Glass carboy for primary fermenting?

Hey all,

I'm brewing my VERY first batch of beer (yay!). I have two 23L glass carboys. I'm wondering if it is a bad idea to use a glass carboy with an airlock as a primary fermenter. Is there a risk of a blowoff? What are the pros/cons. I do not have a "ale pail" and am too busy/lazy to run out and get one. Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom

cheers

I don't think you run any more of a risk of blow off by using a carboy instead of an ale pail. If you are really worried about blow off you should rig up a blow off tube. Good luck!

I used glass carboys as primaries for several years without issue. Sometimes you need a blow off and sometimes you don't.

Pros: It's nice to see what's going on in there.
Cons: It's scary to see what's going on in there.

Welcome to HBT!

this place is amazing!
thanks for the info. I think I'll set up a blowoff tube.

Foam control drops can help make the most of fermenter (and kettle!) headspace:
Foam Control (FermCapS)(1 oz) | MoreBeer
Defoamer 105 - Austin Homebrew Supply

Just make some slightly smaller batches, like 4.75 gallons instead of the full 5 gallons. No problem!

khiddy said:

Just make some slightly smaller batches, like 4.75 gallons instead of the full 5 gallons. No problem!

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The standard in Canada is 23L or 6 gallons for some reason so using a carboy for the primary isn't always the best option. I use a bucket then carboy, I miss seeing what happens during the initial stage but thats ok.

ruffdeezy said:

The standard in Canada is 23L or 6 gallons for some reason so using a carboy for the primary isn't always the best option. I use a bucket then carboy, I miss seeing what happens during the initial stage but thats ok.

Click to expand...

I was looking forward to seeing a fermentation in my 6 gallon carboy, it's been tied up with Apfelwein for 2 months! I was cleaning it out after bottling yesterday and noticed a crack on the bottom. Back to the buckets and Better Bottles ordered....!!!!





I'm just relieved that the wein is in the bottle and not all over the floor! Not to mention the possibility of injury...

I'll just have to wait a while before I get to see a primary fermentation in action!

Just finishing my first brew and wanted to use the 23L glass. but in the process of pouring the wort into the carboy, the foam created was overflowing to the point that I could only get about half to 3/4 of it in there. How do you guys manage to get the whole 5 gal (i would have been happy with 4.5) into there without running into this problem. I used a funnel and poured through that to get the aeration, it was from a Brewhouse kit, so there was not much choice.

Did you pour from pot to carboy? or Pot to Pale to pitch then carboy?

Hopefully you used the second method questioned. If not - next time pour to pale, cool wort, pitch yeast, areate and then auto sipon to carboy.

From the Brewhouse Kit bag, through funnel, into carboy. No pails involved anywhere except for the actual fermenting bucket. Also, the wort is not boiled, so there is no cooling process. I guess you could pour the wort from the bag into a pail, then siphon into carboy. Might try that for the next brew, I would really like to try using the glass for fermenting.

I always use glass. I have a 6 gallon carboy right now filled with German Hefe. This is the first time I've actually used a blow off tube. I'm glad I did because the activity is crazy. Its been going off for 5 days now and my 1 gallon container of Star San that the tube ends in is almost as dark as the actual carboy now. Once it dies down I'll switch over to the airlock. It all depends on the yeast and type of beer you're making. All my other ales usually produse about a 3-4 inch layer of krausen.