Fermenting in a bottling bucket?

n00b question,

Can you ferment in the bottling bucket?

If not, why?

Sure you can -- you can realistically ferment in anything (food safe) that will hold liquid. However, considering that buckets are so inexpensive, why would you want to tie up your bottling bucket with a fermenting batch?

You can, but the spigot will be pretty much useless since the amount of trub produced by the end of fermentation will certainly block the outlet. I imagine you would need to rack it to another bottling bucket to bottle.

You can, I've done it. Just be sure to remove the spigot and sanitize it thoroughly. Nasties can stay in the cracks there and ruin your beer if you don't. Also, make sure you have an extra bottling bucket handy. Otherwise you'll be forced to rack to a bucket with no spigot and bottle from there or add another step and rack back to your cleaned bottling bucket.

I like to ferment in a bottling bucket. Once it finishes I just put a tube on the drain and rack to the keg. The trub level is usually below the drain port.

If you shake and tilt the bucket back for a few days before racking, the trub will not be anywhere close to the spicket

BrewinNoBorders said:

If you shake and tilt the bucket back for a few days before racking, the trub will not be anywhere close to the spicket

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That's what I did my first time. I stuck a small piece of 2x4 under the side with the spigot during the whole fermentation. By the time I was ready to bottle the trub had all rested in the back corner away from the spigot. The hardest part was priming. How do you evenly mix the sugar? Carefully. Mix but try not to splash if you're going to add it to the bucket then try not to disturb the trub. I only ended up with 2 bottles that didn't carbonate right, but I was new and didn't know if I wanted to spend that much space/money into the hobby yet.

I prefer siphoning to a separate bottling bucket, but it's not necessary. Coopers makes an excellent single container kit that you ferment and bottle from. At priming, potential trub disturbing issues are avoided by adding hard candy like 'drops' to each bottle.

I ferment exclusively in bottling buckets. I also have the fermenter from my first cooper's kit. I just think siphoning sounds like an extra step. I would rather let gravity work for me! The brewer's best ale pail bottling bucket has the spigot high enough that it is not an issue (actually too high for my tastes, still needs tipping to get last of the beer). I have three bottling buckets, I use them all interchangeably. I prime in a separate bucket, don't like the idea of adding sugar solution to fermenter. I rarely secondary. Those three buckets cost less than one carboy! Sanitation is a must, even buying some extra gaskets for replacing, and don't be skimpy on the star san!!

unionrdr said:

The carb drops don't really help avoid trub issues. They just make priming quick & easy. You still have to allow time for the beer to settle out well before ataching the little bottler wand to the FV to fill the bottles. Their plastic FV's are designed to keep the trub layer below the spigot when dispensing to bottles.
When they carb up & conditiojn,they'll settle out clear in a matter of days. Then fridge time helps compact the trub on the bottom of the bottles.
Anyway,having a seperate secondary would make trub issues at bottling more minimal.

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I think the turb disruption they were speaking of was trying to mix in priming sugar evenly without disturbing the turb. With the drops you don't have to worry about any of that, just pour it to the bottle and use a drop for even priming of bottles.