Stainless

[instinct2]

My father in law and I are going to dive into trying to make some sours. We're going to start with some better bottles, but have also talked about getting a larger solera going. We had thought of getting a mid sized oak barrel (30gallons), but can't find anything used, so our easiest option is going with a 59 gallon. However, we've also thought about getting 2 or 3 stainless barrels that are 30 gallons with the tops being closed and it would allow for us to blend and transfer off yeast cakes to primary ferment in.

Questions
1) is it bad to solera in stainless? I've seen guys use 15.5 kegs for it
2) Currently don't have the space inside our home for this big of a project, but could make a fermentation chamber in the garage. Anyone have pics of a chamber this size holding a barrel or two?

 

[Cyclman]

You can solera in stainless, just add some wood spirals or cubes to contain the bugs.

But instead of 30G, I would look at 2 15G oak barrels. That way if something goes wrong, you'd only lose half the beer- it also gives you some blending opportunities.