Can I ferment in a bottling bucket?

[erick0619]

Yeah title says it all just bought a bottling bucket with a spigot and it's the exact same bucket as my fermenter only with a spigot

 

[nicklawmusic]

Is this going to be your primary fermenter?

 

[skw]

Sure you can. When I started, a bottle bucket was all that I had - I just left my beer in there for three weeks and bottled straight from there into bottles with carefully measured sugar water.

That said, having an extra fermenter and being able to batch prime is much nicer.

 

[Zepth]

I just failed forum. OK, the less fancy post this time.

Yes you can do this. I do it all the time, and have no problems. You'd want to be darn sure that the spigot is clean and sterile. I spend as much time cleaning the spigot as the rest of the bucket combined. I use and recommend a clearing vessel, the valve at the bottom of my bucket causes enough current to draw some trub up off the bottom. Not a problem (perhaps desirable) if clearing, but IMO it's way too much for bottling. Using it at half throttle may solve that problem, I'm impatient sometimes. If you go right from bucket to bottle you lose batch priming capabilities. Not earth shattering, but a bit of a downer.

 

[RM-MN]

Fermenting buckets are pretty cheap when you consider that with care in cleaning they can last for many batches and with that addition, you can batch prime all those batches of beer. If storage is a worry when you are not using them, the fermenter bucket will slide right inside the bottling bucket.

 

[cramar]

I ferment and bottle from the same bucket, just gotta be gentle with moving it so you don't stir up the trub.
I bottle down near to the trub and I mark the final 1 or 2 bottles and I have to say that I've never tasted any off flavors on any of the bottom bottles.

I also don't find bottle priming that big of a hassle, get an assembly line going and it's pretty easy, personally I find bottle washing more of a hassle than bottle priming.

 

[jonmohno]

I wouldn't slide anything in a bucket. Scratch. -only thing that goes in mine is cleaner soft rag or wort or racking cane to bottle etc. No Scratching. Ive fermented in my bottle bucket, had priming drops, was a complete breeze to make/bottle that batch. Its actually how you brew Mr. Beer also. Never brewed from one or had one of their kits but was considering trying a kit someday just for the heck and simplicity of it.

As long as everything is very clean and unscratched its good to go. I actually started out that way with a 2 gallon bucket and drilled a spigot hole-fermented right in it,until I found a good deal on some 2 gallon wide mouth jars then I just used the bucket to bottle from then on.

 

[kh54s10]

Batch priming is easier and usually more consistent than priming each bottle. I would use the bottling bucket if I needed a fermenter. But, I would still batch prime so that would require 2 transfers or another bottling bucket.

So, yes you can. But you need to decide if that is the way you want to go.

 

[WileECoyote]

Yeah title says it all just bought a bottling bucket with a spigot and it's the exact same bucket as my fermenter only with a spigot

Yes, I do this all the time.

just a fyi, after your beer is done and you are cleaning the fermenter, make sure you take that valve out of the bucket and take the valve completely apart when cleaning it, also pay close attention to the inside of the valve body where a tiny bit of grub can cling even after cleaning, if that happens you will be infecting your next batch and contaminating your equipment.

Yes I know this from personal experience.

Cheers

 

[poptarts]

just dont get a leak or all your beer go bye bye

 

[erick0619]

Thank you everyone for the replies it helped a lot and got a lot of good tips but just to be more specific this is not my primary fermenter I purchased it so I could bottle my first 5 gallon batch and I was curious if I could use it for fermenting In the future

 

[rolomo]

I racked a Belgian Stout into a Bottling Bucket as a secondary fermenter on January 11. Plan was to leave it there for three weeks. However, about 10 days into the schedule, the valve began to leak. Valve was undisturbed and still in the closed position. i decided that i had to bottle immediately, because the loss in volume could only be replaced by air going back thru the valve, and would result in oxidized beer. the bad news is that I kept the bucket near our Thermostat for temp control in Winter, which is located in our formal living room with a wood floor that is now destroyed and molding underneath. Lesson, another fermenting bucket is pretty cheap, wish I had just grabbed another.

 

[Larzean]

There's another thread here to modify the inside of the valve with a 90 degree PVC elbow facing the bottom of the bottling bucket. I was thinking of trying to ferment in the bottling bucket using this idea but facing the elbows opening UP to hopefully be over the trub, and hook a hose to the spigot and transfer to a second bucket to batch prime. Not sure if it'd work well, but it would cut out the auto siphon if it did. I guess an issue with this would be that not all batches trub would be equal & some trub would settle into the hole in top of the elbow so you'd have to be mindful to lose the first bit that comes out.

 

[cheddarhed3]

This is a question I had from the day I got my Northern Brewer Starter Kit a few months ago. I only have the buckets for now as I'm military and move a lot so shipping heavy carboys are not in the cards for now. The only info I've read on this is in John Palmer's "How to Brew" book which states buckets aren't a good idea for secondary fermentation because of all the space for air and possible infection. I suppose though if you sanitize, sanitize, sanitize it would be acceptable. I'm going to try it with my current batch of Chinook IPA that is still in primary and see how it goes. Cheers.

 

[Odin_Brews]

I have three identical buckets with spigots that I use as fermenters or bottling buckets, I like to transfer to a 'bottling' bucket to get off the trub when bottling and get a good mix with the priming solution. Whether or not that bottling bucket just got cleaned up from fermenting a beer doesn't make a difference to me. Ill use them as secondaries when neccessary as well. With the spigot and a hose Ive never used an auto siphon. And in over two years Ive (knock on wood) never had an infection or issues with oxidation. I did have a leak from the spigot one time though.

 

[Zepth]

Warning: Completely OT post

This is a question I had from the day I got my Northern Brewer Starter Kit a few months ago. I only have the buckets for now as I'm military and move a lot so shipping heavy carboys are not in the cards for now.

DoD doesn't cover it for you? I work with a moving company and we bill the DND directly for services provided to their servicemen. All with full replacement insurance value. You may be an ideal candidate for the better bottle.

 

[cheddarhed3]

They would, I just don't need the hassle of shipping extra gear at this point. I have 3 young boys as well so I won't sweat so much if they get into my buckets as I would the glass carboys. Besides, I'm sticking with buckets until I can find a reason not to. Easy to clean, move, store. My beer is turning out fine so far. Cheers.