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I have a chest freezer that I want to use to control fermentation temperature, that I'm hoping to use to with two five gallon beer batches. Unfortunately, the bottom of the freezer has two levels, making it impossible to load two round carboys into the freezer at the same time. There is plenty of space for the beer volume if I can get a carboy of the proper dimensions.

Is is possible to a make a custom carboy shaped to use the space more efficiently? Can plastic sheets of the same type used in carboy buckets be purchased easily?

mbergins
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I'd try making a collar for your freezer lid to raise it and make room for your fermenter. Far easier and more realistic than trying to build a fermenter.

Denny Conn
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Look at the usplastics site. They have food grade containers that are more rectangular. Yes, they are not glass, but plastic is fine anyway.

Dale
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Any food-grade container can be used as a fermenter, so yes you can build/buy whatever shape you want.

JoeFish
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Jason Meckley
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  • Why preferably glass? – Galapagos Jim Nov 05 '12 at 22:35
  • some say plastic will leach into the beer, where glass will not. It really depends on how long the beer will sit. if it was a few weeks, then there is no harm. a few months then maybe I would go for a stronger material, but that could just be a boogie-man of home brewing. plexi-glass may be a good choice for building a secondary fermenter too. – Jason Meckley Nov 06 '12 at 03:41
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    I have been using plastic fermenters exclusively for 12 years after switching from glass. There is no problem using buckets, or with leaching. – Denny Conn Nov 06 '12 at 16:31
  • there you go :) glass is the default type but it doesn't have to be. – Jason Meckley Nov 06 '12 at 18:18
  • Stainless steel is also a good option, though expensive. – Galapagos Jim Nov 06 '12 at 18:23
  • I use 10 gal. corny kegs as fermenters quite often. They work great, too. I avoid glass unless I have no other choice, and even then I STILL try to avoid it! – Denny Conn Nov 06 '12 at 19:15
  • glass does break easy. i've learned that the hard way. fortunately it was empty. No beer was lost – Jason Meckley Nov 06 '12 at 19:50
  • The main issue I'm aware of with buckets is the slight oxygen permeability. I love them for primaries (which is all I usually do, typically for 3 weeks). If I want to bulk age, I usually just keg it and age in the keg. – Dustin Rasener Nov 08 '12 at 02:21