Calder

Recipes 

Just get a second free 3 gallon bucket and siphon for bottling. No need to worry about sanitizing or leaks with the spigot.

billf2112

Recipes 

Just soak those walmart buckets for 2 days,with some pdw and all the icing residue is gone. As far as this thread goes, yes you can really srart brewing cheap. Boscovs has stock pots 4 gallons for $10 and 5 gallons for $12. I cannot look at saving money on sanitizer, buy starsan, it is worth it. Just one infection pays for a small bottle.

__________________
Bill from Pa

On Deck: Irish Stout,
Primary: Pumpkin Ale
Secondary: Empty
Completed: Red, Wit and Blue, Irish Stout, Red Ale, German Style Amber Lager, All Grain Brews: Irish Red Ale, American Stout, Honey Weizen

weirdboy

Recipes 

It has nothing to do with infection, even. And I am not convinced that using chlorine makes your beer "more susceptible to infection" at all, assuming you are using water that has been sanitized/sterilized to rinse. However, using bleach as a sanitizer is just asking for chlorophenols. Nothing like a nice pale ale that tastes like burnt plastic because you were too cheap to buy star san.

Nugent

Recipes 

Agreed.

I think that there are parts of the process where the old adage "Penny wise; Pound foolish" can apply. Star San is initially pricey, but does last a long time and doesn't cause any off-flavours.

boiseburb

Recipes 

I'm guessing the problems with chlorine are more associated with its use on plastic. I've been fine rinsing out bottles with it. From the get go I've used Idaphor on my fermenter(s). Has anyone had first hand experience with a bad batch using chlorine to sanitize plastic?

whitehause

Recipes 

I don't think bleach has anything to do with infections, just possible off flavors if your not careful with it. If a new brewer makes bad tasting beer, they might give up.
Iodophor is good, but can stain.
Starsan is the way to go, I've seen it at my LHBS in 4oz bottles for 4.95.

I realize this is and "on the cheap" thread, but like others have said, some things are worth a little extra money.

__________________
It's all beer from here

Primary 1- to be filled this weekend
Primary 2-
Primary 3- Monks Reward (Kreuzberg)
Kegged - Honey Badger, Heady topper clone 1, Indian Paleface Scalper
Bottled- Skeptical Dog winter Lager, Hell's Belgian, Old Dutch Hiefer Hefe,Aphlewein, Chocolate Thunder porter, Jacked up lantern
On deck - Swift kick in the Kolsch

Yesfan

Recipes 

I will have to look into that.





I know this is off topic, but anything wrong splitting a 5 gallon batch to ferment in 2 three gallon buckets? I'm thinking of maybe doing two different flavors of wheat beer (raspberry and blueberry) next time I want to brew a wheat beer.

whitehause

Recipes 

Nothing wrong with that a all. A lot of 10gal brewers do that very thing into 2 5 gal batches. 2 different yeasts, 2 different dry hops, 2 different fruits or spices......it's all about experimenting and finding out what works or tastes best.

__________________
It's all beer from here

Primary 1- to be filled this weekend
Primary 2-
Primary 3- Monks Reward (Kreuzberg)
Kegged - Honey Badger, Heady topper clone 1, Indian Paleface Scalper
Bottled- Skeptical Dog winter Lager, Hell's Belgian, Old Dutch Hiefer Hefe,Aphlewein, Chocolate Thunder porter, Jacked up lantern
On deck - Swift kick in the Kolsch

steve09

Recipes 

I scored a big 6 gallon bucket. How about fermenting 2 gallon in a 6 gallon bucket? It it too much head space for 28 days in there?

Matt3989

Recipes 

You'd probably be okay if you set it down and kept it perfectly still for the entire time, then racked carefully and bottled. After all, people used open fermentation for thousands of years. But the fact that 2 gallons of beer wouldn't create enough CO2 to purge all of the oxygen out of the bucket would mean that if you moved it or bumped it and disturbed the CO2 buffer, you'd probably end up with oxygenated cardboard beer.