Carboy substitute

[1lonewolf75]

Howdy all I'm new to homebrewin although I've tossed the idea round fer quite awhile. Tasted mead the other night liked it so decided I'd try to make that. Low on funds to get started can only buy honey and yeast. Do I need a carboy or can I use somethin else such as milk jugs coke bottles ect fer fermentation and rackin? Thanks fer any help y'all.

 

[adiochiro3]

Food grade plastic pails are the way to go. You can often get them for free.

Sent from my brewery while sitting on the John.

 

[Renoun]

Definitely look for food grade plastic pails at bakeries. You can often find smaller (1.5-3 gallon) pails that frosting, filings, cream cheese, etc. come in if you are starting with a smaller a smaller batch size. Drill a 1/2" hole in the lid and you are ready to install a 1/2" rubber grommet so you can fit an air-lock. Gallon or four liter wine jugs can be quite useful too, especially if you can get them from friends or recycling bins for free.

Read the thread about BOMM too if you haven't. It's an easy way to get started and have mead to drink in the near future.

 

[1lonewolf75]

Thank y'all I'll see ifn I can get a couple of buckets from the local baker lady.

 

[romitaz]

If you can't get any there. You can buy food grade ones from Home Depot. Their orange ones are food grade and the lids are water tight. FYI

 

[fearwig]

The orange homer buckets are not known to be food grade, but the translucent white ones at Lowes are labeled as such and run about $4 minus lid. I have about a dozen of them for fermentation and various homebrew purposes.

I simply place the lid loose for beer but an airlock may be in order for mead given time frames. Grommet/perfect seal is not at all necessary unless you insist on watching it bubble.

 

[lolznrofls]

I dont know about you guys..but if the old generic one gallon jug at your local grocery store wont do and your going big just google Local Homebrew Store and see what pops up and go buy a beginners kit...half the fun of this great hobby or adventure as SWMBO puts it is the people I meet..you guys all rock! cheers!

 

[Yooper]

While buckets are great for fermentation, once fermentation stops you will need to rack (siphon) it quietly without splashing to a jug/carboy/demijohn. the reason is that once fermentation occurs, you want to keep any oxygen contact at an absolute minimum as the mead can oxidize. It won't oxidize as readily as wine, but it will oxidize with oxygen contact and ruin the mead.

The fix would be to rack the finished mead into a carboy or demijohn of the appropriate size. For one gallon sized vessels, Carlo Rossi jug wine bottles are the best! They take a #6 stopper, and an airlock, and you are all set. If you can't bear to drink the wine, the burgundy is awesome in spaghetti sauce.

 

[bernardsmith]

If you are seriously low on funds you might consider using your plastic milk bottle for your primary and using a condom fitted over the mouth of the bottle for the airlock. You would need to prick a hole in the rubber with a pin and that would allow the CO2 to be expelled but would be small enough to prevent any air from pushing its way in. The milk bottle is not a good solution for long time fermentation because that plastic is not designed for alcohol storage- it may allow too much oxygen to seep in and allow harmful chemicals to leach out into your mead. But for a couple of months I cannot see the harm it will cause the mead - or you. You do really want to age your mead (or wine) in (food grade) glass containers

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

A glass carboy is just a tiny bit more than a gallon of milk. An airlock and stopper are about a $1.89 combined.

So Plus Honey and yeast, your batch 1 gallon equipment would be like 6$.

 

[1lonewolf75]

Ummm thats a gallon of milk here. And with lil en I have plenty of those rotatin through the house. I do plan on gettin to a brew store next time I'm in the city which is 2 hours away so I don't get there much.

 

[lolznrofls]

My lhbs sells carlo rossi jugs for 2.75 and a #6 bung and an airlock is what 1.75

 

[scottm1]

Hi I just bought a 3 gal. Water jug at Wally World for 6.00 comes with cap and one airlock at the local home brew shop. Drilled lid . Sanitized both made a batch of mead. From my favorite brewmasters book my Gand father and wa la it's doing fine. Hope this helps.