Winter Fermenters

[Capt-Cudellez]

Nice pinball machines LB, do you collect them, or do you repair or restore them for sale?

[LunaBrille]

Nice pinball machines LB, do you collect them, or do you repair or restore them for sale?

All of the above.

Started with one then, like an amoeba it split into two and then they started breeding like rabbits. Found that I liked restoring them slightly more than playing them... next thing I knew I had 15 in the house and was theatend with divorce. I have scaled down my collection a bit, but now I routinely have 2 or 3 customer machines in the shop.

[Myles]

I use the soil warming cables too. I bought mine off e-bay un-terminated and just cut to the length I wanted. Mine go directly into the wash. Even when fermenting thick fruit pulp these are such a low thermal density, it is not a problem.

[Gaztops]

I've only used aquarium heaters with 25 litre sugar washes with brilliant success. I'm soon to try making wine from fresh fruit in conjunction with an aquarium heater and will post my findings.

[billmcc]

Hi Gaztops this is a good and cheep wine recipe

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=637

My favorite is 2 ltr Orange 6 ltr pineapple 6 ltr grape and 3.5kg sugar topped up to 25ltr and fermented with essencia super 6 yeast works out at about 75p a litre
Cheers

[Gaztops]

Thanks for the recipe Billmcc, I've wrote it down and will give it a whirl.

Thanks again I appreciate it.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Had to redo one of these - so took some extra pics.

Handles off and wrapping the coil.


Foiled and wrapping in PVC


Done

[Almanac]

I had a couple of those barrels and got rid because I kept having problems with ferments not finishing by a long shot.

I cannot say, definitively, that the blue barrels were the cause of the problem but the white 60Lt FVs I use never give such problems.

Probably just in my head

AM

[Mash]

AM. What did the blue drum have in it before?


I use plastic tubs for fermenting in bulk. Warmer than SS.
Wrapped in electric blankets, then a sheet of foam and then bungees to hold it all together. I extreme cold lob an old quilt over the top of everything.

I like the controller on the electric blankets - simple but bang on.
£5 remote didgital temp probe - GSM sender - bingo..

[Almanac]

The ones I had were brand new and never had anything other than air in them.

AM

[Easydrinker]

A little piece of history resurrected here Capt.
Curious to know if you believe soil warming cables better than aquarium heaters,which to me seem easier?

Robert.

[Mash]

The ones I had were brand new and never had anything other than air in them.

AM

They should have been OK after a simple rinse out.

Wine Makers do consider the shape of a fermenter to make a difference but that is not the issue here.

strange.

[Almanac]

I persevered with them for a whole Spring/Summer but the washes routinely finished with a final gravity around 1.000-1.010. In the end I cut them in half to use as planters in the garden.

Today I use these 60lt translucent fermenters from Brouwland https://www.brouwland.com/en/our-produc ... QFBGBjfWrU and since using these I've had no problems with any wash finishing at .990 and lower.

No explanation, no inciteful revelation to offer and I've given up trying to figure out why

AM

[Mash]

"No explanation, no inciteful revelation to offer and I've given up trying to figure out why "

....you have made me nervous. I feel some planters coming on

[Almanac]

Oops! Sorry 'bout that

AM