food grade plastic bucket?

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todd_k

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Can I get a food grade plastic bucket at a place like Home Depot? I searched locally for a restaurant supply store and didn't have much luck. How do I know something is food grade plastic?
 
you can get one from northern brewer for 8 bucks, or your lhbs will charge 20, or go to the supermarket and get one for free, just dont get the pickle bucket, i got mine at the bakery department, they have icing buckets that come with free icing to boot!

ive heard of people using the home depot orange buckets but i dont know if they are food grade, they usually say it some where...
 
It's nice to get a big bucket from a HBS... trying to do a 5 gal brew in a 5.1 gal bucket sucks.
 
If a LHBS is selling one for $20, thats a rip off. Go somewhere else, including online. Plus you really do need the 6.5 gal. one. I wouldn't recomment Home Depot.
 
HurricaneFloyd said:
How do I know something is food grade plastic?
There was a thread on this a while ago...I can't find it now.
Basicly if it is #2 plastic and a neutral color (like white or transluecent... not day-glow pink:fro:) you will be okay. Some where on the bucket there will be a triangle with a number in it, that's the type of plastic used.
 
 鯰  said:
There was a thread on this a while ago...I can't find it now.
Basicly if it is #2 plastic and a neutral color (like white or transluecent... not day-glow pink:fro:) you will be okay. Some where on the bucket there will be a triangle with a number in it, that's the type of plastic used.

This is a page about brine, but it has the codes for various plastics on it.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/plastics.html
 
Sweet. Thanks for the link.

The Home Depot buckets are a #@ HDPE plastic so I guess that makes them food grade. Unfortunately they are only 5 gal buckets. I ordered one from midwest last night, with shipping the 6.5 gal bucket is $16 and change. :(

EDIT: I was referring to the white Home Depot buckets, not the orange since dyes would tend to make something no longer food-grade.
 
Maybe try some of those detergent buckets from the bulk stores like Sam's Club or Costco.
Get a couple months worth of laundry detergent, and a free bucket with a resealable lid.
They are usually like $12 for the taller buckets of detergent.
Slightly bigger than 5 gallon i believe, maybe 6.5.
Just make sure you wash the heck out of them.
I've got a stack of them in the garage.
Some behind the garage full of sand from the old sandbox, victim of last mom 2 mom sale.
 
I wouldn't trust anything that had detergent in it, no matter how many times I washed it. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I would find a better way to get a bucket.
 
I gotta agree with Brewsmith, bulk rate discount detergent may not be the way to go.

In any event, I already ordered, received, and converted another Ale Pail into the business end of a mash tun. I've used it twice.

If anyone has drilled their own plastic bucket to make a mash tun, how do you get out all the bits of grain that stick to the holes?
 
HurricaneFloyd said:
If anyone has drilled their own plastic bucket to make a mash tun, how do you get out all the bits of grain that stick to the holes?

what size bit did you drill with? i used 1/8 inch and dont have a problem with grain stuck in the holes...there are usually a few random stuborn particulates that wont come out initially, but after everything dries, they come out.

im guessing the type of grain used and/or milling would produce variable stuckable fermentables :confused:
 
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