Calmari

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Check out Firehouse Subs if you have them in your area. They sell the buckets that they get their pickles in for $2 a piece and the proceeds are supposed to go to help buy gear for local fire departments. The buckets are only 5 gal, but its a guarantee that they are food grade.

TheBrewingMedic

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Here y'all go, after a 15-20 second search on google.....affordable food grade hdpe 2 pails...

• 6 gallon $6.18
• 5 gallon $4.28 (shh don't tell anyone you're splitting batches)
• 3.5 gallon $3.54 (for the closet batch splitters that don't like excessive headspace)
• Lids $1.55

For the OP, if you're curious, just swing into HD or Lowes, look at the bottom and make sure it's hdpe #2 (#1 also works) anything else only use for storage.

For the "Economy Creative Brewers" Don't stop the "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome" mentality, it's keeps the world turning whether it like to admit it or not. Brew sculptures with water filtration, chugger pumps, counterflow chillers, RIMS/HERMS systems may somewhat be for the deeper pockets these days but they were't found in caves with 1500 yr old instructions carved into the walls, they were a product of the guys in their garages with some scrap parts and ingenuity.....

For those with the cash to get things labled specifically for brewing or can afford things already premade/assembled, ready to use out of the box...more power to you, you obviously worked hard to earn your cash and have the right to indulge as you see fit, rock on...

To those that are concerned about dyes or if .00002% of a recycled product once contained something harmful...remember most spring water bottles on store shelves are now made of recycled materials, like the packaging on most "fresh" food in supermarkets, travel mugs, plastic flatware, hell even toilet seats especially public ones....AHHHH stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye we are ALL screwed it's EVERYWHERE......Or relax and know that this is an improvement to reuse non-sustainable resources and being to cautious about trying to get that one more day out of life can actually shorten it if not taken in moderation with everything else in life....the immune system needs to be challenged sometimes to work effectively.

AND...As for everybody that took a thread simply asking about a cheap ass orange bucket and found ways to argue with each other (and yeah a lot of it was petty bickering, not constructive debates or discussions), Try, Try, PLEASE try to remember...if YOU like how YOUR brew comes out...it doesn't freakin matter what anyone thinks about how you made it, how they are making theirs or what color jugs it was made in...relax and enjoy it

__________________
Watch and Listen to your Mead....It will tell you when the next step is.

Zamial

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I would not use a homer bucket. I would not let a dog drink water from a homer bucket. However I do use the translucent HDPE buckets and lids from the same store.

__________________
“I'm not drunk, I'm from Wisconsin.”
We have been out drinking your state since 1848!

bdh

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Or while we're at it we could have a pool party at a nuclear reactor....
http://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

AVLbrewing

Recipes 

First off let me preface this statement: A) I have no real understanding of plastics, B) limited brewing experience, and C) I'm not a tinhat wearing anti-governemtn type.

However, Just because the FDA says something is safe doesn't necessarily mean it is... Granted thats sometimes the best we can hope for, but the below link is an interesting "History of BPA" usage and management by the EPA and FDA, as well as it eventual phasing out for all of those interested:

http://www.ewg.org/reports/bpatimeline

Essentially the FDA denied the harmful effects of BPA in infant formula and other products despite evidence that proved otherwise. They based their official stance upon two studies (one published, one not). It also highlights major conflict of interests by members of the FDA Science Board, receiving large amounts of money from industry lobbyist.

My take home from this thread and the above link:
Just because the FDA says something is FoodSafe or Food Grade does't mean you aren't being exposed to harmful chemicals. The only truly safe option that I'm aware of for the super paranoid is probably glass.

With that being said I have things fermenting in plastic buckets (from Northern Brewer) as we speak. Do I think there is the possibility of carcinogenic compounds leeching from the bucket? Absolutely. Will it change my brewing practices? Nope. Would I buy buckets from Home Depot and brew in them? If I needed a bucket in a pinch, sure, why not. We are exposed to so much crap thats going to kill us already. I try to minimize my exposure to some degree, but I'm pretty much sure we are all screwed anyways.

In the words of Papazian "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew."

:cheers:

broadbill

Recipes 

then scale your recipe to 4-4.5 gallons or split 5 gallons between 2 buckets. 5 gallons in 5 gallon bucket will take you right to the lip.

Putting 5 gallons of fermenting ale in a 5 gallon bucket, I would estimate you would lose 0.5 gallon to blowoff. That's a lost 6 pack every batch. If you value your homebrew similarly to craft brew...that's a $8-12 loss per batch.

That extra $8-12 for a bigger bucket doesn't seem like such a rip-off now does it?

As I said, penny-wise, pound foolish....

Vellum

Recipes 

I was thinking about these buckets, the food grade 5gallon Lowes ones, and they might be an easy way for me to jump ti nine gallon batches. I have two better bottles, and am generally fermenting two beers at once, so I could put five gallons of a batch in the better bottle and four in the Lowes bucket. I might do this until I make another order from an online brew store (I generally plan my orders to last a year) and pick up a couple more better bottles.

Bradinator

Recipes 

I have three of them and used them almost exclusively for long term bulk grain storage. I have however used one for a 4.0 gallon batch of beer a few months ago without any issues. Very easy to convert the lid as it had a rubber stopped the size of an air bung I popped out.

Don't know if I would ever put more then 4 gallons into it though... When the krausen came up it got very, very close to the lid.


I disagree with this statement. The cost of a 4 gallon batch is less then a 5 gallon so there is no loss of money going smaller. And I don't believe factoring in time is relevant as this is a hobby... But if we did and we assumed we were making our normal rate of pay (or overtime because its usually done on a weekend) then suddenly home brewing doesn't seem much of a cost saving endeavor anymore.

__________________
"There is only two ways do to something; The smart way or the hard way."

"Beer is pretty resilient stuff, its resistant to human stupidity"

Bradinator's Brews

broadbill

Recipes 

that's fine, but you have to at least concede that the beer you would lose to blow-off is worth something. In that case, there is a break-even point where is makes sense to buy the larger bucket to avoid that loss.

The same goes for labor....sure you might not value it to what you get paid for work, but your time is definitely worth something isn't it? Is an extra 8-12 bucks worth being able to put in the same amount of labor to get 5 gallons instead of 4? (not to mention....with a 7 gallon bucket you can brew a 5.25 gallon batch to end up with a full 5 gallons)

You could even call it an intangible cost...lets say you LOVED that latest batch of beer and you are all out. How much would you pay to have another 6-pack of it? You could consider that towards how much you are willing to pay for a slightly larger bucket (or how much to upgrade to a 10 gallon system, but I digress).

Again, if you are doing the traditional 5 gallon batch a 7 gallon fermenter is the BEST tool for the job.

forcabrew

Recipes 

Homer bucket grain storage a bad Idea?