Fermenting in buckets is boring!!

[dsaavedra]

I brewed my first all grain beer today , it is a 3 gallon batch of a cascade pale ale. All in all I think it went pretty damn smooth for my first time! I overestimated how much water I'd lose so I ended up with a little more wort than I planned for (it was supposed to be a 2.5 gallon batch) but when I adjusted my recipe on brewer's friend to a 3 gallon batch, my OG was where it was supposed to be. So I call it a success!

Now it is fermenting in a 4 gallon icing bucket I got from the bakery at the local supermarket and man is it boring!! There's nothing to watch! I can spend hours watching the yeast do their thing in my 5 gallon batches in my better bottle.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Its better in the end, i find not being able to always diagnose every little thing thats going on results in perfect beer every time.

Being able to see just means every krausen bubble your going to wonder if its an infection.

Rack to bucket, throw in ferm chamber and come back in 2 weeks...perfect beer every time

 

[AkTom]

I just posted on another thread, how much I like watching too. I am pretty relaxed so I don't get concerned, just enjoy the bubble show. It was good to see how close to a big mess I almost had because I could see.

 

[dsaavedra]

Its better in the end, i find not being able to always diagnose every little thing thats going on results in perfect beer every time.

Being able to see just means every krausen bubble your going to wonder if its an infection.

Rack to bucket, throw in ferm chamber and come back in 2 weeks...perfect beer every time

I guess this is a classic case of "what you don't know (or can't see) won't hurt you"

I just posted on another thread, how much I like watching too. I am pretty relaxed so I don't get concerned, just enjoy the bubble show. It was good to see how close to a big mess I almost had because I could see.

I'm the same way! I am pretty confident in my sanitizing procedures and I haven't had an infection yet, I just like watching what's going on in there! I'm on my fourth brew and I still find myself running down to the basement every couple hours just to see whats going on in the fermenter. I enjoy it!

 

[RM-MN]

I brewed my first all grain beer today , it is a 3 gallon batch of a cascade pale ale. All in all I think it went pretty damn smooth for my first time! I overestimated how much water I'd lose so I ended up with a little more wort than I planned for (it was supposed to be a 2.5 gallon batch) but when I adjusted my recipe on brewer's friend to a 3 gallon batch, my OG was where it was supposed to be. So I call it a success!

Now it is fermenting in a 4 gallon icing bucket I got from the bakery at the local supermarket and man is it boring!! There's nothing to watch! I can spend hours watching the yeast do their thing in my 5 gallon batches in my better bottle.

If your better bottle wasn't full of something else you could have fermented this batch in there and got to watch it. :rockin:

 

[fearwig]

Of course, you could buy a lava lamp.

 

[dsaavedra]

If your better bottle wasn't full of something else you could have fermented this batch in there and got to watch it. :rockin:

Funny thing, it is actually empty now. But this was intended to be a 2.5 gallon batch and I didn't want to put a 2.5 gallon batch in my 6 (or 6.5? I'm not sure) gallon carboy. So I opted to use a 4 gallon icing bucket. Then I ended up with 3 gallons instead and my gravity wasn't too far off. I ain't even mad :cross:

 

[amfukuda]

After spending half an hour trying to get a hop bag out of a Carboy I'm starting to think buckets might be the way to go


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Hello]

After spending half an hour trying to get a hop bag out of a Carboy I'm starting to think buckets might be the way to go


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Definite pros and cons. I too spent a half hour getting a bag out of a carboy killing my knuckles in the process and once smacking myself in the chin. I will continue to use buckets for additions such as strawberries, hop bags, etc, until I can swallow the $70 price tag on a big mouth bubbler and accessories.

Buckets do not bother me except that I cannot see the krausen drop. I don't touch a beer until I see that layer go away and that is hard with buckets. Not to mention, one lid is painfully tough to take off. I sound like a giant wuss.

 

[lookwow]

The buckets that ritebrew.com sells are just a little see through so you can see where your Krausen is at.

 

[Jayhem]

I love buckets for big IPA's because all that hoppy mess takes 10 times longer to clean out of a better bottle.

I do like to watch though.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I just upgraded to 32L semi opaque buckets and i can see both the trub and krausen through them. They are made of Poly Propylene so they are more oxgen permeable but they withstand heat better than HDPE, which is good cause I lauter into my fermenter since I only have one brew kettle/HLT. I was even able to see the trub dancing around as the yeast was doing it's thing. The best part is they were only like $20 each at my LHBS, that and they come with volume graduations on the side.

 

[Rkoory]

I have had the same issue getting hop bags out of carboys. Made the investment and bought a bigmouth bubbler for my dry hoped beers.

Well worth the money.

 

[weirdboy]

Not to mention, one lid is painfully tough to take off. I sound like a giant wuss.

Some of my bucket/lid combos are really tough to open. I finally bought a bucket lid remover for $3-$4. It just a piece of molded plastic.

It was a great purchase IMO, and I don't care if anyone calls me a wuss. The buckets open a lot easier, and I can throw the entire tool into a bucket of sanitizer. Now my hands stay safely away from any "danger zones" while removing the lid, so my chances of infecting the beer are much lower than peeling the lid off with my hands.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I had the same complaints about not being able to see when I started fermenting in stainless.

I got over it

 

[fuelish]

It was a great purchase IMO, and I don't care if anyone calls me a wuss. ...... Now my hands stay safely away from any "danger zones" while removing the lid, so my chances of infecting the beer are much lower than peeling the lid off with my hands.

Wuss!!! If you properly wash/sanitize your hands before "working" with yer brew, you're fine. I've never met a bucket lid I couldn't peel off with my bare hands, other than factory sealed buckets of whatever when I used to be a baker.....BUT, of course, I have the strength of 10 men I am of the opinion that infecting one's brew is overstated, resulting in paranoia on a lot of folks' part. If your equipment/procedures are sanitary, all will be well.....relax, foks, it ain't rocket science, just common sense

 

[dsaavedra]

I think when I get this batch out of this bucket I am going to cut a medium-large hole in the lid and glue a piece of plexi glass over it so I can see inside. Anybody ever done this before? I see no reason why it wouldn't work... The lid doesn't seal tight enough for any pressure to build up (airlock has been 100% dead even though the krausen has risen and fallen already) so i'm not worried about pressure blowing the viewing window out.

 

[fearwig]

You could, y'know, lift the lid. And then sniff it. And dip your fingers in and taste.

I do all that except the fingers/taste. But I'm tempted.

 

[dsaavedra]

Wow I just cracked the lid and boy was I mistaken about the krausen having risen and fallen. It looks like it is just starting to form and its on the rise!

I don't know what the thin layer of foam and slight bit of debris on the sides was I saw yesterday, maybe it was just left over from my aerating (I got it real frothy with a whisk). This is the longest a batch has taken to start developing krausen, which is kind of curious because it is only a 3 gallon batch and I used a whole packet of yeast, so it was kind of overpitched.

 

[fearwig]

It happens. Better not to micromanage early activity unless you're looking for signs of over/underpitch (the visible signs of which seem to be a total crap shoot anyway).

 

[dsaavedra]

Yeah I'm not too worried about it. I just wish I had realized that active fermentation was just starting or I would have been more diligent about swapping ice packs in my swamp cooler to keep the temperature in the low 60's. I thought it had already finished so I stopped trying to keep the temp down. The water bath was 66 when I checked and noticed active fermentation. Threw 2 frozen water bottles in and dropped it to about 62. I'm going to try and hold it there until active fermentation is finished.

I doubt it got too warm to mess anything up though. RDWHAHB

 

[RM-MN]

Occasionaly a yeast will start fermenting and then take a break before starting up again. That may explain the apparent krausen ring and new krausen.

 

[dsaavedra]

Occasionaly a yeast will start fermenting and then take a break before starting up again. That may explain the apparent krausen ring and new krausen.

I guess this is a possibility. But there wasn't really much of a krausen ring, it was more like a few little debris particles here or there. I am betting that it was just left over from my frothy aeration, and the thin layer of foam I saw was either dissipating aeration froth or krausen just beginning. It's going pretty good now!