sweet find! 2 one gallon "picinic jugs"

I decided to scoot by the salvation army after work yesterday, where I picked up two badass one gallon picnic jugs for $2 each.



These seem perfect for making experimental one gallon batches of alcohol! I've brewed several batches of beer in 5-gallon plastic, these could be just like my fermenter and bottling bucket but on a smaller scale. The spigot on the orange one is on top, I imagine I'll affix a balloon with holes in it over the spigot for a makeshift airlock. The red one has the spigot at the bottom.

The only problem is, these jugs are not airtight at the moment. Water comes out from under the cap on both if the jugs are turned upside down. Any advice on making them airtight? The only idea I had was to trace the cap on a sheet of foam packing material and place the circle under the cap to create a seal.

Also, what would happen if I did create a tight enough seal and at bottling time on my current brew I just siphoned a gallon in to the red jug? In two weeks would the beer be fully carbonated? The spigot is rather high on the bucket so sediment probably wouldn't be a problem.

Neat find, I remember those when I was a kid.

Your fermenter doesn't really need to be "airtight" it josed needs to be closed enough to keep things from falling in (like bird poop) many people including a couple on here just use plastic wrap over their fermenters. As long as CO2 is being produced and is pushing out, then nothing nasty van get it.

All I would do is find a way to put an airlock on it and you will be all set...you can just drill a hole on the top and put a grommet on it, or in the case of the one on the left with the fliptop on it, get a holed rubber stopper that fits in that one.

zoomacroom said:

Also, what would happen if I did create a tight enough seal and at bottling time on my current brew I just siphoned a gallon in to the red jug? In two weeks would the beer be fully carbonated? The spigot is rather high on the bucket so sediment probably wouldn't be a problem.

Click to expand...

If you did manage to make it airtight, you're more than likely just going to blow the lid off the top of the cooler. No way these things are going to hold any kind of pressure. But if you want to test it, just wait until you start fermentation and eliminate the airlock. Once you get towards the end of your fermentation, just lock this thing up and let the pressure build. But I want time-lapse video for the "money shot"