Pros and Cons of Wood Fermenters

[BuffaloBink]

Hi all,

Hoping to get some first hand knowledge from folks that have used wood fermenters.

I love the look of wood tanks and understand they can add complexity as time goes on, but want to know the nitty gritty of maintaining these beauties.

Anyone willing to share their experience, and give some go or no-go reasons for wood fermentation tanks?

[SlickFloss]

fools errand imo. Unless you're trying to intentionally run a shop that uses antiquated methods in order to display old world whiskey production, which IMO is absolutely fucking pointless unless you're not utilizing steam or automated cooling, no PIDs, Pumps? What? There were no pumps in the ozarkian hills! Electricity neither! There just isn't a point. Unless, of course, you're doing it for budgetary reasons, which doesn't make sense to me because lumber and labor are both high and there are a ton of old dairy tanks around that are cheap and easy to use and work for what your goal is. 

 

to validate my criticism, I worked in a distillery with cyprus fermenters, was such a bitch to clean. Get something with a spray ball or that isn't a living vessel that needs to be maintained above and beyond cleaning runs to function properly. Your gonna have enough work to do without baby-sitting your warping drying out and lactobacillus infested wooden fermenters.

[BuffaloBink]

HA! 

Thanks for this! It was both entertaining and informative! LOL