@
Gytaryst
If you keg your beer (or at least have the equipment to keg your beer), you could try fermenting in a corny keg with a slightly smaller batch size.
Or you could consider a 1/4 barrel Sanke keg (short or tall depending on your size limitations) to get a full 5 gallon batch. You can buy or build a triclover assembly for blowoff and transferring beer.
I considered all those. I don't want to reduce batch size. I brew 6 gallon batches to end up with 5 gallons; keg or bottle.
I've been transferring from my primary, (
7 gal. plastic FerMonster), to a corny keg. Depending on the beer, I either serve from that keg, let it sit
for awhile, or transfer it to another keg thru either a 1.0 micron or 5.0 micron cartridge filter. The weak link is obviously the plastic FerMonster.
I brewed a Tripel 3 weeks ago. Mash went perfect, boil went perfect, hit all my numbers almost dead on. Pitched 500 billion cells of WLP540 at 64F and it went absolutely spastic. Within 12 hours it actually pushed the #10 stopper out of the lid, (
I hate stoppers). I got the mess cleaned up as well as I could. No idea how much oxygen (
or whatever else) got into the beer during this fiasco. Fermentation never really went anywhere after that. Est FG was 1.012. This one stopped at 1.022, (
way too high for a Tripel). I tried warming it up, rousing the yeast, stirring, swishing... but it's stuck at 1.022. No telling how much oxygen I introduced taking extra hydrometer samples, swishing, stirring. There's probably a billion things I could blame this on but I choose to blame the FerMonster... 100%. Mostly because I haven't been impressed with this thing since day one and this was simply the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It was also the reason I decided to upgrade, and to get away from plastic.
Similar to what
@hezagenius has said. You can get a Kegmenter for $200.
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/132-GALLON-KEGMENTER-Actual-Shipping-P4223.aspx
You can brew 5-10 gallons in it and hook it up to a spunding valve, then you would be able to ferment under pressure if you wanted to.
I like the idea of being able to take the top off and get down in there for cleaning.
Don't forget the SS can fit the same lid as the 7 gallon Chronical. This opens up a plethora of accessories that are plug and play. I have a barb in the pic below, but I also use a 1.5TC to ball lock gas for blowoff. I also noticed the Chapman and Anvil don't have a thermowell option so you would have to add that yourself for proper temp control in a ferm chamber. Yes, it is more expensive but I think it's the best choice of the three stainless options mentioned.
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Yes - since continuing to look into this I am now leaning more toward the Ss Brewtech Brew Bucket than the Anvil. There seems to be some scientific evidence that the conical bottom aids and actually speeds up fermentation as opposed to a flat bottom, (Chapman).
I know you ruled out the Champman but I love mine. Just got another on eBay when they had a 20% off coupon for under 90 bucks. I modified mine with a tri-clamp, corny post and thermowell and would never think about going back to any kind of plastic. I partially carbonate in them and then close transfer to a keg.
This is pretty much exactly what I want to do. I talked to Bobby at Brewhardware and he suggested the 1.5" TC as a way to eliminate that stupid large stopper hole, (
"stupid" is my word, not his). If the Chapman was significantly cheaper than the Anvil it would be a serious consideration. But since they are basically the same price, the Anvil has more to offer dollar for dollar.
I found one site that advertised the Chapman (portless) for $78. When I went to check out they added $55 for shipping making it more expensive than the places that are selling it for $119 free shipping. I hate sites that feel they have to use that kind of deceptive trickery to sell their products, so not only will I not be buying the Chapman from them, I probably won't buy anything from them in the future.
As for the plastic vs ss debate that I was hoping to avoid. I titled this thread "Stainless Steel Fermenters" and purposely left the word "plastic" out of it. BUT . . . . . the guys who use plastic seem to be compelled to add their unsolicited, unwanted 2 cents, and that's fine... it's a public forum. So here's my position:
I'm not made of money, by any stretch of the imagination. My goal is to make the best beer I can possibly make and my philosophy is, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right." If I'm going to brew beer then I want the capability to brew the best beer possible - without cutting corners or settling for second best just because it's cheaper. That said, the one and
ONLY argument for using plastic is that it's cheaper. There is no argument that it's better - it's not, it's inferior. There is no argument that it can be cleaned and sanitized to the same level, it can't. There is no argument that it has the longevity of stainless steel, it doesn't.
Stainless steel is clearly and unquestionably the better material... period... no debate. The cost difference is minimal in the overall big picture. Plastic
IS cheaper. No argument. No matter how many times this debate pops up, the final conclusion is always that plastic is cheaper than stainless steel. I agree with that 100%. I don't argue that. That point has been made - ad nauseum, ad infinitum. Yes... it's cheaper. And there it is...
My ultimate goal is to make the best beer I can possibly make - not to spend the least amount I can possibly spend on equipment.
Just sayin' If you're using plastic and you've always used plastic and you're happy using plastic... awesome. Kudos.
