35 Gallon Fermenter/Bright Tank

Someone has posted these 35 gallon pharmaceutical tanks some time ago, but they are back now and I am very close to purchasing one for either a bright tank or fermenter.

Figure for $300, I can't find a better tank and it has a heater included. They ship freight from PA, so if anyone in the Indianapolis, IN area wants to split shipping there are more than 10 available.


http://cgi.ebay.com/35-GALLON-STAIN...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1e593ba052

Or if anyone wants to tell my why I should not spend my money on this, I would take the advice.

Thanks.

the double wall insulation kind of worries me as it will help keep the exothermic heat from fermentation in... along the lines of a bright tank, it would probably be fine. plus with 150psi rating you can force carb in there

Do you have the capacity for 35 gallon batches? If so awesome for you and I can't see why this would not be a great deal. I would make sure to clean it out very well due to not knowing it exact prior use.

mnadamn said:

the double wall insulation kind of worries me as it will help keep the exothermic heat from fermentation in... along the lines of a bright tank, it would probably be fine. plus with 150psi rating you can force carb in there

Click to expand...

You could always use it as a mash tun if you can figure out a good way to lauter.

Good looking tank for the money. Looks like you will have to pay extra for the heater.


"HEATER CAN BE INCLUDED - TANK ONLY"

be cool if you could pull out the insulation to use as a glycol jacket

I've looked at these too, they also have some in here in San Diego for local pick up if any one was interested.

I have two of these. Haven't got around to using them yet but solidly made tanks for sure. Let me know if you had a specific question.

Thanks for all the advise. I still am in the process of convincing the wife that this is a wise choice for my birthday/Christmas money. Because of the shipping cost, I am toying around with the idea of getting 2 or 3 if I get any at all.

Right now, I really only have the capacity to do 15 gallon batches and have never done anything bigger than a 10. However, I am interested in expanding.
The downside of kegging is that it is harder to give beer to people (other than growlers that spoil quickly), so making large enough batches that I could give out full cornies to friends and family is appealing.

If I got 2 or 3 I could somehow rig one as a (electric) hot water tank, one as a mash tun, and one as a bright tank. However, I cannot think of a good way to get grain out/clean the mash tun. A large hatch on the front like in commercial setups would be ideal, but I do not know if that is something a welder could do (within a reasonable price range).

I'm in the indianapolis area may be interested in one. Maybe you could pm me what the total price with shipping would be so I can decide. Thanks

justinm said:

Thanks for all the advise. I still am in the process of convincing the wife that this is a wise choice for my birthday/Christmas money. Because of the shipping cost, I am toying around with the idea of getting 2 or 3 if I get any at all.

Right now, I really only have the capacity to do 15 gallon batches and have never done anything bigger than a 10. However, I am interested in expanding.
The downside of kegging is that it is harder to give beer to people (other than growlers that spoil quickly), so making large enough batches that I could give out full cornies to friends and family is appealing.

If I got 2 or 3 I could somehow rig one as a (electric) hot water tank, one as a mash tun, and one as a bright tank. However, I cannot think of a good way to get grain out/clean the mash tun. A large hatch on the front like in commercial setups would be ideal, but I do not know if that is something a welder could do (within a reasonable price range).

Click to expand...

It makes sense to get more than one to reduce the per unit shipping cost. When you say you can currently do 15 gallon batches but are interested in expanding, I assume you are talking about moving to 1 bbl batches. If that's the case, I think converting one to an electric HLT is a great idea. And a one barrel bright tank would be very useful as well (could double as a secondary). But I wouldn't use one as a mash tun. The cleaning would be very difficult as you mentioned. A hatch would help, but you would still have to clean in place since these units are over 120 lbs. Check out this thread to see my 1 bbl mash tun https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/squam-lakes-brewery-pictures-144764/ .

The 44 gallon Brute food grade barrel works really well as a mash tun. We had Jaybird, a vendor on this site, build us a false bottom that does a fantastic job. You can see his thread at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/jaybirds-stainless-false-bottoms-146056/ . Scooping out 80-100 lbs of grain can take a few minutes, but its really not that bad. Then we just give it a rinse, pick it up, and dump out the water. Its lightweight so we can store it up on a shelf out of the way until the next brew session. Once you get up to around a 3 bbl or bigger system, then I think a stainless mash tun with a hatch would be required. But at 1 bbl, I can't think of a cheaper or easier way to mash and clean for a batch of beer. Good luck with your brewery expansion!

Hey cherrman,
Your mailbox is full, so here is the quote I got for shipping. Not sure how much the shipping increases per barrel added, but if 4 fit on a pallet I would assume it would not be much more.

From 17327, 1 tank, class 125, 167 lbs

R&L $98.95/ 6319469

Still not positive that I am going buy them, but if I do it will not be until the first couple weeks of January.

has anyone have the number of this guys? the listing is closed, so i want to give them a call for 2 tanks

thanks

I don't have the number for them, but I did get one from them last December. Its a good looking unit. Unfortunately, I haven't incorporated it into my brewery yet since I already have a mash tun, fermenters, etc and am not sure where to best use it. I could potentially use it for my my hot liquor tank, but right now I have a pretty good system of heating up water in my boil kettle and then transferring to a Brute plastic barrel. I'd be willing to part with it to you for the same price I paid for it. You'd be halfway to your target goal of two tank . Let me know if you're interested.

I bought 4 of these and they work Awesome! Unfourtunatly the company (hocking international) sold the rest of the back stock and dont have anymore.
I am looking to buy 4 more so If anyone has one or any leads please get back to me. I started doing parti-gyle brews and now brew 2bbl per. They are all full, which is great, but now Im at a roadblock, which isnt.
You can see the fermenters in action at www.basementbrewhaus.com
Now making 200 bbl/year boosh!