Home depot primary possibility?

I went the cheap route, since start up cost was four times as much as I wanted it to be and got a HOME DEPOT bucket for my primary. The smell of the bucket pretty much screamed NOT FOOD GRADE so I got my self a FOOD GRADE 20 gallon storage bag to stick in it. I lined the bucket, cut of excess and was thinking I do not even really want the lid to touch my brew.

I want to know if people think it is ok to just forget the lid and take the excess bag to make a COVER that would lead to the BLOWOFF tube, securing it duct tape: I attached a image... Hope it works.
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
CHEERS

I would get a lid but your method I would assume would work...only one way to find out...if the bucket has a 1 or 2 on the bottom should be fine.

I'm all for saving money, but this isn't a place I would advocate for it. An Ale Pail will cost you less than $20 and will be the one part of your brewery that is in contact with your beer more than any other component (except bottles, I guess). It's not worth saving less than half the cost of one extract kit while risking off flavors in every batch.

My question is, what will you be saving in the long run? Fermentation buckets are ~$15 at LHBS. Home depot bucket and bag seems more work than it is worth. Good luck though.

say no to home depot pails!

LHBS FTW

Batches are usually ~5.5 gallons and HD buckets are ~5 gallons.

You either need to make smaller batches or get a bigger bucket.

My local homebrew store sells fermentation bucket, lid, grommet and airlock for about $12. But it looks like you have your mind made up. What are you going to do for an Airlock and airlock grommet to keep out the microbes?

What is your first brew going to be?

go for it!

I ferment in home depot buckets all the time. It's fine. Never had an off flavor or infection from them. Clean/sanitize as usual. They're the exact same HDPE as Ale Pails.

For future reference, Lowes sells 5gal food grade buckets. It's about $4 for the bucket and another $1.50 for the lid.

they are the same colored foodgrade buckets usplastics sells, just with a contract name on them. Its cheaper to have one production line, they just aren't labeled as such.

but they are 5 gallons, not big enough for a 5 gallon batch.

Yeah, the only problem with the Home Depot bucket is the size. I've had one for years that I use for brining turkeys for holidays. I've also started using it as my sanitizer bucket.

I say go for it. Just adjust the recipes you use so they fit in the bucket with some head space.

Then when you upgrade to a 6.5 gallon Ale Pale or something like that, you can keep using the orange bucket for sanitizer or other food oriented applications.

I secondary in the Menards/Home Depot buckets because they have less headspace than an Ale Pail and there is far less Co2 in secondary. I've also used them as primaries for smaller batches

jail hooch is made in bags all the time. Honestly break down and just buy buckets that are food grade.

THANKs for all the Responses. I am going to to go for it. What the heck. You guys gave me enough confidence to try it. Also, everyone is RIGHT. The extra 10-15 bucks would of saved me TIME. There is NO way I am going to repeat this method, TOO many unnecessary steps.... duct taping a bag to a hose HAh, desperate for time???? Exactly. My Ingredient KIT comes TMRW which is THE T-CAN and BEARCAT WHEATEN BEAT DOWN from Northern-Brewer. I think that is an incredible name but I wanted a mild hopped beer so I could throw down a Partial MASH with 2LBS of CRYSTAL 60L to give the beer a CARAMELIZED backbone? THOUGHTS: OH and I am doing a yeast start!

Are you going to clean the bag after your done or just toss it? How much are the bags going to run you over the long haul?

I've used the lowes buckets a few times for small batches. You just need a grommet and a 1/4" drill for the lid. They sell 2 types of lids too. One with a rubber gasket, and one without. I use the one with the rubber gasket. The work great.

OH AND I AM GOING TO ADD A TIGHTENING BAND so hopefully the JAIL HOOCH wont touch the DUCT tape.

bdh said:

For future reference, Lowes sells 5gal food grade buckets. It's about $4 for the bucket and another $1.50 for the lid.

Click to expand...

My local Home Depot sells a white food grade 5 gal bucket for the same price. It's made from the same white plastic as the "ale pail" at the LHBS, for a fraction of the price. Perfect for my 2.5 gallon batches.

For anyone curious, I was able to mature my methods of homebrewing and own three ale pails now. Though I will have to admit this method of bag brewing worked out great for my first batch.

evrose said:

My local Home Depot sells a white food grade 5 gal bucket for the same price. It's made from the same white plastic as the "ale pail" at the LHBS, for a fraction of the price. Perfect for my 2.5 gallon batches.

Click to expand...

i bought literally the only plain white bucket from my home depot. they had hundreds of the orange buckets, but just one plain one. it cost twice as much, but still less than $5

tre9er said:

They're the exact same HDPE as Ale Pails.

Click to expand...

Sorry bud, but you're dead wrong, look at the underside of the bucket for the lil triangle with a number in the middle, Food grade is usually number 2 HDPE, which means it was processed with more pure plastics and with NO DYES. A Home Depot bucket has a 5 in the triangle, so the plastics are less refined, has more impurities in it. Yes I tried to use it for a primary on one batch and it worked OK, however I wished I invested in a better bucket from the get go.

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/..._food_storage/plastic_food_storagebuckets.htm

Lowe's and Home Depot both sell Food Grade buckets and yes cheaper, but only 5 gallon actually barely over 5 gallons. Now the lids are better than Ale Pail in the sense that they all have an O-ring to help create a tighter seal. You can just buy a grommet, drill a hole in the top of the bucket, and insert grommet, then bam, insert your airlock or airlock with blow off tube and you're good. But you'll def need 2 buckets, or just buy a 7 gallon food grade bucket, some Lowe's or Home Depots have them or buy online... Trust me You're beer is worth it to spend a few bucks more for the long haul