Any use for a small fermenter?

[Steve Broady]

When I started in this hobby, I bought myself a 3 gallon conical fermenter. Seemed like a good idea at the time, and it was a step up from 1 gallon carboys. I quickly outgrew it and moved to 5 and 5&6 gallon buckets, so it’s been relegated to the back of the fermentation closet ever since.

Before I get rid of it, I figured I’d ask here. Do you ever find yourself wanting or needing a small fermenter for any reason? Am I likely to need this thing, or is it just a waste of space?

[jonnys_spirit]

if you ever get your 5/6 g buckets filled too close to the rim and have an unnaturally active ferment that enjoys spilling up over and out the sides like "The Blob" you'll be looking for anything to dump some off into until it subsides after a couple days...

Cheers!
-j

[zach]

If you make beer, and don't have many beer drinkers in your household it's a nice size. I have a 3 gallon corny keg which would match this fermenter.

[Twisted Brick]

Most of my spirits are corn or rye based, and after resting my keg ferment, I rack the top half into carboys and squeeze the rest into my 13gal conical. After that clears, I fill gallon jugs then scoop out the remaining custard and let that clear in a glass flower vase. If your bucket ferments leave a balance of custard (and they do) maybe you could just transfer all of it into the conical and wait for it to clear too. Might save some time and recover some more wash. I feel the cleared wash I recover last is the heaviest so I save a gallon of it in the fridge to add to my spirit run when the time comes.

[Deplorable]

Most of my spirits are corn or rye based, and after resting my keg ferment, I rack the top half into carboys and squeeze the rest into my 13gal conical. After that clears, I fill gallon jugs then scoop out the remaining custard and let that clear in a glass flower vase. If your bucket ferments leave a balance of custard (and they do) maybe you could just transfer all of it into the conical and wait for it to clear too. Might save some time and recover some more wash. I feel the cleared wash I recover last is the heaviest so I save a gallon of it in the fridge to add to my spirit run when the time comes.

Or, you could send it to me for proper "disposal".
In other words, this is what I would suggest, as I often wish I had one just for this purpose. Im just a stingy fucker and don't want to buy one.