Cracked Fermenter

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Friday May 13, 2005 10:32 am

Last night after putting a heat belt on my fermenter, I decided to give it a swirl to liven up the yeast. Being the genius I am, I picked up the fermenter by the handle-type indents on the actual fermenter (not the handles on the screw-top lid), gave it a few swirls, and gravity being the fickle beast it is, put a slight crack in one of the handle-type indents.

A few choice words later, I checked the damage which didn't appear that bad. Going off the air-lock water level test, it still appears to be air-tight, though a little bit of the liquid from the inside had leaked out of the crack from the swirling, so I wonder how air-tight it really can be.

Is there anything that can be done to patch it up - both in the short term for the current batch, and in the long term? I was thinking maybe aquarium glue or some such thing (applied to the outside of the tub of course) but am still worried about any liquid coming into contact with the glue, although given the crack would be higher than the wort level this maybe isn't an issue.

I have been thinking about buying another fermenter so I can get into secondary fermentation - I guess now the older, slightly cracked tub could be used as the secondary fermenter, but I will still like to be able to seal the crack off.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Friday May 13, 2005 10:57 am

How much longer is there in the current batch? You should be OK for now and this batch, It is acidified already so the critters should leave it alone and as CO2 is denser than O2 it will leave a good bed as long as you don't get overly aggressive. We as Homebrewers are paranoid about clenliness and today is a reason why. If you are clean with your process, you don't have any nasty bacteria kicking around because there is no reason for it to be there.

As far as fixing goes, I would seal it with a food grade silicone.

Dogger

db · Post by db » Friday May 13, 2005 11:11 am

would you seal it on the inside? would the crack harbour bacteria etc?

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Friday May 13, 2005 11:42 am

You should get away with this batch, but I'd buy a new fermenter ready for the next batch.

Greg

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Friday May 13, 2005 12:22 pm

Thanks for the advice guys,

Yeah, I think it is just about ready to be bottled - the SG was around 1018 before I added the heat belt, now down to 1016 after 24 hours so probably won't get much lower than that. Rather high but hopefully due to the presence of hops.

I was hoping to cold condition/chill the feremnter before bottling as I'd used hops but I don't think I will risk leaving it any longer than I have to now.

I think I will fix it using a good silicone (are there any bad types?) like Dogger mentioned, and once I pick up a new fermenter I'll relegate the old one to a secondary fermenter.

Hrundi V Bakshi · Post by **Hrundi V Bakshi** » Friday May 13, 2005 8:39 pm

flosso wrote:. Rather high but hopefully due to the presence of hops.

Hops will not effect your gravity reading either way unless your hydrometer's movement is being fouled by them.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Friday May 13, 2005 9:08 pm

Flosso,

Make sure it is food grade and that it doesn't have any strong odours. They are out there but I am not sure you will find it Home Depot.

I am thinking aquarium shop just like you mentioned

Dogger

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Monday May 16, 2005 1:52 pm

I cracked one a while back and use it for bulk priming now, so its not a total loss

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Tuesday May 17, 2005 12:13 pm

Well, my next question is will an aquarium-safe silicone be food grade by default? You'd have to assume if it's safe for fish it would be safe for beer, but I wouldn't put my last dollar on it.

I asked a chap at Bunnings (mega-huge hardware chain here in Oz) if they had any food-grade silicone. After he looked at me like I was speaking Chinese I explained it was to fix a crack in a plastic beer tub. He said he had nothing food-grade, and pointed me towards the aquarium-safe glue they had. Given that I will use the silicone on the outside of the feremnter, the crack is above wort-level and it will only be used as a secondary feremnter from now on, I think using aqaurium-safe glue will do for me.

Interestingly, the pack of glue mentiones not to use it underwater unless in an aquarium. How would the glue know if it's being used in an aquarium or not??

db · Post by db » Tuesday May 17, 2005 12:19 pm

flosso, you shoulda just grabbed a new fermentor while you were there - $16 if i recall.. + $1.50 for the tap i think.. i have 2 & they work fine

flosso · Post by **flosso** » Tuesday May 17, 2005 12:35 pm

db,

Do you mean Bunnings sells fermenters? I actually did pick up a new fermenter from a HBS on the weekend (about twice the price you mentioned though but includes a tap and racking tube) but like I have mentioned I would like to fix the broken one so I can get into secondary fermenting.

BTW, I think I have found a product by Selleys that fits what I am looking for, they say it is safe to come into contact with drinking water: http://www.selleys.com.au/products/live/306/112.asp

db · Post by db » Tuesday May 17, 2005 1:12 pm

yeah.. bunnings sell 25L food grade water drums (camping gear) with a thread for a tap. all you to do is drill a hole in the lid (11mm i think it was).. & mark out the litre marks if need be. just make sure you get the one with the larger lid (about 18-20cm dia) to make cleaning easy..
bugger the silicone. probly cost you the same as buying the drum.

BPJ · Post by **BPJ** » Sunday May 22, 2005 5:48 pm

I would buy a new one and use teh old for bulk priming, so need need to patch.

Wimmig · Post by **Wimmig** » Monday May 23, 2005 12:00 am

If it's just going to be for secondary use now, why not get someone with a bit of skill to dry melt the crack shut?

For things like that i usualy use a 2mm spade plastic melt tip on a 12watt soldering iron.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Monday May 23, 2005 7:13 am

Oooh

polycarbons. I am sure those can't be good for you

Can you clean those out? If you can go for it

Dogger