Benefit of bucket over carboy?

[Happydad1689]

Hi,

I have my first brew in the ale pale (6 days - Brewers Best Christmas Ale) It had a couple of days of crazy fermentation, it has settled down now and seems ok. I have a clear plastic carboy for a secondary but don't think I will use it.

I am thinking of getting another batch going but wonder if I can use the clear carboy?

 

[freisste]

You can use it. The only reason to be careful is the decreased headspace of a carboy. It's great for limiting oxygen exposure in secondary, but doesn't leave much krausen space for primary.

Buckets are nice in that they are easy to clean, easy to carry/handle, and easy to pitch yeast. Carboys are clear and designed to limit oxygen exposure if filled correctly.

 

[PatrickGoss]

The answer is a simple... maybe.

If the carboy is a 6 gallon and you are brewing a 5 gallon batch of a mid to low gravity beer, you will be fine. Make sure you are ready for the work involved in cleaning a carboy that was used for primary fermentation. It's not that bad to get them cleaned out, but buckets are a lot easier. Essentially, if you were to have looked into your ale pale (6.5 gallon) at the peak of fermentation, you would have seen that the level rose by 2-5 inches (or more). In a five gallon carboy, you don't have the headspace for that to happen so you need a blowoff tube.

The blowoff tube is simply a tube on the bung of the carboy instead of an airlock. The other end of the tube gets dropped in a cup (or bucket) of water. Keep an eye on the batch when using a blowoff tube, I have ruined batches of beer with an infection by leaving the tube in place after fermentation was over as it will act as a siphon and empty the bucket of water that has been sitting out picking up whatever nasty little things fall into it.

You could also just brew a four gallon batch in a five gallon carboy.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I'm going to quote somebody who quoted somebody who probably overheard somebody else quoting it.

I'll simply quote part of what John Palmer said in the "Ask the Experts" section if the American Homebrewers Association website....

"The risk inherent to any beer transfer, whether it is fermenter-to-fermenter or fermenter-to-bottles, is oxidation and staling. Any oxygen exposure after fermentation will lead to staling, and the more exposure, and the warmer the storage temperature, the faster the beer will go stale.

Racking to a secondary fermenter used to be recommended because staling was simply a fact of life – like death and taxes. But the risk of autolysis was real and worth avoiding – like cholera. In other words, you know you are going to die eventually, but death by cholera is worth avoiding.

But then modern medicine appeared, or in our case, better yeast and better yeast-handling information. Suddenly, death by autolysis is rare for a beer because of two factors: the freshness and health of the yeast being pitched has drastically improved, and proper pitching rates are better understood. The yeast no longer drop dead and burst like Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life when fermentation is complete – they are able to hibernate and wait for the next fermentation to come around. The beer has time to clarify in the primary fermenter without generating off-flavors. With autolysis no longer a concern, staling becomes the main problem. The shelf life of a beer can be greatly enhanced by avoiding oxygen exposure and storing the beer cold (after it has had time to carbonate).

Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl. The real purpose of lagering a beer is to use the colder temperatures to encourage the yeast to flocculate and promote the precipitation and sedimentation of microparticles and haze.

So, the new rule of thumb: don’t rack a beer to a secondary, ever, unless you are going to conduct a secondary fermentation."

 

[EVILsteve]

One of the benefits of a bucket over carboy is the size.

If you use the carboy and fill it too far your going to loose some from blow off when it foams over. Then your going to have a larger air to liquid surface when it settles and your trying not to get oxygen into the brew.

One advantage of the pale pale during primary is the larger surface area during the early stages after pitching the yeast. Let's the oxygen in to help get the yeast party started. That's the one time you want this to happen.

There's a few things you can do. Start with a 6 gal primary carboy filling with slightly more than 5 gallons and transfer to a 5 gallon after it settles for a secondary. Or use two 5 gallon carboy starting half full and rack one to fill the other. That's my preferred method to keep it on the cake for conditioning.

With lots of head space if you do have blow off I personally don't worry as long as I DO NOT open the airlock. After the CO2 has evacuated the oxygen during the initial days of fermentation it's pretty well an 02 deficient atmosphere so just leave it alone to do its thing and you'l be ok.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I f you put the bucket over the carboy it keeps the light out.