cheap fermenter?

[zee]

i'm always keeping an eye out for cheap vessels to ferment in.

i currently use one of the 20 gallon brute trashcans for various brewing duties, like storing grain, hauling spent grain to the compost heap, and other stuff. i noticed recently that the one i have is made of NSF Std. #2 plastic, which is apparently considered food grade.

the page there says that the material is lldpe. i'm not sure what that actually is, but i am wondering whether this might make a really cheap fermenter for 10 or 15 gallon batches. my only concern is that they are somewhat soft, and that means potentially easily scratched. i also have no idea what the oxygen permeability of lldpe would be.

would be interested to hear your thoughts.

[Bugeater]

I think your thinking is on the right track, but I think you might want to take things one step further. Line that fermenter with a food grade (i.e. clear or white) garbage bag. You can then gather that up around the end of a blow off tube and secure it with tape or strong rubber band. This makes the thing incredibly easy to clean (throw away the bag) and greatly simplifies harvesting yeast (cut a hole in a lower corner of the bag and squeeze it out like a pastry bag.).

With the bag it doesn't make any difference if the trashcan is food grade or not.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[zee]

hmmm. somehow the whole bag in a bin sounds messy and annoying. for one thing, when siphoning out wouldn't the bag continuously get sucked into the racking cane? where does one find food grade plastic bags that size anyway?

[UhrigBrauer]

here's some info on the lldpe stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_low ... lyethylene

I guess it's not as tough as HDPE which brewing buckets are made out of, but I would guess that lower density would mean more oxygen permeable... I'm no chemist though. You could however wrap the bin with saran wrap since its suppose to keep the oxygen out from your food hence better, longer lasting lasagna... I remember Jamil saying something like that for bucket fermenters a while ago. So you could do the same for numerous plastic bins.

JC

[GooberMcNutly]

Back in the mid 80s my Dad decided he wanted to start homebrewing. He and a guy that was renting a room at the time (from Iran actually!!!) made a big batch in the basement, putting about 15 gallons in a 20 gallon trash can. (Never did anything by halfs, that guy...) They piled a bunch of cinder blocks up about 4 rows deep to hold the trash can up off the floor so they could more easily rack into a second trash can after primary fermentation.

At the end of the primary ferment then started the racking into the second trashcan. Just as they were getting started, someone bumped the trash can and all of those dry stacked cinder blocks shifted. 15 gallons of just fermented beer spilled onto our bare concrete basement floor. Luckily there was a floor drain about 10 feet away, so most of it went down there. But that basement smelled like a brewery for about 5 years after that, even after 5 gallon of bleach and lots of scrubbing.

Pointless to your discussion, but humorous none-the-less.

I am sure that someone has Mylar liners for the big cans, like they have for the 6 gallon buckets. You could just line your 6 gallon buckets with a Mylar liner for under $2: https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/emergency_supplies/mylar_food_storage_bags.htm

Or just ferment right in the bag for about $3.50: 5 gallon water bag with spout Use and throw it away, no cleaning.

[Thirsty Boy]

I think your thinking is on the right track, but I think you might want to take things one step further. Line that fermenter with a food grade (i.e. clear or white) garbage bag. You can then gather that up around the end of a blow off tube and secure it with tape or strong rubber band. This makes the thing incredibly easy to clean (throw away the bag) and greatly simplifies harvesting yeast (cut a hole in a lower corner of the bag and squeeze it out like a pastry bag.).

With the bag it doesn't make any difference if the trashcan is food grade or not.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

That is a very interesting idea Bug. Absolutely anything at all could be a fermentor if lined with a bag. Wouldn't even have to be particularly water proof. Hell a big carboard box would do. And it could even be nice and square too, so you could fit more than one in a fermentation fridge.

very very interesting.......

Thirsty

[huskerbrew]

Not completely on topic, but not completely off topic either: Is is possible to use the 5 gallon plastic water jugs(i said jugs) that are used with office water coolers as a secondary? Seems that it would be similar to a better bottle only cheaper. Don't know about oxygen permeability, though. Any thoughts?

[zee]

the more i think about this, the more i'm not really digging the idea. i think the main thing that has been proposed here that bothers me is the softness of the material. it would be pretty hard to clean properly without leaving some sort of a mark.

additionally, i'm not really into the whole bag in a shape thing as i think it would definitely be awkward, not to mention wasteful.

thanks much for all the ideas in this thread, this is exactly what i was looking for!