Let's try this: 20BBL stainless converting into "foudre." Please talk me down...

[Smlsound]

We bought a 20 BBL FAT conical tank recently for a couple thousand bucks. It's jacketed, holds pressure and unfortunately has a glycol leak somewhere in the jacket that makes the glycol foamy and then the pump works 1,000 times harder. We don't want to spend money fixing that. I made a joke with an all barrel-fermented brewer who contracted wort from us one day to the tune of "hey, wouldn't it be funny if we converted this to a foudre?" He just said, "that would be really smart. Make an acid beer. Blend it. Dry-hop it. Whatever."

Well now I'm in a pickle. What was originally a joke is now kind of a good idea...but how? Add staves? Add oak chips? Forget the wood and just pitch bugs to a bunch of wort? What do I pitch it with? How would it ferment compared to a regular foudre since it's not actually getting micro-oxygenation pickup? Should I fashion a wooden lid? Ah! So many options, so little time.

PLEASE help talk me down (or really encourage me with a plan to move forward) I think this could be a fun experiment. I mean, this is way cooler than converting it to a cold liquor tank, right? Help me out people!

-Scott Lucas
Sanctum Brewing Co. Pomona, CA

[Josh@HiddenSpgs]

I would reach out to Evan at Country Boy Brewing in Lexington KY. He has a tank that they call frankenfoeder that is a stainless vessel with staves bolted in on the inside. Its a pretty neat little vessel.

I am by no means an expert on wood vessels and foeders but If you were to do this you would definitely get the benefit of adding wood character to your beers and would also give the bugs a place to call home in that tank, however, I dont think you will get the benefits of the oxygen penitration that you would from a regular wood vessel.

If that is not something that concerns you go for it!

[Smlsound]

I would reach out to Evan at Country Boy Brewing in Lexington KY. He has a tank that they call frankenfoeder that is a stainless vessel with staves bolted in on the inside. Its a pretty neat little vessel.

I am by no means an expert on wood vessels and foeders but If you were to do this you would definitely get the benefit of adding wood character to your beers and would also give the bugs a place to call home in that tank, however, I dont think you will get the benefits of the oxygen penitration that you would from a regular wood vessel.

If that is not something that concerns you go for it!

Thanks! I looked at their website and didn't find any contact info. If you have it can you email it to me? Scott@sanctumbrewing dot com