Lowes 5 gallon grey buckets.

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dougf

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Just wanted to share this with everyone, I know its been discussed already.

Just purchased 5.5 gallon 'HDPE 2' grey buckets from Lowes for $2.65, checked the companies website and they state the HDPE 2 containers ARE food safe because they use "a virgin FDA approved resin". Heres the website: http://www.e-encore.com/FAQpolyethylene.html

They effectively hold 5.5 gallons, so they should be good for 90% of my brews without the need for a blowoff.

Just thought I would share this for anyone wanting/needing some fermentation buckets. :mug:
 
I was just talking about using buckets for no-chill brewing today with one of my brew bodies. He was thinking that rather than using an aquatainer that a 5-5.5 gallon hdpe bucket could take the heat of boiling wort and since it was smaller than a standard fermenter bucket that it would vacuum nicely as the wort was cooling. I'm skeptical about it's heat retention capabilities, but it would be interesting to see.
 
The temperature of wort should not be too much for the buckets, especially if you allow it cool just a little before adding to the bucket. I don't know of a food grade plastic that won't handle 200 degrees.
I have only seen a bucket fail from high temp once and it was full of hot fryer oil.
 
On the link I posted in the OP it states these particular buckets are good from 160F to -5F. Should be just fine within these recommendations.
 
I'm going to need two 5.5 gallon buckets to serve as secondaries for some lager batches. I'd like to purchase them at either ace, lowes, or home depot for convenience. I found this thread. I don't think the conclusions drawn are correct. The grey lowes bucket clearly says it is recycled material, look in the specifications section. The translucent paint bucket just says HDPE. I don't think the grey would qualify as food safe, using recycled material, but who knows. Anyway, I'm probably going with the paint bucket. Is this my best bet at these stores for a 5.5 gallon bucket?

http://www.lowes.com/pd_161932-1152-56511_0_?productId=3161267&Ntt=bucket&Ntk=i_products&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntk=i_products$rpp=15$No=30$Ntt=bucket$identifier=
 
smata, the gray colorant is not an problem. The recycled content depends if the material went through a washing line or was just swept up off the floor. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell.
 
Just because it's made of recycled materials doesn't mean it's not food safe. Products made from recycled materials can be perfectly food safe. It just depends on what those recycled materials are.

Edit: Yeah, what he said.
 
I picked up two of these buckets the other day. My question is, what would be the effects of using ingredients meant for a 5 gallon batch into something smaller, say 4.5 gallons. Obviously a higher OG and more intense flavors/smells/etc, but are there any real problems with it? I'm just a little hesitent to put a full 5 gallons in here knowing that it will only leave an inch or two of headspace.
 
I was just at Lowes a couple weeks ago and the grey bucket I looked at was not a number 1 or 2 bucket. I would check your buckets before you buy them. They may have changed the material they use to make them. Home Depot Homer Buckets are however number 2 and food safe.
 
I use Lowe's Grey buckets for everything, No problems so far. I just scale down my recipes to about 4 gallons to give enough head space.

Only down side would be the lids. While the snap on tight, i don't think they seal as well as a lid with rubber stripping. The lid and bucket are marked HDPE #2

EDIT: as mentioned before the Lowe's Buckets Made by Encore Plastics are HDPE food grade. Just checked the manufacturer
 
Ya know, I'm all for saving cash, but when you consider that you use your fermenter over and over, the added cost per batch of getting a nice 6+ gallon bucket/lid vs a cheapie 5 gallon Homer-type bucket is nothing.
 
Bingo! Look here:

http://www.e-encore.com/FAQPails.html

All Encore pails that are white are made of virgin, food safe HDPE. The Econo Blend line which is only made in grey and black are made of recycled material and are not food grade. Now I need to find out if "natural" is transparent, those would be nice to get ahold of and I know where to get them. I might go with white buckets and transparent tops to ensure no skunking.

I would also like to add that if you like at the product spec sheets, they have both a 640 oz (5 gallon) and 677 oz (5 1/2 gallon) of slightly different heights, the larger one would probably work great as a secondary as long as you don't have to move it around much, though you can always snap on the top before moving to keep things from sloshing around.
 
Ok Guys, I got hooked up on the bucket search from a brew friend of mine. Do you want a new brew bucket? Do you want one for free? Do you mind it it is only 4 gallons? If you go to your local grocery store that has a bakery, donunt shop, or bakery. The buckets they use that hold icing are food grade, white, and 4 gallons. If you ask nicely, and tell them what you are using them for. They will save them for you, even call you when they get a few saved up.

Ok I know they are not 6.5 gallons, but the up side to them are they are free, and allows you to do test batches.
 
Hi everyone,

I'm not a homebrewer but found this discussion (and a few others that are similar) when looking for a bucket for food storage, and thought I'd chime in for future reference when people find this page via search.

I recently bought 50 lbs. of flour and need a way to store it. I decided that my preference, if affordable, was to buy new buckets as opposed to begging for them at local bakeries (what a pain, and who knows what those buckets have been through).

I have a Lowe's right down the street. It does appear, according to comments here, that these buckets change from time to time, so it is important to go and actually look at them. The ones I found are labeled with a "2" in the recycling triangle, and are also stamped "HDPE" underneath. It is also clearly labeled as being manufactured by Encore Plastics.

As previously mentioned, the Encore HDPE (high-density polyethylene) buckets are food-safe according to the manufacturer here: http://www.e-encore.com/FAQpolyethylene.html. Based on the labeling (the HDPE stamp), I am confident that these grey buckets ARE NOT the "Econo-Blend" material that is also mentioned on the Encore website as being non-food safe.

One thing about the Lowe's buckets: the lids are an extremely tight fit. I could not get it off in the store, and neither could the first or second employee I talked to. Finally, a manager showed us that the best method is to place the bucket on the ground between your feet, and use both hands to pull up on one spot. Hopefully this won't be an issue, but since I'm storing food, it seems good that the lid is tight.

I am giving the buckets a good wash and will then fill them up. Best of luck to all you homebrewers--sounds like a hobby I'd like to try myself one day!
 
elite33 said:
Hi everyone,

I'm not a homebrewer but found this discussion (and a few others that are similar) when looking for a bucket for food storage, and thought I'd chime in for future reference when people find this page via search.

I recently bought 50 lbs. of flour and need a way to store it. I decided that my preference, if affordable, was to buy new buckets as opposed to begging for them at local bakeries (what a pain, and who knows what those buckets have been through).

I have a Lowe's right down the street. It does appear, according to comments here, that these buckets change from time to time, so it is important to go and actually look at them. The ones I found are labeled with a "2" in the recycling triangle, and are also stamped "HDPE" underneath. It is also clearly labeled as being manufactured by Encore Plastics.

As previously mentioned, the Encore HDPE (high-density polyethylene) buckets are food-safe according to the manufacturer here: http://www.e-encore.com/FAQpolyethylene.html. Based on the labeling (the HDPE stamp), I am confident that these grey buckets ARE NOT the "Econo-Blend" material that is also mentioned on the Encore website as being non-food safe.

One thing about the Lowe's buckets: the lids are an extremely tight fit. I could not get it off in the store, and neither could the first or second employee I talked to. Finally, a manager showed us that the best method is to place the bucket on the ground between your feet, and use both hands to pull up on one spot. Hopefully this won't be an issue, but since I'm storing food, it seems good that the lid is tight.

I am giving the buckets a good wash and will then fill them up. Best of luck to all you homebrewers--sounds like a hobby I'd like to try myself one day!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I don't know if you'll be around still to see this, but I thought I'd give YOU a tip for taking the time to post this in our humble forum.

I've found that this 1.00 tool is the best thing for opening plastic buckets.

hook-large.jpg


:mug:
 
Lowe's grey 5 gallon HDPE 2 buckets are NOT food grade. They are from the Econo-Blend line which are not food grade. See link below.

http://www.e-encore.com/FAQPails.html

I found this out by searching the model number of the grey buckets sporting the Lowe's logo. I took a picture of the model number from my local Lowe's (but I don't think I'm allowed to post it because I'm a free member of the forum) showing the model number (Model 57640). See link below for description of model and that it belongs to Econo-Blend line. (Scroll to "Industrial Pales", then Model 57640)

http://www.e-encore.com/SundryProd.htm

Just wanted to update this so that anyone (like me) will know for sure that these particular buckets are not food grade. However, the Mix-N-Measure 5 gallon buckets, from all the information I could find, are food grade.
 
Now I'm just more confused.

maffewl, I see your point, but am not totally convinced. I see that the model number you cite is also listed on the Lowe's page, but I do not see any model number on my actual buckets. Based on the Lowe's buckets that other people have described elsewhere, I think that the exact bucket models sold by Lowe's have changed from time to time (and perhaps from store to store). It's possible that your store has different buckets than mine, or perhaps just never changed their product code when the product model changed.

The reason I still believe that these are food-safe is because my buckets ARE clearly stamped with the HDPE label. According to the Encore page about their polyethylene products (http://www.e-encore.com/FAQpolyethylene.html), ALL of their HDPE products ARE virgin material and ARE food safe. (Unlike the other general bucket page, there is no regrind material exception.) This is an HDPE product, so I can only but assume that it is thus food safe.

Revvy, where does one find such a wonderful tool?
 

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