Fermentation bucket with tap

[Ev0151]

Are these things trustworthy?


Will the tap blow off during fermentation?


Its just they look well easier to use if you bottle your homebrew.

 

[Misfit]

Are you talking about a bottling bucket?

 

[Squirrels]

I wouldn't use one to ferment in. I would use it to transfer your brew to when you're ready to bottle. The side port for the valve seems like it would be a source of infection if it doesn't get clean enough. Also, when you spigot would be impossible to stay sanitized.

I would get one for bottling, but use a different vessel for fermenting.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, there's a whole segment of the home brew supply industry based on fermenting in food-grade buckets with gasketed lids, and I reckon there are a lot of folks that use them with a mounted valve regularly without substantive issues.

The tap/valve won't blow off, because you'd have a fermentation lock stuck through the lid relieving any CO2 evolving from the fermentation. And the valve and gasket can be removed and soaked in sanitizer when you've emptied the brew into your bottles or keg, no big deal.

That said, the tap won't be of much use on a bucket used for primary fermentation, as there'll be thick pile of "debris" (hops/yeast/trub) laying at the bottom of the bucket when you go to transfer the fermented brew. You'd end up using a racking cane or autosiphon to avoid that gunk, so the tap would be extraneous...

Cheers!

 

[Bezel]

I use 10 gal drums for primary and secondary, no racking cane for me. The spicket sits about 1 inch above the bottom, I lose a couple ounces of wort/beer when I rack and don't get hardly any trub transfered. I just take the spicket of each time and soak in starsan while brewing, I then spray them with starsan prior to transfer

 

[unionrdr]

I have spigots on all my fermenters & bottling bucket. I agree,they must be taken out & cleaned/sanitized before use. And don't forget to clean the hole it mounts in. It get's dirty too. I have a set of 3 aquarium lift tube cleaning brushes that are the right size for cleaning spigots,even the spout. I use them with PBW to clean,star-san to sanitize. I rinse them off before re-installing on the cleaned fermenter. Never an issue.
And they're just high enough off the bottom to be above the heaviest trub layer/yeast cake. Just tilt it slightly to get the most beer out of the pale. No biggy.

 

[Catt22]

I've been using plastic bucket fermenters with spigots for more than ten years without issues. I never disassemble the spigots and have had no problems with contamination. I rack the beer using the spigot and have no problems with debris/yeast/break material when draining. The suction at the outlet is not very intense at the low flow rates involved when racking the beer. It's not at all like shop vac suction intensity. Regarding cleaning and sanitizing the spigots, I figure that the cleaning agents will reach the same areas as the beer. Same for the sanitizer. So far, so good and going on 11years now with two of the buckets.

 

[unionrdr]

The thing is,beer has plenty of time to seep into places cleaner/sanitizer just running through won't get to. I get dirt behind the seals & in the mounting hole. Never a bad thing to be sure it's all squeaky clean. But yeah,spigots in & of themselves don't cause problems.

 

[GaryJohn]

The plastic 6 gallon bottling bucket I have (with a spigot) is not good for fermenting. The spigot leaks veeerry slowly (one drop comes out every once in a while) and it would not be a good idea to leave the beer in there for 2 weeks or so. I even went back to the LHBS and the guy there said they all just work like that.

 

[DrHops]

If the bucket leaks at the spigot the hole is too big, or it's not screwed in tight. I've been using the same fermentation bucket for over two years now and it never leaks. I take the spigot out after each use to sanitize it and put it back in. The spigot did not come with it, I drilled a hole a little too small for it so that I have to screw the spigot into the bucket. This might be why mine doesn't leak. I did the same thing last summer to a Vittles Vault to make a 14 gallon fermenter, it never leaks either.

 

[rycov]

i started out using the full set up. primary bucket, glass secondary and bottling bucket with a spigot. then i quit using secondary, and started cold crashing in my bottling bucket. then one day i had this light bulb moment. "if i just use that one with the spigot for my fermenter this will be really easy!" so now i dump everything in from the boil kettle into my fermenter with a spigot, ferment, cold crash in the same bucket and rack to keg when i'm done. simple as ****, never looked back.

 

[GaryJohn]

If the bucket leaks at the spigot the hole is too big, or it's not screwed in tight. I've been using the same fermentation bucket for over two years now and it never leaks. I take the spigot out after each use to sanitize it and put it back in. The spigot did not come with it, I drilled a hole a little too small for it so that I have to screw the spigot into the bucket. This might be why mine doesn't leak. I did the same thing last summer to a Vittles Vault to make a 14 gallon fermenter, it never leaks either.

You must have a really good one then! My bucket doesn't leak at the hole..the spigot itself leaks ever so slightly.

 

[corkybstewart]

You must have a really good one then! My bucket doesn't leak at the hole..the spigot itself leaks ever so slightly.

Then I guess I've 6 or 7 good ones over the past 19 years. I've had the gasket leak before, but once I figured out the problem I never had another problem with it. I put the gasket on the outside and tighten the nut on the inside so the spigot doesn't turn and twist the gasket. Hand tight is plenty. But I've never had a spigot leak.
I also never had an infection, but I do replace the spigots every 3 or 4 years.

 

[BetterSense]

I have two buckets, one with spigot and one without. I deliberately use the one with spigot for primary fermentation because it makes it easy to take samples for hydrometer readings. Without the spigot I have to force off the bucket lid and dip something in the beer.

 

[mikeysab]

I use buckets with spigots also. Never had a problem in 3 years. I take my spigots off and soak in oxyclean, then rinse good and soak in hot water sanitize before next use and no problemo. And no trub or excess yeast when transferring to bottling bucket

 

[rycov]

my spigot also does not leak

 

[RobbyBeers]

I had these same questions a while ago. Somebody tipped me off to these:

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/INVERT-TUBE-BACKNUT-P179C104.aspx

Drill your hole a bit high, screw that backnut onto your spigot, and draw clean beer from just above the trub.

Pop the lid open a bit anytime you do something that might create pressure (like moving the bucket, or taking a sample)---pressure could force the liquid into the spigot and compromise the seal.

 

[autobaun70]

Here is my setup. I just use 2 bottling spigots and put the holes a bit high. for Sanitation i soak the valves in a bucket of Starsan and re-install to the fermenting bucket prior to sanitizing it. Before you crack the valve after fermentation you do need to remove the airlock to prevent it's contents from being sucked into the bucket. When you initaly open the spigot after fermentation you will have a "plug" of trub come through it. I always spray up in there with starsan prior to opening, then put the first little bit directly into the test jar. Then hook up the hose and go straight to the keg.

I don't secondary at all. For most of my Ales I am leaving the fridge set at 64 degrees for 10 -12 days. By this point everything is finished. I then drop the temp to around 40 degrees which knocks all of the trub to the bottom. I typically brew every other Saturday, and pull the prior batch out of the fermenters while I am mashing the next batch.

 

[MaltnHops]

I've been using buckets with spigots to ferment in for about 5 years and have never had an infection. The spigot is just above the trub line also. I take a spray bottle of sanitizer and spray the inside and outside of the spigot before I bottle/keg though, just to be sure.

Oh, and my spigots don't leak either.

 

[jammin]

Nice picture autobaun70, that setup looks really user friendly.

 

[corkybstewart]

I used buckets with spigots for 25 years and never had an unintended infection. I still use the bucket I started with 25 years ago but I have changed the spigots a couple of times.

 

[brewbama]

You can get an inverted tube back nut for the inside that keeps break,trub,yeast out as well: https://www.williamsbrewing.com/INVERT-TUBE-BACKNUT-P179.aspx

 

[arnobg]

I recently added a valve to every fermentation bucket and won't ever go back. It is so much easier to rack to the keg using gravity instead of using a siphon.

 

[Adnams]

Being new to brewing I bought a bucket with a hole for the tap, I also bought the little bottler.
That way I can easily check my hydrometer reading or bottle without opening the lid