HDPE 55 Gallon Drums for brewing

[Sahaquiel]

Hello all, newbie brewer here, grateful to have stumbled across this site. I have a few 1 gallon and 5 gallon carboys that I attempt to brew with and I'm eyeing larger containers with which to brew (Down the line of course, I actually need to get some experience and practice first). I've stumbled across these blue 55 gallon drums that are constructed with HDPE. They're advertised as food grade and I did contact one company to discuss what I wanted them for and he said I was ok to do so. My question is this: does anyone else have experience with them and can chime in with some pros and cons of using them? They look similar to the picture I've included. My apologies if something similar to this has been posted before.

 

[tjmac5071]

I would brew for awhile before considering acquiring a 55 gallon fermenter. It is easy to get carried away early on but brewing is a lot of work. Putting together 45 gallons of wort is no small task. If you grow with the hobby and decide to go further I would all but guarantee you would not choose to ferment in plastic drums.

Gain experience over years then reassess if it is an eventual goal then reassess fermentation vessels.

 

[MaxStout]

I would brew for awhile before considering acquiring a 55 gallon fermenter. It is easy to get carried away early on but brewing is a lot of work. Putting together 45 gallons of wort is no small task. If you grow with the hobby and decide to go further I would all but guarantee you would not choose to ferment in plastic drums.

Gain experience over years then reassess if it is an eventual goal then reassess fermentation vessels.

This.

It's one thing to screw up a 5 gallon batch and lose $30 in ingredients while learning the hobby. It's something else to lose $300 on a 55 gal batch. Besides, you'll need to scale everything up--mash tun, HLT, boil kettle.

Work on becoming a good brewer before thinking about moving up to a 1.5 bbl system. And when you do scale up to that kind of volume, a 55 gal. drum will be the last thing you would want to use. Nobody in their right mind is going to want to drink your beer that was fermented in a non food-safe industrial barrel.

 

[Sahaquiel]

awesome, I really appreciate yalls imput. Thank you so much!

 

[6midgets]

Work on becoming a good brewer before thinking about moving up to a 1.5 bbl system. And when you do scale up to that kind of volume, a 55 gal. drum will be the last thing you would want to use. Nobody in their right mind is going to want to drink your beer that was fermented in a non food-safe industrial barrel.

that is exactly what I was gonna say. 1.5bbl system and you want to ferment in a plastic 55gal. drum? Why?

 

[Sahaquiel]

Ok I plead newbness....but what is bbl system?

 

[jaroporter]

Nobody in their right mind is going to want to drink your beer that was fermented in a non food-safe industrial barrel.

the point is that these are marked food safe and often used for food transport. i still do agree with them not being ideal for everyday home use, or micro-commercial, but if they're easy to get hold of individually and an acceptable price then as a one off to process the harvest, or brew for a wedding/event there's nothing wrong with using them.

 

[RM-MN]

Ok I plead newbness....but what is bbl system?

bbl is the abbreviation for barrel. A 1.5bbl system is a bit larger than most of us would think of as a home brew system.

 

[jaroporter]

yup. the US brewers bbl is bout 120L, in the UK it's bout 160L.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

Maybe he's workin on a big batch of prison hooch ?

Word to the wise, make sure and install a valve near the bottom for draining, and set it on a big furniture dolly before filling (just in case you need to move it).