Speidel Plastic Tanks

[triangulum33]

Anybody try these fermentors?

http://morebeer.com/search/104258/beerwinecoffee/coffeewinebeer/Speidel_Plastic_Tanks

They look easy to clean, have a spigot and are easy to move. A litte pricey, but could be worth it.

 

[CoalCracker]

I've seen a few people using them. they look great and the 60l that I wanted is out of stock...bummed. I hear they are pretty sturdy.

 

[triangulum33]

Just ordered two 30L(7.9G) for primary and one 20L(5.3G) for secondary.
The guy said I got the last 20L and there were 18 30L left.

Pretty excited - these should have all the benefits of buckets and carboys.

• No more blow off tube
• No more racking cane
• No more carboy soaking/shaking/brushing/cleaning/soaking/brushing/giving up and soaking for 2months with Oxy
• No more ripping peck muscles squeezing carboy so it wont fall lifting out of fermentation chamber
• No more airlock bubbling, foaming over and running out of SS and sucking air back in while I'm gone. (its got a huge 2pc airlock)

 

[eastoak]

i ordered a 30L.

 

[warex]

Is the spigot high enough were it will not get plugged up with yeast and trub?

 

[triangulum33]

Thats a good point. Looks like its an inch or two off the bottom. I guess I'll find out.

 

[bb239605]

I can't stand plastic, it's a real PITA to clean

 

[eastoak]

Is the spigot high enough were it will not get plugged up with yeast and trub?

Even if it is i think it can be fixed.

 

[eastoak]

my 30 liter speidel fermenter arrived yesterday and i'm pretty excited about these tanks, when the 60 liter tank is back in stock i'll probably get that size too.



this seal thing goes in first then a threaded ring goes over top


i didn't take a picture of the hole on top but it's about 1 1/2 inches. you can seal off the bottom drain with a cap and siphon from the top or use the included spigot.


a bit wider than an ale pale and with the airlock on it's a bit taller. during the winter months my garage stays pretty cool so i plan on fermenting on my work bench. during the summer i might have to use a blow off tube instead of the airlock to fit it into my mini fridge.




the biggest airlock i've ever seen.


i was worried about the height of the drain on the bottom but it looks to be a non issue. i measured about 1 1/4 inches from the bottom up to the level of the drain so there should be plenty of room for the trub to settle down in without making it into the bottles. if it is an issue the inside of the spigot can take a stopper and some sort of dip tube but i doubt i'll have to do this.


when i brew again next week i'll put this tank to the test to see if it performs well as a fermenter/bottling bucket.

 

[triangulum33]

eastoak, what size is that one in the pictures?

 

[eastoak]

eastoak, what size is that one in the pictures?

30 liters, i'll edit the post.

 

[triangulum33]

Even with 7.9 gallon capacity, you think you'll need a blow off tube for a big beer in summer?

 

[eastoak]

Even with 7.9 gallon capacity, you think you'll need a blow off tube for a big beer in summer?

come summertime i'll have to use a blow off tube to fit it in my fridge i think. right now i have a carboy in each fridge and didn't want to pull them out to see how it fits with the airlock on, it looked real close.

 

[n00tz]

Ha, I asked the same thing over here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/speidel-plastic-fermenter-277859/#post3441310

Thanks for the impressions, eastoak.

 

[triangulum33]

eastoak, do you foresee any issues sanitizing the spigot sufficiently after its been fermenting in a musty closet or chamber?

 

[eastoak]

eastoak, do you foresee any issues sanitizing the spigot sufficiently after its been fermenting in a musty closet or chamber?

no. the back of the spigot is more accessible than a regular bottling bucket spigot. i'll go take a picture of it.

 

[eastoak]

this is the back of the spigot.

 

[doctorRobert]

Why is this so much better than a bucket? You can get spigots on those too? I couldnt justify the price. I'm sure they will hold up better and perhaps better designed.

 

[triangulum33]

Why is this so much better than a bucket? You can get spigots on those too? I couldnt justify the price. I'm sure they will hold up better and perhaps better designed.

Dude. Its made in Germany. Its better.

 

[eastoak]

Why is this so much better than a bucket? You can get spigots on those too? I couldnt justify the price. I'm sure they will hold up better and perhaps better designed.

it's not better than a bucket as far as fermenting, i'm trying to see if it can be used as both a fermenter and a bottling bucket which would eliminate one step when i bottle. this tank cost me $45 and a 7.9 gallon bucket is $15.99 plus $5 for the lid. (northern brewer has the same 7.9 gallon bucket for $22.99 without the lid, who knows what they're thinking)

 

[doctorRobert]

it's not better than a bucket as far as fermenting, i'm trying to see if it can be used as both a fermenter and a bottling bucket which would eliminate one step when i bottle. this tank cost me $45 and a 7.9 gallon bucket is $15.99 plus $5 for the lid. (northern brewer has the same 7.9 gallon bucket for $22.99 without the lid, who knows what they're thinking)

My point was that you can add a spigot to a regular bucket and do the same thing for half the price. You'll have the same challenges and issues and there are reasons why people often dont do that currently.

My biggest question for you, in skipping the bottling bucket, is how are you mixing the priming sugar?

 

[Phunhog]

These look like my old Coopers fermenting bucket. Spigot, handles, large screw on lid.... I think my Coopers' capacity is something like 30L. It worked great until I moved on into fermenting in Sanke's.

 

[eastoak]

My point was that you can add a spigot to a regular bucket and do the same thing for half the price. You'll have the same challenges and issues and there are reasons why people often dont do that currently.

My biggest question for you, in skipping the bottling bucket, is how are you mixing the priming sugar?

my bottling bucket always leaks which is something i think could be fixed but it's worth $45 to me for an off the shelf solution. the design of the spigot on this tank is more leak proof than my bottling bucket. as for priming i'll just pour in the priming solution as usual, it's the first thing i do then i let it sit while i get everything else ready.

 

[triangulum33]

For me this means getting rid of the blow off tube, racking cane and much easier cleaning.
I fretted about maybe replacing my carboy's with buckets, but I just kinda fell in love with these. They look to be high quality and lots of nice features.
Prolly spent way more than I shouldve on fermenters....but hey....lots of guys have $$$ in conicals.


AND THEY'RE GERMAN.

 

[eastoak]

For me this means getting rid of the blow off tube, racking cane and much easier cleaning.
I fretted about maybe replacing my carboy's with buckets, but I just kinda fell in love with these. They look to be high quality and lots of nice features.
Prolly spent way more than I shouldve on fermenters....but hey....lots of guys have $$$ in conicals.

lots of people must have fallen in love with them since they are sold out at morebeer and as far as i can tell they are the only supplier. there will probably be some drawback that will pop up but that's to be seen. they are quality fermenters.

 

[shmEk]

These really got me going a bit the last few days. Nice to see people commenting. I think I'm passing for now on them until I hear some outstanding reviews. Then I'll consider picking up if the raves beat the buckets. Thanks all for your comments and nice close up pictures!

 

[boswell]

Dude. Its made in Germany. Its better.

This!

 

[BeerCrafter2011]

Germany???!

 

[doctorRobert]

Germany???!

View attachment 38220

 

[rico567]

These look very nice......but I'll wait for some kind of track record to be posted before seriously considering acquiring one. I've never fermented in anything but plastic buckets, and think they're as good as anything out there. I did move to a somewhat larger bucket, due to the tendency to get foamouts from the airlock with some beers (the U.S. Plastics 7 gal. bucket). When I made that move, I bought three buckets with different colored lids (lids on the U.S. Plastic buckets have a REAL neoprene 'O'-ring seal), and had the lids drilled and grommets installed in about half an hour. Cost= $32 delivered for the 3 buckets and 50 cents apiece for the grommets. Hard to justify $45 when buckets can be had that cheaply.

Now for the big positive for the Speidels, which is the spigot (my buckets already have enough headspace, and the smaller airlock is adequate, at least for my beers). I know a guy who ferments in nothing but buckets with spigots. He's also made a bunch of wooden wedges that tilt the buckets back about 10-15 degrees, so that the trub slopes away from the spigot, making racking a complete no-brainer.

As has already been alluded to in this thread, the big problem with the spigot normally installed on bottling buckets is that it tends to be not completely liquid-tight. The spigot itself is only $3-4, but absent a solution for the leakage problem, I have stayed away from that type of configuration as a fermenter, sticking with my good 'ol Fermtech autosiphon. But there is no denying that there is always some risk of infection when using that time-honored method. The Speidels seems slicker, and I'll reserve judgement until some sort of specific experiences are posted here on HBT.