Speidel Plastic Tanks

I have 2 of the 30L's. My concern and maybe this is unfounded is that by opening the top you would be releasing the residual CO2 built up in the headspace. I am under the understanding from previous reading elsewhere that this layer of CO2 provides some measure of protection against nasties? And if this is correct I can see a reason not to release it till bottling time. Like I said I may be all washed up on this. It wouldn't be the first case of convoluted thinking about beer home brewing and I certainly wouldn't want to spread a falsehood or fable in this regard. Feel free to weigh in please.
I must confess that I don't bother with gravity checks or readings after I pitch the yeast other than a final reading at bottling time. I do take one prior to pitching the yeast just to know my starting point but then I just give it 2 weeks and watch the chemical process (I am aware that you can't solely go on the visual aspect of fermenting action or lack there of) but I feel that combined with the 2 weeks time frame in middle of range fermenting temperature should get me in the ball park. So far so good. I have to admit that my brews are pretty middle of the road Ales and none of the fancy stuff so far that might require tweaking of the above process.
I have thought about mid fermentation gravity readings using the spigot but I worry about any contamination in the spigot being introduced which might reveal itself at bottling time and also I wonder about the validity of a reading on what comes out of the spigot, possibly more trub/yeast than beer and skewing any readings. I guess you could draw off enough to clear and then take a sample and hope for an accurate indication of what lies above the trub layer.
By the way, I saw in a video a ways back someone taking pains to cover their spigot with tin foil. I like this idea and what I do is two fold. I soak a piece of paper towel in sanitizer, and run it up the spigot and twist it around remove it and throw away and do the same with a clean corner piece of paper toweling and leave it in the spigot. I then dunk a small section of tin foil in sanitizer and wrap it around the outside of the spigot. If any fruit flies or other bugs get around it they will have a hard time getting into the spigot. When bottling time comes around I remove the tinfoil and pull out the paper towel piece and use a fresh piece of paper towel soaked to sanitize the spigot opening inside and out before bottling. I might be anal in this regard but it seems to make sense to me and so far knock on wood so good.

haz_ said:

For those using the 30L Speidels, what are you guys using to take a sample for a hydrometer reading?

I brew 5 gallon batches, and judging by the pics in this thread, there seems to be quite a bit of headspace in the 30L tank when it's filled with only 5 gals, so i'd prefer to buy a certain baster or wine thief that's long enough so I can just insert it inside the stopper/airlock opening to grab my sample without having to unscrew the entire lid. I also don't want to use the spigot for hydrometer readings so I can minimize infection.

Click to expand...

I measure about 33" around the center (slightly bulged area) of the 30L. Around the handles is actually about an inch less about 32". I took those measurements with a small metal measuring tape so not quite what you would get with a piece of string but it should give you a fairly close idea.

ddlr25 said:

I'm trying to figure out if the 30L will fit in my ferm fridge or not. I'm good on the height, but I'm a little fuzzy on the width. It says the width is approx 13.5", but I don't know if that is the bottom measurement or what. It looks like bulges our a bit and then the handles add width as well. Could someone who has the 30L measure the widest part of the fermenter and also the width with the spigot included? Thanks!

Click to expand...

I don't see any issues here. Just use the included stopper with a different bubbler assuming the hole is the correct size or get a shorter one the correct diameter size either pre drilled or solid and drill the hole. I am not sure what number size this one is.

I haven't used an S-bubbler in years but I think height wise the two versions should be similar height. No idea of stopper hole size though.

IL1kebeer said:

Im sure that this has been answered already, but after wasting 20mins searching this thread I could not find this addressed:

Can you use regular airlocks in these fermenters instead of their oversized ones? I'm thinking about buying once of these but it won't fit in my fermentation chamber with their huge airlock.

Click to expand...

grathan said:

Someone also put the spigot on top and attached a blow-off tube to that. Seemed to make the lowest profile possible.

Click to expand...

Never thought of that. Might have to file that one away in my future reference drawer in case I ever want to bottle differently than I do now from the bottom spigot. I can't fathom ever worrying about blow off with 5 gallon batches in this 30L unit but I could be wrong.

grathan said:

I threw it in the fridge one time tight and it collapsed inwards (nothing permanent). Has anyone destroyed their tank from cold crashing?

Click to expand...

I experienced a temporary I think slightly reforming from using too hot water in it one time. No lasting effects and I definately avoid anything close to that now. I have never done anything with real colder temps than 48F in it. I have had 2L pet bottles crush though empty after washing in hot water and capping in cooler air temp.

FarmerTed said:

I use that one as well, and it is awesome. It has almost 9 gallons of internal volume. I've done a couple of 5-5.5 gallon batches with the 1469-West Yorkshire yeast recently which is notorious for massive krausens, and I've had no blow-off. The latest, which is just finishing up, had probably 3 gallons of krausen on it, but nothing came out.

The awesome thing about the bubbler is that it is so huge that you can sit and count the bubbling rate out of the fermenter. Over my last two brews, I've followed the bubbling rate as a function of time, and it's made it really easy to see how the fermentation has progressed, and determine when it was done.

Click to expand...

Interesting but seems to fly in the face of other information that says you cannot go solely on visual examination to determine when fermentation is finished. Stable non falling gravity readings over several days seems to be the gold standard. That said there is nothing wrong with visual inspection to determine when fermentation begins to slow down and gets somewhere ??? near fermentation finish point.
Just my opinion. Nothing set in stone here.

donshizzles said:

I know the plastic on these things is pretty thick......would sticking on a Fermometer work for temp measuring or no?

Click to expand...

I do that and it has worked fine for me. I am not sure how close the wort temperature and the outside of the fermenter is to each other but I would assume close enough for gov't work LOL
I guess someone could put a probe inside and check that vs what the thermometer indicates but I will leave that for someone else to do if interested. The strips that I use have 2F graduations and even at that the will light more than 1 segment at a time. So the strip is already an approximation. Is it 1 or is it the other.......only the digital temp probe knows (if it is accurate LOL)

bb239605 said:

I can't stand plastic, it's a real PITA to clean

Click to expand...

My 30L is a piece of cake to clean. Of course I don't let it set for extended periods after usage before cleaning. A very little soaking around the early fermentation line and a quick sponge........done.
I had much more problem years ago cleaning the glass carboys when I was doing wine. I will NEVER go back to bottle brushes that never seem to hit the rite spots.

Each to his/her own though. Like a buddy is fond of saying....."Whatever floats your boat"

vnzjunk said:

I have 2 of the 30L's. My concern and maybe this is unfounded is that by opening the top you would be releasing the residual CO2 built up in the headspace.

Click to expand...

Isn't CO2 heavier than air? While you disturb the layer while reaching in with a thief, I wouldn't expect the CO2 to be flushed out of the system.

Did my first brew with the 30L and 2nd brew still in progress. The 1st one was a 9.5% belgian tripel using wyeast 3787 and did not use a blowoff tube. filled it up to the 5.75 gallon mark and fermented at 65F using the stock bubbler, I got just a little bit of blowoff running down the side that made a 6 inch diameter puddle....so not too bad. I think that for 90% of the 5 gallon batches a blowoff tube is not necessary. One other thing I noticed about this fermenter is that the spigot is offset from the center of the screw hole, so you can rotate the spigot to have it actually pull beer from a little higher up from the bottom of the fermenter so you don't get trub/yeast matter when racking. Also conversely you can rotate the spigot to pull from a lower spot if you want to rack off break material before pitching yeast. All in all I'm pretty happy with this thing.

Does anyone know if it is harmful to use a tank for beer brewing that has been used for cider before? Where I live, homemade cider was very common but is out of fashion now. I can get 60L and 120L Speidel tanks used for half of what a new 20L tank costs.

Also, can I safely use a 60L tank for primary when I do only 20L batches? Is there a such a thing as too much head space when I leave my beer in the primary for about two weeks with an active ale yeast (S-04, US-05)? Can oxygen become a problem when the krausen has subsided?

skw said:

Does anyone know if it is harmful to use a tank for beer brewing that has been used for cider before? Where I live, homemade cider was very common but is out of fashion now. I can get 60L and 120L Speidel tanks used for half of what a new 20L tank costs. Also, can I safely use a 60L tank for primary when I do only 20L batches? Is there a such a thing as too much head space when I leave my beer in the primary for about two weeks with an active ale yeast (S-04, US-05)? Can oxygen become a problem when the krausen has subsided?

Click to expand...

It's not any more harmful than using a glass to drink a beer that had previously been used to drink cider. As long as it has been cleaned and sanitized, you are good to go.

Well, sometimes you can smell the previous beer in the fermentor after you clean it. I could see how a cider might leave behind an aroma that you wouldn't really want in your beer.

I finally got around to ordering my 30L today.

What are you guys doing differently, if anything, when it comes to cold crashing and dry hopping?

I just dump the hops right through the stopper hole, and when I start chilling, I seal off the top with the extra cap to prevent suck-back. I do swirl the crap out of my fermenter several times during fermentation, though, so I don't have a lot of excess CO2 in there when I start chilling/lagering.

I could almost swear that my two ipas made in a speidel tank were oxidized by cold crashing (3 gallon headspace). One beer I successfully cold crashed in the speidel, caved it all in. I am gonna cold crash in kegs from now on just to play it safe.

FarmerTed said:

I just dump the hops right through the stopper hole, and when I start chilling, I seal off the top with the extra cap to prevent suck-back. I do swirl the crap out of my fermenter several times during fermentation, though, so I don't have a lot of excess CO2 in there when I start chilling/lagering.

Click to expand...

Was this due to originally crashing with the airlock in place and getting suck back? I'm curious to what your reasoning is behind the swirling.

grathan said:

I could almost swear that my two ipas made in a speidel tank were oxidized by cold crashing (3 gallon headspace). One beer I successfully cold crashed in the speidel, caved it all in. I am gonna cold crash in kegs from now on just to play it safe.

Click to expand...

If the system was completely sealed and you only had CO2 in your head space, I don't see how they could have become oxidized during the crash. Do you think the cave in could have been due to dropping the temperature too rapidly?

Mordhaus said:

If the system was completely sealed and you only had CO2 in your head space, I don't see how they could have become oxidized during the crash. Do you think the cave in could have been due to dropping the temperature too rapidly?

Click to expand...

2 seperate instances. The cave-in was completely sealed. It was impressive and also indicative of the type of suction that will be pulling air into the headspace. That beer didn't end up oxidized.

2 IIPAs that I made in the speidel didn't cave in when cold crashed which means air leaked in, which is my main suspect cause for the oxidation.

I should point out that I have drilled a hole in the top for a rubber stopper that holds a thermowell. If I take the thermowell out and plug the hole it seals completely. after the cave-in incident I no longer seal complely for fear of ruining the tank. And since the oxidations I no longer cold crash in the tank at all.

FarmerTed said:

Well, sometimes you can smell the previous beer in the fermentor after you clean it. I could see how a cider might leave behind an aroma that you wouldn't really want in your beer.

Click to expand...

I went ahead and bought one used 30L and one used 12L. They still had some cidery smell to them even after cleaning, but the beer that's fermenting in them right now is overpowering it. I'll see what they turn out like once the beer is bottled, if the smell is still lingering or if the beer has taken over. When tasting gravity samples, I didn't pick up any off-flavors.

Just got a 30L. Tested with water last night. The spigot attachment leaks from the collar that screws on to the fermenter. The leak is very small. In one hour it leaked enough to make a 2" diameter puddle in a tiled floor.

I screwed the collar on tight by hand. Do people use a tool to screw on tighter?

Maybe I will try keg lube on the rubber washer.

I've never had any issues with my spigot attachment leaking...have you tried it with the solid cap? Maybe its just the gasket on the spigot part that might be bad, I think they are pretty cheap if you need to get a new one. Also, try to soak it in some warm water before you screw it on, that might make it soft enough to get a good seal. Good luck!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Home Brew mobile app

Has anyone consistently fermented in the 30L with the lid inverted (the threads facing the ground)? The 30L Speidel fits PERFECTLY in the Vinotemp 34-bottle wine cooler that Costco sells with the lid inverted. But it does not fit with the lid on correctly (with the threads up and visible).

EDIT: It actually fits in the wine cooler with the lid on correctly (threads up and visible), and an extra Speidel spigot screwed onto the top to use as blow off (as shown in past posts). You just have to remove the shelves and angle it in correctly.

ill4delph said:

I've never had any issues with my spigot attachment leaking...have you tried it with the solid cap? Maybe its just the gasket on the spigot part that might be bad, I think they are pretty cheap if you need to get a new one. Also, try to soak it in some warm water before you screw it on, that might make it soft enough to get a good seal. Good luck!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Home Brew mobile app

Click to expand...

Thanks.

I tried again. I tightened more. I put about 4 gallons of water in and left over night. No drips.

blow off tube with the 60l

I use my 60L for wine and my new 30L for beer....love em both.

I picked up one of these 12L's to ferment two gallon batches.. sadly I had not seen this thread and didn't know that this size does not have a hole in the lid for the stopper/air lock.

Has anyone modified one to fit a stopper and an air lock, be it the Spiedel brand or just a normal stopper and 3 piece air lock?

If I'm going to have to drill it out, I'll need to find the right size step drill bit.

I know I can put the lid on loosely and ferment that way, but I think I'd like the option of an air lock.... am I right, wrong, or crazy...?!?

bford said:

I picked up one of these 12L's to ferment two gallon batches.. sadly I had not seen this thread and didn't know that this size does not have a hole in the lid for the stopper/air lock.

Has anyone modified one to fit a stopper and an air lock, be it the Spiedel brand or just a normal stopper and 3 piece air lock?

If I'm going to have to drill it out, I'll need to find the right size step drill bit.

I know I can put the lid on loosely and ferment that way, but I think I'd like the option of an air lock.... am I right, wrong, or crazy...?!?

Click to expand...

I dont think you really need a stepped bit, size doesnt really matter, just find a 3/4" or 1" bit and drill through it. They make rubber stoppers in all sizes, even if you had to drill a 2" hole there are stoppers that big. Any LHBS worth a grain of salt should have tons of sizes of stoppers..mine has from like #2 all the way up to like #14 or something...no idea who would use a 3 1/2" stopper...but they exist. Because stoppers are cut at an inward angle it means stoppers of various sizes fit multiple hole sizes with no issue.

bford said:

I picked up one of these 12L's to ferment two gallon batches.. sadly I had not seen this thread and didn't know that this size does not have a hole in the lid for the stopper/air lock.

Has anyone modified one to fit a stopper and an air lock, be it the Spiedel brand or just a normal stopper and 3 piece air lock?

If I'm going to have to drill it out, I'll need to find the right size step drill bit.

I know I can put the lid on loosely and ferment that way, but I think I'd like the option of an air lock.... am I right, wrong, or crazy...?!?

Click to expand...

As far as I know, you should be able to just cut along the create in the lid with a box cutter, the resulting hole should be the exact size for a Speidel stopper and airlock.

You may not find a step bit large enough. I drilled the lid of one of the 13 gallon fermenters I got off ebay (link below) so I could use a Speidel airlock and stopper on it. The largest step bit I could find is just a hair too small. It works, but it is super tight and I wish it was about 1/8" larger. If I had it to do over, I'd get a hole saw the appropriate size.

http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2012/11/13-gallon-food-safe-fermenter-or-grain.html

bford said:

I picked up one of these 12L's to ferment two gallon batches.. sadly I had not seen this thread and didn't know that this size does not have a hole in the lid for the stopper/air lock.

Has anyone modified one to fit a stopper and an air lock, be it the Spiedel brand or just a normal stopper and 3 piece air lock?

If I'm going to have to drill it out, I'll need to find the right size step drill bit.

I know I can put the lid on loosely and ferment that way, but I think I'd like the option of an air lock.... am I right, wrong, or crazy...?!?

Click to expand...

You can order customized attachments for the 12L model from Destillatio in Europe. For example http://www.destillatio.eu/en/cap-with-hole-for-speidel-container/a-1112/.

Thanks for all the good info/options gentlemen... I went ahead and ordered the Spiedel stopper and air lock.. when it gets in I'm going to see which method works best! Shouldn't be difficult.

Cheers

bford said:

I picked up one of these 12L's to ferment two gallon batches.. sadly I had not seen this thread and didn't know that this size does not have a hole in the lid for the stopper/air lock. Has anyone modified one to fit a stopper and an air lock, be it the Spiedel brand or just a normal stopper and 3 piece air lock? If I'm going to have to drill it out, I'll need to find the right size step drill bit. I know I can put the lid on loosely and ferment that way, but I think I'd like the option of an air lock.... am I right, wrong, or crazy...?!?

Click to expand...

I've done a couple dozen batches in the little 12L without an air lock and have had no problems at all.

Maybe it's just me but does anyone see less krausen than a regular Carboy? I've done a couple of two gallon batches that didn't seem to take off like my beers usually do. I'm wondering if geometry has something to do with it.

Yes! I have the 60L and have ferment 12 gallons of HefeweiZen and a Helles and both times I was worried the yeast was sluggish. Both turned out great though. I think it is geometry, an incomplete seal and a lack of narrowing at the top which puts less pressure on the ferment.

The airlock is heavier, probably more pressure in the vessel as well as more surface areas.

I just received 2 of the 30L Speidels and I have a batch fermeting away as I type. I tossed the big dumb airlocks and just left the small top cap on loosely.

Not sure if this has been illustrated, but I use CO2 to rack off into kegs. You just have to use low pressure and make sure everything is buttoned up tight ( use the locking strap ). The top will dimple out slightly and dial back when it does.

Feurhund said:

Not sure if this has been illustrated, but I use CO2 to rack off into kegs. You just have to use low pressure and make sure everything is buttoned up tight ( use the locking strap ). The top will dimple out slightly and dial back when it does.

View attachment 172241View attachment 172242View attachment 172243

Click to expand...

Does that stir up any junk at bottom?

Feurhund said:

Not sure if this has been illustrated, but I use CO2 to rack off into kegs. You just have to use low pressure and make sure everything is buttoned up tight ( use the locking strap ). The top will dimple out slightly and dial back when it does.

View attachment 172241View attachment 172242View attachment 172243

Click to expand...

How do you connect the QD to the Speidel? Do you have some adapter or just press it into the opening where the airlock bung goes? If no adapter what presses the trigger in the QD to get gas to flow?

Thanks! This is a nice idea.

First question, no it doesn't stir it up because it is pushing on the whole surface of the beer. I got a little cloudiness in the initial push, but I like to transfer a little yeast for conditioning. Especially my lagers.

Second question. I remove the QD and just push the tubing over the spout and use a screw clamp to secure. If it isn't clear in the photo I use a drain valve on the top as well as the bottom opening. It allows for a low profile blow off tube for my Ferm freezer.