[69franx]

I contributed to this campaign on Indie gogo. The fermenter now has roughly 7.9 gallon capacity. My question is about ideal volume to put into this fermenter. I have been using 6.5 gallon buckets with 5-5.5 gallons of wort in them. Can I safely just increase my batch size to leave roughly the same head space? Basically, what would be the maximum volume you would try to ferment with 7.9gallon max capacity? Assuming that my BruGear boil kettle shows up soon, once I have both, I can have a batch size up to and beyond the capacity of this fermenter, and with some of the recipes I have been making, I would like to get a little more out of a brew day. Any thoughts you all might have would be most appreciated.

[Stevie]

Max volume will vary based on recipe and ferm temp. Some times I have 1/2 gallon of foam and other times the blowoff is spewing for a week solid. The geometry of the vessel might make a difference too.

[beersk]

Are these vessels going to be on the market for those who didn't contribute to the campaign soon? I probably wouldn't go with much more than about 6 gallons in that size of fermenter.

[69franx]

I'm not sure when they will available to those outside of the campaign. I did get an update this morning saying I should be able to pick mine up locally at the end of September or first week of October. Thanks for the input on volumes, I was planning on 6 gallons. Running the math, 6 gallons would leave about 25% headspace compared to 5.5 gallons in a 6.5(15%), this will be  good place to start until I know the product better.

[dkfick]

Yeah there was a communication issue between the vendor and the factory in china.. He did offer to get people a fermenter at the original specified volume if it mattered to them.  Otherwise he let the 7.9 gallon snafu ride.

I'm actually happy they are 7.9... If you're use to fermenting in those wider wine fermenter buckets that's the volume they are.  Either way it will still be just fine for a primary fermenter for a 5-6 gallon batch.  Where some were concerned about the increased size were the people that needed it to fit a tight fermentation chamber.

[dkfick]

FYI I did get a notification today that they are on the boat from China.  You can even track the ship. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/9337676/vessel:NYK_DENEB

[69franx]

Yes, I'm one if those happy with the extra space, as I can increase my batch size a bit easily


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[beersk]

Thanks, guys. I hope they become readily available, as the stainless steel Brew Buckets seem to have become, and are a reasonable price like they were for the campaign. I may have to pick one up some day. Right now I'm splitting 6 gallon batches between two 5 gallon kegs. Be nice to eventually ferment everything in one stainless vessel. Conicals aren't an option at this point.

[dkfick]

I discovered yet another reason to use a 'stainless bucket' over a plastic one... My basement flooded last week with stinky bacteria water and I had to throw out about 20 plastic fermenter buckets.  Stainless and I could have cleaned them (or boiled water in them)