gointomexico
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I thought I might have a problem with sealing the drum and the gaskets holding aromas and flavors. When I was testing last year, i used an open top plastic drum, and it did not seal. This was Hop Haze III, and it came out oxidized. I can't say for sure it was because it didn't seal, but started using closed heads anyways.
The soaking with the lye seems to be cleaning well, if a little slow. The solution is about 1.2% (6.9 lb lye with 55 ish gallons). After fermentation, I may have a little trouble removing the krausen ring but I got that hole in the top and I can stick my arm in there if I need to.
The thing I'm most worried about is that bad seam on two of the fermenters. I ground it down, and sanded it with 80 grit, gonna work my way up to wet sand it and polish it. I know one person used the old glacier tank water storage barrel as a fermenter and had a few infections.
So, IMHO if you were going to use the open head, i would say go for it. Just be careful of the seam. 3 of the drums I got had that bad seam, the other 5 did not. I will post pictures on how you can tell the difference a little later.
And if you really want to ferment some beer, consider one of these:
http://www.coloradotankandbarrel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=37:
The soaking with the lye seems to be cleaning well, if a little slow. The solution is about 1.2% (6.9 lb lye with 55 ish gallons). After fermentation, I may have a little trouble removing the krausen ring but I got that hole in the top and I can stick my arm in there if I need to.
The thing I'm most worried about is that bad seam on two of the fermenters. I ground it down, and sanded it with 80 grit, gonna work my way up to wet sand it and polish it. I know one person used the old glacier tank water storage barrel as a fermenter and had a few infections.
So, IMHO if you were going to use the open head, i would say go for it. Just be careful of the seam. 3 of the drums I got had that bad seam, the other 5 did not. I will post pictures on how you can tell the difference a little later.
And if you really want to ferment some beer, consider one of these:
http://www.coloradotankandbarrel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=37: