Turning A FV Into A Boiler

[fishplate]

Which is the best Plastic FV for turning into a boiler.and if possible the cheapest as i`m a Yorkshire man

[jonnyt]

I used a 60L Mango Chutney container from www.dvfuels.co.uk for around £4 plus delivery.
Others think White 60L FVs for around £16 to £23 are more durable or at least thicker plastic.

[fishplate]

Will this be ok for BIAB.

[jonnyt]

That's what I use it for.
4 brews to date and another planned for tomorrow

[fishplate]

Thank's for that think ill be ordering one first thing.

[bellebouche]

This question pops up from time to time.

A quick search of the forum shows the wisdom of using a mango chutney barrel. It's a long read but some good links in there.

So, in summary. Mango Chutney Barrels.

Good for :-


and low cost seating



Bad for:- Making into a boiler. When it was full of 75Kg of pickle it might have been mishandled, dropped, weakend... starting the process that leads to a crack and failure like that post. The safe working limit of HDPE in low-stress situations is well below where you'll be boiling your wort for extended periods of time.

So, be mindful of the risks and form your own educated choice based on the available facts.

[jonnyt]

Perhaps the guy in question mounted the kettle element too low and overheated that part of the plastic.
Mine hasn't deformed at all.

[Spud395]

I believe it's not the only one I read about on here going wollop.

It's good to educate yourself as much as possible before making decisions

[fishplate]

Not sure now,not with a six year old running around if was to bust while he was near it.look like saving up for a few years to buy a propper one

[alfie09]

look on the www.copperkettlehomebrewing.co.uk £23 for a 60litre bucket. holes drilled for free. mine as been boiling plenty of beer for over a year without any problems

[Kev888]

Personally I'd avoid HDPE barrels for boilers and instead go for thick Polypropylene from the copperkettle or similar, as I don't consider the small savings of HDPE mango-type tubs worth the risk for boilers (though I use them for FVs). But lots of people do use HDPE barrels and I'm not interested trying to police that choice - its a personal boiler, and so personal choice (assuming you keep kiddies and pets and so on away, anyway).

But in making your choice just be aware that the manufacturers rate things like the blue HDPE clamp top barrels at a maximum of around 75c 'hot fill' - which means a temporary peak temperature that will then cool reasonably swiftly; a sustained rolling boil at 100c for an hour or more is obviously a different kettle of fish (or drum of boiling, sticky wort). Conversely, there have been/are commercial plastic boilers made using decently thick polypropylene buckets and these have lasted for years.

There was a thread some time ago where someone built an external frame to re-inforce a blue barrel, so if theres a need to use one (for instance wanting something bigger than 60L) you could consider that sort of thing. HDPE doesn't melt at 100c or even close, it just softens and weakens a lot more than polypropylene, so if you can offer it some support (without introducing point loading/stresses) that could be useful.

EDIT: There are also stainless pots of course, but they'd be more like £60 or so (depending on size, obviously)

Cheers
Kev

[Steve B]

+1 for www.copperkettlehomebrewing.co.uk bucket for boiler - does the trick and is very sturdy. The bigger bucket will easily do a 50 litre boil.

[alix101]

I picked up a electrim plastic boiler the other day on free cycle it will brew a 5, gal batch its used and needs, a goid clean up but it boils and is ready to go if you want it you can, just pay the postage.

[alix101]

[yanbupete]

if it's still available I'd be interested in the boiler. Any idea on what the postage/courier would be down to East Devon?

Many Thanks