Using a 20 gal trash can for a fermenter?

I need to build up an inventory. Sunday we practically killed a keg between four of us. A month and a half to make a keg and it lasts a day. So I need to get ahead. So could I buy three 5 gallon kits and ferment them in one 20 gallon food grade trash can? I figure I could duct tape the lid on to be sure it's airtight and use a blow off tube. Would this work or would this be bad?

http://www.trashcandepot.com/brute-...-2640-dolly-sold-separately-trash-can-30.html

There's a BYO article from a couple years ago about modding Rubbermaid Brute garbage can. They come in sizes up to 30 gallons and are food grade plastic. All they use are some spring clamps, a grommet and an airlock.

Dig it up...it is sweet!

You can have it on wheels, and use clamps to make the lid airtight, then poke a hole and add a grommet for an airlock...

This one...

All you need is a grommet, keglube, an airlock and a 3-4 of these to hold down the lid during fermentation.

My only concern would be how to get the beer out of there after fermentation. Assuming that it would be on the floor, how do you siphon it all out?

Those do appear to be food grade. I think more regular size fermenters would be better so you could have different beers, along with more taps (or learn to bottle.)

So increasing the size of the batches doesn't hurt anything?

I would have to build like a 2 x 4 stand to lift it on with a couple friends.

jpc said:

My only concern would be how to get the beer out of there after fermentation. Assuming that it would be on the floor, how do you siphon it all out?

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akthor said:

So increasing the size of the batches doesn't hurt anything?

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I don't know what you mean by "hurt anything." But recipes are scalable, up or down. 10 gallons, you double the ingredients from the 5 gallon...etc.

Oh I will have 3 or more 5 gal fermenters going on with different beers but I know of a couple varieties we all like enough to do 10 gal or 15 gal batches.

I have 8 kegs, one will always have Apfelwein in it, that leaves 7, my goal is to get 7 full with beer that is ready to go and then I can just make beer as we empty them.

Conroe said:

Those do appear to be food grade. I think more regular size fermenters would be better so you could have different beers, along with more taps (or learn to bottle.)

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I guess that was a dumb question.

Revvy said:

I don't know what you mean by "hurt anything." But recipes are scalable, up or down. 10 gallons, you double the ingredients from the 5 gallon...etc.

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Recipes do not scale linearly. Five to ten is close enough but not the same. But unless you have a big enough brew kettle your not really scaling recipes. If you going to brew in batches, why not ferment in batches?

I was just gonna buy three 5 gallon kits and brew them all at once. Throw them in the 20 gallon "fermenter" put the yeast in cover ect.... Just like i do one kit but just do 3 and put in one fermenter. Is this ok?

normal fermenting buckets are cheap enough, why not just ferment in a few buckets? 20g batch = 4 buckets. plus they're a lot easier to move around in a pinch

Your idea will work fine. Just be sure to follow sound brewing practices and everything will be good to go.

S/F,

Chris

My uncle used to ferment in a big green plastic garbage can. He did not use an airlock, but covered the can with cheesecloth. His LME beer always turned out quite good! He bottled in quart and half gallon Hires rootbeer bottles!

6.5 gallon Fermenting buckets with lids here are $17 a piece.

3 buckets = $51

I am sure I can find a trash can for less

superjunior said:

normal fermenting buckets are cheap enough, why not just ferment in a few buckets? 20g batch = 4 buckets. plus they're a lot easier to move around in a pinch

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I think they also used a bike innertube as a seal around the lid and can.

I don't see how siphoning into a keg or bottling bucket would be any different from a bucket or carboy...besides not being able to pick it up or move it around.

DrawTap88 said:

I think they also used a bike innertube as a seal around the lid and can.

I don't see how siphoning into a keg or bottling bucket would be any different from a bucket or carboy...besides not being able to pick it up or move it around.

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If you're referring to the BYO article, I am pretty sure they just used a bead of keg lube around the lip and clamped it down. There is really no need to make a fermenter airtight...in fact you DON'T want an airtight fermenter unless you want a nicely painted ceiling. You want to vent co2 out, and if co2 is getting out, nothing is getting in.

Once fermentation has stop you really need a seconary with an open fermentation. I know if I left it like that by two weeks it would sour at my house. Keg it quick.

I would just duct tape the lid down that would make it airtight, 'cept for the blow off tube of course. I figure 15 gallons of beer will bubble quite fiercely and would overwhelm a normal airlock.

I will build a 2x4 frame to raise it off the floor a couple feet to make syphoning easier.

Put the can on the stand in the basement. Make 5 gallons at a time right in a row, each time lug it downstairs and dump it in the trash can. By the time I dump the last 5 gallons in the wort temp should be cooled enough to add the yeast. Duct tape the lid onto the can install the blow off tube and in a month I could fill 3 kegs.

Revvy said:

If you're referring to the BYO article, I am pretty sure they just used a bead of keg lube around the lip and clamped it down. There is really no need to make a fermenter airtight...in fact you DON'T want an airtight fermenter unless you want a nicely painted ceiling. You want to vent co2 out, and if co2 is getting out, nothing is getting in.

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Not true you can leave beer in primary for a month or more and skip secondary. Tell him Revvy.

Conroe said:

Once fermentation has stop you really need a seconary with an open fermentation. I know if I left it like that by two weeks it would sour at my house. Keg it quick.

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akthor said:

Not true you can leave beer in primary for a month or more and skip secondary. Tell him Revvy.

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Yeah, you try leaving beer in a primary for a month with open fermentation and see how that works out for you. That being said, from the post after the one you quoted, it looks like the OP wants to seal the trash can and thus make it a closed fermentation in which case a month is fine. I'm personally thinking about a trash can system myself but I think the weight of the whole thing might make it worth it for me to just split wort up into 5 gallon batches.

Oops my bad I missed he said open fermentation

Yeah hell no would I ever do open, perhaps in a surgically clean brew room. But not in my basement with the laundry room and the cat box and cobwebs and everything else.

IF I could get 3 - 6.5 gallon buckets for the same price or less than a 20 - 30 gallon trash can then I would do the same but I can ferment the same amount of beer in a container that will be 1/2 the cost or less than 3 - 6.5 gallon fermenters.

hal2814 said:

Yeah, you try leaving beer in a primary for a month with open fermentation and see how that works out for you. That being said, from the post after the one you quoted, it looks like the OP wants to seal the trash can and thus make it a closed fermentation in which case a month is fine. I'm personally thinking about a trash can system myself but I think the weight of the whole thing might make it worth it for me to just split wort up into 5 gallon batches.

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In my limited (i.e. virtually non-existent) knowledge of thermal engineering, my worry would be that 15 gallons of actively fermenting beer would get hotter than 3 x 5 gallon buckets: larger thermal mass; smaller surface area for the volume for the heat transfer etc. So chances of fermenting too hot and getting fusels might be greater. But, if your basement is really cool, maybe that isn't an issue.

akthor said:

Make 5 gallons at a time right in a row, each time lug it downstairs and dump it in the trash can. By the time I dump the last 5 gallons in the wort temp should be cooled enough to add the yeast.

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NOTE:This is only true if you are chilling your wort, or doing a 2 gallon extract and adding 3 gallons of cold water to top off. If you are boiling 5 gallons and just pouring the near boiling wort into the garbage can, it will take 14 to 24 hours to cool to pitching temp and you have to look at this as a no-chill brew method.

Aslo, consider getting one of the inexpensive 1/2 inch copper and glass 'simple siphons' (or 'syphon') from ebay to move the beer out of the can. These are great and like a auto siphon but can be easily used in any depth of liquid provided you have a long enough hose.

Good luck with this! I am trying to work out how to efficiently brew 10 to 15 gallons of beer at a time myself with my existing 5 gallon all grain system and it aint easy to do on the cheap.

I boil 1 gallon water plus the extracts etc. for every 5 gallon batch, so I would be pouring around 3 gallons boiling liquid into around 12 gallons water as cold as it comes from the tap.

My basement stays between 63 - 66 degrees, when it's 90 degrees outside 66, and 63 is when it's 70 outside since it's fall and probably will be mid-october before I do this my temps in the basement will be 63 and probably closer to 60.

I'm just using a 5 gallon paint bucket from the hardware store. Bought a lid for it and drilled a hole for a blow-off tube. I think that was $8 total. That might be more manageable than a big garbage can.

I have 5 or 6 free 5 gallon buckets from the bakery I got free. But a 5 gallon bucket does not leave enogh headspace for 5 gallons of beer.

FWIW, I do my 10g batches in a twelve gallon "fermenter" that I bought from LHBS that appears to be a trash can with a loose lid. I've had no problems with letting beer sit in it for four weeks. I should note, however, that it's sitting in a chest freezer that's kept clean and sanitized inside, and I don't go mucking around with it. I'm thinking of doing a fifty gallon batch in one of those big blue drums, but am worried about temp control. That's a lot of beer to **** up!

Wondering... if you were doing the 20 gal batch, could you start one day with a 5 gal batch and a large starter, then on the next day after fermentation is under way, add the next 15 gal. effectively using the 1st batch as the starter for the rest?

just a curiosity, no clue if my logic is flawed or not

jpc said:

My only concern would be how to get the beer out of there after fermentation. Assuming that it would be on the floor, how do you siphon it all out?

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Ferment up in the kitchen, and keg into the basement?

Also, I wouldnt use duct tape. The residue will harbor a lot of bacteria and crap over time.

No I do the boiling/wort process in the kitchen after the lid is on the fermenter I carry it down to the basement. For this I would do the same process but not add the yeast and carry each batch down 5 gals at a time to dump in the trash can then add the yeast. I do syphon from my fermenters into kegs in the basement.

nanofreak said:

Ferment up in the kitchen, and keg into the basement?

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I will use goo be gone on the can and lid after I remove the tape it will be as clean as new.

nanofreak said:

Also, I wouldnt use duct tape. The residue will harbor a lot of bacteria and crap over time.

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Revvy said:

There's a BYO article from a couple years ago about modding Rubbermaid Brute garbage can. They come in sizes up to 30 gallons and are food grade plastic. All they use are some spring clamps, a grommet and an airlock.

Dig it up...it is sweet!

You can have it on wheels, and use clamps to make the lid airtight, then poke a hole and add a grommet for an airlock...

This one...

All you need is a grommet, keglube, an airlock and a 3-4 of these to hold down the lid during fermentation.

Click to expand...

sorry to dig up an old thread... wondering if anyone has found this article on BYO. i'd like to read up on their instructions/suggestions.

thanks!

Apoxbrew said:

sorry to dig up an old thread... wondering if anyone has found this article on BYO. i'd like to read up on their instructions/suggestions.

thanks!

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The instructions are really easy.

1) Poke a hole on your lid
2) Add grommet over hole for airlock.
3) Add wort to sanitized garbage can.
4) Pitch yeast.
5) Squirt some lube around the rim of the pail and put lid on and use clamps to hold it in place.
6) Stick airlock on and let beer ferment.

It's not all that complicated.

I like this idea, I would not like having to move 20 gallons of liquid though.

What, 160+ lbs. of sloshiness is too hard for you?

thanks rev!! this is a cool idea for sure. might have to try!!! certainly an economical way to ferment 15+ gallons in one go!

Drill a hole in your floor to the basement. Siphoning solved!