5 gallon bucket for secondary

[tincob]

I was at the local hardware store and spied some plastic buckets.

Checked the bottom and they are made from grade 2 plastic - so suitable for brewing use. Hmmm....

There was a 2 gallon bucket which would be great as primary for small batches - maybe for graff or hard cider?

There was also a 5 gallon bucket. Recently, I've been learning about secondary /clearing because I have a batch of IIPA in the primary which is recommended to go to secondary for about a month before bottling.

So if a 5 gallon carboy or Better Bottle is suitable for secondary use, why can't a 5 gallon bucket work?

I can drill out a small hole, put a rubber grommet in and stick an airlock on it. But I hardly read about people using 5 gallon buckets for secondary.

Am I missing something obvious? Is it an issue with gas permeability?

 

[Yooper]

There are a couple of things that come to my mind. One is to make sure the bucket is food safe. I got some free buckets from our supermarket's deli. They get frosting and peanut butter in those buckets, so they have lots of them.

I wouldn't use it for secondary, though. Headspace would be very wide- much wider than a carboy or a better bottle that is so very narrow at the top. Gas permeability may also be a factor.

 

[Dewangski1]

I think it would be fine. I disagree with Yooper in the speculation of gas permeability, if it can be used for primary, then it can be used for secondary. However, the point may have been that this bucket may not be food grade and be the air tight contraption required for brewing. I agree with Yooper on the head space issue. If you use a secondary, you have to limit the amount of head space, meaning you would need to brew and ferment (primary) about 5.5G. Generally, you rack to a secondary after a week or so and the yeast is still active so it will produce some CO2 and is capable of filling the head space as long as it is minimal. Things to keep in mind if you were to use that.

 

[tincob]

Ah, I was only thinking about the volume and not about surface area of the beer within the container.

Compared to a bottle shaped container with a surface area of about 12~15 square inches, a 5 gallon bucket would have a surface area of over 300 square inches.

By the way, grade 2 is food grade so no issues there.

Thanks.

 

[apologeticus]

I'm using a Lowe's 5 gallon bucket & lid for a batch of apfelwein right now. As you said, just drilled a .5 inch hole and inserted a grommet for the airlock. soaked in oxiclean to get rid of the plastic smell, a quick soak with starsan to sanitize, and it was ready to go!

 

[tincob]

So you haven't had any problems with oxidation?

I wonder if apfelwein is less susceptible to oxidation than beer.

 

[apologeticus]

oxidation? the head space is slam full of CO2 that's bubbling out of the air lock. nah, not worried about oxidation.

 

[IceFisherChris]

They are safe to use. If you don't think so, then you better stop drinking milk because that is what they use (#2) plastic.
HDPE (#2) plastic has an oxygen permeability value that is about 750 times higher than PET (#1).
Source: http://plastics.dow.com/plastics/ap/techcenters/saran/perf/perm.htm

Personally I would use the PET Better bottles. As for their true oxygen permeability, I can't say for sure because they do not say whether or not its pure PET... Sometimes PET plastic is combined with PVA, which will reduce the oxygen permeability even more.

 

[Dewangski1]

You should rack to secondary after vigorous primary fermentation has finished, but total fermentation hasn't. When you do this, the yeast consumes the remaining sugars and the forms enough CO2 that then fills the head space.

 

[Dewangski1]

They are safe to use. If you don't think so, then you better stop drinking milk because that is what they use (#2) plastic.
HDPE (#2) plastic has an oxygen permeability value that is about 750 times higher than PET (#1).
Source: http://plastics.dow.com/plastics/ap/techcenters/saran/perf/perm.htm

Personally I would use the PET Better bottles. As for their true oxygen permeability, I can't say for sure because they do not say whether or not its pure PET... Sometimes PET plastic is combined with PVA, which will reduce the oxygen permeability even more.

I never knew that, that is good to know, thanks. Do you think that it would play a role under our conditions?

 

[IceFisherChris]

I never knew that, that is good to know, thanks. Do you think that it would play a role under our conditions?

It should (to a certain extent), but there are always certain variables. Thickness of the plastic will definitely play a role. These numbers are assuming the wall thicknesses of the vessels are the same. Personally I don't feel the numbers matter much for 99.9% of us. If you let your beer sit in a fermenter for a few months, it may. I really don't know because I don't have first hand experience. But based on the numbers, PET is better than HDPE.