Speidel Plastic Tanks

[DeGarre]

Eastoak, you have the top upside down...check your washer, it is prolly not too tight and not in its place. I had it upside down my 1st brew too, because it shipped upside down so I thought that's how it was supposed to be. Then I wasn't getting any activity in the air-lock, was because it is not tight when wrong way up.

I got one 30L one with my Speidel BM and ordered one extra. Easy to clean, I just hose it inside and use a soft sponge, then rinse and star-san it. 9 brews, no problems.

The spigot is just right, yeast and break material nicely packed below it. I use either US-05 or S-04.

 

[eastoak]

Eastoak, you have the top upside down...check your washer, it is prolly not too tight and not in its place. I had it upside down my 1st brew too, because it shipped upside down so I thought that's how it was supposed to be. Then I wasn't getting any activity in the air-lock, was because it is not tight when wrong way up.

I got one 30L one with my Speidel BM and ordered one extra. Easy to clean, I just hose it inside and use a soft sponge, then rinse and star-san it. 9 brews, no problems.

The spigot is just right, yeast and break material nicely packed below it. I use either US-05 or S-04.

you're right, wow. i am going to brew today so thanks for the heads up.

 

[helibrewer]

This also has the potential for a no-rack secondary. Just use a wedge to force the trub to the spigot side then you could drain off your trub like a conical and top off the head space with gas eliminating the ozidation exposure from traditional racking.

 

[Diver165]

I must ask Santa SWMBO for some of these!!!!

 

[eastoak]

I must ask Santa SWMBO for some of these!!!!

keep checking morebeer's site cause they are sold out of all but the 3.2 gallon size.

 

[DerBraumeister]

can they be used for no chill?

 

[triangulum33]

I was planning on a double batch today with my Speidel tanks due in last friday. I called Morebeer this morning to inquire on where my order was and she told me that the 20L I paid for was back ordered. So, instead of contacting me to see what I wanted done, they put my whole order (2-30L and accessories) on hold. Really wanted to use the 30L ers for my brew day today.....oh well.

 

[rico567]

keep checking morebeer's site cause they are sold out of all but the 3.2 gallon size.

Unnecessary- MoreBeer makes it possible to do much better than that. You can input your e-mail address, and they'll notify you when the product you want comes in.

 

[triangulum33]

Took some pics of the 2 30L's that came in today. The build quality appears good overall. The fermenter is thick rigid plastic (more stiff than a better bottle) and all the bits and pieces are made of "quality plastic" (no thin brittle pieces like regular airlock plastic).

The handles appear plenty sturdy enough.

This airlock is giant.

The orange airlock top does not clip into place. There is a fill line about 25% of the way up there airlock, and the orange top just kinda floats on the water and will bob up and down as gas escapes.

Screw on the top cap to shake/airate.

The airlock stem is ~5/8", so even if krauzen made it up that high it looks like it is plenty wide enough to not plug.

Bottom bung can accept the included spigot or cap. I didnt measure, but it appears to be 1.5" - 2" higher than bottom of the fermenter. I would not expect much trub to make it out unless you have a giant yeast cake and 2lbs of hops.

 

[triangulum33]

What you get with one tank.

Its wider and about 1-2" taller than a 6G better bottle.

 

[eastoak]

yesterday i went to my LHBS and saw this in the middle of the store with all of the clearance items for $10. it holds 15+ gallons and originally held LME from Breiss. during the summer i won't be able to ferment in it but during the winter it stays cool enough to ferment big batches in. a #5 stopper fits in the the small hole for an airlock and my auto siphon will be able to drain this if i tie a lifeline to it and drop it in just short of the bottom a inch or two. it would be nice if i could put a spigot near the bottom, maybe i can find someone with a long skinny arm....

 

[Piratwolf]

No way!!! My LHBS guy gave me one of those the other day. I used Oxy on it and got most of the LME out, now it's soaking again. I'm thinking about picking up an old full-size fridge on CL so I can ferment these in temp controlled environment.

I've been thinking about how to make this more user friendly... Any ideas?

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[eastoak]

No way!!! My LHBS guy gave me one of those the other day. I used Oxy on it and got most of the LME out, now it's soaking again. I'm thinking about picking up an old full-size fridge on CL so I can ferment these in temp controlled environment.

I've been thinking about how to make this more user friendly... Any ideas?

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

other than temperature control i don't see any impediment to fermenting a 12 gallon batch in this, in fact, i'm going to do just that since it's nice and cool around here right now.

 

[triangulum33]

Finally got some brew in these. Here is what 5G looks like. PLENTY of headspace for fermentation. The screw on cap made it very easy to shake/aerate.

 

[Chaffin]

The only "cons" I see is not being able to use a thermowell (unless you use a different stopper and airlock) or a heating wrap. These would only be cons depending on your brewing setup.

Plus, would you still have to put a T-shirt or bag on this thing to keep light out? Or, would that plastic keep enought light out? Depending on your storage location of course.

 

[rico567]

An interesting question....but I can see the level of the beer in my white plastic bucket fermenters, and the beer evidently suffers no untoward effects. The real question here is: does HDPE (the material used in bucket fermenters and also the Speidels fermenter) block those components of light that will react unfavorably with beer?

 

[dreaded]

Finally got some brew in these. Here is what 5G looks like. PLENTY of headspace for fermentation. The screw on cap made it very easy to shake/aerate.

That's interesting, I wonder how much headroom you'd have if you filled it to the full "7.9 gals" when you get done with this batch, how about if you fill it up to 8 gals and take a pic..

 

[bthedlin]

The only "cons" I see is not being able to use a thermowell (unless you use a different stopper and airlock) or a heating wrap. These would only be cons depending on your brewing setup.

Plus, would you still have to put a T-shirt or bag on this thing to keep light out? Or, would that plastic keep enought light out? Depending on your storage location of course.

I just got a couple of these guys and love them thus far. Has anyone found a stopper that will fit and allow for a thermowell? This is one downside I have found.

 

[eastoak]

I just got a couple of these guys and love them thus far. Has anyone found a stopper that will fit and allow for a thermowell? This is one downside I have found.

if you have the thermowell you can drill a stopper that fits the tank.

 

[eastoak]

The only "cons" I see is not being able to use a thermowell (unless you use a different stopper and airlock) or a heating wrap. These would only be cons depending on your brewing setup.

Plus, would you still have to put a T-shirt or bag on this thing to keep light out? Or, would that plastic keep enought light out? Depending on your storage location of course.

whatever kind of heating element you have should work with this just like a regular bucket, my brew belt fits around this thing.

 

[eastoak]

this is my second batch in this fermentor, a 1055 blonde with 6.5 oz of hops. with about 2 minutes left in the boil UPS showed up with the 1/2 lb of zythos hops i ordered so i dumped an oz in at flameout. it was a spur of the moment decision to brew yesterday so i forgot to fill this thing a gallon at a time with water to see exactly what 8 gallons would look like, i think this is 7.5 gallons but i'm not sure. i pitched an entire yeast cake (wyeast 1728) with pure O2 as an experiment to see if the beer would ferment out quicker in my cold garage. i pitched last night at around 8pm and this morning at 8am it was going strong at 60 degrees, the garage was in the high 40's or low 50's i think. the two little squares of plywood are to keep the trub from settling down around the spigot by keeping the tank tilted back, i bottled the last batch right out of the fermentor and i did have a bit of trub that i cleared by opening the tap into a glass. this time i left most of the trub and hops in the kettle.

 

[samc]

I have fermenter envy.

I hesitated on the purchase and now have to settle in for the long wait.

 

[rico567]

Looks good......I have a friend who ferments in a half dozen plastic buckets with spigots, and he's got a wedge for each he cut out of 2 x 6s that perform the same function.

 

[Chriso]

Thanks for the heads-up on these.

I have a bunch of Ale Pails plus just one Minibrew 6.5 Plastic Conical... I had planned to eventually, funds permitting, replace all of my pails with more Minibrews. However they've gone up since the last time I ordered one, they're about $200 ea. unit right now.

These Speidel's look like a much cheaper alternative that still keeps most of the benefits of the Minibrew (durable plastic, OK carryability, easily cleaned, has a spigot), minus the conical bottom and the dump valve.

Otherwise perhaps I'll just use my Minibrew as a primary and continue using Ale Pails for secondary-only. It's not like I'm brewing often enough (right now) to need multiple primaries (until I get obsessed again).

 

[eastoak]

maybe someone else who has one of these tanks that's currently empty could fill it up a gallon and a time and post a picture with the 1-8 gallon marks?

 

[triangulum33]

Cleaning these things is really really easy. For some reason, the krauzen did not stick like it does in better bottles. I just spayed with a garden hose, with bottom bung off so everything just flows out the bottom, and that visibly got all of the gunk out. Then just gave it a once over with a sponge - you can reach every part of the inside with your hand.

.. and i did have a bit of trub that i cleared by opening the tap into a glass.

I did not do this and ended up with a fair amount of trub in the keg. I had a lot of hops and a big yeast cake in there, though. I think most low to medium gravity beers without a big hop addition will not have to worry too much about trub making it thru the spigot.

 

[triangulum33]

Approximate volume markers:

 

[eastoak]

Approximate volume markers:

great, thanks! looks like i have 7 gallons and not the 7.5 i thought i had.

 

[dreaded]

thanks for the pic.. on the waiting list..

 

[helibrewer]

Is the bottom of that tank flat? With that shape it almost looks like you could put it in a stand and and put a dump valve on the bottom. Just thinking out loud here. One of these will certainly be my next purchase because I can do my wines in them too.