Carboy question

[bsigil]

The other day I found myself in the hardware department of Walmart, particularly down the water treatment aisle. It was there that I noticed that they sell five-gallon jugs for drinking water for around $7. My question is this: Is there any particular reason why these wouldn't make decent carboys? It seems to me that all it would take would be to drill a hole in the cap and insert a $0.99 rubber grommet and you'd have a perfectly serviceable plastic carboy. I feel like there has to be a reason otherwise more people would be going this route rather than spending upwards of $40 for one from the brew store.

A link to the bottle in question:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/American-Maid-5-gal-Water-Bottle/51200565

 

[Singletrack]

Probably okay for a 4 gal batch of beer. Is that your batch size?

 

[bsigil]

I was thinking about using one as a secondary for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[rusty_tlc]

No first hand experience but word on the interwebs is that they scratch during cleaning and harbor bacteria and other nasties.

 

[DaWhip]

A lot of people have stopped doing secondary is part of the reason. Did the ones you see have handles? All of them I have seen have built in handles that seemed like they would be a real pain to clean.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Is it plastic or glass? If it's glass there is no problem.

 

[seabrew8]

I used one once for wine with no problems. I seen a few people use them on some of the youtube videos.

Personally i would just buy a food grade bucket at home depot or something and drill a hole in that. Much easier to work with.

 

[thaefathan]

Our walmart sells food grade buckets (no lid) for $3, you could get some of those, and saran wrap a 'lid.'

 

[kombat]

They're made for water, not something with a pH as low as beer. Also, plastic is oxygen-permeable, meaning the beer will oxidize if left in there long enough (on the order of months).

Just get glass carboys. You can find them dirt-cheap on Craigslist of Kijiji.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Color tinted plastic buckets are not technically food grade per the FDA. Only white. And if it does not actually say "Food Grade" the it may not be. Case in point
The blue or orange buckets from Lowes Home Depot or wal mart. I'd stay away from those.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/plastics.html#foodgrade

 

[rusty_tlc]

There is a local store that sells 2 gallon white food storage buckets. Places that sell bulk foods sell them.

 

[RM-MN]

I was thinking about using one as a secondary for a 5 gallon batch.

For what purpose would you be using the secondary? Adding fruit? Prepare for krausen that may spill over. Dry hopping? Better to do that in primary. Long term aging of a barleywine? Use glass only because of the chance for oxidation.

 

[rusty_tlc]

2 gallon food grade buckets can be found at some places that sell bulk foods.