Fermenting in a Bucket Blows!!!

I'm making my first fermented beverage (cider to be exact; my first cider) in a true brew bucket and . . . I HATE IT!!! One of the great pleasures in brewing is being able to see an active fermentation (i.e., a vomiting hefe, a volcanic belgian dark strong or a lava lamp IPA. All I see are bubbles in the airlock. Nothing else. I think I'm gonna need another glass carboy (my 4th one!!!)

Meh. Seen it once you've seen it a hunderd times.

I'd rather clean a bucket than a better bottle, and I'd rather clean a better bottle than a broken glass carboy.

Can't see the bucket anyway if you leave the ferm chamber door shut.

Your not going to get a consensus. But, give me a glass carboy any day. Sure they can send you to the Emergency Room. But, if I was worried about my health....I wouldn't drink nearly as much, or at all, as I do. I can 'see' when fermentation is done without opening a lid. If you take care of your carboys they will last for ever. I love it. But, to each his own.

I just use whatever happens to be empty at the time - sometimes butckets, sometimes glass carboys, sometimes better bottles.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Meh. Seen it once you've seen it a hunderd times.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I've got 2 buckets and a glass carboy. It was fun watching the active fermentation in the carboy for a few minutes, but it's not that exciting after a while.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Meh. Seen it once you've seen it a hunderd times.

I'd rather clean a bucket than a better bottle, and I'd rather clean a better bottle than a broken glass carboy.

Click to expand...

this X 100 bajillion. Wait until it's time to dry hop or clean it out champ.

stubbornman said:

this X 100 bajillion. Wait until it's time to dry hop or clean it out champ.

Click to expand...

multiply this bad boy by a cahtrillion... I hate cleaning out the carboy...vs the bucket...

Glass is better IMHO and in 10+ years of brewing, I've never broken a carboy. Use some PBW and cleaning is a snap. And a carboy carrier.... Easy breezy.

acuenca said:

multiply this bad boy by a cahtrillion... I hate cleaning out the carboy...vs the bucket...

Click to expand...

Oxyclean and a non-drilled stopper. Lay the carboy on its side for 15 minutes (or longer if your lazy like me) and rotate. Repeat. Clean as a whistle with no brush or scratches.

I agree I do like to see fermentation taking place.

I love my glass carboys and I love watching my beer ferment inside them! I've thought about dropping a battery powered LED lamp inside and using them as the worlds coolest bedside lava lamp...

i don't think cleaning a glass carboy is that difficult. add some warm water, shake and repeat. to get off all the krausen, i usually just fill it up the rim and use a brush; no problem at all. dry hopping doesn't add much more difficulty as well.

i love looking at an active fermentation . . . it looks (and smells) like victory.

No it doesn't.

I think there's too much head space in a bucket, especially if you are taking gravity readings after the krausen has fallen. If a lighter stays lit below the edge of the bucket, you don't have a very good CO2 blanket. I use a refractometer with carboys and top the head space every time I open it (with CO2). I know there are guys making great beer in buckets only, just not my route.

Both make beer

/thread

I've fermented one batch in a carboy. It tasted just the same as when I fermented the same recipe in a bucket. If that aspect isn't any different, I'll take my cheap and easy to clean buckets any day over a carboy for my primary vessel of choice.

I was noticing that I was getting premature oxidation when I was using buckets. Especially with my hoppy beers.

This thread is doomed to denigrate to a flame-fest.

jtejedor said:

I agree I do like to see fermentation taking place.

Click to expand...

Do I hear web cam?

Hammy71 said:

Your not going to get a consensus. But, give me a glass carboy any day. Sure they can send you to the Emergency Room. But, if I was worried about my health....I wouldn't drink nearly as much, or at all, as I do. I can 'see' when fermentation is done without opening a lid. If you take care of your carboys they will last for ever. I love it. But, to each his own.

Click to expand...

+1

Glass carboy in a milk crate, cheap and very effective. Carboys last a very long time if you pay attention and don't be in hurry. when it comes time to clean a GC, PBW and hot water. You might not even need a brush.

But in the end, both make beer and that is the goal. That's the best part of this hobby. No rules, only guidelines.

Happy holidays HBT.

Does anyone make a clear bucket? Then you could watch and easily clean.