Ferment in bottling bucket?

My primary ale pail has an odd smell to it, and I can't wash it out (it smells like oxiclean). Can I use my bottling bucket with the spigot in, or does everyone think this is an infection risk? Thanks for the quick answers, I'm getting ready to start brewing with a new brewer, don't want to screw up his first batch!

 

you be fine

 

Go out and buy a new fermentor, or a new bottling bucket...if you ferment in your bottling bucket, then what will you rack it to in order to bottle?

If you do decide to ferment in something with a spigot, I would spray the spigot thoroughly with sanitizer, spray a sandwhich baggy with more sanitizer and rubberband it to the spigot...

OH and make sure your spigot is tight before you ferment in it..someone on here posted once that their spigot wasn't tight, and most of the beer leaked out over the 3-4 weeks it was fermenting in the basement.

If your primary smells like oxyclen you need to rinse it thoroughly still....also I noticed the dilluted starsan seems to neutalize the "scale" from oxyclean that gets on some things, so that might neutralize it as well...

 

The bucket has been rinsed and rinsed, and it's been sitting in my closet for about 4 weeks, and it still has that smell. I'll try a good soak with iodophor while I'm brewing to see if it clears out.

And with this brew, I move it to a secondary to add some apricot, it's a Magic Hat #9 clone, so that's how I would get it out of the bottling bucket and then back into it.

 

Iodophor probably won't work like starsan in this case...starsan is an acid, while iodophor's not....it's the acidity of the starsan that usually neutralizes the oxyclean....if it were glass I would suggest using vinegar, but since it's plastic I hesitate to do so...unless someone comes on and suggests a dilution ratio....

I use oxclean in my buckets all the time and have never noticed that they smell like it after rinsing...odd...

 

You will be fine. Just make sure to clean the hell out of the spigot. Look inside it and make sure there is nothing in there. Hold it up to your faucet with hot water and blast it. Look for any large scratches in your bucket. Soak it in 100 degree water with PBW for 20 minutes. Soak it in a star san solution for another 20. And yes, make sure the seal is tight. The rubber gasket goes on the outside of the bucket.

I ferment in these all the time and have had no issues *knocks on wood*

 

I ended up going with the traditional primary, I used starsan and it knocked it out (I said iodophor earlier, but I meant starsan!) Thanks guys, mazzle mazzle, good things.

 

A couple of good ideas.. I used my bottling bucket to primary a recent batch, then transferred to a carboy to condition, and back to the bucket for bottling. I don't have enough equipment to secondary otherwise. Worked well for me.

 

So the starsan knocked out the oxyclean odor???

SCORE!!!!

:rockin: