Carboy vs. Bucket

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
R

richbrostrom

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Carboy vs. Bucket. When primary fermenting whish is better or prefered, or is it just prefernce?

I guess the next question is in the same line: When secondary fermenting whish is better or prefered, or is it just prefernce?
 
Please, please, please... do us all a favor (yourself included) and search the forum a bit before starting a X vs. Y thread. They've all been done before, ad infinitum.
 
There's about 10,000 threads on this topic on here...it's almost a weekly thing (sometimes twice daily), we've kinda talked this to death....they both make beer...

Look down and there is a box with similar threads...and if those aren't enough opinions for you to make your own mind up if you search for bucket vs carboy..you will find the rest..it's not a contest they both work..

scroll%20down.bmp
 
llazy_llama said:
Please, please, please... do us all a favor (yourself included) and search the forum a bit before starting a X vs. Y thread. They've all been done before, ad infinitum.
Click to expand...

Jinx...

Here's your coke!!!

Coke_Bottle.jpg


(and why are these always made like -vs- threads? It's not a contest, it's not the superbowl...it's personal preference....)
 
Heh, yeah. I get bored and just click on the "New Posts" link over and over again.

:D @ the superbowl comment. I have buckets and carboys both. My only preference is what's free at the time.
 
llazy_llama said:
Heh, yeah. I get bored and just click on the "New Posts" link over and over again.

:D @ the superbowl comment. I have buckets and carboys both. My only preference is what's free at the time.
Click to expand...

+1 one to that...I have 9 and some are buckets, some are carboys, some are glass, some are plastic, some are even water bottles....and they all work..

But anyway....what I'm getting at is why is it that people instinctively phrase their questions in "vs" terms?...why don't people use the word "OR" anymore????

Buckets or carboys
glass or plastic
iodophor or starsan


or
or
or

Or even

AND

Buckets AND Carboys, which do you prefer?

why do people make it into a contest, or a battle???? Why is the -VS- always used???

It's this linguistic thingy that I can't understand, and yeah it bugs the heck outta me...maybe I'm pc or something, -vs- means someone has to lose....but you can't lose usually using EITHER of the choices???

:confused:
 
I need more of the small coke bottles to bottle barleywine in, would be better if they were brown...

I ferment in glass carboys, living dangerously!
 
llazy_llama said:
I have buckets and carboys both. My only preference is what's free at the time.
Click to expand...

I agree. I try to have my quarter barrel keg fermentor ready to go when I am brewing at my friend's house because i am afraid of dropping my carboy. But other than that I never really cared.
 
richbrostrom said:
Carboy vs. Bucket. When primary fermenting whish is better or prefered, or is it just prefernce?

I guess the next question is in the same line: When secondary fermenting whish is better or prefered, or is it just prefernce?
Click to expand...

The questions aren't quite the same.

For primary, you're better off with a bigger container than the volume you're putting in it; fermentation's going to create a big volume of foam. Also, you're creating a ton of CO2 so the shape isn't really important. Consequently, a 6.5 gallon bucket (for a 5-gallon batch) is a cheap solution, though a large carboy (plastic or glass) is also fine.

For secondary, you want something the same size as your batch with a small amount of empty space above the beer to prevent as much oxygen as possible from coming in contact. Consequently, a 5-gallon carboy (for a 5-gallon batch), plastic or glass, is preferred since the narrow neck allows less oxygen in. Ideally your beer reaches up to the neck, eliminating a large empty space in the carboy.

Finally, many beers don't need a secondary fermentation at all.
 
To me, the whole 'VS' thing is about creating a little tension... a bit of drama that compels opening of that thread.

It's a trash-talkin' smackdown! War of the Gargantuas! Bucket VS Carboy?? There will be glass shards and melted plastic all over God's creation!! And that's just the commercial!!!
 
Revvy said:
*falls off chair*


WTF is that?????? That is too freaking cool!!!!

FTW!!!!!(literally)


Look...Cascade vs Centennial in and IPA

Google Fight : Make this fight with googleFight cascade hops in an ipa VS Centennial hops in an ipa
Click to expand...


:off:

SO very far....and pretty hypocritical to lambaste a newcomer for board etiquette, only to hijack the thread yourself off onto some silly & totally irellevant tangent.

I'll be happy to help the guy out, if he hasn't been shouted off the thread (and boards) by now.

Carboys vs. buckets are a matter of preference for a few reasons. Buckets are cheaper and easier to handle, however their interior surfaces can be subjected to scratches, wear, and other imperfections than can harbor bacteria, even after sanitizing. There are plenty of thread here on the subject; suggest trying the search function for more detailed discussions.

Wow fellas.....now how difficult was that?
 
These threads always digress into ridiculousness because no one can discuss plastic vs. glass more than a couple times. A simple search yields days of reading and at the end it is all just personal preference. We are a community of drunks, how can things not divolve to google fights.... :D

Google Fight : Make this fight with googleFight drayman86 VS Revvy

No hard feelings, thick skin is always a necessity here.

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Boerderij+Kabouter&word2=Revvy

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Tenchiro&word2=Revvy

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=conpewter&word2=Revvy

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=fastricky&word2=Revvy

Damn Revvy destroys us all....
 
Boerderij_Kabouter said:
These threads always digress into ridiculousness because no one can discuss plastic vs. glass more than a couple times. A simple search yields days of reading and at the end it is all just personal preference. We are a community of drunks, how can things not divolve to google fights.... :D

Damn Revvy destroys us all....
Click to expand...

Lindsay VS Revvy

But not by Lindsay Lohan......:D
 
SumnerH said:
The questions aren't quite the same.

For primary, you're better off with a bigger container than the volume you're putting in it; fermentation's going to create a big volume of foam. Also, you're creating a ton of CO2 so the shape isn't really important. Consequently, a 6.5 gallon bucket (for a 5-gallon batch) is a cheap solution, though a large carboy (plastic or glass) is also fine.

For secondary, you want something the same size as your batch with a small amount of empty space above the beer to prevent as much oxygen as possible from coming in contact. Consequently, a 5-gallon carboy (for a 5-gallon batch), plastic or glass, is preferred since the narrow neck allows less oxygen in. Ideally your beer reaches up to the neck, eliminating a large empty space in the carboy.

Finally, many beers don't need a secondary fermentation at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll do a search before posting next time.
 
Some participants in this thread should be ashamed of themselves.

I understand the good natured ribbing, but you should take the time to address the OPs question before lambasting them for not doing a search and ranting about forum etiquette. Or worse, devolving a thread that had some merit into nothing but drivel.

And for the record, related threads are only visible after the posting has been made. If I am creating a new thread, the related threads features does absolutely nothing for me.

Carry on.
 
Boerderij_Kabouter said:
These threads always digress into ridiculousness because no one can discuss plastic vs. glass more than a couple times. A simple search yields days of reading and at the end it is all just personal preference.
Click to expand...

The thing is, he didn't ask about glass vs. plastic. He asked about buckets vs. carboys, which is about the shape of a container and not the material it's made of.

There is some consensus* that a carboy (be it glass or PET) is better for secondaries to help prevent oxidation (the narrow neck means there's less headspace, and less O2 exposure), and that the shape doesn't matter much (if at all) for primaries. And there is also some consensus that a primary fermentor should be bigger than the batch of beer you're making, to help prevent blowoff.

*Not complete, but pretty broad
 
richbrostrom said:
Thanks, I'll do a search before posting next time.
Click to expand...

Wow, rich, they really nailed you to the cross this time! :confused:

Granted, there have been plenty of VS threads on this board, but i'm surprised at the tone of this one. Normally, these guys are much nicer.

FWIW - I use a bucket for primary and a carboy for secondary. Here's why:

Buckets are cheap and are easy to clean. There is lots of trub and gunk around the rim so it is easy to wipe with a SPONGE (not a brush or green scrubby thing; don't want to scratch it) and have a nice handle and I can drill a hole for s spigot just up from the bottom to pour the beer off when bottling, or transferring to secondary.

The secondary is a carboy, because my carboy is a 5 gallon glass unit and I am positive that I can reduce the O2 getting into the beer to nearly nothing (the airlock system might leak a tiny bit). Therefore it make sense to clarify in that.

However, I rarely secondary anymore, because consensus seems to be that most beers will not be in any container long enough to worry about autolysis, one of the big reasons people used secondaries to begin with. (Another vs thread). A big beer like a barleywine might require one.

That said, there are lots of people using carboys, or Better Bottles for primaries too. I just like my buckets.
 
conpewter said:
No luck on paint removal. Though if I bottled a stout I could bring it to work... j/k!
Click to expand...

I wonder if it would be worth the time to sandblast these bottles. I have a BUNCH of those small Coke bottles in the basement getting ready for my barleywine and I think a blasted look would be cool.
 
Okay, I do feel kind of bad. I didn't realize the thread was going to blow up like this. Normally these threads go like this:

OP: Hey, what's better, X Vs. Y?
Llama: Do a search
OP: Oh, hey, my bad. Yeah, I searched and found the relevant info.
Llama: No worries. Now you know. Glad you found what you needed.
The End

This one kind of got blown up, and I apologize for that. Sorry, Rich.

Also, Homer, glad to see you upgraded! ;)
 

Similar threads

P
why siphon instead of pour if next step is aeration?
Replies
18
Views
940
jerrylotto
jerrylotto
Gabriel Sayegh
How do folks calculate ABV after a step feed with volume change?
Replies
12
Views
490
MaxStout
MaxStout
Denis2121
Racking to secondary with krausen
Replies
8
Views
344
hottpeper13
H
bwible
Speidel Fermenters
Replies
10
Views
419
Jaybird
Jaybird
Hop
Brewtools B40Pro Questions - Jaded Hydra, 110V vs 220V
Replies
23
Views
797
McMullan
McMullan

Latest posts

Back
Top