One Bucket

[dolver]

Hi - simple question.

I am about to brew my first (non-Mr. Beer) batch of beer. My local homebrew shop has an ingredient kit, so I am going to start off with that to get a feel for things.

At this point, though, I only have 1 bucket. Every time I see a tutorial, it calls for another bucket to rack into and sometimes another bucket to bottle from. My bucket has a spigot for bottling and a top with a place for an airlock. Is there any reason I need more than just this one bucket?

For racking, I plan on using an auto-siphon, and just siphoning it back into the original five gallon brew pot (cleaned and sanitized), then cleaning the bucket and siphoning it back to the bucket. Makes sense to me, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Thanks.

 

[Jayhem]

You really don't need to transfer to a secondary fermentation vessel, it will be fine just leave it 3 weeks in the first bucket, sealed with the airlock in place. Be sure that your spigot is well sealed as they have a tendency to leak and over 3 weeks you could loose half your beer!

I see no reason why you couldn't clean and sanitize your brew pot and siphon to that as a "bottling bucket" and then just fill your bottles with your siphon and bottling wand attached to the siphon (that's what I do).

 

[chickypad]

You can certainly do this if you are careful with your santitation and avoid splashing, etc. I will say though that the double siphoning is going to get old. If I were you I would try to get another cheap bucket to ferment in and then use your current one for bottling, one transfer. My LHBS sells them for under 8 bucks, but lots of folks find free food grade buckets at grocery stores or bakeries.

 

[chickypad]

I see no reason why you couldn't clean and sanitize your brew pot and siphon to that as a "bottling bucket" and then just fill your bottles with your siphon and bottling wand attached to the siphon (that's what I do).

Actually, this sounds pretty good!

 

[Trokair]

Perferably you want to move the beer as little as possible to miniminze the risk of oxidation. If you had a second bucket you could use that as the primary and the one with the spigot as the bottling bucket and only have to move the beer once before bottling instead of twice.

I'm sure it will be fine as long as you are dilligent on your sanitation and carefully on your siphoning. Apparently beer is kinda hard to screw up

 

[unionrdr]

Hi - simple question.

I am about to brew my first (non-Mr. Beer) batch of beer. My local homebrew shop has an ingredient kit, so I am going to start off with that to get a feel for things.

At this point, though, I only have 1 bucket. Every time I see a tutorial, it calls for another bucket to rack into and sometimes another bucket to bottle from. My bucket has a spigot for bottling and a top with a place for an airlock. Is there any reason I need more than just this one bucket?

For racking, I plan on using an auto-siphon, and just siphoning it back into the original five gallon brew pot (cleaned and sanitized), then cleaning the bucket and siphoning it back to the bucket. Makes sense to me, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Thanks.

Basically,there's a primary bucket,a secondary,& a bottling bucket. I skip the secondary most of the time. But the bottling bucket is a necessity if you're thinking of bulk priming. Racking back & forth like that is giving a greater opportunity for oxidation,& a small chance of infection. I'd rather have a bottling bucket,quicker & easier.

 

[dolver]

I see no reason why you couldn't clean and sanitize your brew pot and siphon to that as a "bottling bucket" and then just fill your bottles with your siphon and bottling wand attached to the siphon (that's what I do).

That's a VERY interesting idea. Also, I just had a "duh" moment. I live in a small apartment, so only having one bucket was more of a space thing than a cost thing. However, when they aren't in use, I can just nest them. Should I be worried about scratching the inside of the bucket on the bottom when I nest them?

 

[Jayhem]

That's a VERY interesting idea. Also, I just had a "duh" moment. I live in a small apartment, so only having one bucket was more of a space thing than a cost thing. However, when they aren't in use, I can just nest them. Should I be worried about scratching the inside of the bucket on the bottom when I nest them?

When you stack (nest) buckets the bottom of the upper bucket is no where near close to touching the bottom of the lower bucket because it will not seat that deep due to the ribs around the top of each bucket. Just make sure each bucket is super clean including the outsides and you should be fine. Plastic won't scratch plastic but grit on the plastic will.

 

[PistolPete2]

+1

 

[unionrdr]

I don't nest mine,since even the smallest scratches can harbor bacteria.