Fermenter Alternatives

[rwabdu]

Do I have to use the fermenters from the home brew store? are there cheeper larger fermenters i can get a hold of? I have a ton of plastic buckets, can i use them to ferment in and just buy covers, or are the fermenters sold to home brewers special kinds of plastic?

any one had any experience with "non-standard" fermenters? I'm trying to save some cash while producing a lot of beer

and, has anyone tried bottling in growlers? some one gave me 6 of them, not sure if they will hold pressure tho.

 

[krazydave]

People will swear by "food grade" plastic for your buckets. How much of a difference that makes is questionable though.
You could use PET sparkletts bottles as well, as long as they don't have handles.
A couple of things about using any random bucket is that you need to make sure that the lid does fit air-tight at least, also they shouldn't be scratched inside at all since scratches harbor bacteria that's VERY hard to kill.

Also, most growlers are not made to hold the pressure of carbing and will explode. But there are some german made ones that you can supposedly do it in. Those are expensive though.

 

[Wig]

For what it is worth, the Northern Brewer brand of growlers say they are "pressure capable" to 2.4 atmospheres. Thats on the low side for most styles I think. Except british ales.

 

[itsme6582]

You should be able to get 6.5 gallon buckets for under $10 each. If they cost more at your LHBS try online. There are some good links that show up in the banners for various online stores. I suggest you stick with the food grade buckets but there are several people on here who just use the orange buckets from Home Depot.

Growlers are no good for bottle conditioning. The pressure really builds up in those bottles until the CO2 dissolves into the beer. There's a good thread on where somone put pressure gauges on bottles through conditioning. I think the pressures got as high as 30 psi. I wish I knew whose thread it was to give em proper credit. I just don't wish enough to look it up.

 

[rwabdu]

yea i definitely don't want to poison myself with bad plastics, but i want to get a huge cycle of beer going.

In a related note: what are the laws about who can drink the home brew you make? can i give it to my friends? lets "pretend" i had a party .... and there were 50 people drinking my home brew ... would that be ok?

 

[krazydave]

Anyone can drink your beer, you're just not allowed to sell it without a license.
Also, you're supposed to brew less than 200 gallons a year, per person. But let's be honest.. who's really checking?

 

[itsme6582]

It's not 200 gallons per person. It's 100 gallons per person and no more than 200 gallons per household.

 

[erkwist]

Federal law is 100 gal. per person of legal drinking age per household up to 200 gal a year. Local law may differ, here in Ga. its 150 gal cap per year. Although I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble over the amount they brew.

 

[BrewsClues]

And say you want to carry your brew in a bar and the bar owner is cool with it, what legalities will you have to figure out before that's possible. And about the whole limit in quantity you brew, how do you make that number get bigger, like to start a brewery.

 

[BrewsClues]

First I need something better than a 5 gallon bucket : ), but that's minor details.

 

[itsme6582]

how do you make that number get bigger

100 gallons is more than 1000 12 oz beers which is about 3 beers a day, every day. 200 gallons is a sixer every day. If that's not enough for you, well, there's always the beer store. Good luck with that waistline.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

Plastics have made a huge leap in the last 5 years in manufacturing practices. they are completely safe to use. if you flip them over and they have a 1 or 2 in the recycle triangle, they are fine to use. i have an old 4g bucket that had butter in it. got it from the kitchen where i work. lid is kind of sealed if i put a gallon jug on top during fermenting. have done a couple half batches with it without a problem. just be careful when you clean them, oxyclean and a sponge. nothing abrasive, scratches = bacteria stronghold = better chance of infection.

i would definately not use a 5g bucket for a 5gal batch. you need a little head room for krausen and blowoff, go to the local bakery/deli and see if they have any 6g frosting buckets. (nothing that has had pickles in it, you will NEVER get the smell out)

Growlers are good for transporting homebrew not conditioning.

 

[ongreystreet]

I would worry more about making something that 50 people want to drink and something you're not afraid to take out in public before worrying about how a brewery gets started.

This board is great, but do yourself a favor and go buy one of the standards such as "How to Brew" by Palmer or "The Joy of Homebrewing" by Papazian. These sort of books are much much more valuable to the homebrewer (especially the beginner) then any piece of equipment you can buy.

You don't want to be that guy that find doesn't find out until their third brew that they can't just read the ABV off their triple hydrometer to determine if their beer is done, or the fella that doesn't understand why hops are put in at different times so he just threw them all in at the beginning.


As far as your original question, homebrew stores and restaurant supply houses sell food grade buckets, buckets such as those from HD and Lowes are usually industrial grade (which also usually means recycled materials, stuff you probably don't want in your beer) Whether you choose a bucket, a glass carboy, a better bottle, or whatever else, make sure it's at least one gallon bigger then the beer you plan to brew.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

whether you choose a bucket, a glass carboy, a better bottle, or whatever else, make sure it's at least one gallon bigger then the beer you plan to brew.

+1^^^

 

[BrewsClues]

100 gallons is more than 1000 12 oz beers which is about 3 beers a day, every day. 200 gallons is a sixer every day. If that's not enough for you, well, there's always the beer store. Good luck with that waistline.

obviously they're not all going to be for me and it was just a question... And I was thinking I might get a little support but guess not

 

[Gameface]

obviously they're not all going to be for me... And I was thinking I might get a little support but guess not

There are 13 gal brew cubes, but they cost around $45 and are hard to move around. Other then that there are buckets and then conicals. Buckets are going to be your cheapest route. If there was a far better option then most of us would be using it.

 

[two_hearted]

There are 13 gal brew cubes, but they cost around $45 and are hard to move around. Other then that there are buckets and then conicals. Buckets are going to be your cheapest route. If there was a far better option then most of us would be using it.

Agreed. Conical fermenters are awesome but very expensive. Just pick up a couple more $10 ale pales and split your big batches up between a few. Could be fun to experiment with different yeasts with the same wort too.

Some people ferment in sanke kegs
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/closed-system-pressurized-fermentation-technique-44344/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Closed-system_pressurized_fermentation

 

[arturo7]

What is your batch size?

 

[Andy_LV]

I ferment my beers in 35l plastic food grade buckets with lids. Cost about 7$

 

[itsme6582]

obviously they're not all going to be for me and it was just a question... And I was thinking I might get a little support but guess not

You seem a little peeved at what I said. I didn't mean it to sound like an attack. I was just spouting off. 200 gallons is a lot of beer. That's all I was saying.

 

[eastoak]

You should be able to get 6.5 gallon buckets for under $10 each. If they cost more at your LHBS try online. There are some good links that show up in the banners for various online stores. I suggest you stick with the food grade buckets but there are several people on here who just use the orange buckets from Home Depot.

Growlers are no good for bottle conditioning. The pressure really builds up in those bottles until the CO2 dissolves into the beer. There's a good thread on where somone put pressure gauges on bottles through conditioning. I think the pressures got as high as 30 psi. I wish I knew whose thread it was to give em proper credit. I just don't wish enough to look it up.

gulp, i'll let you know how the growlers i bottled a hefeweizen in do in the long run. i didn't know there was an issue.

 

[RMitch]

yea i definitely don't want to poison myself with bad plastics, but i want to get a huge cycle of beer going.

In a related note: what are the laws about who can drink the home brew you make? can i give it to my friends? lets "pretend" i had a party .... and there were 50 people drinking my home brew ... would that be ok?

You can always give it to me. We appear to be neighbors.

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

obviously they're not all going to be for me and it was just a question... And I was thinking I might get a little support but guess not

You're going to get a little flak for two reasons. First, you're hijacking the OPs thread about fermentors to ask about supplying homebrew to a bar. Second, you're asking a question that has been asked many times over.

The simple answer is that you cannot provide your homebrew to any commercial entity, even your neighborhood bar, even if you provided it for free. You are limited to the amount of beer sufficient for your personal consumption. There are a multitude of hoops, forms, costs, etc in order to become a commercial brewer and provide even the smallest amount of beer to any commercial interest.

If you'd like to discuss this topic further, please start a new thread. But I'd suggest you search for similar threads first. There are several threads where members discuss going pro.

 

[mutedog]

You can buy Rubbermaid Brutes (at home depot or lowes) in white or yellow and they are food grade plastic.

I think the smallest you can get them in is 30 gallon size. I know people in the home wine making community use them for fermenting wine; I don't see any reason why you couldn't also ferment beer in them. You can buy lids but they are probably not airtight but I wouldn't worry too much about that (but other people might).