What happened to your old fermentation bucket?

[dlester]

Now that you've advanced to a carboy, or better yet, a conical fermenter, what are you doing with the old bucket? The bucket that served you so well in brewing beer.



Cheers,

 

[masonsjax]

Never had one, but if I did, I'd probably make beer in it.

 

[Hello]

I make beer in it.

 

[Zepth]

I would be willing to bet the vast majority of people who used a brewing bucket added a carboy or conical to their arsenal. I sure did.

 

[NervousDad]

I use mine to mix up my star san for brew day.

 

[AnOldUR]

Never used a fermentation bucket, but my bottling bucket has been dedicated to catch milled grain.

 

[CastleHollow]

My original bucket adopted 3 other buckets and 5 carboys into his family. I call him Gramps. He's from 1993 and still makes beer.

 

[ktblunden]

I only use buckets. I'm currently using a retired bucket under my mill and I have another one that is destined to hold sour beers.

 

[ArcLight]

When I retire buckets (havent done so yet after a few years) they will:

1 - be repurposed to hold grain. A Home depot 5 gallon bucket holds around 25 pounds of grain. A 6.9 gallon bucket should hold around 34 pounds of grain.

2 - hold pre-mixed Star San. Currently I use a 5 gallon Home depot bucket, but every time I make a new 5 gallon batch (a few times a year) the bucket loses foam or splashings when I spill it back in.

3 - I brew in a bag and catch the crushed grain directly in my bag. If I were to double crush (which I wont, I'd just crush tighter) then a bucket might be useful.



The only thing that goes in my buckets are:
plastic stirring spoon
plastic auto siphon
plastic bottle filler
plastic tubing
plastic spiggot


After using them I clean them with a dedicated sponge and dish soap so they dont have stuff drying in them for any length of time. (Maybe 30 minutes while bottling). I also sanitize them before and after using them. Sometimes I use Star San and Idophor on them (at different times), just becaus eI have the solution mixed.

My buckets smell ... like beer.
I may consider retiring them at some point, but they are unscratched and I haven't had any infections.

 

[unionrdr]

I use a home depot bucket to store my bags of grains,since it has a nice lid seal. I also put my Barley Crusher grain mill on top of it to catch crushed grains. My Brewer's Best Ale Pail got an infection,so I tossed it & bought a Midwest 7.9 gallon bucket with lid seal to replace it. I'm also still using the Cooper's Microbrew FV I started with.

 

[progmac]

it sits on a shelf. i am basically afraid to use it, except for holding sanitizer.

 

[dlester]

I too use one of two for sanitizer. The other one holds my son's baseballs for practice. Multipurpose.


Cheers

 

[atom]

I use it as a fermenter...I'm not advanced enough to use a carboy.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I just used mine to carry a very heavy, very wet blanket. It absorbed so much water that my washing machine couldn't spin it out.

 

[Jayhem]

Still use my original bucket for beer. I always make 11 gallon batches, half goes in the bucket, half goes in a carboy so I can monitor the fermention. The bucket is about 100X easier to clean out than a carboy after fermentation.

 

[nicklepickles]

Advanced to a carboy? I started with carboys and "advanced" to buckets. Never looked back either


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[jc5066]

Why would you say advance to carboy? IMO a carboy is by no means an advancement to a bucket. I prefer my bucket to my carboys.


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[NickTheGreat]

I'll soak most my other brew crap in it to clean and sanitize.

 

[dlester]

it sits on a shelf. i am basically afraid to use it, except for holding sanitizer.

That's funny...don't be afraid!

 

[OctoBrew]

Dedicated Star-San container and mixer

 

[Yellowirenut]

I don't use them to ferment in, but i do use them to sanitize everything.

I have one I used to brine the Thanksgiving turkey in...I am only going to use it for a brine bucket from now on.

 

[Spookgolds]

I use my buckets for secondary when I am adding things, dry hopping, etc... Also used for mixing sanitizer, as the recipient of the carboy blowoff tubes, holding grain, and many other things...

 

[And1129]

I'm surprised I didn't see this here already, but my old brew bucket now is what I grind my grain into. My new grain mill sits quite perfectly on top of my old brew bucket, so I just leave it in that configuration and grind my grains into that bucket. I love re-purposing old equipment to new uses!

 

[kh54s10]

I started with Better Bottles, added a bucket and then more Better Bottles. I use them all but mostly do wines in the bucket. I also have 8 five gallon buckets to store and grind grain in and also use them for cleaning things.

So far nothing is retired.

 

[grimzella]

washing the car

 

[LLBeanJ]

I started with glass carboys. What a pain in the arse they were. I've since advanced to buckets and life is much better. Haven't had to retire a bucket yet. The carboys are in the basement collecting dust.

 

[Spookgolds]

washing the car

+1

 

[clarksc4]

I've used a carboy maybe twice in seven years. Buckets are not any better or worse than carboys (or more or less advanced) but they suit my purposes well. They also give me the best bang for my buck.......et


Bottled: Rye IPA
Primary: nothing
Secondary: rye barleywine
On deck: ??

 

[downtown3641]

Mine got used to brine a turkey a few years ago. It was then relegated to oxyclean duty for the purpose of delabeling bottles. It's remained unused since I started kegging.

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[mb82]

My original bucket was Dad's when he brewed, he gave up when he had a persistent infection he could not get rid of. Turns out it was in his fermenting bucket, two batches and I got a new one. The old one is relegated to storage and bottle cleaning.

 

[max384]

I recently got rid of all my glass carboys in favor of better bottles and buckets. I prefer a bucket over a carboy or better bottle because they're easier to clean and they don't let UV light in like the clear glass/plastic does.

 

[Alcoheroe]

I replace my buckets after a handful of brews.
The cycle goes like this:

fermentation->catching grain->cleaning bucket->outside for yard work etc.

A couple have also found their way to being re-purposed for grain storage.

 

[politibrew]

When I just recently got back into home-brewing, I dug out my bucket to get ready to ferment and there was a six inch crack in the bottom. Not sure what happened.

Now it pulls double duty as my dog poop and spent grain collection bucket in the back yard. How the mighty have fallen!

 

[julioardz]

I now ferment exclusively in my brew kettle. My old brew buckets have been repurposed for yard work. I haul small loads of compost or mulch in them, used them to collect weeds I'm pulling, fill them with water to clean off tools or paint, or whatever other use I have for large empty buckets.

 

[NTXBrauer]

I still use mine as a bottling bucket. Have had to replace a spigot, but it is still holding up well.

 

[snowtires]

I started using glass carboys and I bought 7.5 gal buckets. Those work great but after my second infection using buckets one of them going to work to get mud mixed in it. I just purchased a better bottle.

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[corkybstewart]

I still have and use the 2 buckets I started with in 1992, usually if I'm doing a 5 gallon batch or want to split a batch between 2 different yeasts.