Ceramic

[TitanBrews]

So I was speaking with a friend of mine and wrrr got on the subject of ceramic being used in home brew. He thinks that since ceramic has pores and lots of them there's no way to clean and sanitize it properly so it would be a one time use only per ceramic container. What is the general consensus on this?

 

[fsr_racer]

I saw a large, 5-6gal, pot with a lid and spout at a farmer's market and thought about getting one for fermenting/aging like they used to back in the day.

My 2cents? Would the pot stand up to having boiling water added to it for sanitization, or would it crack? If you brought the temperature of the whole pot up to a certain degree, then even what has soaked in to the pores should be sanitized. People reuse oak barrels, and the brew works in and out of the wood, but the wood stands up to having boiling water added to it to sanitize. Then you have the issue of flavor contamination. Ceramic baking sheets are considered "seasoned" after a few batches of cookies, etc..., but you don't wash them cause the soap would soak in and leave bad flavors the next few uses. I imagine the same to be true if you did a big, full-bodied brew followed by a lighter brew. Though subtle, there may be off flavors or even off coloring in the subsequent batches.

Idk... I might try this now just to see what happens. The pot I was eyeballing had a rubber gasket on the lid, which was fairly robust. Not sure about the spout though. It was $100 and that is a lot to spend just to experiment. Please update the thread if you decide to try.

 

[ChuckO]

Not all ceramic is porous. My dinner plates are ceramic with a glaze on them, as are quite a few jugs and ceramic bottles. Just be certain that the glaze fully coats the surfaces that contact your beer and that the glaze has no lead in it.

 

[fsr_racer]

Not all ceramic is porous. My dinner plates are ceramic with a glaze on them, as are quite a few jugs and ceramic bottles. Just be certain that the glaze fully coats the surfaces that contact your beer and that the glaze has no lead in it.

Good point. I think the one I was looking at was glazed on the outside, but not the inside. I can't remember though, it was obviously made for serving beverages and may have had a clear glaze on the inside that I didn't notice.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Internally glazed ceramic has been used for a long time for homebrew, as evidenced by my Grandfather and by my Father both using 6 or 7 gallon "crocks" as they called them, to make their brew.

Now, they were both on the cheap, as they were poor, and my Dad and my family were still pretty poor growing up.

I saw them using "canned malt", that they purchased at the grocery store to make their stuff.

I remember my Dad trying a ferment in a styrofoam cooler once.........I guess the ABV was on up there, as when he checked on it in the dark closet where stored, it had eaten the styrofoam through level with the liquid line!

But they always used ceramic vessels otherwise.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I have a masters in ceramic engineering and can say not all ceramics are the same! Although if it has a glaze it should be fine to use, glaze is really just a glass coating that goes over the ceramic. If it's not glazed I think keeping the pores clean would be an issue and I wouldn't use it.