$90 for a couple buckets?

My first brew with mr beer is underway and I'm looking to upgrade my equipment. Some of the kits Ive seen cost around $90 and seem to consist mainly of a couple 5-gallon buckets. I can get a #2 5-gallon paint bucket a my local hardware megastore for under $3. I want to to install an airlock in one, a tap in the other, and then I think I will have the same stuff as these expensive kits.

Can anyone point me to a tutorial on where to get taps/airlocks and how to install them?

Don't use buckets that aren't FOOD GRADE!!!! Buy a kit, they come with more than just buckets. You'll be alot happier

If you are going to do 5 gal. batches a 5 gal. bucket will likely not be big enough. The buckets that are sold with the kits are usually 7 gal.

The kits do contain other items you will need, like a racking cane and plastic tubing to siphon your beer from your fermenting bucket or carboy to your bottling bucket. Also a bottling wand, hydrometer, bottle caper, etc.

You certainly don't need to start with one of these kits but they are not a bad way to start.

I got my buckets at beprepared.com. 8.95 for a 7 gallon bucket with lid. Food grade and has a gasket in the lid. Free shipping coups over 25$. Get a few grommets from the brew store and drill a 3/8 in hole for the grommet and airlock. I like these buckets better then ale pails asthe lids are easiir to get off.

I got all my starter stuff off craigslist. There's always people selling off brewing gear. I bought two different setups from two different people for $20 and $25 and ended up with everything I needed to start a few batches.

yikes thanks for the tip about food-grade buckets. Although leached-in chemicals might add some interesting flavors..Mosquito, thanks for the tip about that website! I found some 6-gallon buckets there that are temporarily back-ordered, I might order a few or just suck it up and buy a Kit.

Marsdude said:

If you are going to do 5 gal. batches a 5 gal. bucket will likely not be big enough. The buckets that are sold with the kits are usually 7 gal.

The kits do contain other items you will need, like a racking cane and plastic tubing to siphon your beer from your fermenting bucket or carboy to your bottling bucket. Also a bottling wand, hydrometer, bottle caper, etc.

You certainly don't need to start with one of these kits but they are not a bad way to start.

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+1. You can undoubtedly save money by hunting down bargain items individually...for the kits, you're paying for convenience. But it's hardly two buckets for $90.

I got some good sized buckets at USPlastics.com, good price. You don't need those start-up kits, but you will need some tubing etc. to get it to bottles.

mosquitocontrol said:

I got my buckets at beprepared.com. 8.95 for a 7 gallon bucket with lid. Food grade and has a gasket in the lid. Free shipping coups over 25$. Get a few grommets from the brew store and drill a 3/8 in hole for the grommet and airlock. I like these buckets better then ale pails asthe lids are easiir to get off.

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Thanks for this link. Great price for these buckets.

I love http://beprepared.com! I buy a lot of freeze dried food for my pantry as well as emergency supplies. (Weird I know but I use it all the time.)

They also have the bucket opening tool for something like $1.25. Well worth buying for opening their very tight buckets.

hoppheadIPA said:

Don't use buckets that aren't FOOD GRADE!!!! Buy a kit, they come with more than just buckets. You'll be alot happier

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There's only about a million threads on here mentioning that HD buckets are perfectly fine to use, although a bit small. Quite a few folks do indeed use them. That's another myth that has pretty much been shot down.

Revvy said:

There's only about a million threads on here mentioning that HD buckets are perfectly fine to use, although a bit small. Quite a few folks do indeed use them. That's another myth that has pretty much been shot down.

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x2
My first 5gal brew was in orange HD buckets and i still use one as my bottling bucket to this day. The plastic is the same stuff as the food grade aside from the dye. Just be sure to toss them when they get scratched up. They're cheap enough.

yes I have used some of the buckets from Wal-mart (got them for like $1) that were 5 gallon, camo colored. #2 plastic

conpewter said:

yes I have used some of the buckets from Wal-mart (got them for like $1) that were 5 gallon, camo colored. #2 plastic

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Camo colored fermenters, WAAAAAAAY cool!!!!!

Perfect for the coming zombi-pocalypse, when we have to hide our "sacred barley water" from scavenger gangs.

I checked out US Plastics..their bucket description says "Pails and lids are made of high-density polyethylene and meet NMFC, FDA and UFC requirements." Does that mean they are food-grade?

bottweiser said:

I checked out US Plastics..their bucket description says "Pails and lids are made of high-density polyethylene and meet NMFC, FDA and UFC requirements." Does that mean they are food-grade?

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FDA= Food and Drug Administration, so what do you think?

Nurmey said:

I love http://beprepared.com! I buy a lot of freeze dried food for my pantry as well as emergency supplies. (Weird I know but I use it all the time.)

They also have the bucket opening tool for something like $1.25. Well worth buying for opening their very tight buckets.

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It might be worth the extra bucks to buy the metal version of this opener. We run a commercial kitchen here and I have broken a couple of the plastic ones. Of course, if I had been more careful they would likely have not broken.

I love the buckets from USPlastics that have twist on lids. I store grain in them and they are airtight but I don't need a bucket opening tool to open them.

Revvy said:

Camo colored fermenters, WAAAAAAAY cool!!!!!

Perfect for the coming zombi-pocalypse, when we have to hide our "sacred barley water" from scavenger gangs.

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They still might have some though probably not $1 anymore. - only 5 gallons, I like the 6.5 or 7 gallon buckets better for fermenting, camo bucket was a bottling bucket for a while.

I told my wife about the Sacred Barley Water thing and trading it for young nubile women... she was not impressed.

You might try the bakery at local grocery stores. I've picked up a few 7 gallon buckets from Winn Dixie that were food grade and previously had cake icing in them. Lids were included.

Very few things that can't be done cheaper than retail if you are willing to put some time in looking. Lots of people will pay for convenience; more power to them.

conpewter said:

I told my wife about the Sacred Barley Water thing and trading it for young nubile women... she was not impressed.

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You're supposed to leave out the nubile women trading part from what you tell swmbo.

Revvy said:

You're supposed to leave out the nubile women trading part from what you tell swmbo.

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Doh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok now that I've looked at these posts and actually Searched some old threads I think I will get a bucket from HD or Lowes for my first non-Mr Beer brew. I think they have 6-gallon buckets at lowes..else I will use the HD bucket and use a blowoff tube. For simplicity I'm going to install a tap in the bucket and bottle it right from there after fermentation.

I am also going to pick up a couple BB carboys..I have a partial mash brew in the works and I want to make a good batch of this Apfelwein everyone is raving about...you know the one I mean. Also I don't want to wait months to try it so I'm going to make a half-batch in my Mr Beer as soon as it's empty..I read on here that if you use Wyeast it ferments a bit quicker.

Bottom line: It looks like I'll end up spending a lot more than $90 on equipment. And to think I thought home-brewing was going to save money...it sure is fun though.

go to a walmart with a bakery... ask for 6 gallon icing tub... ( they have them in 1-6 gallon) expanding my 5 gallon bucket mash tun to make that few extra pounds possible, and a 3 gallon for that 2 gallon experimental do-able.


hitting there next week.

you can try a deli (or anywhere that would go through a lot of pickles)for cheap buckets. i just bought a house, and the guy i bought it from made wine. he had a bout a dozen pickle buckets in the garage. i didnt check the plastic # but i am sure they are food grade. they had food in them.

http://brewgadgets.com/beerequipkits.htm

$68.59 for a starter kit... Cheapest I've Found!
This Kit Comes With a Fermtech AutoSiphon and Includes:

* True Brew Handbook
* 6.5 gallon Primary Fermenting bucket with D&G Lid
* 6.5 gallon Bottling Bucket with spigot
* Fermometer adhesive fermentation thermometer
* Fermtech Springless Bottle Filler
* Fermtech 3/8” Auto Siphon
* 5’ x 5/16” Flex Vinyl Tubing Hydrometer
* Emily Double Lever Capper
* Bottle Brush
* 3 Piece Airlock
* C-Brite Sanitizer 8-pack

The absolutely, no-doubt-about it, cheapest way to start is: empty 2-liter soda bottles. Use that for primary, then bottle into the 20 oz. plastic ones. Use bleach water for a sanitizer. Use dirty apple skins or grape skins for a yeast starter. You can buy corn syrup from the grocery store to up the alcohol percentage, and you can oven-roast oatmeal in order to get a more "oat stout" appeal...

...it would taste terrible, of course... but it would be beer. Everything more complicated than that is for either 1) quality or 2) convenience. How much are those two things worth to you?

I got brew buckets at the LHBS for like $12 each. Lids $2 each. Not Ale Pail, but the other brand. Ok, so maybe more expensive than HD buckets, but they are food grade, and marked for volume as well, and the lids came with a grommeted hole for airlocks.

I agree that $90 sounds like a bit o money for a starter kit, but you get lots of stuff that you will likely need or want later.

Or just buy 2 buckets, 1 lid, enough hose to transfer the beer, a spigot (for second bucket, AKA bottling bucket), bottling wand, wing capper and caps. I'd also highly recommend StarSan for sanitizer. Scrounge bottles from recycle bin.

Your still spending $60 and just getting the basics. Not even a hydrometer. So even a basic kit is a good deal for the money.

Justibone said:

The absolutely, no-doubt-about it, cheapest way to start is: empty 2-liter soda bottles. Use that for primary, then bottle into the 20 oz. plastic ones. Use bleach water for a sanitizer. Use dirty apple skins or grape skins for a yeast starter. You can buy corn syrup from the grocery store to up the alcohol percentage, and you can oven-roast oatmeal in order to get a more "oat stout" appeal...

...it would taste terrible, of course... but it would be beer. Everything more complicated than that is for either 1) quality or 2) convenience. How much are those two things worth to you?

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Well you might get alcohol out of that, but it wouldn't be beer, no hops, no barley....