Question on fermentors??

To start off, I am brand new to this, so thanks for any and all help.

I am looking into what equipment to purchase, and wondering about the fermentation buckets. My question is why not buy both needed buckets with spigots, so that you don't ever need to syphon from one to the other? It seems like this would also stop the need to try and not syphon the leftovers at the bottom of the bucket because the spigot is a few inches above the bottom leaving the junk in the first bucket.

Depending on the type of brew you do, that may not always be the case. If you look at some of the pictures on here of carboys, plenty of them have a few inches worth of trub. Not that it won't work though, just may not every time.

While it's not happened to me, I know of friends who had leaky spigots or those who've had them bumped during fermentation and leak or ruin. While the risk of infection is rare, I personally wouldn't leave it to chance.
But, many starter kits come with spigots and most have no problem.

Honestly, with the cost of an auto siphon and a length of tube I'd rather rack. It's a little more equipment, but it gives you much more control over the process. Believe me, there will come a high trub day where you'll be glad not to be racking off all that sediment. Something else to consider: once the beer is in the vessel it is nearly impossible to properly sanitize the spigot. Not that it means your beer is automatically ruined. It just raises the chances for something to go wrong. I also prefer carboys over buckets and highly recommend a 6 gallon better bottle for your five gallon batches. I clean by soaking in unscented oxyclean.

If you use carbing sugar it would be hard to dump it in and mix it without mixing the trub up and into your bottles

Some companies do sell them, i think williams brewing has fermenters with a spigot.

If you were looking to bottle condition from this you would have to prime each bottle with sugar. And that sucks

I always ferment in buckets with spigots. It's super easy to run the beer into a keg using a spigot...that's half the point of using buckets to start with.

i have 1 bucket with a spigot. i have a clumsy brother. he was visiting 1 night, and kicked the spigot open. didn't notice until a few days later when i went to keg the ipa. felt the bucket was pretty much empty. now i know how how to remove carpet and lay tile. i broke the spigot handle off the bucket

I used to ferment in a bottling bucket on occasion, and then my fermentation freezer had 2 inches of beer in it one day. I stopped fermenting in a bottling bucket shortly thereafter.

For me fermenters with spigots are fine. If the beer is given the proper amount of time to fully ferment and then allowed to brighten in the primary (I do not do the secondary thing) the trub settles well below the spigot and causes no problems.

I simply use the spigot to drain the beer (the first few ounces cleans out the trub that settled into the spigot) into a bottling bucket or bottle prime right from the fermenter. I've never had any oxidation problems.

My best advice when buying a fermenting bucket is to get one that is a few gallons larger than what is going into it.
I hate blowoffs and don't like to see good beer go to waste.

Watch the temperatures to keep fermentation under control.
Keep the lid on and (depending on the brew) give the yeast plenty of time to do its job, allowing the beer to clear up.


OMO
bosco

ps. Just make sure your spigots are in good shape, sanitized well and don't leak. Spray the exterior part of the spigot well with Starsan before attaching any tubing or a bottling wand.

A lot of this negativity about fermenters with spigots is just plain wrong. you have to remove the spigot & it's connecting parts & soak them in PBW. a 2C measure or good size coffee mug is great for this. Then get some aquarium lift tube brushes. They usually come in sets of three for a couple bucks. Great for cleaning the spout (small brush),& mainbody,seals & jam nut (medium size). Also,take a soft cloth dipped in starsan & clean the mounting hole inside & out...all around that area as well.
Then rinse the PBW off the parts,dip in starsan,& re-assemble onto fermenter. Be sure not to overtighten where seal is squeezed out from behind the sealing surface of the spigot main body. This is the same as being loose. So just get used to proper cleaning & set up of the spigot & you'll have no problems.
Only ONCE did I have even 1L of cold break/trub,& that was at the very begining & it compacted to about 3/8" over the 3 weeks it was in primary.
Absolutely every time,the trub was well beneath the level of the spigots.
Sometimes I think those gallons of cold break,trub,etc are from dumping everything loose in the BK,& then all going into the FV. you can't do that & keep trub losses down to a minimum. It's simple physics. Always use hop sacks for pellet hops,grain sacks for whole leaf hops. I use a dual layer fine mesh strainer on top of the fermenters when pouring in chilled wort & top off water in a circular motion. This makes the liquid come out the bottom of the strainer like rain,aerating the wort. Besides not getting excess gunk into the FV. A little work now saves cleaning more mess later,& gives more clear beer to the bottling bucket. This is a simple system that will work as described.

unionrdr said:

A lot of this negativity about fermenters with spigots is just plain wrong. you have to remove the spigot & it's connecting parts & soak them in PBW. a 2C measure or good size coffee mug is great for this. Then get some aquarium lift tube brushes. They usually come in sets of three for a couple bucks. Great for cleaning the spout (small brush),& mainbody,seals & jam nut (medium size). Also,take a soft cloth dipped in starsan & clean the mounting hole inside & out...all around that area as well.
Then rinse the PBW off the parts,dip in starsan,& re-assemble onto fermenter. Be sure not to overtighten where seal is squeezed out from behind the sealing surface of the spigot main body. This is the same as being loose. So just get used to proper cleaning & set up of the spigot & you'll have no problems.
Only ONCE did I have even 1L of cold break/trub,& that was at the very begining & it compacted to about 3/8" over the 3 weeks it was in primary.
Absolutely every time,the trub was well beneath the level of the spigots.
Sometimes I think those gallons of cold break,trub,etc are from dumping everything loose in the BK,& then all going into the FV. you can't do that & keep trub losses down to a minimum. It's simple physics. Always use hop sacks for pellet hops,grain sacks for whole leaf hops. I use a dual layer fine mesh strainer on top of the fermenters when pouring in chilled wort & top off water in a circular motion. This makes the liquid come out the bottom of the strainer like rain,aerating the wort. Besides not getting excess gunk into the FV. A little work now saves cleaning more mess later,& gives more clear beer to the bottling bucket. This is a simple system that will work as described.

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Great information. The 3 weeks (or more) in the primary is a key factor that really makes a big difference in the quality and clarity of your final product.

Patience (sometimes a difficult thing for new brewers) pays off.

bosco

Not only patience,but noobs & even experienced brewers can /need to learn how to improve their process. Seems to me that this is lacking somewhat of late. Too many want to know how to get point "B" without learning the many intricacies of getting to pointB. Namely,the process improvements that need to be understood first. My previous reply is only one of them.
There are many little details that when understood,would negate a lot of back & forth phylosophical arguing. What some deem anectdotal has been proven a few times over in some instances by folks like me,for instance. Sure,it's part of a process that works for me,but doesn't it stand to reason that it'll work for others too?! Tweaking our processes is a main facet of brewing for us all.