kegs carboys and where to find them

[divrack]

hey all. im in scotland and corny kegs here are about twice what they cost you new worlders... as is everything homebrew except MO and GP maybe...
ive been wondering if anyone has any experience using normal commercial mini kegs which i think are about 40ltrs as im sure i could get my hands on some of these cheaply.. how do you get them open for cleaning etc.

Also anyone in the uk fancy selling me some corny kegs/carboys for a nice price?

plus arent those plastic brewing buckets just the absolute worst. ones ive got have special ridges and holes in the lid for harbouring infection and are less airtight than the hole of a doghnut

 

[divrack]

In answer to my own question I've found really cheap corny kegs by UK standards at thehomebrewcompany.co.uk
40 quid each free postage over 70

 

[RM-MN]

hey all. im in scotland and corny kegs here are about twice what they cost you new worlders... as is everything homebrew except MO and GP maybe...
ive been wondering if anyone has any experience using normal commercial mini kegs which i think are about 40ltrs as im sure i could get my hands on some of these cheaply.. how do you get them open for cleaning etc.

Also anyone in the uk fancy selling me some corny kegs/carboys for a nice price?

plus arent those plastic brewing buckets just the absolute worst. ones ive got have special ridges and holes in the lid for harbouring infection and are less airtight than the hole of a doghnut

Sanitize the lid before you close up the bucket and you won't have problems with infections from that. Bucket lids are notorious for leaking. That's good. Why? Because your yeast excretes a lot of CO2 and it has to go somewhere and that can either be through the airlock or around the lid. Until you open the lid, the outflow of CO2 will keep any bacteria out because they are poor fliers.

I'd avoid the carboys. If you search this forum you can find the list of injuries from them breaking at inopportune times. Bucket don't shatter,. have big openings for pouring in the wort, big openings for cleaning, and have handles to carry them.

 

[divrack]

Sanitize the lid before you close up the bucket and you won't have problems with infections from that. Bucket lids are notorious for leaking. That's good. Why? Because your yeast excretes a lot of CO2 and it has to go somewhere and that can either be through the airlock or around the lid. Until you open the lid, the outflow of CO2 will keep any bacteria out because they are poor fliers.

I'd avoid the carboys. If you search this forum you can find the list of injuries from them breaking at inopportune times. Bucket don't shatter,. have big openings for pouring in the wort, big openings for cleaning, and have handles to carry them.

I have a lot of sour and funky aged things plus barley wine which don't like the buckets. Plus sanitizing isn't that easy when the plastic has a bunch of crevices and whatnot. I think buckets are fine for primary but after that no. Plus they get scratched and then are a bug nightmare.

 

[RM-MN]

Barleywines age real well in the bottle...if you can keep your hands off them. Give them a couple months in the bucket, then bottle.

I have at least one bucket that is over 10 years old and it doesn't give me infected beer. Lids are easy to sanitize, just hold them over the sink and pour sanitizer on them.

 

[divrack]

Barleywines age real well in the bottle...if you can keep your hands off them. Give them a couple months in the bucket, then bottle.

I have at least one bucket that is over 10 years old and it doesn't give me infected beer. Lids are easy to sanitize, just hold them over the sink and pour sanitizer on them.

That's what I used to think...
After a few bad batches however the fear and dead set in...
Now anything in buckets I bottle or keg as soon as humanly possible. It's not worth the risk for me. I had some weird infection that didn't conform to what the books say good part is it seems to need o2 to develop so no probs after bottling

 

[BoBoBenton]

I was just going to recommend thehomebrewcompany.co.uk.

They are really good I have 4 conies from them and I’m thinking of 3 more.