HoboJoe

Recipes 

Does anyone use a bottling bucket as a fermenter? It seems like a good way to eliminate exposure to air since you could rack out the spigot and directly in my kegs. My only concern would be whether the spigot is high enough to not pick up the dead yeast. Thoughts?

Yooper

Recipes 

Well, I've done it when my other buckets were full. I would NOT use the spigot, though, to avoid racking. First, you might get a ton of trub, but secondly, I would be concerned about contamination. You'd have to somehow dunk the fermenter into sanitizer to resanitize the spigot, I'd think. The fermenter would be closed, so it'd be ok but the spigot is just kind of hanging out there near the floor. Maybe I'm too worried about it, and others would say it's ok. Maybe you could spray sanitizer up into the spigot from the outside, to sanitize it. I just wouldn't do that- I'd go ahead and rack it.

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CodeRage

Recipes 

I did it once for a secondary with my sweet stout. Worked out fine. I sanitized the bucket and ran the sanitizer through the spigot. After that I put a piece of plastic wrap over it and secured it with a rubber band.

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Brutus 20e build | Electrical Primer for Brewers | Auber SYL-2362A2 PID Install & Config
So as I am walking out the door this morning I think to my self:
"self, going to work on Monday is like knowing you're going to get kicked in the nuts. You just don't know when or by who"

mrk305

Recipes 

I use my bottling bucket as a secondary. When it is time to bottle I add the priming sugar and gently swirl. Before I attatch the bottling wand, I take a cup of idophor solution and sanatize the spigot for at least a minute.

homebrewer_99

Recipes 

If you use a bottling bucket as a secondary you are defeating its purpose.

A secondary is for allowing the brew to clear. By adding priming sugar and swirling you just roused the sediment off the bottom.

Moral of the story: It's NOT a smart thing to use the bottling bucket as a fermenter.







ID-Ten-Tango...

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HB Bill

CodeRage

Recipes 

I didnt say I bottled from it. I racked it from my primary to the bottling bucket cause I didnt have anything else to secondary in.... When I bottled I racked back to the primary bucket and used a siphon and bottling wand from there.

Whats with the name calling? Thought most people here were above that. I see your point but there are more tactful ways of getting it across.

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Brutus 20e build | Electrical Primer for Brewers | Auber SYL-2362A2 PID Install & Config
So as I am walking out the door this morning I think to my self:
"self, going to work on Monday is like knowing you're going to get kicked in the nuts. You just don't know when or by who"

BlindLemonLars

Recipes 

On most bottling buckets, the spigot is mounted at the very bottom...right where the trub is thickest. I can't imagine that would work out too well, as you want to transfer as little as possible of that muck to your secondary.

I do use spigots on my fermentation buckets, but I mount them about two inches up from the bottom, just above the typical trub level. Transferring to secondary is a breeze, much easier than siphoning. I peer through the airlock hole on top, and tilt the bucket to get the very last of the clear beer. The second I see any trub heading for the spigot, I shut it down.

I take great care to sanitize the spigot before transferring (as simple as pouring star-san into and around it) and have had no contamination issues. They really aren't as hard to clean as some suggest, a good soak in hot oxi-clean and a quick spin with a small brush is all it takes.

killian

Recipes 

plastic is some what oxygen permeable, so you dont want to use buckets as your clearing tank. but if you like your technique and feel you have no issues with your beer dont fix what isnt broken

malkore

Recipes 

I'm all about keeping things easy and reducing possible contamination sources.
so I sanitize my spigots IMMEDIATELY before using them...so no I wouldn't use a bottling bucket for primary or secondary, only for that hour long bottling session.

call me paranoid, but at least I sleep better at night

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

david_42

Recipes 

I have three fermentation buckets, all with spigots. Two were sold as fermenters, the other as a bottling bucket. Taking a spigot apart for cleaning is a bit of a pain, but they make racking extremely easy. Typically, I get a little trub at the beginning, so I run it into a 2L bottle initially, then into the keg. A hole forms in the trub and very little gets into the keg.

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