Large fermenter for sours?

[dye4me]

Im ready to fire up my 2bbl brew kettle, however Id like to find a better option for fermenting and long term storage. For the last few years Ive been using sankey kegs. I would love to go for a stainless vessel, like an open head drum, but they are pretty spendy. I don't have the time to service and restore wood barrels. I was thinking about using blue plastic drums (hdpe) with a liner bag, polyethalene or mylar. Poly ones would be nice, because they are longer and could probably be sealed with a zip tie and a blow off hose. The mylar ones are shorter and require a bag clip or heat seal. The heat sealers are pricey for one big enough to do the drum size bags. I was thinking if I went mylar, put one inside the barrel and roll over the top edge, place another one on top and seal with the barrel lid and ring. Open to all suggestions, thank you.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Use HDPE without a liner.

Micro-oxygenation is desirable. The Brett flavor profile is so much better in plastic/wood vs glass/stainless.

 

[505-Brewer]

Ferment in stainless or plastic than age in wood bbls an option?

 

[mashpaddled]

As long as the drums are new or have only been used for food storage you should be fine to use them without a liner. These are indifferent from brewing in brew buckets.

There are blue HDPE liquid transportation drums used for food like honey and malt extract that I believe are fifteen gallons. They have a spout you could remove and bung like a carboy. If your local homebrew shop carries bulk wine or liquid extract they may have them available to purchase.