Brewing beer in a carboy

Is it possible to brew beer in a carboy? I have a 6.5 gallon carboy, going to make a 5 gallon batch of beer. I've only fermented in a plastic bucket until now.

That's what I like to do. But I shoot for a 6 gallon ferment and end up with 48 pints.

You mean ferment?? Yes.

Laszlo said:

You mean ferment?? Yes.

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Yes, sorry.

jethro55 said:

That's what I like to do. But I shoot for a 6 gallon ferment and end up with 48 pints.

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I've already purchased a kit that's for 5 gallons.

6.5 gallon carboys are perfect for 5 gallon batches. 6.5 gallons should give you enough head space to brew almost anything without having to worry about a blowoff tube.

aprichman said:

6.5 gallon carboys are perfect for 5 gallon batches. 6.5 gallons should give you enough head space to brew almost anything without having to worry about a blowoff tube.

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I bought one of those already. Should I use it anyway? Or go with an airlock?

phil74501 said:

I bought one of those already. Should I use it anyway? Or go with an airlock?

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Install the blow off tube for the first few days of the fermentation. Some yeasts, with different OG worts react differently. Better to be safe.
Make sure you have the means to ferment the wort at the optimum temperature for the yeast you will use.

phil74501 said:

I bought one of those already. Should I use it anyway? Or go with an airlock?

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I'd just go with an airlock unless you're brewing something ridiculous like a 1.1xx imperial stout or something. With a normal beer 1.5 gallons of headspace is plenty of room for the krausen so the blowoff tube won't really serve a purpose. You also won't have to take out the blowoff tube and install an airlock later. The less you have to open and mess with the carboy the less chances for possible infections.

flars said:

Install the blow off tube for the first few days of the fermentation. Some yeasts, with different OG worts react differently. Better to be safe.
Make sure you have the means to ferment the wort at the optimum temperature for the yeast you will use.

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It's a Hefeweizen with Wyeast 3068. The room stays in the mid to upper 60's. I picked the yeast because it's compatible with that temperature.

phil74501 said:

It's a Hefeweizen with Wyeast 3068. The room stays in the mid to upper 60's. I picked the yeast because it's compatible with that temperature.

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The last time I used WY 3068 I had to install a blow off assembly. Never had to before, but this time the yeast was extremely vigorous. Your ambient temperature is fairly high to keep this yeast from producing a lot of banana flavor. Wort temp may rise 8°F over the ambient. I like the flavors produced by WY 3068 when the wort is held at 63° to 64°F.

phil74501 said:

It's a Hefeweizen with Wyeast 3068. The room stays in the mid to upper 60's. I picked the yeast because it's compatible with that temperature.

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flars said:

The last time I used WY 3068 I had to install a blow off assembly. Never had to before, but this time the yeast was extremely vigorous. Your ambient temperature is fairly high to keep this yeast from producing a lot of banana flavor. Wort temp may rise 8°F over the ambient. I like the flavors produced by WY 3068 when the wort is held at 63° to 64°F.

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Last time I used 3068, the fermentation was extremely vigorous as well and produced a lot of krausen. I would definitely recommend using the blowoff tube as well, at least until fermentation begins to slow down.

flars said:

The last time I used WY 3068 I had to install a blow off assembly. Never had to before, but this time the yeast was extremely vigorous. Your ambient temperature is fairly high to keep this yeast from producing a lot of banana flavor. Wort temp may rise 8°F over the ambient. I like the flavors produced by WY 3068 when the wort is held at 63° to 64°F.

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I have thought of getting a wort chiller, but this is my first beer batch. I'm not sure I want to get that involved in it yet.

phil74501 said:

I have thought of getting a wort chiller, but this is my first beer batch. I'm not sure I want to get that involved in it yet.

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Wort chiller has nothing to do with the fermentation process, unless Ive been going about it all wrong. Wort chiller is used to rapidly chill your wort after you've boiled it so that you can get it down to yeast pitching temperatures fast. A cheap way of keeping your fermentation temperatures down is to use a "swamp cooler", google / youtube it.

Carboys are way better for fermenting