Bertha the bulk milk tank

Here's another project that I call Bertha. This is a 500 gallon bulk milk tank that a good friend of mine let me have at a really good price. I quickly found out that these things are VERY heavy. Josh, Ben, Priscilla and I couldn't get it onto a trailer by ourselves, and my buddy later told me it took about 7 or 8 of them to move it. Thankfully, I had plenty of time to get it, so I got to work figuring out a way tod move one of these by myself if I ever stumbled onto another good deal like this. I've seen these things on craigslist and probrewer numerous times.

I decided to have some "boots" fabricated that would attach to some heavy duty casters, the idea being that I'd be able to back a trailor up to this thing, jack up one side of the tank and attach the boots to the feet by tightening down the set screws in the side of the boots. Repeat for the other side, and then winch it up onto the trailor. I chose casters rated for up to 1500 lbs each, just in case the situation arose where I needed to have the casters on and the tank full at the same time (not moving it but rather in the brewery).

In the case of this first trial move, we didn't have a winch, but Priscilla, Ben and I got it up onto the trailer with only a few problems due to the fact that our original set screws were just a little too short. With longer set screws later, we had no problems, except for the kind that a typical dysfunctional family has. Just kidding, they're all great. It's me that's crazy. I do believe though that I'll add 3 other set screws to each boot, so that you tighten them all down approximately equally onto each foot.

I've thought about using Bertha as a mash tun and for open fermentation, and still I think you could use it those ways, but most recently I've thought about using it as an insulated "pre-boil wort reservoir" for the "Extended Production" brewday process I have in mind for the Bluto 555 (which I haven't written about yet). Check out this brewery that puts used dairy equipment to work. I know there are a bunch of others out there too.

Click here for more Bertha pics.

I've been creating spreadsheets with parts lists to share on the site, and this one for Bertha was easy, so I'll go ahead and share it. The casters were expensive, but if I get to use them a few more times on good deals like this and where I can pick up the tank by myself, they'll have been well worth it.