Youngs fermenters as boilers

[Wolverine]

starting to get my bits together for my ag brewery and am confused by the guides theat seem to just use fermenters with ketle elements my fermenting vessels look like they would buckle at high temperatures they are youngs plastic bin type.
Do I need a better quality bin to use as a boiler?

 

[Moley]

Back to those resin symbols in triangles, if your bucket is no.5 PP (PolyPropylene) or no.2 HDPE (High Density PolyEthylene) it should be fine for boiling. It might go a bit more floppy but it won't buckle.

I'll stick to aluminium though, unless I trade up one day to something more shiny.

 

[prolix]

i had one split on me as did aleman make sure the plastic is as moley said the right type but also thick, ordinary fermenters are too thin imho.

 

[Wolverine]

ok this is either gonna be the idea of the century or a bag of **** nonsense so forgot me of this is the later but first off I'm gonna say hae a look at this

http://www.ptsplumbing.co.uk/news/1/149 ... inder.html

Now to non plumbing type folks this is a hot water cylinder that is capable of heating water via the houses boiler through the copper coil inside the cylinder or using an electrock emersion heater element. no reason why the coil used to heat the water can't be plumbed into the cold mains to cool hot water and the heater element used to heat the water.
See where I'm going ?
also they have a conection on the bottom usually for cold water in and a conection on top usually for hot water out . Why not use the conection on top to put cold in and the conection on the bottom for wort out via the manifold ? Also these cylinders are pre lagged so far the only draw back I can see is it's size but I bet I could order a smaller one from my merchant and perhaps some problem with sparging but I'm sure I could over come with some tinkering I would proberbly cut the top of the cylinder with a grinder and have it removable. the benifits I can see are that the brewing can be done in one vessel and they are shiny stainless steel.

like I said I've not brewed all grain before and am just thinking about kit .
I can get these cylinders cheap with my discount so might give it a go if you guys an just help by flagging up any obvious drawback with my idea

Cheers

 

[Aleman]

Hot water cylinder is a great idea . . . personally I'd go for an Indirect cylinder (without the coper coil), and make a chiller out of 10mm copper . . . you get more Surface Area :volume from 10meters of 10mm copper than you will from the 22mm (or is in 1" :hmm: ) coil already fitted = More efficient cooling

Being able to buy new is also good as the state of these when they are removed is truly appalling (especially in a hard water area) meaning lots of elbow grease required.

The insulated ones are especially good

 

[Wolverine]

yeah I would use a second hand. Besides these new ones are stainless steel so that a big plus.
I see what your saying about the diameter of the coil was just thinking of it all being one unit you can get "fast recovery" cylinders that have extra large coils inside and I could restrict the flow of cold water so it got a chance to warm up on it's way round.
Just out of interest is this a new idea or do people already use cylinders for brewing ?

 

[Aleman]

Just out of interest is this a new idea or do people already use cylinders for brewing ?

Very old idea . . .The CBA were brewing at GBBF in 1996/8 with a Copper 'Copper' from a hot water cylinder. I know of several brewers that use them

 

[Wolverine]

ok so not revolutionary then but at least my mind is working on the right path