Buckets!!!!

SWMBO has been sick for the last week (has a form of Lupus & gets colds, etc easily...) and I went grocery shopping by myself after work today. While I was there, I stopped by the bakery to inquire about plastic pails. They girl there frosting a cake, said they get a couple sizes and that they just toss them in the recycling. She said they had a few empties around and that if I wanted them she would wash them right away. I finished my shopping, checked out and swung back by the bakery to pick up:

The large ones are 15L and the smaller ones are 4L. They all have lids but no seals. Due to size & lack of seal, they won't work as fermenters, but will make for good storage and fluid transfer. The best part is the price!:rockin:

great score
i would love something like that for my grain.

I wonder how hard it would be to add some kind of gasket to the lids for those... Could be a project for someone around here.

when swmbo and I were shopping around for wedding cakes I asked the lady at one of the bakeries if they had any extra frosting buckets, and sure enough, they did. I scored two 3 gallon pails. I am not fermenting in them, but from my short 9 months of homebrewing experience, you can never have enough buckets.

Due to size & lack of seal, they won't work as fermenters

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Don't discount them as fermenters just yet. A tight seal actually isn't necessary- germs can't climb. These could work for experimental batches.

I am currently doing a small batch of beer in those types of buckets. I made the hole and attached a blow off tube, but it wasn't necessary. The seals allowed the CO2 to escape and so far it smells great! Plus, they fit nicely in a regular cooler, which keeps the temps stable and with the lid closed most of the time CO2 fills the cooler for more protection. Win Win!

Free buckets

Great score!

if you wanted to, you could run a thin bead of food-safe silicone around the inside lid, and let it dry.

A word of caution, though. Silicone and plastic don't stick together well. So you might end up with the gasket falling out.

Does Mc Master have o-rings that size?

Talk to summersolstice. He ferments wine in this.

It's a trashcan, bungee cord, and what looks like a t-shirt.

will_cbe said:

Talk to summersolstice. He ferments wine in this.
It's a trashcan, bungee cord, and what looks like a t-shirt.

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+1 Fermenters are very flexible things. As long as the plastic is roughly food-grade, then nothing bad should come of it. Same with airlocks, they're nice, but not completely necessary - as long as airborne bugs and wild yeast can't fall into it, it's technically good enough.

Yeah I don't understand where this " fermenters must be air tight" came from and why so many people think it's law. The only time you would want or need it to be is if you use pressure (like co2) to move or rack the beer and if you are going to balk age the beer for a long time it's nice to have it sealed but still not a big deal if it's not.

^^^^^^^ I agree w/ the above ^^^^^^

Active fermentation produces a good deal of CO2. A recent post detailed approx. 569 litres of CO2 produced and expelled during fermentation. While I agree that an airlock is useful and beneficial during an extended aging period, I just don't see much value during a primary or short 7-14 day fermentation.

Lately, I have just been sealing w/ saran wrap or alum foil over the actual lid. I think airlocks actually cause more grief and mess for noobs during active ferments, and tend to cause accidents ending up w/ beer on the ceiling and walls. The last thing I want on my fermenter at peak kruesen is a "lock" of any kind. I guess I learned the hard way back in the late eighties.

Be sanitary and pitch a healthy yeast culture, either dry or a slurry, and IMO the wort will pretty much fend for itself for a week or two. At that point I'm looking to keg and purge w/ CO2.

Sorry to vent (hah, no pun intended), but I think new brewers feel compelled to seal their fermentors like some sort of contamination is tryng to invade the precious brew, in reality that's just not the case and is unwarranted.

Mike

Nice score. Doughnut Shops are a great place to look as well. The LDS will sell me food grade 4.5 gallon buckets that the filling comes in for $1. A little small for the batches I do, but I love having them around!

Cool, I hadn't really thought much about experimental batches. I am planning on a grain mill for x-mas and was figuring that a bunch of these buckets would work well for storing bulk grains. I think once I get going with that, I will start with some experimentals.

I was discounting them as fermenters more for the size than the lack of a seal. I am not quite that paranoid.

I love getting a bargain ~ especially if it is free!! All I had to do was use my masculine wiles and she not only gave them to me, she dropped everything to go wash them!!

VERY NICE FIND THERE, Mr Goodwrench!!
I'll hit the local bakery (Publix, and Walmart, perhaps) and see if I can score some of the smaller ones -would love to use 'em in some smaller experimental beers (still trying to learn Beersmith -but know that it will easily recalculate batches for whatever target size you want -and of course, there are other calculators out there).
Ideas like these are why I love this forum. Think I'll hit the better half up for some bread and become a premium member.
I work to bring it in, but she regulates it. how the hell did that happen, anyway??!?

isn't it common to put just a cloth over a bucket during primary fermentation? These look fine for that.

I just posted this in another thread, but in case you don't find it there...

Buckets identical in size, shape, and volume to the 6.5gallon "Ale Pail" can be found as close as your local winemaker store... My father-in-law makes his own wine, and while he used to get grapes and press them, recently he's switched to just buying juice. The buckets that his juice comes in are exactly the same at what we're sold as primary fermenters - "food grade" and everything!

All you need to do is drill a 1/2" hole in the lid and install a $0.35 airlock gasket.
Oh, and get a measuring cup & a Sharpie to make your gallon marks on the side...

In case you're wondering, yeah, the buckets do smell like juice when I get them from my father-in-law... but a 3 minute scrub with some dish detergent and the only smell left is... nothing! (actually, the faint smell of plastic...).

BAM! Tell you local homebrew shop to take their $15 buckets and SHOVE 'em! (It really bugs me that they charge that much for a @#$@ BUCKET.)

(and if anybody lives in Chicago, I'll be happy to share! I've got more buckets than I know what to do with, and easy access to more.)

OP, awesome find !

as far as brewing with a trashcan... I have been told that the plastic HAS to be food grade, due to regular plastic releasing toxic chemicals??is this incorrect ?? I know for automotive painting, before you paint any plastic, you must BAKE the plastic to release the oils for about 1/2 hour. I wonder if this would work for brewing too ! ??

mr_goodwrench said:

They all have lids but no seals. Due to size & lack of seal, they won't work as fermenters, but will make for good storage and fluid transfer. The best part is the price!:rockin:

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My conical fermenter has a lid that just sits on top and I have no problems at all.

I'm fortunate. I work at a college and anyone that wants 5 gallon buckets with lids can stop by the cafe and carry them away by the dozen. I thought about drilling the lids and selling them on ebay. LOL

I've made several fermenters with icing buckets, I especially like the 3.5 gallon ones - I have a bad back so I split my batches into two of these. Much easier for me to move around and there's enough headspace that I've not had a blowoff yet.

Drill a 1 1/4 hole in the lid, $2.50 or so for an airlock and #7 rubber stopper and you're good to go.

illnastyimpreza said:

I have been told that the plastic HAS to be food grade, due to regular plastic releasing toxic chemicals??is this incorrect ??

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Ya know, I've heard of that same thing - but it seems like everywhere I've heard/been told that, it's been by someone that would profit by my buying a $15 bucket (homebrew shop, online retailer...)

I'm inclined to believe it, though, (I guess)... I mean, they don't differentiate "food grade plastic" for nothing, right?