Steam tray as open fermenter?

[Arrheinous]

I'm working on the setup for a 100% Brett open fermentation and want to use steel or glass as a fermentation very with a very low aspect ratio (height:diameter < 1) to maximize the open character.

Originally I came across a few 2" deep steel heated food trays at Sam's Club but looking into it further the steam trays that go underneath those are sold at up to 6" deep which should roughly fit 6 gallons (Amazon reviews say ~5G though). These are made from 22-24 gauge steel and they're easy to clean.

My plan is to get the tray and possibly drill a hole for a bottling bucket spigot to easily transfer the beer. An autosiphon might work just as well.

To keep the fermentation sanitary there are plenty of furnace air filters which fit the 13"x21" profile and can be taped over the top of the tray. I ordered the lid too but I feel like it might inhibit CO2/O2 flow. I'd like to play around with putting a fan with a filter above the tray to remove CO2 faster and allow more O2 at the surface.

This gets an aspect ratio (height to sqrt(area)) of 0.4 when filled to 6" deep.


NOTE/EDIT: Now that I thought about it that spigot should be centered at the bottom of the narrowest side.

 

[Subdivisions]

Maybe drill a hole for a grommet in the lid and put an airlock in.

 

[muels]

Don't know anything about open fermentation but shouldn't the lid be off so it's completely open? The pictures I've seen look like a big square tub of beer open to the elements.

Edit-big square tub of trub...technically

 

[Arrheinous]

Having the lid on is the wrong way to run it as an open fermenter but I don't want anything like basement funk, pet dander, or anything else to get in when I do the open fermentations I want to try. My fermentation fridge is debris-free but there's been a lot of sours in there lately.

That's why taping an air filter over top of it might be better at allowing the CO2 and O2 to get in and out but block any junk from falling in. Anchor and SN's open fermentations are controlled by HVAC. The lid could be put back on after some time to prevent it from oxidizing.

This is to get the Belgian-like funk from Brett that you get from aerobic fermentations rather than the really clean character from using an airlock that later mutates over many months.

There's a few effects I could look into with this setup: I could run it as a coolship for spontaneous fermentation; an open fermenter without airlock; or as a wide fermenter which has less hydrostatic pressure on the yeast.