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Looking for 5 gallon non plastic containers that seal airtight

Matt McSpadden

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Hi All,
As the subject says, I'm looking for some large non plastic containers that seal airtight (they wouldn't have to be exactly 5 gallon... that just seems like a common size). I'm looking to be able to store large amounts of dried herbs in something more efficient than quart or half gallon jars. It needs to seal airtight so moisture doesn't get in. I know I could use those 5 gallon food grade buckets, but I'm trying to avoid plastic if I can.

I thought about those metal trashcans... but I don't think they seal airtight. Any ideas?

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Christopher Weeks

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Big-Mouth Bubbler for brewing might work. It still has a plastic lid and you'd need a stopper or something. But they're not cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Brewer-Bubbler-Gallon-Fermentor/dp/B0156XXTJE/

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Matt McSpadden

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Christopher Weeks wrote:Big-Mouth Bubbler for brewing might work. It still has a plastic lid and you'd need a stopper or something. But they're not cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Brewer-Bubbler-Gallon-Fermentor/dp/B0156XXTJE/

Interesting. You are right, it's not cheap... but I hadn't come across any that big before, so it's cool to know it exists.

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What about military surplus ammo cans?
They come in multiple sizes, and all have a gasket.

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Matt McSpadden

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thomas rubino wrote:What about military surplus ammo cans?
They come in multiple sizes, and all have a gasket.

That is a good idea! Even if I got new knockoffs, rather than actual surplus... they are still cheaper than glass. And seal tight too. On the other hand... I'm not sure they are food grade... wonder if I would need to line them with something.

Scott Weinberg

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posted 4 days ago

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At the risk of you getting a large catalog every quarter for the rest of your life, (there goes the trees) you can go to ULINE company at uline.com 800 295 5510 to get catalog

There you will find all kinds of containers and a few examples as such

Boston Round glass bottles 32 oz @2.50 in case lots of 12
Many others of this size in glass including large mouth

Glass jugs at 1 gal size still fairly cheap

wide mouth glass jars at 1 gal and cheap

unfortunately it takes plastic to get bigger for less, but for your situation, they would last for years and years.

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Judith Browning

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I'm not sure much in the way of large metal cans would be food grade, especially trash cans, ammo cans, or anything not originally intended for food.

Why not one gallon glass jars with good metal (lined) lids? They would need to be kept in the dark but would stay fresher when dipped into rather than opening a larger container each time.

We store a lot of herbs and I try to fill small jars for more frequent use from the one gallon ones so that those herbs stay fresher.

When we do buy in bulk a lot of times the herbs are in sealed one pound foil bags maybe they come in larger sizes?

Will your customers be buying by the ounce or a pound or a number of pounds at once?

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Matt McSpadden

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It may come down to 1 gallon glass jars... which seem to be the balance between size and affordability if you are looking for non plastic and food grade. I was hoping to find something a bit bigger. I'm hoping to significantly increase the amount of dried herbs I process next year, but I need more places to put it. I prefer to store the herbs as whole leaf for as long as I can... and it is surprising how much room they take before they are scrunched up. Then I do batches at a time to put them into the smaller 4oz bottles I use for retail.

Matt McSpadden

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I wonder how airtight those popcorn tins you see around Christmas are.... I think they are about 2 gallon.

Judith Browning

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Matt McSpadden wrote:It may come down to 1 gallon glass jars... which seem to be the balance between size and affordability if you are looking for non plastic and food grade. I was hoping to find something a bit bigger. I'm hoping to significantly increase the amount of dried herbs I process next year, but I need more places to put it. I prefer to store the herbs as whole leaf for as long as I can... and it is surprising how much room they take before they are scrunched up. Then I do batches at a time to put them into the smaller 4oz bottles I use for retail.

We store 'unscrunched' also and it does take up more space...we have 3 gallon jars of passion flower though that we removed stems from and scrunched a bit...it's our super abundant herb.

I like the idea of gallon jar sizes as we can date the harvest and store the newest harvest unopened for longer. I find if we're in and out of a jar even a few times the herb begins to lose it's crispiness.

I used to cut sleeves from t-shirts to slip on jars to darken.

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Matt McSpadden

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Judith Browning wrote:I find if we're in and out of a jar even a few times the herb begins to lose it's crispiness.

This is a good point. Maybe I don't want too big of a container just yet. I can easily fill 8 quart jars with one batch. But I would probably only be doing half that to put into small containers.

Judith Browning wrote:I used to cut sleeves from t-shirts to slip on jars to darken.

Not a bad idea :)

Judith Browning

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matt wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:I used to cut sleeves from t-shirts to slip on jars to darken.

Not a bad idea :)

Long sleeved tees and mostly back when I was buying cotton t-shirts at the thrift store to cut up for rugs. The sleeves were part of the waste from that.

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Matt McSpadden

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I found some steel 5 gallon pails... probably fine, but are not considered food grade.

I found some popcorn tins... but I would need to use the heat shrink seal to keep them air tight... which would be annoying.

So far... I think gallon or larger glass containers is my best option.

Judith Browning

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I think (amour?) lard tins used to be large, 3-4 gallon? and had a tight lid.

Maybe still available but that's a lot of lard...take up soap making on the side?

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tel jetson

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about 15 years ago I picked up a couple used food-grade 55-gallon steel drums from a grocery store. they had been full of olive oil, so there was a substantial mess involved. the price was right, though.

the drums that I got had close heads with bungs, which I imagine is also not ideal for your purposes. I’ve gotten plenty of drums over the years with ring-clamped heads, though.

I’m guessing 55 gallons is bigger than you want, but I’ve seen not food-grade steel drums as small as 5 gallons, so maybe there are smaller food-grade options, too.

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Matt McSpadden

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You ever ask a question and don't expect to get any answers? And then you get blown away learning about new things?

I'm checking those lard tins which look very promising. Also... rendering lard and selling it, is on my list of products to add... so knowing where to get smaller lard tins is handy too.

I've also found some smaller food grade steel barrels... but so far only expensive ones.

Scott Weinberg

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I forgot to add:

Around here in the midwest, the pubs/bars often get giant dill pickles- pickled pork hocks- hard boiled eggs, in 1- 2 gal glass jars, These were always free if you were patient in waiting for them. These were used to set on the counter to entice the afternoon crowds. Sounds good? NOT!

In the back kitchen it was mostly plastic large containers, but lots of them. definitely sealed though.

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Jay Angler

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Matt McSpadden wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:I used to cut sleeves from t-shirts to slip on jars to darken.

Not a bad idea :)

The tops of worn out socks will also do the job.

Ms. Pearl uses tin popcorn cans all the time, but I think she uses aluminium tape on the welds and lid for long term storage. It depends how long before you want to go before downloading into something smaller.

If you could find a restaurant that buys something in the large glass jars - like pickles - you might be able to source some cheaply. They aren't as common these days, as most stuff like that for the restaurant trade either comes in plastic buckets or bags now a days. Find a peanut butter addict that buys Adam's 1 liter size and you may be able to have an intermediate storage size which is super easy to use if your hands are large. Mine are small, and I actually have difficulty getting the lid off (thankfully, that's what son's are for!)

Whatever you decide on, I highly recommend you look for something your hand can fit into for cleaning. I avoid larger sizes of small mouth canning jars for exactly that reason.

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William Bronson

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posted 4 days ago

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I'm gonna suggest stainless steel stock pots with thrifted lids.
Thrifted lids because the cheap stock pods come with thin,light,loose fitting lids.
Buying glass or substantial stainless steel lids and sealing them with food safe silicone should be air tight.
You could even vacuum can it, but you would need a big chamber or add a port/valve to the pot.

That makes me think, you could use a glass drink dispenser, which has a built in valve and silicone lid seal.
Glass cookie jars, likewise have silicone lid seals.

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We used to buy coconut oil in 5 gallon metal buckets. I can’t remember the brand.

Most people I know at that scale use the 5 gallon Mylar bags made to line plastic buckets. Just the bags on shelves. They break down the whole bag into jars and/or smaller bags when needed.

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Tereza Okava

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Scott Weinberg wrote:giant dill pickles- pickled pork hocks- hard boiled eggs, in 1- 2 gal glass jars,

I have a good number of large jars like this that came from pretty much the same source-- restaurants with a salad bar that features pickles, palm hearts, pickled onions, etc. Many of those things come in buckets nowadays but it's worth asking. the lids, when I need to replace them I can find them online.

Alfrun Unndis

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posted 3 days ago

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Hotel pans with lids and silicone band.

Stackable, stainless steel, alot of sizes, foodsafe, doesn't shatter into a billion pieces, silicone seal/band makes them airtight.

The band is a bit pricey and probably won't last like the pan. but buy another or maybe make one (not sure that's possible).

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