Carboy as a Primary

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Cherry Bottom Brewing

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I was thinking about picking up another carboy to use as a primary fermenter. Up to now, I have been using a 6.5 gallon plasic bucket, but I was thinking about getting a carboy in addition. Since this will be used as a primay (I have two 5 gallon carboys for secondaries) should I get a 6.5 gallon so that there is enough headspace for the kraussen?
 
No you would not need a 6.5 gal. carboy you could use a 5 gal. and a blowoff tube instead .

I think John Palmer in his book "How to Brew" says it's good to have a blow off.

But a 6.5 gal would eliminate the need for a blowoff tube under most circumstances.
 
abracadabra said:
No you would not need a 6.5 gal. carboy you could use a 5 gal. and a blowoff tube instead .

I think John Palmer in his book "How to Brew" says it's good to have a blow off.

But a 6.5 gal would eliminate the need for a blowoff tube under most circumstances.
Click to expand...

Not always true my friend, I have made pleanty of beers that would still need a blow off tube with a 6.5 gallon carboy.
 
I would get the 6.5 gallon size. Better Bottles are rather nice too, so you might consider one of those but they are limited to 6 gallons which I find work well.
 
Get the bigger carboy and the blow-off tubing, there will be a time in your brewing career that you'll be glad you have it.
 
I was happy this weekend to have a 6.5 gallon carboy because I overshot the amount of beer I made by almost a gallon. It fit nicely into the 6.5.
 
Why bother with a carboy primary at all? It takes me under a minute to clean a bucket. A carboy? Not so much. IMO, a bucket is just as safe for the beer from a few days to a couple of weeks.
 
it only takes a minute to clean a carboy...what's the difference? glass is generally easier to clean then plastic. you don't have to worry about scratches or staining. you can see what's happening in a carboy. there's a ton of advantages to glass carboys. only downside is they can break...and that can be helped with a handle and taking some care
 
The main reason that I went with glass was that i wanted to be able to see what was hapening inside. I keep my carboys in a dark closet, but it's nice to be able check on them to see the beer clearing in the secondary, and I wanted to "see" what hapens during the primary fermentation. I will proabaly be using my plastic bucket as a bottleing bucket from now on.
 
Otis The Drunk said:
Not always true my friend, I have made pleanty of beers that would still need a blow off tube with a 6.5 gallon carboy.
Click to expand...


Otis try to read and understand the comment before you start correcting people.

I said under most circumstances not all circumstances.
 
abracadabra said:
But a 6.5 gal would eliminate the need for a blowoff tube under most circumstances.
Click to expand...

I'm about to brew an IIPA(SG 1.093) on the yeast cake of my blueberry ale (pre-fruit). I have a 6.5 gallon glass carboy that i use for the primary. We'll see if your statement holds up! ;)

With cheesefood's CCA #1, my blow-off tube was a solid stream of CO2 for almost 18 hours.

P.S. I'm rigging a blow-off tube just in case anyways.
 
Cherry Bottom Brewing said:
The main reason that I went with glass was that i wanted to be able to see what was hapening inside. I keep my carboys in a dark closet, but it's nice to be able check on them to see the beer clearing in the secondary, and I wanted to "see" what hapens during the primary fermentation. I will proabaly be using my plastic bucket as a bottleing bucket from now on.
Click to expand...
This is why I like a glass carboy for fermentation as well.
Also, you run the risk of scratches in a plastic fermenter.
 

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