Bulk carbonating

[Johnnyrhine]

Was wondering if anybody has ever bulk carbonated in a plastic bucket then bottled. I have co2 to blast out any oxygen left. Just wondering if its worth the time, don't wanna try and have to bottle carbonate anyway if it doesn't work. Thanks.

 

[solbes]

I don't think this will work. You need at least 8-12 psi to carbonate cold beer over 2 weeks or so. Buckets are not meant to hold pressure.

Roughly 40-50 square inches of area on the bucket lid. Say 10 pounds per square inch of CO2. Nope, I don't think the lid will hold.

Keg is your answer as they can handle well over 40 or 50 psi.

 

[lakedawgs]

Not a chance. That would actually be dangerous to say the least.

 

[solbes]

Nothing wrong with bottle conditioning though. For some brews, I strongly prefer it over kegging. Although its great to keg a batch in 20 minutes, I still bottle almost half my brews and it takes over an hour.

 

[Johnnyrhine]

Not a chance. That would actually be dangerous to say the least.

Jeez no need to be a dick about it

 

[lakedawgs]

Sorry, not trying to be a dick at all. Just honestly seems dangerous. I could see at least a lid blowing off, or at worst a seam coming loose.
On the other hand. If you find the right bucket/lid and it works, you could be on to something.

 

[solbes]

I don't think its dangerous. The lid will blow and you will have a mess. It's happened to me twice during a vigorous Belgian fermentaion when the airlock clogged with krausen. Probably got to less than 1/4 of the 10 psi needed to carbonate before the lid blew off.

 

[jhall4]

I don't think its dangerous. The lid will blow and you will have a mess. It's happened to me twice during a vigorous Belgian fermentaion when the airlock clogged with krausen. Probably got to less than 1/4 of the 10 psi needed to carbonate before the lid blew off.

Any time you're dealing with pressure and sealed containers, it's dangerous.

It can be done in a controlled manner - bottle conditioning - such that you know your vessel can safely contain the pressure, but as anyone who's experienced a bottle bomb will tell you, no system is foolproof.

This situation is much MORE dangerous (even though we're dealing with plastic rather than glass) because you're talking about a vessel that is not designed for pressure and doesn't even have a reliable fail safe for pressure relief, should the pressure exceed what the vessel can contain.

Yes, best case scenario the lid blows off and there's a mess. But that's still dangerous. A plastic lid blowing off can definitely cause harm to anyone who happens to be close by when it occurs. Should the vessel itself fail, well, then you're dealing with plastic shrapnel.

 

[solbes]

All righty, we all agree its not a good idea so thats what's really important here. Buckets are not meant to hold pressure. Here's where my post should end, but I can't help myself on a fun Friday morning. :rockin:

How many times have you heard of a clogged airlock causing a primary bucket to blow up with plastic shrapnel flying through the air? Now how many times have people posted that the lid or airlock blew out and created a mess? I bet you could try it 100 times, and 100 times the lid/airlock blows off. Although not a design feature, the fail safe for a bucket setup is the lid or airlock.

 

[jhall4]

All righty, we all agree its not a good idea so thats what's really important here. Buckets are not meant to hold pressure. Here's where my post should end, but I can't help myself on a fun Friday morning. :rockin:

How many times have you heard of a clogged airlock causing a primary bucket to blow up with plastic shrapnel flying through the air? Now how many times have people posted that the lid or airlock blew out and created a mess? I bet you could try it 100 times, and 100 times the lid/airlock blows off. Although not a design feature, the fail safe for a bucket setup is the lid or airlock.

I'm sure the odds of the bucket itself failing are small, however it's possible.

 

[Herky21]

Well, as brewers are having people die from exploding plastic kegs, I'd have to assume that a plastic bucket is an incrementally worse idea.

 

[TNGabe]

Jeez no need to be a dick about it

If you think he's being a dick, maybe the Internet isn't for you.

 

[Thegreatestgray]

What if you used a wood barrel would that work to carb the beer in

 

[Johnnyrhine]

If you think he's being a dick, maybe the Internet isn't for you.

Touché

 

[D_Nyholm]

Why not just bulk carbonate in a keg and then bottle off of that? I don't see the point of trying to carbonate in a bucket unless you don't have access to a keg, you seem to have the co2 equipment. Just use the keg as a secondary and while it is conditioning, carb it up.

 

[Jsslack]

If you would like to bulk carb in a bucket look into wonderbrew.

 

[Jsslack]

I stand corrected, onederbrew.
http://onederbrew.com/mobi/default.html

 

[Cposten]

That onederbrew looks pretty sweet. Anybody ever use one?

 

[arborman]

Jeez no need to be a dick about it

Chill out man..... Jeez! A guys offering advice