Using wine primary fermenter for beer

Hello all,

I'm a pretty new home brewer. I just got this kit that says it is for both wine and beer. The primary fermenter is one of those deals that looks like a diaper pail (I found a picture of one and it's attached).

The lid is not airtight and apparently allows gass to escape between the rim of teh bucket and the lid. The LHBS says that this si fine for beer because it does not let any air in, but only out.

I'm suspicious of this. Anyone have any experience with one of these?

I'm not seeing the attached picture.

It will work just fine, only major difference is that you wont be able to see the physical representation of fermentation as there is no airlock bubbling. I *prefer* my airtight-ish buckets (as your ale-pails get old, they become less air/liquid tight) but I do have a few icing buckets I occasionally use. These icing buckets have 4 points that lock the lid down with a rubber gasket, but it will barely hold any pressure. No big deal, it vents outwards, not inwardly.

bradneal said:

I'm not seeing the attached picture.

Click to expand...

heres the link to the picture:
http://www.homebrewit.com/images/5120.jpg

Great! Thanks for the reply, tjpfeister.

I was just concerned because I know that with wine, infection is less of an issue and figured that maybe this wasn't suitable for brewing.

I'm happy because I like all the headspace in this primary as I'm particularly fond of those wheat beers and those yeasts that make a bigass krausen.

One of my primaries is a cheap bucket with a cheap lid. I have NEVER seen a single bubble in my airlock, so I assume it's all escaping from the lid, but I have also NEVER had an infection or oxidized beer

Those type of pails are very common and will work equally well for wine and beer. Have fun brewing!

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I've got a chamomile and lavender belgian wit chugging away in there right now!