Brew Cube Fermenter/Vittle Vault, Anybody got one?

I am looking for a large single vessel fermenter for 10-11 gallon brews, and like the looks of these. I primarily brew pale ales & IPA's that are in primary for no longer than 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that for under $100.00 I could get one of these and add a better bottle racking port to it and have the ideal vessel for doing quick turn around brews. I would possibly primary lagers in them, but would definitely move to carboys or better bottles for lagering.

I use the 50lb vittles vault. Works great, cheap and light.

are the handles sturdy enough to lift it with 10 gal or so or wort in it?

the weight doesn't scare me as long as the container can take it. having a handle fail with $50-$80 worth of ingredients would be tragic.

Yeah, handles lift fine when filled. They're molded into the sides so no worries.

I have four Vittles Vaults, but use them for grain storage, not fermentation. I got them very cheaply at my local Costco, but only one of the local four Costcos carry them.

Which Costco has them? The one in Richmond doesn't

The 50lb Vittle Vault is $31.24 with free shipping from Amazon. Weirdly, it's cheaper than the 30lb and 40lb versions. Search for Vittle Vaults Stackable and it should be the first listing and you can select your size.

Edit: I just got 2 today and the box was gigantic. Like probably 3' x 2' x 1.5' and was 16lbs. I can't believe Amazon ships stuff like that for free.

blad3rR said:

Which Costco has them? The one in Richmond doesn't

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I found them in the Santa Clara Costco on Coleman (near SJC airport), but not in Mountain View, Santa Clara/Lawrence, or San Jose. The last time I went to the Coleman location was about six months ago... I believe that they are the 40# stackables that I use, and they fit a 50#/25 kg bag of grain.

Nice, I was hoping they would have the stackables, I've got a few already and was going to see if the price beat Amazon. Thanks for the info.

I have one and the only problem I've had is the lid and and particularly vigorous fermentation. Most of it was my fault - I brewed a 12-gallon IPA that ended up needing a blow-off. The way the lid and lid frame is shaped allows a lot of krausen sludge to get crammed up inside, and it's a pain to clean. With those crevices, it may be more difficult to make sure everything is properly sanitized, too.

Obviously this is less of a problem with a smaller batch, but I thought it needed mentioning.

That's for the incite.

Just two more questions:

1) I see on the website that AHB drills the lid to except a stopper. Is there any reason why a regular bucket grommet would not work (to thick, ect?). I realize that the hole for the stopper would be probably be bigger than it would need to be for a gromet.

2) How tall is the lower band? Please see the picture to see what I am referring to? Trying to figure out if there is room for a better bottle racking port, as my primary goal is to have a large fermenter that cuts siphoning out of my system completely.

A regular bucket grommet works just fine, I have one in mine and use a blow off tube. I'm not sure how tall the wall is. but I installed a drain at the corner of mine near the bottom. You can tell from the picture above that the corners are flat, not rounded, a bb racking port will fit just fine.

autobaun70 said:

I am looking for a large single vessel fermenter for 10-11 gallon brews, and like the looks of these. I primarily brew pale ales & IPA's that are in primary for no longer than 2-3 weeks. I am thinking that for under $100.00 I could get one of these and add a better bottle racking port to it and have the ideal vessel for doing quick turn around brews. I would possibly primary lagers in them, but would definitely move to carboys or better bottles for lagering.

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Did you end up getting one of these? and did you add in the BB racking port? How'd that go? I'm thinking I want to do the same. Was adding the racking port easy and leak-free?

I did, ended up getting it from petsmart and getting the port from my LHBSS. It works very well. The only change I have made to my process was to raise my boil kettle high enough so that I can drain into the fermenter with it sitting on a furniture dolly. It is quite heavy with 11 gal or wort in it. Not bad to lift into the fermenting fridge, but a bit much to carry across the garage.

Awesome! I'm getting the container today, may yet get the port as well. +1 to dolley for moving wort; I already do that with my 6.5 glass carboy and that's just a 5 or 6 gallon batch versus the 10/11 gallon batches...

Thanks!

Subbed I like this idea a lot. Is the plastic rated for alcohol on these though?!

kickrjason said:

Subbed I like this idea a lot. Is the plastic rated for alcohol on these though?!

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I haven't had any issues, and considering that Austin Homebrew sells them as fermenters I can't see it being an issue.

autobaun70 said:

I did, ended up getting it from petsmart and getting the port from my LHBSS. It works very well. The only change I have made to my process was to raise my boil kettle high enough so that I can drain into the fermenter with it sitting on a furniture dolly. It is quite heavy with 11 gal or wort in it. Not bad to lift into the fermenting fridge, but a bit much to carry across the garage.

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Let us know how the racking port works out. I am debating on going with the BB racking port or trying to piece one together with weldless fittings which will cost more.

-G

Sorry duplicate post, crappy connection.

HDIr0n said:

Let us know how the racking port works out. I am debating on going with the BB racking port or trying to piece one together with weldless fittings which will cost more.

-G

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It works flawlessly. I have about 5 or 6 batches through it so far and all have turned out well. I just racked a batch Thursday night. Took about 15 minutes to transfer the beer into kegs and then clean up the fermenter.

autobaun70 said:

It works flawlessly. I have about 5 or 6 batches through it so far and all have turned out well. I just racked a batch Thursday night. Took about 15 minutes to transfer the beer into kegs and then clean up the fermenter.

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Could you possibly take a picture of the inside of the fermenter with the racking port installed?
Do you keep the racking port in the vittle vault, or do you store it without it installed? The reason I am asking is if I could get away with buying 2 racking ports instead of 3 that would be great for my budget as I only brew 12 gallon batches once in a while and I would like to have them on my 2x 7.9g fermenters as I use those more frequently.

Thanks,
-G

HDIr0n said:

Could you possibly take a picture of the inside of the fermenter with the racking port installed?
Do you keep the racking port in the vittle vault, or do you store it without it installed? The reason I am asking is if I could get away with buying 2 racking ports instead of 3 that would be great for my budget as I only brew 12 gallon batches once in a while and I would like to have them on my 2x 7.9g fermenters as I use those more frequently.

Thanks,
-G

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Shoot me a reminder in about 3 weeks and I can get the inside pic. I have removed mine for cleaning, but it stays installed all the time. That said, I don't see an issue withe your idea other that the inconvenience factor.

Another thing you could do is to just split your batch into 2 fermenter when you do the bigger brews.

autobaun70 said:

Shoot me a reminder in about 3 weeks and I can get the inside pic. I have removed mine for cleaning, but it stays installed all the time. That said, I don't see an issue withe your idea other that the inconvenience factor.

Another thing you could do is to just split your batch into 2 fermenter when you do the bigger brews.

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I will shoot you a msg in 3 weeks. I could split them, but I almost always have one 5 gallon batch going when I decide to make a 10 gallon batch so I am short a fermenter, and my chest freezer for fermentation only fits 2 fermenters. I will probably just bite the bullet and get 3, but I will probably wait on the last one and get two up front.

-G