5 gallon primary?

[GrizlyGarou]

I'm wondering if anybody has ever used a 5 gallon bucket for a primary with a 5 gallon batch.

I figure with a blow off tube, you won't lose any of the actual wort, but I don't know if the krausen that would end up flowing out the tube would have ended up contributing flavor to the beer.

There's about an inch or so of headspace below the rim on the bucket, and the blow off tube would probably stick 1/4 inch below the lid, which probably sits 1/4 below the rim. Should I try the 5 gallon batch, or scale it down to 4 gallons?

I only ask because I can get five gallon buckets with lids for a buck...

 

[Parker36]

Scale down. Also make sure your buckets are food grade.

 

[Ecnerwal]

I figure with a blow off tube, you won't lose any of the actual wort

You figure wrong. You're building a bubble pump which will probably take a half-gallon (10%) or so of your beer - any part of foam which is not gas is liquid or solid, and the only supply of liquid is your wort/beer. Fill that sucker to the top and you're going to be pumping some seriously wet foam out the tube.

If you feel you must use your cheap buckets, scale back to 4 gallons or so, or scale up to 8 gallons and use two buckets.

Frankly, 6.5 gallon fermenter buckets (or carboys, for that matter) are not very expensive in the overall scheme of beer costs - they last a long time if not abused.

 

[GrizlyGarou]

I figured I'd be wrong about not losing beer. Much better to ask than have it on the floor or something...

They're all food grade, I get them from a local ice cream stand. They usually smell like strawberries or some other sauce, but the b-brite's been getting rid of that.

I guess I'll just keep using my carboy and big bucket for primaries, I wanted to crank some more beer out fast, though. Gotta get those christmas presents bottled!

 

[Ecnerwal]

So, scale up or down, as I said - if that means making the move beyond kits, by all means do so - it's a good move to make.

 

[GrizlyGarou]

So, scale up or down, as I said - if that means making the move beyond kits, by all means do so - it's a good move to make.

Only my first batch was a kit. The other four have been either 4 or 5 recipes blended into one, or a slight modification on a clone recipe. I haven't made it to all-grain yet, I don't have the equipment or the coin to make the jump yet. I've been looking at most of the DIY project threads, though!

I guess with the partial boils I've been doing, I'd get more hoppyness into my beer if I just added a gallon less after the boil. Nothing wrong with more hops!

 

[Ecnerwal]

You'd also get a much higher starting gravity, if that (amount of water added) was all you changed. You can drop the malt by 20% and end up with more of it boiled, but the same starting gravity - and reducing the gravity of the boil will increase your hops utilization (if you have not caught "late extract addition", doing that will also increase it).

Myself, I'm not a hop-head, but if you are, those should help.

 

[bad coffee]

I just did 4.5 gallons of an ESB in a 5 gallon carboy. This morning I changed the airlock because it was full of krausen. This evening I did the same.

Go bigger, or reduce your recipe.

B

 

[postman]

I made a 5 gal batch in a small 5 gal bucket with about 1.5 inches of head space. One work fine, the other blew the lid off the fermenter. Stains all over the bedroom walls an ceiling.

I have since come a long way and now ferment in the proper sized vessel and store my fermenting beer in a spare fridge which has an inline temperature control.

If 5 gal buckets is all you have, downsize the batch. You'll end up with the same amount of finished product except you'll have less mess to clean. Just my 2 cents. Enjoy!

 

[GrizlyGarou]

I made a 5 gal batch in a small 5 gal bucket with about 1.5 inches of head space. One work fine, the other blew the lid off the fermenter. Stains all over the bedroom walls an ceiling.

That's exactly what I don't want to happen! I ferment everything in my basement, and I don't even want to think about trying to get the yeasty-beer smell out of the concrete.

Looks like I need to start scaling some recipes down...

 

[bad coffee]

Or just use 2 buckets. Then mix the beer together before you bottle

B

 

[Malticulous]

I found six gallon buckets at a food storage store here for under $7. Almost all of my beers have been small (1.068 was the biggest.) No problems yet with five gallon batches in them.

 

[DutchK9]

I think it depends on the beer and yeast you are making. I don't have room for a carboy in a fridge, so I am making a bock in a 5 gallon cornelius keg. My original boil was 5 1/2 gallons, and I usually get 1/2 gallon boil off. The wort was up to the black part of the keg when filled up. Expecting a lot of krausen, I hooked up a blow off hose on my airlock but never had any krausen go up through it.
On the other hand I have done a Hefe in a 6 gallon carboy and had a lot of krausen coming out of the blow out tube.

 

[ifishsum]

Or just use 2 buckets. Then mix the beer together before you bottle

That's what I do, except my buckets are about 4 gallons. I typically do 5.5-6 gallon batches and split them up (after mixing and pitching into my bottling bucket) - and with my bad back they are easier to lift and carry that way as well. Usually they get recombined into a glass carboy for secondary when they're done fermenting.