Did I ruin my bottling bucket?

Hey everyone,

So last weekend I brewed a mostly grain 2.5 gal batch of a Double IPA. The recipe had about 7 pounds of grain and a pound of DME. I basically do BIAB, exept I do a batch sparge because I lacked a pot big enough to have the whole BIAB volume. With a grian bill this size, the only thing I had that was big enough on hand to fit all the sparge water in was my bottling bucket.

He's my question. I've read that the grains can have bacteria on them. Did I infect my bottling bucket when I batch sparged in it? I would think the 180 degree water that the grains went into would kill that sort of thing, plus I can soak it in sanatizer, but I know those little nasties can be persistant. Is my bucket still safe to use or should I get a new one? Not that they are expensive, but I hate just wasting money.

IMO, Bacteria are everywhere including the air that is always in the bucket. I would just wash it well and sanitize well as always.

From what I have read in both books and on this site you will only really have an issue if you don't thoroughly clean and sanitize. If the bucket has a lot of scratches for the bacteria to live you may want a new bucket anyhow. Most of the texts say you only need to worry about scratches and other small areas that don't easily contact the sanitizer.

Me, being new and OCD sanitizing, would take the spigot off clean and sanitize it and the inside of the lip where the spigot contacts the bucket and then clean and sanitize the whole thing again once put back together. Again I have only done three all grains so I am no expert but have read a lot of the beginner books and posts.

Hope someone with more experience will correct me if I'm wrong.

^ This. Some of the more conservative folks around here will tell you not to mix hot side with cold side equipment, but I'm not one of them. I've done it many times and never had a problem and I routinely use my fermenting buckets to collect runnings. Give it a good rinse with hot water, followed with a good Starsan soak and I doubt you'll have any issues.

I used to mash in my bottling bucket until I got a keggle for a mash tun. I've had no problems since, it's always best to rinse immediately after use and use some sanitizer for insurance. The spigot is the spot to be weary of, take that thing apart if possible as others have said earlier in thread.

I wouldn't worry about it. If you're like me and your bottling bucket sits in your 100+ degree garage during the summer there's no doubt nastier stuff in there during the downtime. Not to mention the cockroach family currently set up in my garage. If we can sanitize that stuff out no doubt you can get the grain bacteria too. RDWHAHB.

Thanks everyone, I figured I was being a bit paranoid, but I'm just getting into partial mashes and some small all grain batches after a year of extract brewing so I'm still figuring things out.