Fermenter

[jackpinesavage]

I was thinking of getting a 10 gal. Brute container, food grade, and top from a local restaurant supply house to use as a fermenter.
Good idea?

[NZChris]

Size your fermenter to suit your still. Four times the size of the boiler is good, as one ferment can provide enough low wines for a spirit run.

[Boda Getta]

Big Brutes are great but I would go with the 32 gal.

[jackpinesavage]

Got it. Thanks fo the advice!

[Truckinbutch]

Big Brutes are great but I would go with the 32 gal.

Look into what SRD and I have been talking about in relation to using a 32 inside a 44 with clear 55 gallon plastic liners . May not be ideal for you but it is certainly working well for us .

[jackpinesavage]

Thank you!

[JohnsMyName]

I got one of these, it's an Eagle 1601mb 30 gallon. For $43 shipped it had an air tight locking lid as well. Says it's chemical resistant and FDA food surface safe. They have a 14 gallon one too (1610mb)

https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-1601MB-Pol ... B0025QI4XC

[jackpinesavage]

I like that

[bluefish_dist]

Personally I liked 15 gallon drums. My local brew shop gets malt extract in them, so they sell the used ones. Food grade and hold just the right amount to fill a keg still. I cut off a pump so it leaves 2-3 gallons and that way it leaves the trub behind when I empty the drum.

[The Baker]

Or if you want containers for free (probably);

Bakeries and small businesses and farms have (say) 20 litre cubic containers and will probably give them away for free.
Many have contained food ingredients.
Some have contained caustic cleaning liquids but if you wash them in water a few times and vinegar a few times they are safe. Truly. But remove the labels after the thorough cleaning.
But obviously do NOT use those that have contained toxic chemicals such as weedkiller!!!!
You can stand eight in a square, that's 160 litres, and if you want an airlock (not a bad idea for these small ones) you can drill a hole in the lids, press fit some flexible tube (plastic? nylon?? dunno)
and place the open ends in a little water container sitting on a box, whatever, in the middle. Maybe in a biggish glass bottle, say 2 litres, then the ends are unlikely to slip out.
Freebies, I love them.

Geoff

P. S. with a little ingenuity you can stack them to get a lot more in the same space.