carboy vs bucket

I would like some feedback on what is better for both primary fermentation and secondary.

I switched to a bucket for primary because it is easier to transport. I can't tell if it's having an impact on the brewing process.


Thoughts?

Thanks

I for one use buckets exclusively.

Only downside that I have heard is the you can't clean buckets properly. You can get scratches in the plastic and have bugs and stuff linger.

I haven't experienced anything that would make me switch away from buckets. Plus I enjoy that ease of cleaning.

Um, in reality a fermenter is a fermenter is a fermenter.....glass, plastic, carboy, bucket, jerry can, keg, milk jug, ceramic crock, glass hurricane jar, stainless steel or plastic conicals, pet food storage vessels (vittle vaults), HD or Lowe's buckets, frosting buckets, water jugs, the old Mr Beer jug...All of those and anything you can think of, all work perfectly fine, and have been used by hundreds if not thousands of brewers...

No one type is better or worse than any other...good beer or crappy beer can be made in all of them, dependant onthe brewer, NOT what it's fermented in...

It's really just a matter of preference, nothing more....There's tons of arguments about glass vs plastic and whatever, but they're nothing more than internet masturbation....the yeast don't give a flying ****ady what kind of container the wort it is swimming in.

It really isn't rocket science, it's really about using what works for you.

It won't have an "impact" on the beer one bit.

Revvy said:

Um, in reality a fermenter is a fermenter is a fermenter.....glass, plastic, carboy, bucket, jerry can, keg, milk jug, ceramic crock, glass hurricane jar, stainless steel or plastic conicals, pet food storage vessels (vittle vaults), HD or Lowe's buckets, frosting buckets, water jugs, the old Mr Beer jug...All of those and anything you can think of, all work perfectly fine, and have been used by hundreds if not thousands of brewers...

No one type is better or worse than any other...good beer or crappy beer can be made in all of them, dependant onthe brewer, NOT what it's fermented in...

It's really just a matter of preference, nothing more....There's tons of arguments about glass vs plastic and whatever, but they're nothing more than internet masturbation....the yeast don't give a flying ****ady what kind of container the wort it is swimming in.

It really isn't rocket science, it's really about using what works for you.

It won't have an "impact" on the beer one bit.

Click to expand...

That's a much better way of saying what I meant lol. It's about process.

I like glass. it doesn't make better beer but for me its easier in every way during the process. I even find them easier to move with a milk crate or the new fancy webbing carriers.

carboys are a permenent purchase for the long haul.

Buckets are cheap and disposable. The biggest issue people bring up is scratching causing sanitation issues.
1: its way over blown
If I can get a year out of a bucket mixing abrasive dolomite slurry into wine must with power tools without sanitation issues,
your pampered and babied beer fermenting bucket will be fine.
2: by the time you've brewed enough to scratch one, you probably have a 2nd or 3rd fermentor anyways so throw the oldest one away and cycle them.
You want a new one anyways. you know you do. so spend the $15 bucks.

bucket staining:
who cares.

buckets smelling like beer:
who cares. You're putting beer in it.
you CAN get the smell out but your soaking times have to approach the total
time they have been absorbing beer odors. If it gets stained and smells like beer, call it your "seasoned dark beer fermentor"
and buy a new bucket. You wanted another fermentor anyways, they are $15

Bucket lids:
bucket lids are a pain. end of story.

Glass is a luxury. It looks prettier, but the right plastic Better Bottles or plastic Buckets are just as good. The truth is that they all have downsides and upsides. I would say that Better Bottles are a good balance between glass carboys and plastic buckets.

The one big upside to using a clear fermentation vessel is that you can see your beer. This helps to assess if there are any issues with contamination, fermentation, or otherwise.

Thanks for the feed back.

So in a bucket the extra room vs carboy has no impact on fermentation.

Thanks

20000Barrels said:

I would like some feedback on what is better for both primary fermentation and secondary.

I switched to a bucket for primary because it is easier to transport. I can't tell if it's having an impact on the brewing process.


Thoughts?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Sounds like an answer to me...

20000Barrels said:

Thanks for the feed back.

So in a bucket the extra room vs carboy has no impact on fermentation.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Not really, you're still using a 6 or a 6.5 gallon carboy as a primary fermenter for 5 gallon batches, so there's still head room in there just like in a bucket. So it's really the same. All filled with co2.

So once again, your choice of a fermenter has NO impact on the beer. It's ALL a matter of preference.

In fact in brewing there is rarely a better or best, the only better is what works best for you. If you get my drift. Usually any question you can ask that is summed up as a "something -vs- something else" the answer is going to be, a preference only.

The yeast doesn't usually care.

You can ask 10 different brewers the same questions and you'll get 12 different answers, and usually all of them will be correct.

20000Barrels said:

Thanks for the feed back.

So in a bucket the extra room vs carboy has no impact on fermentation.

Thanks

Click to expand...

a shallow CO2 blanket with a large surface area isn't very different than a deep CO2 blanket with a small surface area.

It might make a SMALL difference disturbing it when taking samples but even I don't care enough to do the gas mixing math because, real world, it doesn't matter.

some modern breweries have made the 3000 year old back step to open fermentors without killing people or making bad beer

Bucket lids are not pain if you're willing to spend a dollar for a bucket opener

I agree with rev he is one of the smartest brewers here, and what he says is 100% accurate

But for me personally my favorite to use is a bucket. Glass looks nice but fragile. Also I like to be able to bottle directly from the primary with the spigot. For me only real reason is convenience for the way I like to brew. I throw wart in yeast let it sit for 2-3weeks bottle directly. Its more a personal thing and how you like to do things... as revy said it make no difference the yeast will ferment anything in any container.

With the buckets, do you guys recommend a loose lid and no airlock, or a tight lid with airlock?

Whatever works for you....You really don't need an airtight seal on your fermenter. The co2 coming out of there would protect your beer. In fact many folks with arthitis and other issues don't snap the lid down on their buckets anyway, and may folks just put tinfoil, plastic wrap, metal cookie sheets or even plexiglass sheets on top of the bucket instead. It's really not crucial to be tight. The bad stuff are not ninja acrobats, they really can't get into stuff. The co2 coming out will prevent anything getting in.

Don't forget glass carboys break and have a possibility of cutting you up. I like the plastic buckets. At the same time I like free or cheap. If a carboy is free I'm going to take it.

I like my glass carboys, but I will say this: Spend the $15 and buy a carboy hauler! Worth every penny. Milk crates work as well, but not as nice as the carboy hauler (imo).

That said, buckets work fine. It really comes down to personal preference.

I started off with a bucket...they work just fine, except for the smell that I just cannot get out of the plastic...I now have a 6.5G glass carboy that is a real treat to watch and observe during the fermentation...I also have a 5G secondary carboy, which holds a beer while it frees up a primary...I can have 3 batches going at the same time...the glass is not required, but I felt it really helped me learn faster through observation...checking gravity is easier dealing with a stopper instead of a tight lid...overall, I prefer the glass because you can see what's going on...

Buckets for me, because I remove the foam and brown crud 3 times a day for the first three days, even wiping away the tidemark. I don't want that mess in my finished beer. It must give it an unpleasant bitter twang, mustn't it?

Revvy said:

Whatever works for you....You really don't need an airtight seal on your fermenter. The co2 coming out of there would protect your beer. In fact many folks with arthitis and other issues don't snap the lid down on their buckets anyway, and may folks just put tinfoil, plastic wrap, metal cookie sheets or even plexiglass sheets on top of the bucket instead. It's really not crucial to be tight. The bad stuff are not ninja acrobats, they really can't get into stuff. The co2 coming out will prevent anything getting in.

Click to expand...

And to take it a step farther, some do open fermentation with no lid/stopper at all.

BOBTHEukBREWER said:

Buckets for me, because I remove the foam and brown crud 3 times a day for the first three days, even wiping away the tidemark. I don't want that mess in my finished beer. It must give it an unpleasant bitter twang, mustn't it?

Click to expand...

Won't you run the risk of contamination?

I have never used plastic but a glass carboy needs to be replaced every time you break one. I have broken at least one a year so far. We have moved to a Stout Conical which we love. We no longer secondary as we think the only thing that happens is to aerate the beer. Dry Hopping would be 1000% easier in a bucket.

There is one other cost that I figure into my choice of plastic over glass carboys. That is what it would cost for a trip to the ER when the glass carboy slices you to ribbons.

I have Better Bottles and buckets. I find cleaning the Better Bottles even easier than the buckets. I soak overnight with Oxyclean then rinse well. Put about a gallon of water inside with a wash cloth which I then swirl all around the insides = perfectly clean. I also don't get any odor retention.

Danarchy said:

With the buckets, do you guys recommend a loose lid and no airlock, or a tight lid with airlock?

Click to expand...

I think my next fermenter will be a 7.9 gallon bucket so I can snap the lid down and still use an airlock, but not risk an explosion. I've had a blow-off tube plug once - started using a loose lid after that. But I'd rather have it snapped down to keep it from getting knocked off accidentally.

If you're breaking a carboy a year you need to scale back the drinking a homebrew while you make homebrew.

Here's my thinking. It's a hobby. I'm not planning on trying to make a career change into brewing. I have 2 bucket fermenters and I just bought a 5 gallon better bottle as a secondary for conditioning. I didn't get it because I thought I needed to to make better beer. I got it because brewing is a hobby and I wanted one to see what that was all about and because I wanted one.

It's interesting to see so many perspectives towards gear...nobody "needs" a glass carboy, but my fun lies in seeing, touching, smelling all the ingredients and reactions. I did the bucket, but it was anti-climactic to just sit and wonder what's actually going on...my second brew was in a glass carboy and even my wife stared at it just watching the action. Bucket, not so fun.

+1 on the better bottles. Light, easy to clean and let's you see the action.

Revvy said:

Not really, you're still using a 6 or a 6.5 gallon carboy as a primary fermenter for 5 gallon batches, so there's still head room in there just like in a bucket. So it's really the same. All filled with co2.

So once again, your choice of a fermenter has NO impact on the beer. It's ALL a matter of preference.

In fact in brewing there is rarely a better or best, the only better is what works best for you. If you get my drift. Usually any question you can ask that is summed up as a "something -vs- something else" the answer is going to be, a preference only.

The yeast doesn't usually care.

You can ask 10 different brewers the same questions and you'll get 12 different answers, and usually all of them will be correct.

Click to expand...

Good stuff, makes me a little more comfortable with my first brew, which won't happen for a couple weeks yet until my first kit and extract kit gets here.

Thanks,

I started with and still use glass carboys. I have had one break, luckily it wasn't bad and it wasn't being used at the time. I am trying to make my brew and bottle days easier on my back (three back surgeries in 2 years time) and I have promised myself that if anything happens to my glass carboys or if I need more fermenters, that I will purchase the buckets because they are lighter and easier to clean.

now you are being silly...

I think opening Ur fermenter to clean it whilst there is beer in there is silly... But hey I could be wrong

This is totally against all that I have heard on here, but is it that a krausen can act as an extra layer of protection? So much so that you could open ferment during this time? I know this very old school brewing technique.