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Show Off Your Fermenter

edited June 2013 in General

I'd like to see which vessels people around the world use for fermenting. I personally am a huge opponent of plastic especially when it comes down to food or drinkable liquids. A stainless steel fermenter would be my item of choice, but of course it comes at a price.

So show off your fermenters and tell a little about it!

BTW I have seen a picture of a white (plastic?) tank with a cone-shaped lower side and blue legs which I can't find any more. It seems to be from a well known manufacturer in the U.S. most likely not specifically made for fermenting. Anybody knows about that one? Are there any affordable commercial plastic tanks made specifically for fermenting?

StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

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  • Plenty of roto moulded palstic ones. Just search conical fermentor. We supply stainless conicals in a variety of sizes on request. Most hobby people use plastic as it is by far the cheapest and most effective material. Olive drums are some of the best i have them in sizes from 70 to 220 litres. Often available second hand for around $20-40 here.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I do use a set of not so special buckets. Would be super nice to have a 50 liter SS conical. But kinda spendy for my pocket book.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • image image image image

    will get around to wiring the temp controller into a nice box when i get back to work

    trust me my wiring is good! i'm a professional! - Law-Of-Ohms

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  • Now that is a fermenter setup - very practical I love it.

  • nice setup LOO. that's what im struggling with at the moment is keeping my ferments warm enough 10c in my garage at the moment and only going to get colder. last rum I fermented I had bucket inside a storage container that was filled with water and had a fish tank heater inside it but I think it must be terribly inefficient! might have to try something like yours.. at first I thought it must be bit of a fire risk, but I guess it is ok because of the stc1000

  • SG1.1 down to 1.0 in 4 days nice And its still fizzing like mad!

  • edited June 2013

    these guys are available on ebay here in the states. You might be able to track down a website. They have a variety of sizes.

    15 Gallon Conical Fermenter Beer and Wine Fermenter

  • Is that one good enough? :D

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    Just kidding, of course my definite preference would be a SD SS unit like that one:

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    Here in Austria people are very much aware of the anti-plastic hype and are willing to pay a premium to prevent the use of plastic even if it says "food-save".

    I think we'll need one of those SS vessels for showcasing at farmers fairs, some small commercial distilleries we visited also only use SS fermenters and even quite a bit larger ones.

    @Law_Of_Ohms, very nice setup! I've not completely given up on plastic, will have to look into what we can offer at the lower side of the price scale.

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    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • if your offering SD europe! i will pm my address :D

  • Hey loo i like your style if only i had the room for a 22o ltr drum im using 60ltr bins for price and size they suit me perfect for now but if i could i would use 100ltr conical for my ferms as i would get two runs out of one ferm i actually use this size ferm but have to leave head room offcoarse so i ferment at 40ltr in each and manage with 3 of these ferm volume stripped i manages about 30ltrs of 35abv low wines and just add a bitt of water to get it to 40 ltrs for a spirit run

  • I use these. The white ones are 160 litres and used to contain coke syrup, the blue ones are 120's and used to contain ginger and have a big screw top.

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    I fitted a 3kW element to one of the white ones just for pre-heating water to dissolve sugar / molasses, and not for use during fermentation. I cut the top out later, as I did try it as a steam boiler first. It got a bit soft the first time it filled with steam so I didn't repeat that experiment.

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  • just got a 220L drum and going to set up like yours LOO, but going to make it so it can hold two 30L buckets (until I can find a 60 or 80L one).

  • edited June 2013

    and might get one of these for the temp control..

    220V Digital LCD Thermostat Temperature Regulator Controller Aquarium Mini Fish Tank english users

    free shipping to nz to, a bit cheaper than getting one locally......

  • edited June 2013

    Here is my 2pc stainless old milk tanks of 1250 liters pc which I will use as fermenters, and most of them smaller breweries and small distilleries have the same equipment, plastic is more or less banned in Sweden among us commercial, but is widely used among hobbyists for that there is a cheaper solution.

    Cheers

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  • 3 more of my fermenters arrived today. Each are 300 Gallons or 1135L Total Volume, I have not had to worry about temp control yet as all my ferments so far have been very stable @ 68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C). Each will be fitted to look like the 1st one with a 2" bottom drain and 2" side port with wracking arm. I ferment in 260 gallon batches leaving 40 gallons of head room for the krausen. Now I will be able to have 1040 Gallons of wash fermenting at a time.

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  • Sweeet!

    It is what you make it!

  • @RedDoorDistillery, very nice, although I am contra plastic. You get a total of 7 of them? How much is one? It would be great if you could shoot a video-tour of your distillery once everything is in place.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • I never had brain problems with plastic fermenters, just storing high proof alcohol in plastic gives me the willies. Maybe because I grew up teething on HD maybe?

  • The Tank and Stand run about $700 plus freight of around $150 each. So Delivered I pay $850 each. Then you have to add the bulkhead fittings which add about $50 a tank for the 2" bottom and side ports. So now you are at $900. The TC Fittings and valves with the racking arm run we about $200 a tank. So all together they cost me about $1100 each complete tank.

    I have a total of 4 of them now. I also have 2x 275gallon IBC Totes that I use one for Strip Runs and one Final product blending and proofing before it is pumped to the bottle filler. I was using the IBC Totes for Fermenters but they are a real pain to clean out the trub because they are flat bottom. This is why I have moved to these conical tanks.

    Once I have everything in place I will try to do a walk thru video. My space is very small for a commercial distillery so everything is kinda crammed in there.

  • Looks great. That's some cheap fermenters there. We'd pay a lot more here.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • RDD, till what temperature are those fementers rated ?

  • These tanks are made from FDA compliant resins and will handle sustained temperatures of up to 120° F (49° C) and intermittent temperatures of up to 140° F (60° C) with Specific Gravity up to 2.0

  • I have a local customer (he buys parts an such) that also uses 3 of those style tanks. His are 500 gallon and he also fabricated some brackets and attached some mixers /agitators. He has his inside a large refrigeration unit to try and mitigate the heat to get to pitch temps more quickly. Evidently cooling jackets were not in the budget? Summer months are going to be brutal in his plant. I have been begging him for pics but he views his distillery as,,,,,,,proprietary. Like Harley, he builds every thing himself.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Up here in Washington we rarely have super hot temps. I have been using the Plastic IBC totes since last August and have never had a ferment go above 75F or below 68F. I use 2 counter flow coolers to chill my wort as it goes to the tank. It leaves the MashTun at around 160F but after passing thru the 2 coolers it goes into the tank at about 78F. I pitch the yeast and the next day it has settled to about 70F and is fermenting. In a Hot Climate it would not work without additional cooling of some sort.

  • Yes the hot climate is tough. He had a dilly of a time trying to find anyone at all that was remotely qualified enough to calculate the amount of refrigeration needed based on his method of operation. Even the commercial refrigeration guys were a bit ambiguous about what would be needed.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

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