Fermentation Vessel Question

[evanlee19]

I'm looking for some advice/feedback/opinions on the best fermentation vessel.
I am making 5 gallon batches.

5 Gallon Glass Carboy w/ a blowoff tube- I've read that this method will expell excess kraeusen which is a good thing b/c the kraeusen has excess yeast and hop resins that cause hangovers (from Charlie Papazian's book)

6.5 Gallon Glass Carboy

The old plastic food grade bucket.

What are you folks using and finding success with.

thanks for the help

 

[Revvy]

All of the above and more.

It's really not the vessel, but what you put in it that matters. One container is no different than any other as a fermentation vessel. It all makes beer.

The blowing off the krausen or else it causes hangovers, is hooey and is pretty much 30 plus year old information that was pretty questionable even back then. Very few people remove of blow off their krausen any more.

In fact we no longer fear our yeast and instead believe that it is contact with it, that makes our beer cleaner and better tasting. The Krausen asctually filters the beer as it falls down, pulling down proteins and such with it, then the yeast further ceans up all the byproducts of fermentation that leads to off flavors.

 

[stratslinger]

A couple other points to make:

Using a 5 gallon fermenter, glass or plastic, is basically begging for blow-off, which can reduce the filtering effect of a falling krausen that Revvy described and can potentially cost you some small volume of beer.

Using a 6 or 6.5 gallon glass or plastic fermenter with a blow-off tube is a pretty safe precaution for those instances where you have a very vigorous fermentation and the krausen fills up that 1.5 gallon headspace. Watch new brewer threads on this board for a week, and you will see at least 2-3 people, using 6-7 gallon fermenters (carboys, better bottles, buckets - doesn't matter) where the krausen built to the point that it blew their airlocks right off their fermenters. This doesn't ruin anything, but it does make a big mess and can contribute to ticked off SWMBO's - using a blow-off tube is a safe precaution just to avoid the mess factor.

I'd also point out one other option you didn't list - Better Bottles. These are food-safe plastic carboys - they have the same kind of benefits of a glass carboy (namely, you can always see what's going on in there!), but they're more light weight and less prone to cracking or even shattering if they're handled improperly. The only downside is that they're more prone to scratching than glass is, but if you just use hot oxyclean or PBW solution to clean them, there's not really much of a need to scrub them with carboy brushes and the like.

I use both glass carboys and better bottles - both work, but I prefer the bottles simply because they're so much easier to handle. In either case, when used as a primary for an ale, both get blow off tubes.

 

[samc]

Charlie didn't consider that excessive drinking causes hangovers.

If you can live with smaller batches, then a SS Corny keg is a great way to ferment, will last forever and is relatively inexpensive. Or you can one of those foam control products to keep the blow off down.

I actually still use my old Coopers fermenter from my first brewing kit if I am doing 6 gallon batches and like the headroom and spigot with wide mouth opening on top.

 

[maida7]

You will get a slew of answers to this. Everybody has their own preference. Personally I like the better bottles. You can see inside and that helps you learn the steps of fermentation and how yeast behaves. And plastic is so much lighter and stronger then glass. I've broken enough glass carboys to never want to use them again. You could literally drop a full better bottle and it will not break. My only gripe with the better bottles is they should be slightly bigger. 6 gallons is OK but 7 gallons would be SO much better.

FYI: I have retired all my better bottles. I upgraded my brewery to do 10 gallon batches and I use a 15.5 gallon sanke keg as a fermenter.

 

[evanlee19]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[wired247]

I much prefer glass even over conical stainless steel. Much easier to get the last drop of clear beer out.

 

[maida7]

I much prefer glass even over conical stainless steel. Much easier to get the last drop of clear beer out.

how so?

 

[CidahMastah]

I prefer glass as well. Mostly because they come in the demi john size (~15g and perfect for 10G batches of beer - no blow off tube needed) and are gas impermeable, won't scratch etc.

and they make me feel special inside....

 

[wired247]

how so?

Ive owned stainless conicals and used them in breweries. If you don't mind wasting part of your beer they are fine . When the yeast drops out with a glass fermenter and you use a dip tube you can suck damn near every last bit of clear beer off the top of the yeast cake with a little tipping. Conicals you're going to sacrifice some clear beer no matter how hard you try. with a 5 gallon batch you need every last drop.