smaller plastic conical

I've seen a few threads on here about making a 15 gallon conical out of a cone bottom tank. That is the route I'm looking to go myself.

I'm interested in 5 or 6 gallon batches not 10 or 15. I cannot find a tank from all of the suppliers listed previously in the 5-8 gallon range. In fact the 15 gallon is the smallest I can find. Are there any reasons I may not want to build a 15 gallon conical if I currently only plan on 5 gallon batches?

thanks

cz

The short answer is No.

You can do smaller batches in a larger fermenter.

What about the Minibrew? They're regularly on eBay for $150 or so.

You could build your own




If you go to a couple of sites you can make one out of a 7 Gallon bucket, and a 12" funnel. The big black "o-rings" are the gaskets in the lids of the buckets.

The complete rundown of this can be found http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2102&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Here is the 7 gallon bucket
http://www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-fermenters.shtml

Here is the funnel
http://homebrewkits.net/shopexd.asp?id=263

This is what I plan on doing when payday gets here.

Hope this gives a bit of DIY inspiration!

John

this is what I use http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?cat=19 they come in many sizes. FDA approve linear polyethylene. chose your size.
Oh man prices went up 20 bucks! the cones start at 15 gallon, but they are still pretty cheap.

Pretty cool! I think I might give it a whirl. One question, how did you attach the ball valve to the bottom of the funnel?