 posts.

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lol oh nice.... well i guess ill have to keep posting then
it shows up just fine for me!

wyzazz said:

....You could certainly use a stand to keep it off the ground, or maybe fit a carboy cap over it and use CO2 to pressure transfer.

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Its not a standard carboy, more like a laboratory carboy. So a carboy cap would not fit. I think I could make a custom rubber bung to do that tho.

Carboy cap and a large hose clamp?

I just measured up my carboy cap and it almost fits inside the inner diameter of the opening. So I'm thinking a rubber bung with 2 drilled holes, a short piece of tubing, and an old racking cane should do the trick.

You have a maroon or orange cap? The orange ones are wider, I fit them over my sanke keg openings when I ferment in them.

I have an orange cap, there's no way it would fit. The inner diameter of the orange cap is about 2 1/4 inches, the inner diameter of the carboy is about 2 1/8 in. The carboy has a pretty big lip around the opening, so the total diameter of the opening is 3 3/4 inches.

beninan said:

I have an orange cap, there's no way it would fit. The inner diameter of the orange cap is about 2 1/4 inches, the inner diameter of the carboy is about 2 1/8 in. The carboy has a pretty big lip around the opening, so the total diameter of the opening is 3 3/4 inches.

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How about one of those rubber "PVC" caps at Lowes/HD? Find one that you could stretch over the opening, that should be easier to drill a hole or two in to.

I could possibly do that, but theres a chip on the outer opening, so sealing from the outside would be difficult. the inner diameter is free of chips though. Would there be any issues with possibly making one out of a rubber bung?

The stoppers that you pick up from the LHBS don't take too well to drilling, the holes don't usually come out too round when using a drill. Ask me how I know...

how do you know? (I'm not posting to get the 25 post count )
So maybe building a stand for it wouldn't be a bad idea

Lol, I tried it a couple of times.

Just find a small table or something to put it on, either that or find a buddy to help lift it for transfer day, and a large milk crate.

hopefully this link works better
and if not, here's the image host link

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=rwktwi&s=7

Yep, I see it now. That sure is a goofy looking piece of glass, but it is a carboy nonetheless. You could build a little shelf/table with enough room underneath for one of your smaller carboys.

Either way it was a good deal.

this stupid thing would weigh about 125 lb full... could a march pump be used to transfer fermented beer or would that cause problems due to the turbulence?

beninan said:

this stupid thing would weigh about 125 lb full... could a march pump be used to transfer fermented beer or would that cause problems due to the turbulence?

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So you couldn't lift 63lbs while a buddy lifted the other half? And a March Pump would be a bad idea, it'd likely oxidize your beer terribly. Get a seal on that bad boy somehow and use pressure to transfer through a racking cane, that's the best option IMHO.

Oh I could lift the 63 lbs, but my only "buddy" that could help would be swmbo, but she's only ok with my addiction as long as she doesn't have to get involved.

If you don't know what it might have been used for, I'd make sure to give it a VERY thorough cleaning. Outside of that, I'd say it's a hell of a score for a six-pack.

You could brew up a big 10 gallon batch of something, then split it between two secondaries and do different dry hops. Or oak half a batch in secondary.

beninan said:

Oh I could lift the 63 lbs, but my only "buddy" that could help would be swmbo, but she's only ok with my addiction as long as she doesn't have to get involved.

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Must be a lonely life... ...offer a beer or two to your neighbor for his assistance, I'm sure he will oblige.

ChshreCat said:

If you don't know what it might have been used for, I'd make sure to give it a VERY thorough cleaning. Outside of that, I'd say it's a hell of a score for a six-pack.

You could brew up a big 10 gallon batch of something, then split it between two secondaries and do different dry hops. Or oak half a batch in secondary.

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That's a good idea, make 2 separate variations of the same batch. I'm always up for experiments! And yes, I would definitely make sure to clean the hell out of it before use. I don't remember where he said he got it from, so I'll have to ask him again to make sure that no damaging chemicals were used in it.

wyzazz said:

Must be a lonely life... ...offer a beer or two to your neighbor for his assistance, I'm sure he will oblige.

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yes at times.....but although she complains about other things, she has never once complained about my addiction, so it's good.

Could this be used to secondary ferment a 10 gallon batch with the headspace purged with CO2?

Has anyone thought about the stand for this behemoth? I'd say MANY 2x4s and a whole lotta bolts. Oxyclean that sumbitch once or twice and rinse about 30 times and siphon everything out or pump it out. I would NEVER risk lifting that monster.

Still, for a 6pk, even if you can't use it...sell it. You could easily make 5x the cost of a sixer.

You could always make 10gal of sanitizer and use it as a Starsan dispenser.

fineexampl said:

Has anyone thought about the stand for this behemoth? I'd say MANY 2x4s and a whole lotta bolts. Oxyclean that sumbitch once or twice and rinse about 30 times and siphon everything out or pump it out. I would NEVER risk lifting that monster.

Still, for a 6pk, even if you can't use it...sell it. You could easily make 5x the cost of a sixer.

You could always make 10gal of sanitizer and use it as a Starsan dispenser.

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I think just an old chair would work fine too. The carboy would weigh about 125 lbs full, and most chairs are able to handle twice that amount.