Fermenting 15 gal

[kickflip_mj]

Im trying to figure out what to use to ferment 15 gal of beer, what do you guys use?

 

[lumpher]

3 6.5 gallon buckets

 

[TomDaniels]

Get a Brute 20 Gallon Trash Can. I do it all the time. But... you can't really move it once it's full without some sort of rig.

I pump right into the fermenter which is already in the fridge. I put the fridge on a homemade table so that I can fill kegs right out of the fermenter.

 

[TylerGuy]

well one full carboy is well over..... just went and scaled it lol. its 65 pounds full. so 15 gallons will be 3 times as heavy (approx.) so if you want to have to deal with 195 pound fermenter keep searching out a giant carboy. id seperate it. besides you could use 3 different yeasts!

 

[kickflip_mj]

Thats a pretty good idea Tyler!

Tom, Im not really into the hole trash can idea.lol But thank you for the suggestions.

Im more looking for a primary, I have a bunch of sankys that will be used for carbing. Do you think those 30 gal plastic fermenters are to large for 20 gal?

 

[Fordmi]

I use these but I get them locally for a much better price.

Edit: Put it on a heavy duty plant rolling tray so you can move it around and I guess you could siphon but I really couldn't imagine doing it without a pump.

 

[TomDaniels]

Kick,

The Trash Can's are no different than a normal while plastic bucket except the lids do not seal as well. They are FDA approved for food and are widely used by home wine makers.

Here's a discussion thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/using-20-gal-trash-can-fermenter-195660/

 

[processhead]

I just started using one of these.

18 gallon capacity.

 

[kickflip_mj]

I use these but I get them locally for a much better price.

Edit: Put it on a heavy duty plant rolling tray so you can move it around and I guess you could siphon but I really couldn't imagine doing it without a pump.

I'm going to have to buy some of those just to get some beer flowing around here

 

[Mojzis]

I just started using one of these.

18 gallon capacity.

Where do you get these? Used?

 

[kickflip_mj]

Where do you get these? Used?

Check Fordmis post two comments up

 

[Mojzis]

I looked, but those are blue and the price is quite high. I know a lot of people ask at places such as bakeries to get used food grade (and safe) used containers. It would be very nice picking one of those up for free!

 

[kickflip_mj]

I looked, but those are blue and the price is quite high. I know a lot of people ask at places such as bakeries to get used food grade (and safe) used containers. It would be very nice picking one of those up for free!

Very true, I just need to get some Oktoberfest going, possibly 50 gallons worth. Lol

 

[BSD_Glass]

I am transitioning to Spiedel fermenters right now, but I currently have (3) 18 gallon blue hdpe barrels that I got from my LHBS and they work just fine.

The LHBS in question gets their bulk LME in these barrels so they need a cleaning to get out all the leftover LME but I figured if they were okay for distributing the LME they would be okay to ferment in.

The barrels I'm using were free. I snagged them from their recycle pile. It is worth checking with your LHBS.

Cheers.

Hope that helps

BSD

 

[Fordmi]

I am transitioning to Spiedel fermenters right now, but I currently have (3) 18 gallon blue hdpe barrels that I got from my LHBS and they work just fine.

The LHBS in question gets their bulk LME in these barrels so they need a cleaning to get out all the leftover LME but I figured if they were okay for distributing the LME they would be okay to ferment in.

The barrels I'm using were free. I snagged them from their recycle pile. It is worth checking with your LHBS.

Cheers.

Hope that helps

BSD

Similar to how I get them. There's a place here that isn't quite a homebrew store, it's a place where you can go to brew your own beer under their supervision. They sell these cleaned for $6. They have bigger ones for $10 but they're huge. I haven't needed more than 20 gal yet.

 

[processhead]

Where do you get these? Used?

A friend gave them to me. He was getting 34% hydrogen peroxide in them to treat his well.

The SDS didn't raise any safety concerns so I washed/sanitized them.

They fit great in a regular refrigerator and have a standard threaded barrel bungs in the top (handle end).

 

[processhead]

Here's a picture racking from the fermenter to a keg.

I did a 10 gallon batch of pilsener lager and had the fermenter upright in my frig.

When setting up to keg for racking, I removed the air lock and threaded in a brew-bucket spigot into the smaller bung.

After gently laying the fermenter down horizontally, I was able rack into the keg with a minimum of yeast sediment.

One thing I will probably do is make some chock-blocks to lay it down in to help keep it from rolling around.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how it worked out, but a full one would be a lot of weight to handle by yourself.

 

[Monster Mash]

My LHBS gives them away for free after all of the LME is out of them.

 

[Fordmi]

Out of curiosity, how do you guys transfer your fermented beer out? I leave mine standing upright on the floor and pump it out, but since chuggers don't self prime it's not much fun... I usually have 15 plus gallons in them so lifting is just not an option. I have had my eye on this pump for a while for that reason.

 

[BSD_Glass]

I ferment with a racking cane in place in the 3/4" opening. I have a bored out compression fitting 1/2" into a 3/4" bushing. I pop a short piece of 3/8" silicone hose over the end of the cane and fold the hose over and clamp it with a small spring clamp to seal the cane while fermenting. In the big oepning, I have a 3/4" mpt to 1/2 hose barb 90 that I pop the blowoff tubing onto.

When fermentation is done, I hook up my blowoff tubing to my co2 and push the beer out through the integrated racking cane. I have to keep the pressure pretty low (2 psi?) or the barrel inflates a bit which pulls the end of the cane out of the beer when there is 2 gallons or so left in the barrel.

This all works just fine but I'm still switching to Speidel 60L fermenters for a variety of small reasons.

Cheers.

BSD

 

[Fordmi]

Interesting... My 20g barrels have 2 big openings, not one of each. I leave one sealed with the bung that came with it. The other I drilled and out an airlock in. Haven't needed a blowoff yet because I haven't yet scaled up a highly active batch. My amber and heff are pretty tame while fermenting.

I think I will stick with these for a while mill probably buy that pump.

 

[BSD_Glass]

I'll try to get pics of my setup up tomorrow so you can see it. Visually is better some times.





BSD