Can I use a new 5 gallon plastic bucket from Home depot ??

[Kilgore_Trout]

I don't know if I'd put too much faith the HD chemist. I compared the two buckets last time I was there and there is no way I'd brew in the orange buckets. I could definitely smell the plasticizers in them but not at all in the clear buckets.

Tom

Give em a good rinse and the smell goes away. They're not produced for food use so they have a good bit of manufacturing nasties left behind (bits of plastic, chemicals, etc).

I gave mine a few hot rinses and have had no problems. I use my homer for apfelwein, about 30 gallons now and not a hint of off flavors. Tastes the same as the stuff out of my better bottle. No discoloration or anything unusual in the bucket either.

 

[HSM]

A co-workers wife works in the cafeteria of a local high school, and an endless supply of food grade buckets in every size.

 

[magnj]

I just bought two of these HD buckets. I had to go with orange lids but I don't think it's a big deal. Including the grommets, lids, and buckets I got 2 fermenters for $8.50 each.

 

[JesseRC]

yup I got one to do apfelwein 3g batches in . I got the translucent bucket from lowes and the orange lid from HD. The lid has a rubber seal. The lowes lid went on tight, but seems to leak air, or atleast I havnt seen the airlock bubble.

 

[Brau_Haus]

Revvy, as much as I hate to make my first post here a negative one, I feel the need to clarify a few points that your chemist friend failed to recognize. Allow me to start by informing you that I worked for many years in the plastics industry.

HDPE, or high density polyethylene is an injected polymer plastic. By FDA regulations, to be stipulated as a "food grade" plastic, the object must be made entirely from virgin material. The "Homer" buckets sold at your local Home Depot are not made with 100% virgin material. Their "recipe" for the bucket allows for up to 15% recycled material. This material, while shredded, washed and sanitized may or may not be of originally food grade plastics.

Most plastics manufacturers will try to use as much recycled material as they can, but there are times, due to delivery issues, that raw or virgin material is the used for 100% of the product. It could very well be that some of the buckets from Home Depot are technically of a food grade because there wasn't any recycled material to be used. Generally speaking though, one should always consider the fact that they are allowed to use up to 15% according to their own formula.

Another thing to consider is mold release. Mold release is a spray that is used to coat the inside of the injection mold before the plastic is injected into it. To be of food grade, a company is required to use an FDA approved lubricant for contact with food, and the product must then be washed after being formed and released from the mold. This normally isn't an issue, since we wash and sanitize everything, but since the buckets in question are potentially 15% non-HDPE, food grade material, the chance exists that mold release will be retained within the plastic and degass into your beer, or other beverage, during fermentation. Most non-food grade manufacturers use a petroleum based mold release, since it is much less expensive vs. the FDA approved mold release.

Regardless of size, I would highly recommend against using the "Homer" bucket for any kind of fermentation.....sorry.

BH

Edit: I did some research to verify that my information was still correct, and it is NOT. Food grade plastics may contain recycled material, but the conditions are very stringent. You can see what the FDA has to say about it here. I also discovered that Home Depot does not require that their supplier of the "Homer" bucket follow the food grade requirements. This does not mean that they aren't (although the FDA does not allow for dyes in food grade plastics), only that their creation, and the materials used (as mentioned above in my original post) are not necessarily of food grade.

 

[Sawdustguy]

I dunno, I will surely get flamed but here is my rant. I have seen Food Grade 5 gallon buckets with lid for $5.00 from Primary fermenters - Fermenting buckets - Plastic buckets - Wine making supplies. My local homebrew store has them for the same price. I am not made of money, and I am all for saving a buck here and there, but I just don't think it is worth the risk to save $2.00 a bucket. If someone gets ill from these Homer Buckets, God forbid, was it worth the $2.00 savings? It's certainly not to me. You may not feel the effects today, but we don't know the long term health effects of the dyes used in the Homer Buckets. I certainly don't want to be the Guinea Pig, not to save a whopping $2.00.

Food Grade means it is manufacturered from virgin material. Sudan Dyes are commonly used to color non food grade plastics.

"What are the potential health effects of these dyes? Sudan I may have a genotoxic effect and Sudan I to IV have potential carcinogenic effects according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Consequently, the fraud identified by adulteration of food products by Sudan dyes constitutes a risk for public health."

 

[rico567]

I dunno, I will surely get flamed but here is my rant. <snip> I am not made of money, and I am all for saving a buck here and there, but I just don't think it is worth the risk to save $2.00 a bucket. If someone gets ill from these Homer Buckets, God forbid, was it worth the $2.00 savings? It's certainly not to me. You may not feel the effects today, but we don't know the long term health effects of the dyes used in the Homer Buckets. I certainly don't want to be the Guinea Pig, not to save a whopping $2.00. <snip>

You will not be flamed by me. I agree with this completely. I suppose if I was simultaneously fermenting 20 batches of beer, I might be inclined to economize on buckets. But just for a few? No way.....just not that much money involved.
Other buckets that may cross my path I'll just use for other purposes. I got a nice gray Pratt & Lambert 5 gal. paint bucket that I'm converting to hold my Corona mill for grinding my grain.

 

[Brau_Haus]

I dunno, I will surely get flamed but here is my rant.

not by me either

Food Grade means it is manufacturered from virgin material. Sudan Dyes are commonly used to color non food grade plastics.

SDG, that is not correct. I originally thought so as well (since that used to be the standard), but the FDA has changed it's rules to allow the use of recycled material in food grade plastics. The stipulation though, is that the material that is recycled has to be of 100% food grade plastics originally, and the company recycling the plastic has to use a sorting, cleansing and sanitizing system that ensures there is no contamination of the recycled plastics. So basically what's being done is the FDA has come out and said, "Sure, use recycled plastic, but only recycled food grade plastics. Keep it separate, and you need to clean and sanitize it before you can sell it." The old regulations required 100% virgin material.....just thought I'd let you know.

BH

 

[hayabusa]

I'm not on either side of this fence, but to be honest does it really matter? I mean if you look at the sum total of the items we ingest on a daily basis I am pretty sure fermenting in a homer bucket isn't going to be the thing that does you in.... there are much stronger forces in act here.. for example, and i apologize for the example if it offends anyone.

When I was in school, school girls were still girls... a high school girl was maturing into a woman and her body filing out... Now most girls 15 years old can easily be confused for 21+.... it doesn't take a genius to understand that our food supply is chock full of hormones and other chemicals that alter our body chemistry dramatically...

a 3-gallon batch of test brew in a homer bucket is no more harmful that you drinking a glass of tap water, some milk or a burger from the grill...

 

[Brau_Haus]

hayabusa, there is a lot of truth in what you are saying. My point here is that there was some confusion as to whether it is safe to use bucket A or bucket B. Knowing what goes into plastics, and what can happen if you ingest those chemicals....well...let's just say I'll spend the extra $$ to buy the food grade and reduce the chance of poisoning, or worse, ruining a good batch.

 

[Sawdustguy]

not by me either


SDG, that is not correct. I originally thought so as well (since that used to be the standard), but the FDA has changed it's rules to allow the use of recycled material in food grade plastics. The stipulation though, is that the material that is recycled has to be of 100% food grade plastics originally, and the company recycling the plastic has to use a sorting, cleansing and sanitizing system that ensures there is no contamination of the recycled plastics. So basically what's being done is the FDA has come out and said, "Sure, use recycled plastic, but only recycled food grade plastics. Keep it separate, and you need to clean and sanitize it before you can sell it." The old regulations required 100% virgin material.....just thought I'd let you know.

BH

Thanks for re-educating me. It's the dye in the bucket I would worry about.

 

[Philsc]

I went looking for buckets once and in Home Hardware they have white buckets on the bottom of which is written FDA. I presumed that this meant that they were food grade, even though they're sold for putting cement or plaster or whatever in (I was not a DIYer till I started brewing). The food grade buckets I have state proudly on the bottom that they are, indeed, food grade.

 

[magnj]

Mine are from Leaktite. Leaktite Corporation product # 5GLCLR. Does not say FDA, not sure I'll use these again...they were a temporary solution anyway. Now I have some #2 HDPE Pharmaceutical grade containers from Honeywell called NowPack, NOWPak® & NOWPak® II Containers - Packaging Information - Product Information - Honeywell Burdick & Jackson . I don't have the liner they are talking about that is inert so I'll probably replace these with BB's soon.

 

[Ksosh]

As an FYI, my local Walmart (Albany, NY) has 5 gallon #2 HDPE buckets for $4, with lids for another buck or so. It seems to be 5 gallons up to about 1" from the top, and the lid seems to form a pretty tight/solid seal. I'm currently using one as a bottle soak bucket, but I'm tempted to try it as a (short term) secondary in the future, since the other buckets/carboys I have are 6.5 gallons+.

YMMV with finding these at Walmart, though. We've (currently) got the world's largest store (2 stories, cart/people escalator, 2 elevators, full grocery section, etc, etc, etc.)

 

[rico567]

I've been wanting to try primary-only fermentation, so I bought some of the 7-gallon buckets from U.S. Plastics. They seem very good, the lids come with an integral rubber seal. The 5-gallon homer buckets on sale cheap at places like Lowe's, HD., etc. have no interest for me, because a 5-gallon bucket isn't suitable for fermenting 5 gallons of beer. Three, maybe. Most of the beers I make will produce a krauesen that comes near the lid of my original 6.5 gal. bucket. The U.S. Plastics buckets are listed as FDA, and their shipping was very reasonable.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I would stay away from any of the buckets you find in any of these big box stores. Buy something that was intended to have food in it. Don't cheap out on a fermenter, I ruined about 4 batches being cheap,and it cost me more in the long run. I personally won't ferment in a plastic bucket ever again, but that's just me being paranoid now. take it for what it's worth,good luck.

 

[magnj]

I would stay away from any of the buckets you find in any of these big box stores. Buy something that was intended to have food in it. Don't cheap out on a fermenter, I ruined about 4 batches being cheap,and it cost me more in the long run. I personally won't ferment in a plastic bucket ever again, but that's just me being paranoid now. take it for what it's worth,good luck.

There is no reason a bucket will ruin your fermentation unless your sanitizing procedure is poor. I think the discussion is on the safety of using non certified plastics that may or may not leech chemicals into your beer. Many of us have fermented in buckets for a long time without ruining batches.

Not trying to pick on you, I just don't think you should be spreading the message that buckets are not fir for fermentation...only some are.

 

[MikeRLynch]

Well, I've got 4 gallons of mead in primary in a Homer Bucket now, so I guess we'll see in a few months time what the deal is. Hopefully I can manage my fermentation well enough to have it be almost complete in a few weeks in order to transfer to secondary. Whether it's food grade or not, I don't like plastic buckets for extended secondary anyway.

 

[Sawdustguy]

Well, I've got 4 gallons of mead in primary in a Homer Bucket now, so I guess we'll see in a few months time what the deal is. Hopefully I can manage my fermentation well enough to have it be almost complete in a few weeks in order to transfer to secondary. Whether it's food grade or not, I don't like plastic buckets for extended secondary anyway.

The problem is that you may not know the effects of the dyes in the bucket for years to come. While the HDPE plastic used to make the Homer buckets is safe, nobody knows what dye was used to color the bucket. Some of the dyes used to color plastic are suspected carcinogens. Unfortunately, it could take years for the effects to be felt. One dye that is suspect is Sudan and is commonly used in all plastics. It's your life, do what you wish, but I just don't think it is worth the risk, especially when you could spend another $2 to $3 to get "Food Safe" buckets.

 

[Octavius]

Even if foodgrade, morebeer.com has a procedure for prepping buckets before use:

Plastic Bucket (6 Gallon) | MoreBeer

Also of note - "Food grade up 180 F".

So not for hauling batch sparge water.

Cheers!

 

[Philsc]

I managed to find a 6.5 US gallon carboy for 24 canadian dollars which is about 10 dollars cheaper than the dedicated spigoted brew bucket I was going to buy.

 

[HSM]

I store all my grains *that aren't in the freezer* in homerbuckets. THey are fine when the barley crusher gets working to catch the crushed grains.

If brewing means that you can't afford a food grade bucket as a fermenter they you should find a new hobby. Trying to cut corners looking at HomeDepot for buckets is silly. Try a bakery.

 

[RichBenn]

As said before, HomeDepot sells both the food grade and non-food grade. Food grade was a couple of bucks more. Your choice. Yeah, I know we all drank from garden hoses made of non-food grade materials when we were kids, and were exposed to all sorts of gas, oil, paints, pesticides etc. that were much more toxic than what we get today. But I wish I knew then what I do now....

Two bucks more to avoid yet another potential toxin? To decrease(however slight) my risk for cancer? You bet!

 

[AzuredEyed]

So I recently racked a batch of hard apple cider into an ACE's, white plastic bucket.

Should I dump it out -- or make sure all my home insurance premiums are paid up?

 

[fredthecat]

nice thread... glad i read all of it.. after careful consideration i definitely know im either going to find a used icing bucket or something or just suck it up and spend some money on a ale pail type bucket... no shortcut...

 

[CalendarGirl]

oh ok cool.

So now I just have to find a restaurant supply store north of Boston

Visit your local chain grocery store with a BAKERY as they receive frosting, cream filling, ect to decorate cakes..... 3.5 - 5 gallon food grade, for free. I washed mine in the bath tub.....

 

[fluketamer]

Visit your local chain grocery store with a BAKERY as they receive frosting, cream filling, ect to decorate cakes..... 3.5 - 5 gallon food grade, for free. I washed mine in the bath tub.....

hi welcome to hbt . this is a very old thread . like over 10 years old, but that is good advice. thanks

 

[Snuffy]

The need for a good bucket transcends time itself.

 

[Yesfan]

The need for a good bucket transcends time itself.