5g fermentation vessel for primary

hi there guys

I am back to Brazil and still having problems to get my brewing life back on track, I'm going nuts here, way to hot (even though is winter time) and hard to find the right equiment/ingredients.

right now I have a question about the fermentation vessel. the cheapest thing I've found so far is the old water bottle. but good news is that I found them with the 1 on the recycling symbol, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it should be PET. well it looks a lot like my other better bottle 5 gallon vessel.

but the thing is that they come in 20litres (1 gallon=18.9 L) and I want to know... what if I use those for my primary fermenter with a blow off tube? Am I gonna lose most of the yeast along with the krausen because of the short head space? of course I am talking about top fermenting strains.

I am still a n00bie, I've brewed 5 bathces so far. just trying to be a better man and put more stuff going on... :rockin: LOL

No clue where you are at in Brazil, but here are a couple hombrew websites in Brazil. http://www.cervejando.com/

http://www.cervejaartesanal.com.br/

Also, you could use food grade buckets.

I know those, too bad everything is so overpriced. I'm just trying to get something going on with what I got in hands now.
just for the record, they sell a plate chiller, not the blichmann, but one of those cheap plate chillers you find on ebay for under 100 bucks. but they sell it for 680,00 Reais, around 400 american dollars. It is a lot more then a lot of people's monthly salary around here. A pack of nott yeast for 7 dollars?!?!?! c'mom... LOL

and also, I always wanted to know if I would lose yeast along with the krausen, cause I'v read u can harvest yeast from it, so I want to know if most of the yeast is IN the krausen or just above it

but thanks for the help anyway

you would be fine. definitely need the blowoff but it will work and there will be plenty of yeastys to do the job. My advise is to ferment cool (low 60's if possible...) You said it's hot...but >70F will make for a much more violent fermentation.

Also why not 4.5 Gallon batches?

is good to know I can do that, but anyway, I got a better idea. what about 9 gallon bathces in two carboys? I wish I had something to ferment 10 or 15 gallons in. maybe even 20....

about the temp. I think I'll use nottingham at lower end to try and get a crisp finish ale. I'll try to keep it at 57, that;s my idea for now

thank you