Fermentor

DO NOT USE GALVY BARRELS!!!! read the warning label on a box of galvy nails some time... if you shouldn't put galvanized nails in yer mouth while yer workin', would you really want to hold yer precious vino in a galvanized barrel for 2 weeks?

rubbermaid "brute" barrels are a safe bet if they say they're food grade. Read the bottom of the grey ones to be sure. If you have access to a restaurant supply store like Restaurant DEpot, or some small indy guy, get the white ones, they'll show the grime better & make you clean 'em better. I'm sure there are other brands that are food grade, but I always spring the extra couple of bucks for the name brand. HTH regards, bob

Some use a big food grade bag to ferment in, if you do that the container doesn't matter. They sell pleated food grade liners which look like accordions too.

A galvanized pail sounds like a bad idea, as to regular trash cans you should search the archives on that. It came up a while ago and there was a detailed discussion on the plastics used and what was what. Grainger.com sells food grade containers; if you have a soda (pop) bottler nearby they use drums of concentrate and give away the barrels at times.

Joe

hi joe! where might one find such large food grade accordian bags? i've used larger trash bags for short term food transport, but hadn 't considered them for fermenting. do they come larger than 55 gals? i've aquired a couple of food grade 55's from a local ice cream plant (they make a killer black cherry ) & usually have surplus plastic drums from fruit product on hand...perhaps larger bakeries too.

Go to U.S. Plastics

I like to look through their catalog instead of viewing products on line. They will gladly send you a catalog. I have dealt with them several times and I have always gotten good and very prompt service

They have many many products you can use as fermentors. Check out the ones that are HDPE. If you have any doubts what so ever, ask to speak to one of their technical reps and they will tell you whether the product you have in mind is safe for fermentation.

Bob, The Brute brand containers they sell at HD are food grade if you get the right color. Yes they are color coded. My memory tells me that it is the white yellow or grey one. They sell the grey. that's what I use. Please verify this on the brute website. It is easy - look for the food grade container- there is a part number. this part number will be embossed on the can at HD as well. And by the way, it is cheaper than what you will find at a brew shop for the same thing.