Anyone Used HMPE Containers for brewing / Storing their homebrew?

[nicholsy]

Just as the title says...

Someone local to me is selling 25L purified water containers made of HMPE really cheap and they have hundreds of them.

Just wondering if anyone knows if they are okay to use as fermenters or to store finished wine.

I've attached a PDF file with the specification fro the container manufacturer.

Thanks.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
HMPE stands for high modulus polyethylene.
They are UN approved, so should be safe for fermentation and wine storage.

 

[nicholsy]

Brilliant, thanks a lot!

So basically a stronger type of HDPE then...?

 

[Simonh82]

HDPE is much more oxygen permeable that PET and PET is much more oxygen permeable than glass or metals. I'm not familiar with HMPE but if it is a higher density HDPE then it is likely to lack the oxygen barrier effects you would want from a finished wine storage vessel.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
I use PET for medium-term wine storage as it speeds up the maturation process, but transfer to glass after a month or so.
The bottles that the OP referred to would be ideal for fermentation; some companies produce ready-to-use wort and this is supplied in HDPE vessels.

 

[nicholsy]

the wiki page for HMPE seems to say good things...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-molecular-weight_polyethylene

Okay so great for fermenting but not so great for storing. What are the alternatives to bottling wine... i want to store in large containers and hoping this would be the solution.

 

[simon12]

My understanding is wine ages quicker in smaller containers ie a half bottle will age quicker than a 750ml

 

[Druncan]

I have used 4 x HDPE Speidel Cider FV's for the last three years. Fitted with two taps (top one as a blow off)
Just be careful not to scratch and every few months I do a deep clean with beerstone (nitric acid) remover.
Great tough and well priced!
But my stainless conicals are even better!!,,,, ;o)

 

[Petrolhead]

I only use them for my beer and cider brewing as they were cheap to buy when I started.

I’ve had no problems and there are a few advantages such as they are easy to handle when full. I also find them easy to clean as you can get a good grip on them with a couple of litres inside and shake hard.

I just drilled the tops to take a normal cork/airlock.

I am fairly lucky as I own a commercial pressure washer steam cleaner so it’s easy to clean these and demijohns, etc.

 

[Hoppyland]

I'm not familiar with HMPE but if it is a higher density HDPE then it is likely to lack the oxygen barrier effects you would want from a finished wine storage vessel.

Interesting. Have you any thoughts on ageing wine in wooden barrels for up to 3 years? I'd have thought that these barrels could not be totally impermeable to oxygen. As an aside to the original topic, I'd have also thought that any (tannin etc) effect of the barrels would have tailed off long before 3 years. And yet, tasting Spanish wines of the Rioja style, then long barrel ageing does seem to have a huge effect. I wonder why???

To return to the OP, I often store beer in 20l HDPE containers for 2-3 months to mature them before bottling or kegging, and I have not noticed any degradation in the quality of the beer, provided that the dead space is thoroughly flushed with CO2. The ones that I use are precisely the same, I buy them from Ampulla.

 

[Simonh82]

Interesting. Have you any thoughts on ageing wine in wooden barrels for up to 3 years? I'd have thought that these barrels could not be totally impermeable to oxygen. As an aside to the original topic, I'd have also thought that any (tannin etc) effect of the barrels would have tailed off long before 3 years. And yet, tasting Spanish wines of the Rioja style, then long barrel ageing does seem to have a huge effect. I wonder why???

To return to the OP, I often store beer in 20l HDPE containers for 2-3 months to mature them before bottling or kegging, and I have not noticed any degradation in the quality of the beer, provided that the dead space is thoroughly flushed with CO2. The ones that I use are precisely the same, I buy them from Ampulla.

I've heard people talk about 'micro-oxydation' from barrel aging beers and this is presumably the same for wine. I believe they do let a small amount of oxygen permeate but I would have thought that would be accounted for in the style of the wine. Also, it would likely be a small amount as the surface area to volume ratio a large wine barrel would be much smaller than a 25L bucket.