Recommend me a small stainless steel fermenter

[colm89]

I’m planning do stick to batches not bigger than 10 litres max going forward, currently ferment in a 12 litre spiedel fermenter, but I’d like something stainless steel. It is to fit in a ferminator basic, so can’t be taller than 530cm.

SS brewtech brew bucket mini is the obvious choice, however at nearly €200 delivered to Republic of Ireland it‘s very much the premium option, so I am keen to hear alternatives.

I’ve read a lot about fermenting in a corny keg, but the 19L ones are just a small bit taller than I would like, and the 9.5L ones might be on the small side (especially looking at the overflow I had recently with an imperial stout). I guess I could pressure ferment to keep the krausen down in bigger beers, but i guess I’d need a second 9.5L keg for dry hopping.

Are there any other options I have overlooked?

 

[uDicko]

Get a 12l corny keg? Do it under pressure and keep the krausen down?

 

[colm89]

Oh! I overlooked the fact that there are 12 litre ones! I thought it went straight from 9.5 to 19!

Well, that’s that sorted then!

 

[foxbat]

10 litres into a 12 litre keg that's shaped like a tall cylinder (small ratio of surface area to volume) is going to overflow for sure.

 

[colm89]

Aaaand we’re back to the brew bucket mini ha ha ha!

Anything else I’m overlooking?

 

[foxbat]

Can you get stainless steel milk churns locally? Like this one for example:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25-Litre...334386?hash=item3b4850f032:g:H3MAAOSwOjxdTAQb
You'd have to punch a hole in the lid for an airlock.

 

[Manners]

Can you get stainless steel milk churns locally? Like this one for example:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25-Litre...334386?hash=item3b4850f032:g:H3MAAOSwOjxdTAQb
You'd have to punch a hole in the lid for an airlock.

those look brill....

 

[colm89]

They’re nice, very similar to these

 

[BassoonBrew]

Brewuk sometimes have the Anvil 4 gallon (US) brew bucket for sale. The only other similar one I've seen is the similar sized Fermtank from Delta brewing, but they don't ship outside the US :-(

 

[colm89]

Its payday tomorrow and I am buying a ss fermenter, but am totally torn between the following two:

Brewbuilder mini fv - looks like they are still shipping to Ireland, current conversion rates excluding VAT make it a hair under €125, which from what I can make out means I won’t have to pay customs duty but will have to pay vat on the cost of the item plus shipping etc., making it about €178 in total by the time it arrives with me

SS Brewtech Brew Bucket Mini - need to buy it from brouwland as malt miller aren’t current shipping to Ireland, but as they are within the EU, this means costs are much more clear cut. It looks like it will come in at about €172 delivered to my door, but my concern is that it’s not clear what is included in the basic package. From looking at the malt miller site, it sounds like the stand and a basic bung for an airlock are included in the box, but not sure if this is a malt miller package or standard ss brewtech package. In other words, if it’s not included in the brouwland package, I’m looking at an additional €25 for the stand. If I want a blow off tube similar to the brew builder mini fv, that’s an additional €20. I have pinged them an email to confirm what is included in the basic package and will report back.

So my question to the experts, is the slightly conical brew bucket mini worth the €15 (or possibly €40, tbc) premium over the brew builder mini fv (of course this assumes I don’t get stung with any additional customs charges)?

 

[foxbat]

Its payday tomorrow and I am buying a ss fermenter, but am totally torn between the following two:

Brewbuilder mini fv - looks like they are still shipping to Ireland, current conversion rates excluding VAT make it a hair under €125, which from what I can make out means I won’t have to pay customs duty but will have to pay vat on the cost of the item plus shipping etc., making it about €178 in total by the time it arrives with me

SS Brewtech Brew Bucket Mini - need to buy it from brouwland as malt miller aren’t current shipping to Ireland, but as they are within the EU, this means costs are much more clear cut. It looks like it will come in at about €172 delivered to my door, but my concern is that it’s not clear what is included in the basic package. From looking at the malt miller site, it sounds like the stand and a basic bung for an airlock are included in the box, but not sure if this is a malt miller package or standard ss brewtech package. In other words, if it’s not included in the brouwland package, I’m looking at an additional €25 for the stand. If I want a blow off tube similar to the brew builder mini fv, that’s an additional €20. I have pinged them an email to confirm what is included in the basic package and will report back.

So my question to the experts, is the slightly conical brew bucket mini worth the €15 (or possibly €40, tbc) premium over the brew builder mini fv (of course this assumes I don’t get stung with any additional customs charges)?

I have that Brewbuilder FV in its "Flat bottom FV" guise which has tri-clamp ferrules instead of the pre-fitted taps on the one you're looking at. The obvious difference I can see between the brewbuilder and the SS is the deadspace in the bottom. There's about 4 litres below the outlet ferrule on mine. Yes you can just tip the fermenter when you get to the bottom but that's difficult where mine sits so I just brew a couple of extra litres and aim to use the space to collect as much trub as possible from the process. The SS looks like it has the outlet much closer to the bottom so you might pull out some trub to begin with but you'll be able to drain it without tilting it over.

 

[Moe]

I was in a similar position a few weeks ago.
I went for the Brewbucket (7gal).
What swayed me was the conical bottom. This apparantly reduces off flavours by minimising yeast contact, but more importantly to me was the bottom tap and minimised dead space.
It has a rotating racking arm so you can control trub pick up, but in real life you can’t see the racking arm so it’s difficult to use.

I went for the brewmaster edition so it also has a thermowell. Was £200 delivered (after discount).

Another factor for me was that it will fit in my brewing fridge, and being a conical it obviously looks cool!

Used values are also fairly high, so if I ever upgrade or change my mind about brewing I should be able to get a fair chunk of the purchase price back.

I’m sure the other one is also be good, this was just my thought process.