Can I use a 7-gal plastic bucket for Seconday Fermentation?

I was wondering if I could use a 7-gallon plastic bucket for secondary ferm. instead of 5-gallon glass carboy? If I did this, would there be a difference?

With a secondary, you won't need the extra space that you might with a primary, so all that will do is put more air on top of the brew. This will get displaced with CO2 as it ferments, but one thing that I had been told was that once the primary fermentation is done, you want to limit that exposure. That is why most will primary in a 6.5G carboy or bucket, and secondary in a 5G.

That said, as long as it is food grade, not scratched, and has a lid that will seal and accept an airlock, it should work.

I thought plastic was not a good choice for secondary as it is not 100% air tight it will eventually oxidize.

does a 5 gallon glass carboy fit all of a 5 gallon batch of brew? how much air space is left at the top?

Just to the edge where it starts to taper(on the 18.7 liter) I measured one gal at a time and made marks on my buckets and glass. Most everyone says boil as much of the 5 gallons as you can but if you come up short you can top off to 5 gal with clean sanitary water.....The reason I made marks was to figure priming sugar if I was short.

voodoochild7 said:

I thought plastic was not a good choice for secondary as it is not 100% air tight it will eventually oxidize.

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That's true if it's a Barleywine or other big beer that will sit in secondary for months. Plastic is porous and will allow air to pass through but over a great deal of time. So for most beers that will sit in secondary from 2-4 weeks, a bucket will work just fine.

Wild