What temps can a FV withstand?

[Manngold]

Hi all,

Not really sure where to put this, so I thought I would ask here.

I have a FV from Wilko's and have recently moved from Kit brewing to BIAB. I didn't fully think everything through when getting my BIAB equipment and didn't appreciate how long 25L of boiling wart would take to cool. Does anyone know the max temp range for these? I have invested in a chillcube (lavish spending ), which I will then run under a tap. But for future can I just put it into the FV?

Thanks

[Fil]

a brewbucket from wilco's will be fine with hot wort, it may soften a little depending on what plastic its made from (check the recycling code stamped on it)

some FV's like the better bottle or freecycled pet water cooler bottles Will not react well with heat and will instantly shrink and deform with boiling liquids.

but as folk make undersized hlt and boiler builds from fermenter buckets your on safe ground imho

[Padalac]

^ agreed/ I use one as a boiler.. apparently they're good up to about 200 C

[Kev888]

The Polypropylene/PP (recycling symbol number 5) buckets will be fine - assuming no manufacturing defects or similar. Some fermenters are HDPE and even LDPE (recycling symbol numbers 2 and 4); I wouldn't recommend filling HDPE types with boiling wort 'unless' they're quite thick walled, and not at all if its LDPE.

Generally with the cubes people sanitise them but also fill them hot, squeeze out air, seal and then tip/roll them into different positions to make sure the near-boiling wort has doubly sanitised all parts. Most FVs aren't suitable for being rolled about when full, so if you want to fill it hot and wait for it to cool before pitching, then take special care with sanitising beforehand - anything dodgy in there could get a head start over the yeast as you wait for it to cool.

Cheers
Kev