CL Find, will these work to ferment?

[magnj]

Browsing Craigslist I found a deal for $5, 5 gallon HDPE Containers. He says they used to have plastic liners that held purified water, the water and liners have since been removed.

 

[The Pol]

Looks like a candidate for NO CHILL!!

 

[magnj]

Oh wow, so it's definitely safe to use? Now the question is how many do I buy...he has 20.

 

[The Pol]

Oh wow, so it's definitely safe to use? Now the question is how many do I buy...he has 20.

Well, I dunno. I dont understand the "liner" part. If it is an HDPE container, it wouldnt have needed a liner.

 

[zanemoseley]

Just keep in mind they're only 5 gallons so you'll have to use a blow off tube.

 

[magnj]

I generally do 2.5 gallon batches anyway so I'm not too worried about headspace. If I scale up I'll do 4 gallons or something.

He says the recycling code (#2) is on the container so it is HDPE but I agree I wonder why there were liners.

 

[magnj]

Ok so I went down and picked some up. He says they were back up water for times when the water system at his work (a Pharma) was switching filtration systems. The guy seemed legit, I told him what I was going to use them for and he said it should be no problem and that they have only ever had purified water in them. I'm just a little worried, they look quite official for bottle water. But I'm starting to clean them out and then sanitize them and I think I'll use on tomorrow as a primary.

Click for Full size shots.

 

[magnj]

I found some product information online. Water, B&J Brand® - Product Lines - Product Information - Honeywell Burdick & Jackson

It looks as though this only had some high quality H20 inside. I drilled a hole in the top of one of the caps and I'm using some 3/8" OD hose as a Blowoff tube...