Yellow stains in primary fermenter?

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rcd

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Forgive the noob question, but I recently finished my first batch ever, and I noticed there is a yellow stain from the 5 gallon mark on downwards to the bottom of my primary fermentation plastic bucket. I washed both the fermentation bucket and the bottling bucket after bottling, and the bottling bucket looks okay. Today I tried bleach and b-brite in the primary fermenter though, and it's still yellow...

is that normal? will it affect future brews? or must it be completely removed and restored to white before I can proceed?

Thanks.
 
I was concerned about that myself after my first brew. I was told by many to not worry about it and that it was normal. As long as you thoroughly cleaned it and sanitize it before your next batch you will be fine. You should not have any flavors or odors imparted to your next batch.

FWIW, I once used my fermenting bucket to clean some items with PBW (powdered brewery wash). I left them soaking overnight. I then forgot about them and left the stuff soaking in the bucket for about 4-5 days. When I dumped out the PBW solution and rinsed everything, the stain and odor in the bucket was completely gone.

John
 
A. Sounds like you have a serious case of hop contamination. If you love BMC, you have no choice but to throw the bucket out.
A1. If you look closely at a whole hop, you will notice the resins are bright yellow.
B. Leave the bleach in over-night. This is the only time I use bleach.
 
david_42 said:
A. Sounds like you have a serious case of hop contamination. If you love BMC, you have no choice but to throw the bucket out.
A1. If you look closely at a whole hop, you will notice the resins are bright yellow.
B. Leave the bleach in over-night. This is the only time I use bleach.


Sorry, I don't quite understand. You're saying that the batch I just made is ruined? Or that the bucket itself needs to be thrown away?

Also, what is BMC?

So you're saying this isn't normal in brewing?
 
I think what he is saying is that you are making some good beer with some good ingredients! BMC = bud miller coors. If you like the flavorless swill then throw the bucket away because you shouldn't be homebrewing.
However, if you like homebrewing some great beer then keep on brewing and just bleach your bucket if the color bothers you.
 
Alembic said:
I think what he is saying is that you are making some good beer with some good ingredients! BMC = bud miller coors. If you like the flavorless swill then throw the bucket away because you shouldn't be homebrewing.
However, if you like homebrewing some great beer then keep on brewing and just bleach your bucket if the color bothers you.

oh, cool :)

with regard to bleaching the bucket, if the color doesn't bother me, is it necessary? a friend of mine said bleaching is generally bad for plastic (denatures it or something).

thanks again :)
 
Actually, I was saying that if you like flavorless swill, then you should throw the bucket away, because the stain might give a BMC-like beer some flavor. Sometimes the humor is lost.

The stain won't be a problem. About the only time I bleach mine is after a batch of Revenge.
 
Why would you use a non-food grade bucket? All of my Home Depot buckets, for example, are not as smooth inside, lots of places for nasties to hide out, and I imagine that if anything they are even more oxygen-permeable.
 
Didn't think so, you had me worried!

My bucket got a yellowish stain (there's something very dirty about that) after the first batch. Little bleach and it's fine. I actually tend to use bleach for cleaning out the bucket, this seems to me to be the perfect place for using bleach in homebrewing. Put a decent amount in there, let it soak for a while, then rinse it like crazy, you'll be all set.
 
All of my stouts have left my bucket a nice yellow color. I soak the bucket with some one step and move on to the next brew. No problems... dont be concerned about it. Its all part of making a nice dark stout :)

When you drink the beer, and it stains your glass and your teeth, then you will understand why the bucket is yellow! HAHAH!
 
the_bird said:
Why would you use a non-food grade bucket? All of my Home Depot buckets, for example, are not as smooth inside, lots of places for nasties to hide out, and I imagine that if anything they are even more oxygen-permeable.

You hit the nail on the head. All of my fermenter buckets and the Home Depot buckets I got to use for other things are made from the same material, HDPE (high density polyethylene). They both will have the same oxygen permeability, but the difference with the food grade is the manufacturing process. The food grade HDPE buckets will be extruded from an extruder designed to keep the interior surface as smooth as possible.

John
 
Brewpastor said:
Get some glass carboys, then the whole issue of staining and scratches goes away.

Right, then he will only have to worry about severed tendons, nerves and arteries when he breaks one while washing it, like my friend did. :ban:In all seriousness, glass carboys are great, you just have to be extra careful. My friend just got too comfortable and his lack of concentration cost him dearly.

John
 
I had a friend do that too. The real shame was it happened while he was helping me move a really cool 12 gallon carboy I had, which just happened to be full of beer at the time. Sad, sad, sad.
 
Brewpastor said:
Get some glass carboys, then the whole issue of staining and scratches goes away.

Amen! Preach it pastor!

Switch to glass at some point and you will be happy. You can see the fermentation taking place, you can see the yeast and trub settling out and they last alot longer than buckets (unless you drop them).
 
But keep in mind if you ever use brettanomyces or another "bacteria" to only use them in glass fermentor or have a plastic bucket dedicated to using that bacteria.
 
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