Siphonless Fermenter Leaking. Help!

OK, I ordered this siphonless fermenter from Williams Brewing.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/SIPHONLESS_FERMENTOR_P143C66.cfm

After I filled it up with wort, I noticed a small leak where the valve meets the bucket. The leak isn't too bad, so I'm not worried about losing too much beer over the next two weeks, but I am worried about an infection finding its way in through the leak.

I've tried tightening and loosening the valve and nothing seems to help, so I'm wondering how much I should worry about an infection with the tiny leak I have going.

I was thinking of sitting the fermenter bucket in a shallow pan of sanitizing solution so the valve would remain under the water. I'm not sure how many days the sanitizing solution would be effective for.

Any other suggestions? I don't really have another container to rack the beer into at this time. I could order one online, but it would take at least 4-5 days to ship.

I'm all for RDWHAHB, but I'm not sure in this case. Should I just let things go as they are or should I worry.

Wow....$30 for a bottling bucket. That's extremely pricey.

Either way...you'll probably be fine. I have the same problem with mine, and that's why I no longer use it as a fermentor. I had an infected batch because my spigot wasn't fully clean (they're hard to get inside to clean), so I stopped using it.

I know its a pain man, but I would not use that type of bucket because of infection possibilities.

Here you go

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/product/0101621/65-gallon-fermenting-bucket

Order a new fermenter of your choice and until it gets here run to Home Depot and get two 5 gallon buckets. They are Food grade but the lids crack easy. Split the batch in them. Good for a quick vessel until the new fermenter arrives. Oh and just set the lid on top to keep nastiness out. Do NOT seal it.

This may sound odd and I am not totally sure if this is sanitary, but could you not just just hot glue or some caulk to seal it right now.

I can definitely hot glue it to seal it. I never considered this. I'm worried that I might seal in some bacteria, but maybe I'll hit the area with Star San first. I'm going to try it and hope for the best. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Have you tried tightening the spigot? I had that problem with my bucket... washed and dipped my arm in sanitizer, then just reached in and gave it a couple turns. I didn't end up with a bad batch. Good luck!

Yeah, I tried like hell earlier to tighten and even loosen the spigot, but to no avail.

I just went to check it, and it's not dripping anymore. I think the sticky wort may have dried a little and hopefully sealed the leak. I'll leave it overnight and check things out tomorrow.

tradgunkie said:

I just went to check it, and it's not dripping anymore. I think the sticky wort may have dried a little and hopefully sealed the leak. I'll leave it overnight and check things out tomorrow.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what happens. I had a small leak that wasn't really noticeable but over time I noticed it was definitely leaking. Overnight the dripping wort dried up (syrup like) and the leak stopped altogether.

KMKsuburbannoise said:

This may sound odd and I am not totally sure if this is sanitary, but could you not just just hot glue or some caulk to seal it right now.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't use either. You don't want those chemicals getting in your beer.

You could have over tightened the spigot. I did that once... cracked the spigot right inbetween the threads. Didn't realize thats what I did until I moved my beer into another bucket. I kept tightening it thinking it was loose.