2 gallon HD Bucket Fermenter

After doing a lot of research on here. I choose to go with the cheap 2 gallon Home depot bucket for my little experimental batches. Many people reported not getting an air tight seal with the lid. So I took some plastic wrap and rolled it. Then put it in the space where the lid and bucket met. Then I drilled two holes and put two vinyl tubes in for blow off. (I used two tubes because I only have 1/4" tubes available at the time) Well I did a batch yesterday and within four hours the lid was puffed out and my blow off was bubbling for crazy!

 

Are those HD buckets rated food-safe?

 

Oh no you are going to start a huge debate! They are HDPE 2 plastic which means they should be food grade. The issue is sometime manufacturers don't use food grade plastic in the mix when recycled and remade into a bucket. Many people use these types of buckets and if you check out the buckets from your local brew shop they are the same plastic!

 

You're probably right, they're probably fine for fermentation, but I wouldn't use them to transfer any kind of hot liquid (strike water, boiling wort, etc.)

 

Cool, I've been looking for something to use for small batches. I have some 1 gallon glass jugs, but to account for headspace I would have to brew 3/4 gallon batches or something. With those buckets, I think I could brew up ~1.5 gallon stovetop batches.

 

if those are the same ones i've bought from home depot, they have a "food safe" or something or other sticker on them. or a thing on thebottom? thats why i bought them.

 

I went to my local walmart and bought some sealable food grade 5 gallon buckets from their bakery. They get their icing shipped to them in these buckets and had tons of them. They sold them to me for $1 a piece. Go check them out.

 

Heh, I did the same thing, but in the bakery section of my grocery store, and they just gave me one for free. I use it to hold my StarSan.

 

Now I'm p*ssed I got rid of my Mr. Beer kegs. Ugh.