Reddit mentions of Eagle 1601MB Blue High Density Polyethylene Lab Pack Drum with Metal Lever-lock Lid, 30 gallon Capacity, 28.5" Height, 21.25" Diameter

The blumats have a 30gal resevoir with a pH controller. This has basically cut my weekly work in half. I just top off the res every couple weeks.

That's a 3x3 tray, so that leaves 6 inches on all sides for some pavers to hold up those shelves. I use a transfer pump and wand to feed from 5gal buckets and then pump the runoff out of the tray back into a bucket for reuse outside for my strawberries.

Edit: Here's what it looks like from above

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0025QI4XC/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the container. It's definitely air tight, and very durable and thick. Can't beat the price, free shipping with Amazon prime. I think, including everything, the ingredients were more expensive than the whole setup lol.

I use the 14 gallon version of this for sugar washes. amazon clicky

I had to do a double take to check that I didn't post this last night without remembering.

I am going through this same process with the 10x14 attic space above our bedroom. I started off with Plan B and tried a few different methods. Filter bags filled up much too quickly and would have been expensive but they did a great job of containing the mess. I have a Dust Deputy attached to my vacuum which helped, but inevitably, the shopvac would get clogged with insulation that made it out of the vortex. My most recent adaptation was to attach the dust deputy to the top of a 40 gallon airtight drum I bought from amazon and then use some old pantyhose around the shopvac filter. This greatly extends my times between either emptying the shopvac or emptying the 40 gallon barrel. Inevitably the shopvac gets filled first but the pantyhose does a great job of keeping the filter in usable shape.

I did buy a Toro leaf blower/vacuum and it worked well but I didn't have an airtight container at the time so the fine insulation would just blow out from under the lid of the trash can I was using. If you have ANY holes in the tubing, you will have a dusty mess on your hands. I plan on retrying this method on the remainder of my attic in the next couple of weeks. If/when it doesn't work adequately, I will buy some insulation bags from Amazon and that should finish the job for me.

https://www.amazon.com/Deputy-Standalone-Anti-Static-Cyclone-Separator/dp/B002JP315K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496112200&sr=8-1&keywords=dust+deputy

https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-1601MB-Polyethylene-Lever-lock-Capacity/dp/B0025QI4XC/ref=pd_sim_328_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0025QI4XC&pd_rd_r=TWYG0J54TB8HRJBXHVX3&pd_rd_w=L9VJ6&pd_rd_wg=DlIiD&psc=1&refRID=TWYG0J54TB8HRJBXHVX3

I'm not going to try this(or I might) but I think if you daisy chained two dust deputies and two drums, you would be absolutely fine with a shopvac.

I also made the mistake of failing to consider the difficult in mixing the Green Fiber cellulose bales without their machine once I had removed the old insulation. I only needed 7 bags for above our bedroom but man was that a PITA. I used a concrete mixer attached to my battery powered drill and managed to get in a great rhythm but having the machine would have been a million times easier.

You could spend $25 on a trash can and maybe $5-10 on stuff trying to get it to seal.

Or you could spend $55 on an HDPE drum with the seal built in.

I'd look up what your can is made out of, reference this to see if it is safe. Also what temps it can hold. I like HDPE because I can dump hot liquid in it without worry.

But really, sealing isn't that necessary. Keep bugs out, but that's really it. No oxidation concerns. More on infections later.

As far as heat, I wouldn't worry. Many of the esters and phenols created from hot fermentation will be cut out with your early heads. It's really not a big issue. But 70-80f would be great for whiskey, and and I wouldn't expect it to get any higher even with the thermal mass of 20-25 gallons.

And sanitation... Well. I don't really worry too much. I spray my fermenter down with water and store it open, upside down. No sanitizer, not really necessary. But if you really want, spraying starsan should be fine. Mild infections are good for complexity though, so a lot of people skip it.

I did recently get a bit of mold when I stored it incorrectly and had some liquid... Whoops. Luckily HDPE can be bleached.

Eagle 1601MB Blue High Density Polyethylene Lab Pack Drum with Metal Lever-lock Lid, 30 gallon Capacity, 28.5" Height, 21.25" Diameter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0025QI4XC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qZW4ybW7FGGMR

OK, this probably won't be the most well reviewed response, but it worked for me. Just be aware you need a trailer for this.

After a few years of evap ponds, and other things, I got frustrated and just bought 2 of these. I thought would need them both, but in reality, I used maybe 1/2 of one with gray water from showers and cooking. Put some bleach in it from time to time. Dumped it at a gray water approved place after the burn. 7 people will maybe fill 1 if you aren't sloppy.

DRAMA

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0025QI4XC/