IBC tote sources and bin design

[Jess D'Souza]

Hi there,

I’m a farmer with a constant list of projects that could use engineering solutions. The big one at this moment is to build a bin to convey apple pressings (mush) from the cider press to my pigs. The current bin is a box (photos attached) that works decently well, but the plywood is tearing out when I strap it to a skid steer and tip it to dump the apple mush. My apple farmer friend is proposing making a couple of smaller bins out of cut-up IBC totes. So my questions are:
1) Do you know of a Madison-area source for IBC totes that have only held food-grade products?
2) Other ideas for cheap mush bin designs that are easy to transport on a trailer and via skid steer? The dimensions of the bin are pretty firm—the high side could be a little higher.

Thanks!
Jess

[Chris Meyer]

Seems like you're hunting for a dump hopper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogwRi3ZCvrA

There's inexpensive ones on Facebook/etc pretty often:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1388401722267496/

more importantly they hold their value so if you buy a more expensive one you can recover your money later when you sell it.  They're normally $300-700 depending on how large they are.

Chris

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[Matt Feifarek]

It's not IBC shaped, but my brother's business "The Wine and Hop Shop" gets malt syrup in large sturdy blue plastic cylinders; barrel shaped, but not a full oil-barrel size. They're HDPE or some other sturdy plastic, and of course the contents are good grade. They are thrown away most of the time. They may not work for you because they may be too small to be practical for filling with large equipment. But they're free.

I do think those caged-bubble type containers (what came up when I searched for IBC) are in use in the brewing industry; I think I've seen them in front of YoungBlood. You might enquire at a larger producer like Capital or Wisconsin to see if they toss them after a while. Alt Brewery might have them because they use a lot of sorghum.

Not a direct source, but maybe it's a lead. Good luck.