CaptnCully
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Why is it that all of you that use buckets for fermenting still drink your beer from a GLASS and not a solo-cup?
Bucket v.s. Carboy
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Oldskooler
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I drink right from the bucket
WesleyBrewViking said:I have a 10 gallon bucket that is currently only used to store equipment, though I'll probably end up fermenting in it again if I run out of carboys. As has been previously stated, it's mainly a matter of personal preference, though there are pros and cons inherent to each one. Here's how I see it (I like lists):
Carboys
-Pros
-->Clarity, you can see your beer without opening fermenter
-->Less headspace for reduced oxygen exposure, ideal for prolonged aging
-->Smooth, hard surface doesn't harbour bacteria
-->Not oxygen permeable
-->If properly cared for, can outlive their owner
-Cons
-->Heavy
-->Fragile
-->Harder to clean
-->More expensive
-->Harder to store when not in use
Buckets
-Pros
-->Lightweight
-->Impact resistant
-->Easier access for cleaning
-->Usually much cheaper
-->Stackable for storing
-Cons
-->Can't see your beer without opening fermenter (except maybe PC buckets)
-->More headspace, not ideal for prolonged aging
-->Surface easily scratched, may increase infection risk
-->Many plastics are oxygen permeable
-->Tend to wear out over (a long) time
Again, it comes down to what your priorities are. Buckets do have a pretty solid edge when it comes to handling/cleaning, whereas carboys are the better choice for bulk aging and potential lifespan (you could use the same one for hundreds of years if you don't break it first).
You decide based on your own needs and don't listen to anyone who tells you that one or the other is the wrong choice for you.
Another pro for carboys or better bottles, much easier to get into when taking a gravity sample. Lift off a stopper vs pry off a difficult lid. I recently started fermenting in better bottles, still have and use buckets. Only big drawback to bb in my opinion is a lot harder to clean than buckets.
I use a bucket for a primary. I don't snap down the lid, but put a heavy weight on top (big picnic jug full of water) to keep out baddies. Never had any ill effects in over 10yrs of brewing. I transfer to a glass carboy secondary once the fermentation slows.
That is actually a really good idea with the weight. I only use carboys, because its what I have(hard to say no to a 5 dollar 6 gallon carboy), but if I were to have a bucket I would go about it the other way. Glass to bucket, unless I was bulk aging, would just stay in glass. It would be way easier to clean a bucket after dryhopping or adding woodchips, etc, and risk of infection would be lower at that point due to alcohol content.
I dry hop in a grain bag (never used wood chips), it's big enough that even fresh hops have room to expand. Jamming it through the neck of the carboy can be a challenge with fresh hops though. To get it back out for cleaning after, I pull a section of the bag back out through the neck and cut it with scissors, dump it back and the hops all fall out for easy removal. Pain in the ass I know, but I find loose dry hopping can jam up my siphon. Any better ideas would be appreciated!
As a n00b gathering as much information about brewing as I can before buying all my equipment, this thread has surprised me and made me question whether or not to go with a few carboys or stick with buckets. I guess I had heard/read about the issues with scratching and introducing hiding places for bacteria and immediately looked past them and onto carboys.
What does that have to do with choice of fermenter?
I used carboys for maybe the first 5 years I brewed. Then over the course of a few months, I accidentally broke 4 of them and lost 15 gal. of beer. I switched to buckets and found many advantages. They work just as well for fermenters, and the larger opening makes then easier to clean. In addition, I can stack them for storage so they take up less space. I use cornies for long term storage.
WesleyBrewViking
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I listed the scratching thing as a con for buckets, but with proper care and handling, it's not much of an issue, just like you can avoid breaking carboys if you are careful.
Guess that means that big breweries that ferment only in gigantic stainless conicals should only bottle and serve in stainless?
Pretty silly, if that's supposed to be an argument for using glass. What does the fermenter have to do with the serving vessel? If you're storing food in tupperware, you'd better only cook in it too?
Another con (didn't see it but I might have missed it) for glass is the light permeability. Skunking is an all-too real risk, and also with Better Bottles. I keep a towel over my carboys when aging my wine.
I have about 20(?) carboys, and don't use them much except for lagering, wine, and occasionally for oaking or dryhopping. Usually I dryhop in the fermenter, though, and don't rack to a second vessel for that unless I want to harvest the yeast.
Ideally, I'd have a cold room with all 14 gallon stainless conicals, but I don't think that would go over too well at my house.
I actually wonder about this often. As in how much light is too much light? I had always heard it was sunlight you needed to be concerned with and not necessarily internal lights say from a basement storage room.
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Guess that means that big breweries that ferment only in gigantic stainless conicals should only bottle and serve in stainless?
Pretty silly, if that's supposed to be an argument for using glass. What does the fermenter have to do with the serving vessel? If you're storing food in tupperware, you'd better only cook in it too?
Bud Lite aluminum bottles for all!!!
I use buckets for just about everything. I have a couple of 5 gal BB's for apfelwein and the occasional secondary (have had 1 brew go to secondary in the past 2 years). I haven't made any beers that fermented/conditioned for mega long, but if I did I would probably transfer them into one of the 5 gal BB's, if only to free up the bucket for another brew.
Because I care what my beer looks like when I'm drinking or serving it, glass keeps it at serving temperature longer, and the tactile sensation of holding and drinking from glass is better than plastic. None of which have anything to do with the process of fermentation. I don't need to see the beer to give the yeast time to do their work and then check gravity after 2 weeks, my buckets go in a temperature controlled chamber so material temperature differences don't matter, and I don't drink out of my fermenter so it doesn't really matter what it feels like.
BetterSense
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You may be interested in this great new bucket-related invention:
WesleyBrewViking
Well-Known Member
Definitely a consideration. My only bucket is made of a translucent plastic, looks like HDPE but it isn't stamped. I wonder if skunking would be an issue because it lets a lot of light through. I don't think it lets much UV through though which, as I understand it, is what's responsible for skunking, not visible light. To take care of this, I dress up my carboys in my old sweaters. They look so adorable like that. If I really have the urge to look at my beer, I can just "lift up the skirt" on my carboy.
Dry hop in the keg!
I'm currently looking to have some SS rings welded to the underside of my keg lids, just like Morebeer sells (but at a FRACTION of their prices!)
Well, I'm not look to have it done, I just have to go out back, cut a piece of SS, drill a hole in it, bend a 90, and spot weld it on.
Then I can hang the hops bag from that using a SS chain. Previously I have hung the bag inside the keg using a bit of dental floss, which doesn't seem to break the seal.
I can attest that yes, you can skunk beer in a bucket if the sunlight is direct enough. I recently fermented 5 gal. of German pi;ls in my garage...the only way I can do lagers is to wait til winter and ferment outside. We'd been having typical cloudy winter weather, but it cleared up for a few days. When I finally realized it, I checked on the beer and it's definitely skunked. Not undrinkably so, but not great. The current batch is fermenting in a 10 gal. corny.
Sunlight and Fluorescent lights seem to be the worst. Incandescent light doesn't seem to affect the hop compounds as much.
When I ferment in a clear container I use a Black T shirt. Before that I just used the box the carboy came in and cut a hole in the bottom for the airlock. (Flip the box upside down and cover the carboy!)
I do this when I'm not overly impressed with the final product! The dental floss is a great idea, thanks....usually I just chuck the bag in. I also only own 2 kegs and a 2 tap system, so usually I start drinking a couple days after kegging. Generally I like to dry hop 10-14 days.
shivalotus
Well-Known Member
Cool! I've always wanted a store, even since I started making wine 25 years ago, and brewing for 12 years.
The other side of the coin (for a 6 sided coin, I guess), is this- buckets are CHEAP. So it gets scratched. Make it a bucket to hold grain, and get a new one. I have two buckets, just for grain crushing. They are buckets that have been "retired".
A carboy breaks, and you've got nothin', except a lot of glass shards.
You might get a shiny new hospital bill.
BetterSense
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A couple inches is usually enough to avoid the yeast.
MileHiBrewingSupplies
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Wow guys! So much emotion surrounding fermenter materials! I think the bottom line is that both work fine for homebrewing as long as you understand their respective strengths and weaknesses. Each brewer will make his own decision about which is best for him/her...and I'll always carry both (but only USE glass).
BetterSense said:
I like this idea maybe ill install a spigot in a bucket and or better bottle. Downside of that is that I've read spigots are great places to cultivate infection and introduce into your beer...
Zigacktly! My spigot is on hand-tight with rubber washers, so I take it out and sanitize it before every batch. No nasties!
WesleyBrewViking
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beerbeerbeer123
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Carboy's get my vote ..buckets are for paint
hughmac
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sutepan said:
I'd love to get some of those BB spigots with the adjustable inlet height (just turn it), but they cost more then the BBs themselves. The whole airless 'system' of theirs is pretty sweet. But I'd rather brew more beer. Grain's expensive enough these days!
BetterSense
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My favorite fermenter uses one of the white plastic spigots with a rubber washer. I take it loose and clean it every time. Its worth it because then i can take as many gravity samples as i want without sanitizing a wine thief, and when its time to rack i simply run the beer into the keg or bottling bucked with a hose. No siphon needed. I have it mounted high enough to avoid the yeast but i have a drilled stopper and piece of racking cane that i can use bot bottling to get the last bit of beer with no tipping.
me too any links to where we can get them?
KeystoneHomebrew
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This is one of those homebrew debates for the ages. Both are going to make good beer, and neither will make your beer better or worse if you use them right. But here's my take:
Bucket Pros:
Easier to clean
Easier to store (stackable)
Easier to carry
More protective of sunlight damage
Carboy Pros:
You get to see your beer doing it's thing (especially helpful if doing a lager for it's D-rest)
Very very hard to scratch and ruin
Looks more scientific for non-brewers to look at
Bucket Cons:
Easy to scratch and ruin
Can't see anything going on
Looks like a bucket
Carboy Cons:
A shattered carboy sucks, even more if it was full
Very heavy when full
Having multiples takes up more space than buckets
Needs to be shielded from any sunlight
Bucket Pros:
Easier to clean
Easier to store (stackable)
Easier to carry
More protective of sunlight damage
Carboy Pros:
You get to see your beer doing it's thing (especially helpful if doing a lager for it's D-rest)
Very very hard to scratch and ruin
Looks more scientific for non-brewers to look at
Bucket Cons:
Easy to scratch and ruin
Can't see anything going on
Looks like a bucket
Carboy Cons:
A shattered carboy sucks, even more if it was full
Very heavy when full
Having multiples takes up more space than buckets
Needs to be shielded from any sunlight
zeg
Well-Known Member
I've been using Better Bottles from the get-go, and don't feel any urge to switch. Cleaning has not been a problem, the worst I've ever had to do is a PBW soak.
I have used a bucket once when my BBs were full. It was ok. I didn't find it particularly easier or harder.
For steeping fruit, I'll grant that a bucket wins, hands down. But I don't plan on doing that again. Dry hopping in my BB worked fine, though I imagine a bucket would make it easier. I don't expect to do that very often, though.
One small advantage of a carboy-shaped vessel is the reduced area of the opening. It's a small thing, but it means less cross-section for contamination, whether it be from microscopic dust or from a macroscopic object dropped by a clumsy brewer. This is helpful particularly during racking.
Overall, though, it's just preference. I also prefer the aesthetics of the BB, but I'm not outright opposed to buckets. (You'll never get me to use a glass fermentor larger than the 1-gallon cider jugs, though.)
I have used a bucket once when my BBs were full. It was ok. I didn't find it particularly easier or harder.
For steeping fruit, I'll grant that a bucket wins, hands down. But I don't plan on doing that again. Dry hopping in my BB worked fine, though I imagine a bucket would make it easier. I don't expect to do that very often, though.
One small advantage of a carboy-shaped vessel is the reduced area of the opening. It's a small thing, but it means less cross-section for contamination, whether it be from microscopic dust or from a macroscopic object dropped by a clumsy brewer. This is helpful particularly during racking.
Overall, though, it's just preference. I also prefer the aesthetics of the BB, but I'm not outright opposed to buckets. (You'll never get me to use a glass fermentor larger than the 1-gallon cider jugs, though.)
CaptnCully
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The next time that you brew.... take your bucket, clean it, rinse it, and sanitize it like you normally do. Then turn it upside down, put it over your head... take 3 DEEP breaths and tell me that it does not still SMELL like a bucket.... then maybe, just maybe i could think about switching from my carboy's. I have a big problem with plastic. I have not even enjoyed a tall glass of milk since it no longer comes in glass. Stainless steel i can deal with but plastic.. you have got to be kidding........
MileHiBrewingSupplies
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Too funny!!
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