Adding spigot to fermenter

Total newb here so I get to ask the newb questions in the newb forum

Q1: Why would I not add a spigot to my fermentor? Would this not aid in transfering to the bottling bucket? Would too much liquid be left behind? Is it too hard to sanitize? Why dont all fermentation buckets come with a spigot like all the bottling buckets do?

Q2: Is there any problem/benefit with filtering my beer before bottling? I would not be filtering down to the size of yeast cells and could do the process without aeration (I think). Just wondering.

Thanks!

For question 1 because when moving beer you want to rack ABOVE the sediment layer, leaving any solids behind, your spigot will take sediment with the beer. Since sediment is down where the spigot is.

I know some folks do it. But if you're worried so much about sediment in your beer that you're already consider a filtering setup (which I think is a waste of time and money) then obviously you have issue with gunk....

If you.re bottle conditioning you beer, there will ALWAYS be some sediment in the bottom of the bottle. That's an inevitble part of bottle conditioned beers regardless of whether they're homebrew or commercial beers.

Whether you secondary or not, you're always going to have some.

This is my yeastcake for my Sri Lankin Stout that sat in primary for 5 weeks. Us-04 yeast IIRC.

Notice how tight the yeast cake is? None of that got racked over to my bottling bucket. And the beer is extremely clear.



That little bit of beer to the right is all of the 5 gallons that DIDN'T get vaccumed off the surface of the tight trub. Note how clear it is, there's little if any floaties in there.

When I put 5 gallons in my fermenter, I tend to get 5 gallons into bottles. The cake itself is like cement, it's about an inch thick and very, very dense, you can't just tilt your bucket and have it fall out. I had to use water pressure to get it to come out.

I was able to just siphon right off the top of the cake, like vacuming dirt off the carpet.



This is the last little bit of the same beer in the bottling bucket, this is the only sediment that made it though and that was done on purpose, when I rack I always make sure to rub the autosiphon across the bottom of the primary to make sure there's plenty of yeast in suspension to carb the beer, but my bottles are all crystal clear and have little sediment in them.

Half the time I forget to use moss, and you can't tell the difference in clarity.

I get the barest hint of sediment in my bottles....just enough for the yeast to have done the job of carbonating the beer.

The longer you chill your bottled beer, the further tighter your bottle sediment will be. I recommend a week. But the longer you leave it the less will come out. I have bottles in my fridge for months that when I pour them they are extremely clear, not a hint of sediment falls through, and there is no chill haze.

But even if you have sediment, who cares? You leave it behind when you pour anyway. It's called pouring to the shoulder.



And you might want to read this about Bottle conditioned beers.

Q1: i see no reason not to add a spigot. you will find that you actually are able to extract more liquid than with a handheld siphon. once it's almost empty you just tilt the bucket forward gently. as far as sanitation goes, what i do (and many others) is buy a cheap spray bottle at home depot and fill it with starsan or other sanitizer. then spray the spigot to sanitize. i have a spigot on all 6 of my buckets and have not had an infection in 42 batches of homebrew.

Q1: There are multiple issues. Spigots provide places for microbes to hide, it makes the fermenter hard to clean, they are notorious for leaking (not a huge issue when used for bottling since the beer is only in there for 20-30 minutes). You can modify a spigot with a dip tube as to not leave any beer in the bucket (see Revvy's bottling thread for details). However, if you use a spigot to transfer the beer out of primary you are going to pull all of the trub/yeast that has settled to the bottom during fermentation. For this reason we typically use syphons to move beer (i.e. go in through the top). There is also a risk of introducing air as the beer moves through the spigot.

Q2: You can certainly filter and there are multiple thread on setup, procurdure, etc. on this forum. Keep in mind that you'll probably strip all of the yeast and so bottle conditioning/carbonation will be a no-go (or so I would think). You'll need a keg setup to fore carbonate or add bottling yeast.

i've never had any trub come thru my spigots. some came pre-drilled, nsome i drilled myself, but all of them are always slightly above the yeast cake. i always end up tilting the bucket to get the last remaining liquid, and like revvy i end up with a well compacted, un-harmed yeast cake.

Just a thought guys, almost everyone uses stainless mesh hose as a filter for AG brewing. Why not get a barbed stainless fitting put it on your spigot and run a stainless braided hose? It would filter any chance whatsoever of trub getting in your bucket and if you run enough length to put the hose in the bottom of your bucket, you run less chance of aerating the beer.

unionrdr said:

The trub would cover the filter hose in primary.

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Touche I see your point.

If the Spigot were high enough off the bottom it would prevent anything from getting through.

However it's pointless in the aspect of the amount that would get through is minimal anyway.

My main fermenter is a 6.5 gallon bucket with a white spigot mounted on it. It is mounted a couple inches up the side an has no dip tube. I use the spigot to draw hydrometer/taste samples throughout fermentation. It is very handy. I do not use the spigot to transfer the wort out, I use a regular racking cane. I take the spigot off the bucket and clean and sanitize it separately when I clean the fermenter. I wouldn't want to use a bucket without a spigot because I take at least a few hydrometer samples throughout fermentation and the spigot makes it very easy.

OP
on Q1 - I use a bottling bucket for my primary and don't have a problem. However, I brew either a wheat or a brown or darker, so I'm not sure I could tell. I can't remember the last amber or lighter I brewed. One reason is that usually spicketted buckets are a few bucks more than ones without. Although the cost of an autoshypon is more than that difference. You are free to try what you want, and can see that people here have had differing results.

One caution on drilling your own - make sure you are up far enough and don't catch the bottom.

Thanks all for the great replies. Sounds like its a YMMV thing. I will try both and see how it goes.

I know this is an old thread but what about putting a spigot on the ferment or around the 2 to 3 gallon mark....it would not be for transferring to the bottling bucket or secondary but specifically for taking samples so you don't have to keep opening the lid and pulling a sample out with a beer thief or turkey baster. Anyone see problems with that? You think the infection risk you be too high?

Why not use the spigot on the buttom? Contrary to other thoughts, the bottom spigot is high enough and typically doesn't pull any true out.

Yeah, my buckets have spigots installed at 1" from the bottom. No problem with the yeast going to the bottling bucket.

I was thinking of installing one...my fermentation bucket does not have one...I'm not worried about the yeast but thought if you installed it in the center of the bucket you may get a cleaner pull for a hydrometer sample

I rarely take a gravity reading after fermentation anymore so I do not need a spigot. My fermenters sit on the bottom of my chamber. That would make the use of the spigot to take a sample a PITA. I would have to take the fermenter out then take a reading then but it back.

I find an autosiphon easy to use and it eliminates any worry of a leaking spigot.

I use Better Bottles so removing a stopper is a lot easier than removing a bucket lid.

Even if you would want a spigot, using better bottle i don't know how would you install it.
Ale_Jail: i don't want to go through the hassle of drilling my bucket and installing a spigot if i will not be able to rack the beer with it, simple as that. Hydrometer readings aren't too important to me, without a spigor i don't think i would get them. I tend to take hydrometer samples just to be able to test the brew.

I've installed spigots in all my fermentors, and that made racking way easier for me. No open lids and to take a sample is a whole lot easier. When it comes to cleaning in between beers i remove it from the fermentor and use a garden hose "gun" and spray it with high pressure water coming straight out of the house HLT.

I'm maybe taking the whole oxygen-thing a bit further than most people, but with a spigot I'm able to transfer the beer without adding more (more or less) oxygen that was already present. I keg all my beers (those bottled I bottle with a counter pressure filler from the small "botteling keg") so I'm able to do a closed loop where I purge the keg, depressurize it so some co2 is present to seal the lid. Then I have a tube going from the gas out and into the hole where the airlock was, I connect the liquid post of the keg to the spigot, and now I have a closed loop while filling the keg.

I started buying fermentor buckets without spigots. Makes for easier cleaning, sanitizing and arranging in the ferm chamber.

MattyIce said:

I started buying fermentor buckets without spigots. Makes for easier cleaning, sanitizing and arranging in the ferm chamber.

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I don't get this. Removing and cleaning the spigot takes 60 seconds max. keep it somewhere until needed, then put it in the fermentor, and let some of the star-san you use run through it before bottling. Since it's not in the fermentor which is not in use the fermentor is still stackable.

Isn't this normal procedure? IMO i doesn't take much.

I never stack my buckets. They could get scratched up inside doing that habitually,.

Smellyglove said:

I don't get this. Removing and cleaning the spigot takes 60 seconds max. keep it somewhere until needed, then put it in the fermentor, and let some of the star-san you use run through it before bottling. Since it's not in the fermentor which is not in use the fermentor is still stackable.

Isn't this normal procedure? IMO i doesn't take much.

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I am in the minority for sure. I don't stack fermentors, but a spigot makes arranging fermentors in the chamber a little more of a hassle.

I bottle from a keg, so I just don't have much use for a spigot any more. Far fewer places for nasties without the spigot. Works for me 😊

unionrdr said:

I never stack my buckets. They could get scratched up inside doing that habitually,.

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That's a good point.

I don't use a spigot for the fear of it breaking or leaking and wasting my precious brew!! Plus a mess to clean...

I turn the spigot sideways when I have to set it on the floor while racking or the like. It just takes some presence of mind while working with them. I like to try to keep my mind on what I'm doing atm. I'll drink HB's when the job's done.

Same here. Being drunk or in a hurry often leads to mistakes somewhere in the process.

Being a homebrewer is exactly the same as being an astronaut. I bet a pilot being drunk or in a hurry because he has to be home for supper would break a leg on the lunar module while attempting to land on the moon.

hockeybrewer said:

I don't use a spigot for the fear of it breaking or leaking and wasting my precious brew!! Plus a mess to clean...

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Probably you've seen some crappy spigots to think it could break as easily. Mine are very well made and i would have a hard time trying to break one.
That been said, i am still a begginer brewer, maybe in time i will see the need to get rid of spigots. For now i like them.

I installed a spigot on my second brew ever in my 6gal fermenter. I wanted it for bottling, because I bottle prime. I'm now wishing to convert this fermenter with spigot to a bottling bucket because I'm only 9 brews in and bottle priming is a pain, even with a spigot. So now I'll have two buckets with spigots for easy samples, bottle filling and use my syphon hose from one spigot to the bottling bucket without adding oxygen hopefully.

I always shoot starsan up the spigot after a pour.

So fo you keg now (bottling priming is a pain)? I asume that you make a water-sugar syrup with all the priming sugar and mix it with the beer before bottling.
I have seen somebody connecting the hose from the fermenter spigot to the bottling spigot, and filling this way the bottling bucket. For sure you won't get any oxygen, but i simply put the hose on the bottom of the bucket and don't get any splashes.

I want to move into kegging one day, but up until now I was putting dextrose into my bottles, and fill straight from my primary spigot. It seemed to be working for a while, but the inconsistent carbonation has me wanting a 5-6gal bottling bucket with a spigot as well, so I can create the dextrose syrup yes and prime it then just bottle directly from bottling bucket for a more consistent carb in the bottle.

I used to have spigots on all of my fermenters. I drilled the hole for them up a bit higher than it would be on a bottling bucket, made for easy transfer. I only stopped because I got tired of cleaning the spigots and eventually replaced those buckets with new ones and never drilled any holes in them.

estricklin said:

I used to have spigots on all of my fermenters. I drilled the hole for them up a bit higher than it would be on a bottling bucket, made for easy transfer. I only stopped because I got tired of cleaning the spigots and eventually replaced those buckets with new ones and never drilled any holes in them.

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Glad I am not the only one with this line of thinking.:fro:

Smellyglove said:

I've installed spigots in all my fermentors, and that made racking way easier for me. No open lids and to take a sample is a whole lot easier. When it comes to cleaning in between beers i remove it from the fermentor and use a garden hose "gun" and spray it with high pressure water coming straight out of the house HLT.

I'm maybe taking the whole oxygen-thing a bit further than most people, but with a spigot I'm able to transfer the beer without adding more (more or less) oxygen that was already present. I keg all my beers (those bottled I bottle with a counter pressure filler from the small "botteling keg") so I'm able to do a closed loop where I purge the keg, depressurize it so some co2 is present to seal the lid. Then I have a tube going from the gas out and into the hole where the airlock was, I connect the liquid post of the keg to the spigot, and now I have a closed loop while filling the keg.

Click to expand...

I'm a firm believer that oxygen is what makes most homebrewed IPAs suck. I have done close system transfers from my glass carboys but pressurizing glass (even small psi) makes me extremely nervous. I think I'm going to get some buckets with spigots to make easy transferring (conical won't fit my setup). I like your idea of closed system transferring to the keg. My question is, what size hose are you using all of your CO2 post to insert it into the lid hole on your bucket/fermentor? And using the liquid side to 'rack' the beer from the spigot to... is gravity enough to fill the keg? I was planning on running out the spigot into the top of a purged keg, keeping it mostly covered with a papertowel dipped in sanitizer. Your way sounds better if I can work out all the right size hoses.

Cheers!