Bad Bottling Bucket?

Having one bad batch, and the next possibly bad... i was trying to track down the source of my problem. I noticed on one of Revvy's blogs that he advised against using you bottling bucket for cleaning/sanitizing. I have done that a couple times now. How likely is it that i have scratched that, and it is contaminating my batches when i go to bottle them?

have you taken off the spigot to really clean the inside of it. I think that could be a more likely source than a scratch. also if it is scratched, i'd so a full soak in sanitizer, i.e. put in 5g of star san, before you bottle rather than #1 spray the sanitizer on it or #2 put in a lesser amount and swish it around.

dont use fermentation /secondary/bottleing buckets for anything other than having beer in them. No I can't say if the bucket is scratched or the spigot is the culprit but use a Homer bucket or a rubbermade tub to sanitize . I use a garden sprayer and a spray bottle to sanitize .

TelemarkBrew said:

have you taken off the spigot to really clean the inside of it. I think that could be a more likely source than a scratch. also if it is scratched, i'd so a full soak in sanitizer, i.e. put in 5g of star san, before you bottle rather than #1 spray the sanitizer on it or #2 put in a lesser amount and swish it around.

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if he is using the bottling bucket to sanitize the bottles than I would think its filled with the sanitizer . The spigot could be doing it but scratches can harbor bugs even after a soak in sanitizer

My spray bottle of Starsan is my best friend. I don't even mix up a bucket of it anymore. Just spray down all the surfaces of something with that and it's good.

springer said:

if he is using the bottling bucket to sanitize the bottles than I would think its filled with the sanitizer . The spigot could be doing it but scratches can harbor bugs even after a soak in sanitizer

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if the scratches are such that a full immersion in sanitizer doesn't get inside of them, then how are the "bugs" that are inside these cracks getting exposed to the beer when he uses the bucket for bottling?

I'm guessing its coming from somewhere else.

TelemarkBrew said:

if the scratches are such that a full immersion in sanitizer doesn't get inside of them, then how are the "bugs" that are inside these cracks getting exposed to the beer when he uses the bucket for bottling?

I'm guessing its coming from somewhere else.

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sanitzers only kill off x amount of germs that they contact a scratch can harbor hundreds of thousands of bugs. So when you add the wort the germs can multiply fast and give you a contamination problem. Many here have had problems with plastic parts getting contaminated and even a bleach slash and burn didnt solve they had to toss the plastics and start with new