Carboys

I have been making wine so i have 3 6 gal carboys and 1 5 gal, my question is since i want to start with kits just to start and they are 5 gallons can i use a 6 gallon carboy or will the extra space in there put to much air in there?

 

A 6 gallon would be preferred. You will need the extra headspace, Unlike wine, Beer fermentation produces a sizable krauesen..., usually, and will come out the top of the fermentor if you lack headspace.

 

You can't get too big on primary fermentation (within reason) One of my fermentation buckets is 8 gallons. I have heard of robust fermentations blowing the lid even off of an 8 gallon bucket. I haven't had that happen to me. yet.

 

I have 14 Gallon glass vessels... I brew 10 gallon batches in them... . but when I started I was brewing 5 gallon batches in them... so almost 60% of the vessel was airspace, and I still never had oxygen issues.. the beer produces so much CO2 that at the least, it creates a protective layer...

brewing 5 gallon in 6 gallon container can be done, but you're low on headspace, better rig up a blow-off tube otherwise you might have a mess on your hands

 

In case you were referring to using them for secondary... it's best to have little to no headspace... not recommended to have 1 gallon of air on top of your beer while aging... That being said - I have done it a few times and have had no issues.

 

I was thinking for secondary so i shouldnt do it then?

 

I think that concern may vary depending on when you move to secondary. If you don't want to be bothed finding the right fit and have some c02 kicking around you could always blow some in to the carboy

 

I guess im use to making wine, sits in the fermentor bucket for a week to 10 days then after fermentation is done goes into a carboy degas and sit till bottling.

 

Same principal but most beer doesn't have to age near as long as wine. There is a lot of debate about secondary vessels, I rarely use one, everything happens in the primary pail including aging (up to a few months if required). I too make wine and have a bunch or carboys, I just don't use them much at all for beer.

 

What about sediment in the beer do you get that often thats why i was thinkng carboys

 

I do two week primary at 64F ambient, followed by a 48 hour cold crash at 34F, then straight to keg. No sediment at all. Haha hell yea