Carboy and Primary Fermentation

I've been reading a lot of good information on this forum, and decided to join.
I brewed my first batch a little over a week ago and it's fermenting in the bucket right now. My question is about carboys. I was thinking of getting a few (5 gallon) so I can have 2 or 3 batches going at one. I have been reading a lot on here about transferring to a carboy for a secondary fermentation, but would it be ok to use for the primary? Or would the initial ferment be too vigorous for the bottle?

Thanks,
dshaggy

i and many other use a glass carboy for a primary. but if your making beer use a 6.5 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch.

I switched from buckets to carboys, mostly because my buckets are open fermentation vessels (lid will not seal). I'm a big procrastinater, and I don't like a set timeline before switching to secondary.

Since I already had a bunch of carboys, I use them now. I'll make a batch, and then forget about it for a month. Once it's in a carboy, I'll rig it with a blowoff tube, which I will switch with a regular airlock after a week or so (only because I have more airlocks than blow off tubes).

The only thing I will say is that buckets are way easier to clean. Then again, a few hours of oxiclean soak, followed by a quick bottle brush and a jet washer rinse, and my carboy is nice and clean. Another perk, you never have to worry about scratching a carboy.

If you are going to use carboys, I strongly recommend blow off tubes. We've all had a batch get a crazy high krausen, and a blow off tube is cheap insurance. Also, get a milk crate. Full carboys are heavy and dangerous.

5 gallons are not a bid deal for primary, you'll just lose some wort to blowoff....not the end of the world, but it IS nearly impossible to get 5 gallons of beer out of a 5 gallon fermenter.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll probably just try to get 6.5 gallon carboys. I don't think there's a huge price difference from 5 gallon anyway.

I have a 6.5 gallon carboy for primary and two 5 gallon carboys for secondary. I am still doing partial mashes, because I have not yet fork out the cash for an 8 gallon brewpot. My current brewpot is only 4 gallons. I am going to start doing 3 gallon all-grain batches, and ferment them in my 5 gallon carboys.
I only use my plastic buckets to pour the wort between them to aerate before pitching yeast, and for bottling.

I use a 6.5 gallon carboy for my primary and a 5 gallon for my secondary. It works well because I target the recipe for a 5.5 gallon batch. You lose about half a gallon between the transfer so then I have a full 5 gallon carboy after that to get the most out of each brew.