Plastic fermenters

[Barr]

I know SS is way better but it's also way more expensive. Does anyone here have real experience fermenting in plastic conicals or plastic drums? Is oxygen permeating through the plastic really a concern?

I know sanitation can be an issue but I'm thinking of using disposable plastic food grade liners in the drums. I'm thinking the cost of the liners could be offset buy the savings in heavy cleaners. Plastic liner could be submerged in a small bucket of santeizer.

I assume that with a 200L plastic drum that you could keep the temp down with a air conditioned room. Am I way off? Would a cooling coil be needed?

Any thoughts?

[CorneliusAlphonse]

i would think cooling would be the only difficulty, that size of fermentor would put out some serious heat - im not sure air alone would be effective. i seem to remember someone who was doing a cooling coil by wrapping his/her fermenter with tubing, and putting cold water through it (from tap)

[RubberToe]

Yeah I think the air cooling is boarderline. Also the O2 permeability of plastic is only really an issue for long term storage.

[Barr]

Ah yes that makes sense that it would be long term storage that would give you the problem. Thanks RubberToe

[Barr]

i would think cooling would be the only difficulty, that size of fermentor would put out some serious heat - im not sure air alone would be effective. i seem to remember someone who was doing a cooling coil by wrapping his/her fermenter with tubing, and putting cold water through it (from tap)

Yeah I think from my research that 55g is possibly small enough to get away with it. Perhaps setting the cooler 3-5 C lower than needed with a strong fan would help. But if it's not enough I think a submerged coil in the centre would be more effective than a wrap. It seems to me that the core would be the place with the heaviest build up of heat.

My plan for moving the beer out of the barrels is to make up a cover that looks a lot like a keg top with a C02 in and a dip tube out. I know it only takes a couple psi to push beer but I'm not sure if I could get a tight enough seal on those open top style covers.

[Barr]

I know it wouldn't be hard to build an active cooling system but I'd like to keep it simple so it's easy to expand. If I have multiple barrels it would get expensive buying sensors and temp controllers for each. I'd like to find a passive and simple/cheap way to keep it cool.

Any thoughts on this idea (sorry for the artwork)? I'm thinking that if water is constantly tricking down the sides of the barrel from a ring of perforated pipe, collecting in a bottom basin and then pumped up again that this may help wick away heat. I've seen tiny AC water pumps for $6 on eBay.

[GAM]

I had a 55l (ish) jug that Malt extract came in. I think dave may have some or at least he did.
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[CorneliusAlphonse]

I think that or the swamp cooler type of trick might work. To be honest I think it will be a bit of a trial and error type thing, unless you can find someone out there who has done it (and I'm sure they exist, somewhere)

[Jimmy]

I know it wouldn't be hard to build an active cooling system but I'd like to keep it simple so it's easy to expand. If I have multiple barrels it would get expensive buying sensors and temp controllers for each. I'd like to find a passive and simple/cheap way to keep it cool.

Any thoughts on this idea (sorry for the artwork)? I'm thinking that if water is constantly tricking down the sides of the barrel from a ring of perforated pipe, collecting in a bottom basin and then pumped up again that this may help wick away heat. I've seen tiny AC water pumps for $6 on eBay.

I'm skeptical of the water trickle causing much of a difference in temperature if it's in a plastic barrel. I wonder if the barrels were perforated and sat in a water reservoir - this would allow the water to come in direct contact with the "food grade bags" and would likely be a lot more efficient when it comes to any temperature transfer. You'd still need a way to keep the water cool, though.

[Barr]

I know it wouldn't be hard to build an active cooling system but I'd like to keep it simple so it's easy to expand. If I have multiple barrels it would get expensive buying sensors and temp controllers for each. I'd like to find a passive and simple/cheap way to keep it cool.

Any thoughts on this idea (sorry for the artwork)? I'm thinking that if water is constantly tricking down the sides of the barrel from a ring of perforated pipe, collecting in a bottom basin and then pumped up again that this may help wick away heat. I've seen tiny AC water pumps for $6 on eBay.

I'm skeptical of the water trickle causing much of a difference in temperature if it's in a plastic barrel. I wonder if the barrels were perforated and sat in a water reservoir - this would allow the water to come in direct contact with the "food grade bags" and would likely be a lot more efficient when it comes to any temperature transfer. You'd still need a way to keep the water cool, though.

I agree Jimmy. It's not the most likely solution. I'm thinking a temp controlled room of course but it's the heat produced in fermentation that concerns me. It would be great to have a way to adjust the barrels that are at peak activity by -2 or 3 degrees while the others in the room are at ambient.

[Barr]

Having never fermented in that size I'm probably underestimating the heat produced.

[mthibodeau]

immersion style chiller with a circulating pump hooked to a reservoir in a cheap fridge? You would need a temp controller for each barrel to control the pump, but could theoretically use the same fridge setup for multiple pumps/barrels.

[Barr]

immersion style chiller with a circulating pump hooked to a reservoir in a cheap fridge? You would need a temp controller for each barrel to control the pump, but could theoretically use the same fridge setup for multiple pumps/barrels.

If I could find a barrel big enough to put the 55g barrel inside of I could use the pump or valve to introduce cold water into the outer barrel making a jacketed fermenter. The overflow could gravity feed back into the reservoir in the adjacent walk in cooler. Gets more expensive but it would work well. I have a similar setup at home.

[Keith]

Just get a hard walled pool lol