ndinh
Well-Known Member
I have a 6.5g plastic BMB from Northern. I'll sell it for $20 for those in the Los Angeles area. Used it once, not happy with it. It'll also come with the dual port lid in addition to the single port one.
Plastic Big Mouth Bubbler
- Thread starter sabitu
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
mrgrimm101
Well-Known Member
I scratched the bottom of my 6.5 gallon plastic Big Mouth bubbler easily. I was soaking it in Oxyclean free when I put in my racking cane and autosiphon to give them a soak as well, and while they were in there, they must have rubbed against the bottom because now there are several scratches and I'm pretty worried about using it in the future. I didn't do anything that I wouldn't have done in my buckets..
I wouldn't worry about it. Light surface scratches are not likely to harbor anything. You probably HAVE done the same thing in your buckets, but just can't see them as easily due to the white color.
mrgrimm101
Well-Known Member
I hope so. I'm going to use it next time and keep my fingers crossed.
jwalker1140
Well-Known Member
I think there's a lot of needless hand-wringing out there over scratches like this. If bacteria can get into that scratch, so too can StarSan to kill it. Just clean well and sanitize and you'll be fine.
mrgrimm101
Well-Known Member
Ok thanks for helping ease my mind. I'm just going to make sure to let it soak in PBW and then StarSan before I use it next. Fingers crossed
I wouldn't use mine for anything but a bucket to wash the car. Worst piece of equipment I've ever bought. I tried it 4 times and each time it would lose the seal after only 4 or 5 days. Nothing worse than having to take apart an active fermentation to re-fit the lid twice a week. Even teflon tape didn't help. They just will not hold a seal. It's hard plastic against hard plastic. Fine for primary, but unfit for anything else.
mrgrimm101
Well-Known Member
I primary in it no problems so far. I go back every couple days to make sure the lid is screwed on tight and the bung is securely in the lid..but I dont consider that to be a hinderance. I check on it every couple days anyway
Been a while since I was on here, sorry. I knew I was getting no seal because my fermentation lock quit bubbling on a 2-day old ferment. I would take it apart, reseal, and it would start bubbling immediately and bubble like mad for 2-days. Then it'd quit again. I'd do this every 2 days for 2 solid weeks. These things are junk.
I think the most important thing to realize here is that the plastic BMB is not designed to be a secondary. They are supposed to be a primary, where a perfect seal is not important.
It would be great if they worked well as secondary, since it would make using dry hops and other large things easy to add and clean, but unless someone sells a good gasket to go with it, I don't' see this thing as sealing air tight.
Actually, I think that if you were to purge the air out when adding dry hops, using some CO2 from a kegging tank, you could easily get away with using it as a secondary for the length of time a beer needed to be dry hopping. I wouldn't use it to age a barleywine though.
It would be great if they worked well as secondary, since it would make using dry hops and other large things easy to add and clean, but unless someone sells a good gasket to go with it, I don't' see this thing as sealing air tight.
Actually, I think that if you were to purge the air out when adding dry hops, using some CO2 from a kegging tank, you could easily get away with using it as a secondary for the length of time a beer needed to be dry hopping. I wouldn't use it to age a barleywine though.
mrgrimm101
Well-Known Member
Several batches later and still no problems. My previous batch I almost had a blowout so I had to rig a blowoff quick..I ended up having some beer come through the threads and down the side. It was still tight, but it leaked all the same. No problems though..I just wiped it up and it finished up no problem.
My current batch I rigged the blowoff from the get-go, and of course it didn't need it. I will be putting the airlock on in a day or 2, just to be certain.
My current batch I rigged the blowoff from the get-go, and of course it didn't need it. I will be putting the airlock on in a day or 2, just to be certain.
