Primary fermenter

RAtkison

Member
Trial Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
41
Reaction score
12
Points
8
Location
Houston, TX
Looking for suggestions for a good 6.5-7 gallon primary fermenter. As much as I enjoy the ease of use of a bucket, i’m tired of them not sealing properly and having to clean up my chest after every batch. Looking for something easy to clean. Thanks in advance!
 
I find that any fermentation vessel can be easy to clean if it is given an oxyclean soak after emptying it. I use PET carboys and after racking my beer out I dump the trub and rinse the carboy then fill it with water and a scoop of oxyclean. A few hours later all of the gunk stuck to the inside has fallen off. A quick pass with a brush to ensure all the krausen deposits are gone then empty and rinse and its done. Other than the soaking time it probably took me longer to type this than it would take me to do it, and I imagine a wide mouth carboy as suggested by Jmcnamara would make the job even easier
 
I have 6 gallon carboys and 6 gallon PET. I prefer the glass overall. The PET tend to “breath” if moved. In other words they draw in air, which brings in o2. Glass can suck too, but they are impervious to oxygen, don’t breath when moved, bleach can be used to sanitize and seal easily. The problem is that they suck to clean and are fragile.

I heard big mouths don’t seal as well as the PET and glass.
 
Looking for suggestions for a good 6.5-7 gallon primary fermenter. As much as I enjoy the ease of use of a bucket, i’m tired of them not sealing properly and having to clean up my chest after every batch. Looking for something easy to clean. Thanks in advance!
There's a good Speidel with that capability, about $75. I have a Big Demon plastic conical fermentor, about $110 if I remember correctly, it was a birthday gift. And strange as it may sound, I'm moving back to buckets in a more "open" fermentation style, meaning I don't dog the bucket lids down.
 
I have 5 of these: https://www.morebeer.com/products/speidel-plastic-fermenter-30l-79-gal.html ( I live in Europe, so I linked to morebeer as it shows the price in USD )

Very sturdy, very, very easy to clean, they seal off perfectly and they are pretty great overall. They are not conicals, but I don't find that an issue at this point. They are not see through, but again, this is not an issue. Maybe a bit pricey, but after 44 batches, I never had an infection, a bad batch or something negative happening, which could have been related to fermenters. So big thumbs up from here.
 
Just bought one of these, will use on my next batch.
https://www.amazon.ca/Kegco-Gallon-Carboy-Fermenter-Homebrew/dp/B01ANDX4WO
This is a Cnadian price, if you find the same thing on amazon.com, it should be about 20%-25% less expensive.
I got the big mouth to make it easier to dry hop, and clean.
Prefer glass so I can see what is going on without opening it, but cleaning glass is a bit trick as it is slippery
 
I have 5 of these: https://www.morebeer.com/products/speidel-plastic-fermenter-30l-79-gal.html ( I live in Europe, so I linked to morebeer as it shows the price in USD )

Very sturdy, very, very easy to clean, they seal off perfectly and they are pretty great overall. They are not conicals, but I don't find that an issue at this point. They are not see through, but again, this is not an issue. Maybe a bit pricey, but after 44 batches, I never had an infection, a bad batch or something negative happening, which could have been related to fermenters. So big thumbs up from here.
ohhhh, I like that
 
I have 5 of these: https://www.morebeer.com/products/speidel-plastic-fermenter-30l-79-gal.html ( I live in Europe, so I linked to morebeer as it shows the price in USD )

Very sturdy, very, very easy to clean, they seal off perfectly and they are pretty great overall. They are not conicals, but I don't find that an issue at this point. They are not see through, but again, this is not an issue. Maybe a bit pricey, but after 44 batches, I never had an infection, a bad batch or something negative happening, which could have been related to fermenters. So big thumbs up from here.
That's the one I have, the 30l version. Wife uses it for wine now that I have the conical.
 
I like that very simple and to the point...
I think I got my 14 gallon for about the price that's listed for the smaller one there. Happened onto a good sale price.
 
I use a 7 gallon Fermonster with spigot and a wine style air lock. Drop it in the chest freezer with a brew hauler. A lot lighter to lift out full than a full glass carboy. Haven’t had an infection, probably cuz I’m crazy about cleaning with PBW. Only about $34. Wide mouth great for hop additions.

Regarding “primary fermenter” I don’t rack to secondary any more.

It would be nice to go stainless like JA did, or a SS conical. $$
 
I use carboys but I have been lusting after a 30l speidel. I have three carboys I'll sell ;)
 
Looking for suggestions for a good 6.5-7 gallon primary fermenter. As much as I enjoy the ease of use of a bucket, i’m tired of them not sealing properly and having to clean up my chest after every batch. Looking for something easy to clean. Thanks in advance!
If you can afford it a stainless steel conical with yeast dump is a good option, they seal well and are easy to clean.
 
I use carboys but I have been lusting after a 30l speidel. I have three carboys I'll sell ;)
That's funny. I have a 60L Speidal I got as a gift and never used, I keep using glass carboys. I haven't figured out a way to get a closed transfer with it and it's very big. I like that I could easily ferment a 10-12 gallon lager in it, but I dread trying to get it in and out of the keezer. Lately I've been tempted to go to 3 gallon batches, especially for really big beers, so I'm sticking with glass carboys for now.
 
That's funny. I have a 60L Speidal I got as a gift and never used, I keep using glass carboys. I haven't figured out a way to get a closed transfer with it and it's very big. I like that I could easily ferment a 10-12 gallon lager in it, but I dread trying to get it in and out of the keezer. Lately I've been tempted to go to 3 gallon batches, especially for really big beers, so I'm sticking with glass carboys for now.
Wow I don't think I would tackle 60l either but it feels to me like the handles on the 30l should be nice and cleaning should be easier as well. How are you doing closed transfers with carboys? Seems like you could rig a tube that goes to the bottom from the lid and have a second short tube for pressurising the vessel to push out the wort. Think thermowell with an open end.
 
I use 14 gallon plastic drums with no handles, trust me it's pain to lift and when I do it sloshes, Im trying out some 7 gallon cubes with handles and really thinking seriously about no oxygen transfer and cold crashing I just need one more freezer to make it work but Im lazy this year
 
Wow I don't think I would tackle 60l either but it feels to me like the handles on the 30l should be nice and cleaning should be easier as well. How are you doing closed transfers with carboys? Seems like you could rig a tube that goes to the bottom from the lid and have a second short tube for pressurising the vessel to push out the wort. Think thermowell with an open end.
Yeah, I was thinking about. I have some blank caps I could put fittings on and transfer through that. The speidal’s are built pretty heavy and are nice fermenters. It would be nice to kick out a 10 gallon batch, but I got to figure out my process.
 
I started out with glass carboys and plastic buckets, then PET carboys. I just ordered a SS Brewtech Brew Bucket (the 7 gal version).

I looked at the Chapman but opted for the SSBT for expandability. I'll probably never need a conical and the SSBT offers temp control that I can add later.

Anvil has a 7.5 gal fermenter. I ordered one but returned it due to scratches on the inside. A lot of people are having issues with these but the scratches can probably be sanded out. I just didn't want to mess with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: J A

Back
Top