10 Gal. fermenter?

[malty]

I have always brewed 5 gallon batches using 6 1/2 or 5 gallon glass carboys. I would like to move up to 10 gallon batches. What do you 10 gallon all-grainers use for a fermenter?

 

[MrSaLTy]

Short of expensive conical fermentors you would probably go with a glass demi john.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4228

[OR just use 2 6.5 carboys.

 

[casebrew]

Two of your carboys?

I just realized that since picking up 3 swap meet carboys, no reason not to make bigger batchs. I think my kettle holds about 9 gallons. It would take a little longer to boil, but not much more effort. 2x 3 1/2 gallon primaries into one 6 1/2 gal secondary would make 30% more beer in the same time...

 

[Janx]

I use demijohns...it's about 14 gallons. They're nice but just as hard to clean as carboys. And they are more fragile than carboys.

You could go back to plastic, too. We used to use a big food grade trash can size bucket.

 

[Brewpastor]

I used to use 15.5 gallon kegs with the valve and stem removed. I would burn them out with caustic (drano), rinse well, iodine and call it good. They are cheap, plentiful, have handles, are stainless, don't break... European kegs are a bit smaller which is nice for 10 gallons and the valve and stem screw out.

 

[Janx]

Expensive but looks nice:
http://www.kegs.com/fermenters.html

 

[weberju]

I like two 6.5 gallon carboys for primary fermentation, and then two 5 gallon carboys for secondary fermentation. It takes 4 total carboys, but I think it is worth it, for ease of transport.

 

[Pimp Juice]

Expensive but looks nice:
http://www.kegs.com/fermenters.html

Very nice, and compariable in price to the conical fermentors.

 

[Lost]

Neato.. next time I've got $300 to spend.. oh yeah, that's right I'm broke...

I do have to ask though, what's to stop someone from using it as a brew kettle - chilling it with an immersion cooler (assuming you could fit it into the hatch in the top) and then just letting it ferment? That would be nice if you could use it for both purposes...

 

[Jester4176]

Neato.. next time I've got $300 to spend.. oh yeah, that's right I'm broke...

I do have to ask though, what's to stop someone from using it as a brew kettle - chilling it with an immersion cooler (assuming you could fit it into the hatch in the top) and then just letting it ferment? That would be nice if you could use it for both purposes...

If you could find a way to jacket it and run ice water through the jacket, you could cool it that way. Don't think you'd want to just cool and ferment though. IIRC from all I've read you'd want to get some of the trub out, so you'd need to filter it. But if you pressureized it and forced it through a filter and back into the keg it might be a possibility.

 

[Indiana Red]

The 2x6.5 is probly what I would do when/if I step up to 10gal batches.
Well, OK...when.
Im not so sure though that my next limiting factor would be my cooler.mash tun.
A 5 gal batch of something big fills it up pretty good.
I would love to be in a place where I was dialed in pretty good and making 10gal at a time.

 

[justbrewit]

try http://www.kennywoodbrew.com/cat/124639a.esl?SID=44464f630a78

they have a 15 gallon plastic conical fermenter. not as nice as the steel ones, but better than a bucket