on using buckets for fermentation

After a few batches I got infections in the next two batches I brewed. I ferment in buckets, so I got to ask. Can buckets go bad? I know the plastic is somewhat porous--can they harbor bacteria after a few brews?

No matter whether the plastic harbors bacteria, heat kills. But PE (polyethylene) will deform with heat. Forget melting temps, what temp water can I safely sanitize my PE buckets with--post bleach wash. Is there a point at which I should just use them for garage things and not fermentation?

anything even glass if scratched can harbor infection...it might not even be your bucket, it could be a micro organism in the gap between your hose and auto siphon if you never remove it to clean and sanitise, it could be in a spigot, it could be anywhere....you have to replace all your hoses and bleach bomb everything you don't scrap, and re-evaluate your sanitization process.

But one of the things I highly recommend to people who use buckets is not to use them for anything eles...don't use them to store equipment between batches, don't use them to soak bottles...just use them for fermenting, and close them up afterwords...or store starsan in them between batches

I'm using the same buckets for 7 years and haven't had an infection in 6. The plastic won't harbor bacteria unless it is scratched. I only bleach them when they get stained. The bleach is a sanitizer. Post-bleach rinse water is just for rinsing out the bleach.

david_42 said:

I'm using the same buckets for 7 years and haven't had an infection in 6. The plastic won't harbor bacteria unless it is scratched. I only bleach them when they get stained. The bleach is a sanitizer. Post-bleach rinse water is just for rinsing out the bleach.

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Missed the part about rinsing bleach....

Only reason I would be doing that is if I were bleach bombing for infection...And the only reason I would and have used bleach was if I had an infection...There's other better NO RINSE sanitizer out there, to use regularly.

But David's right, only reason a bucket would harbor infections is if they were scratched, and proper usuage and care they won't get scratched.

Thats interesting to hear you mention bleach. I use 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water with a soak time of 15 to 20 minutes to disinfect every single time I clean the equipment. So for a 6.5 gallon bucket, I mix in 7 tbs of bleach and fill to the top with hot tap water.

I use buckets and I have never used bleach... I only use star san. I don't soak them in star san either. On brew day once my boil has started I spray everything down really well with star san from a spray bottle, then another couple of times during the boil and then really well right before transfering to the buckets. But as has already been said, you have to sanitize everything... your auto syphon, the inside of the hose, everything...

Do you take hydrometer readings during the fermentation process? That could be a source of infection also.

mykayel said:

Do you take hydrometer readings during the fermentation process? That could be a source of infection also.

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??????

That's only an infection source if someone doesn't sanitize the theif/turkey baster and puts the sample back in...otherwise not taking a hydro reading because you're afraid of hurting your beer, is quite frankly a bad brewing practice...

You might wanna read this mykayel... http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/