Where have all the Demijohns gone?

Aln_S

Have been looking through most of the Irish homebrew websites today and none of them seem to have stock.

Has there been a massive uptake in homebrew or is there a shortage? I emailed the company I usually buy from and they said that every supplier they have is currently out of them.

Weird...

Tried: The Homebrew Company, Homebrew.ie, The Homebrew Centre, Homebrew West and Noobru.

BeerNut

Looks like My Beer And Wine has them.

Aln_S

Cool, didn't know that site was there. Thanks.

granda

try recycling centers they always seem to have some lying around

homebrew.ie

All of the above should have these back in now, we all buy them from the same crowd in the UK.

The makers only do one production run per year and ran out!

We are also on a quota as to how many we can get, was only allowed to buy 30.

Goes to show how popular homebrew has become I guess.

Thanks

Donal

Aln_S

Great, thanks for that Info Donal. I am working away with two plastic ones that I got from you for the moment anyhow.

rubadub

There must be 1000's hanging around in peoples attics & sheds etc. I know I have about 4-5 at home, but I probably will use them again at some stage.

Loads of people made wine/beer in the 80's to both to save money and as a hobby. The saving money is not as big a deal these days as drink is relatively cheap so I expect lots of older folk have them to spare.

loyatemu

rubadub wrote: »

I expect lots of older folk have them to spare.

exactly - I was offered demijohns by 3 different people recently, all in their 60s

Degsy

If anybody has a spare one in thier shed..i can collect

Saruman

drinkstore had them filled with cider recently.

rubadub

Aln_S wrote: »

I am working away with two plastic ones that I got from you for the moment anyhow.

You can probably get 5L PET water bottles cheap enough, some might prefer to use bottled water anyway.

Degsy

Can you use the plastic Water Cooler bottles?

BeerNut

Yes, but not forever. They wear out eventually.

rubadub

You can get fermenters in all sorts of places if you have a think where to get them.

I got empty 20L vegetable oil containers from eddie rockets, washing up liquid 25L bottles from a restaurant in college, and tubs of about 15-20L that I got protein powder in.

The protein place sells glucose http://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/product.php/250/0/dextrose
Those tubs are different from the ones I got, you could email and ask them the volume.

20kg (4 x 5kg Tub) (£24.99)
I am not sure of shipping but I think it is £10-12 for up to 25kg or so.

Degsy

rubadub wrote: »

You can get fermenters in all sorts of places if you have a think where to get them.

I got empty 20L vegetable oil containers from eddie rockets, washing up liquid 25L bottles from a restaurant in college, and tubs of about 15-20L that I got protein powder in.

The protein place sells glucose http://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/product.php/250/0/dextrose
Those tubs are different from the ones I got, you could email and ask them the volume.

20kg (4 x 5kg Tub) (£24.99)
I am not sure of shipping but I think it is £10-12 for up to 25kg or so.

Alpack in sandyford sells food-grade 20 liter buckets with lids for 3.50..mybeerandwine will drill and fit taps to them for the cost of the taps(about 6 euro).

The containers from bulkpowders arent really suitable for large quantities but they're good for an experimental 10 ltr batch here and there...i have a few going begging if anybody wants em.

evolving_doors

BeerNut wrote: »

Yes, but not forever. They wear out eventually.

+1
Also their has been some research on phthalates (these can disrupt the endocrine system in large doses) leeching from plastic containers (pet), still early days for proven facts but personally i'd avoid re-using plastic bottles over a long period..my homebrew will probably kill me first anyhow..

Degsy

Degsy wrote: »

Alpack in sandyford sells food-grade 20 liter buckets with lids for 3.50..mybeerandwine will drill and fit taps to them for the cost of the taps(about 6 euro).

The containers from bulkpowders arent really suitable for large quantities but they're good for an experimental 10 ltr batch here and there...i have a few going begging if anybody wants em.

edit
I did an experiment with pineapple cider recently and those conatiners actually hold over 15 litres.

fryup

is it really necessary to use demijohns for cider? can you just leave the juice in the fermenting bucket until its ready to bottle??

Saruman

No it does not matter in the least as long as the container is food grade.
People just like to be able to see the cider ferment.

evolving_doors

Here's my 2 cent (although i've never left it sit in the one container so I could be wrong..)
You may like to syphon it off into another container once it clears after the primary fermentation...after the first fermenatation ceases it may appear that it's clear but if you syphon it off again leaving all the sediment behind you will still see more sediment settling to the bottom after leaving it another week or 2..
I(make sure the lid is on tight with with the airlock on to allow any residual gas escape)

'They' say if it's left to sit in the primary for too long the lees at the bottom can impart an off flavour (autolysis or something)..

Also it might be easier to batch prime it with sugar before bottling without a tonne of sediment in the bottom ..

Did you use shop-bought apple juice from a carton or press your own? If you're pressing your own apples you'll definitely have tonnes of sediment.. store boutgh juice will probably be alot less (if any)