HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Hello all

I recently bought another plastic fermenter and my neighbour tells me that I should keep the new one for my cider brews and the old for beer. He says that my cider will have a beer taste to it if I use the old fermenter because 'while you can clean and sterilise a fermenter one can never fully eradicate the beer taste'.

Is this just a myth?

And seperately is one pinhole enough in a cling wrap cover on a fermenter? Is it bad for the brew if excess gas struggles to escape? Should I have several pin holes?

Cheers

Not sure about the taste. But I got a fermenter from my old man which has been used for all kinds of things, beer, ginger beer, cider and even red wine. I used it for my last beer and it tastes delish.

Its not true, You will notice that when you wash your fermenter, i do this by filling with hot water and a bit of laundry detergent, the smell of the beer is still mildly there, but once you steralise properly you can only smell the steraliser, or at least i can.
Ive used my fermenters for all sorts of things and never had any tastes in there that shouldnt be

All food-grade polymer fermenters are designed so that they don't absorb flavours. Everything should succumb to the steriliser

You shouldn't have any tastes left in your fermenter. If you do, give it a bleach wash. There won't be anything left in there then.

As for the gladwrap, don't even bother with the pinhole. The CO2 gets out around the seal. A hole makes a nice entry point for any little flies that feel like a swim.

I've used the gladwrap many times with no hole, and I've never had any dramas.

cheers

Thanks guys