Home Depot buckets for fermenting

[NTOLERANCE]

And for people who are complaining that the buckets have dye on them, what about the "Ale Pails" that have a design on them, that LHBS sell. Is it somehow okay when the LHBS does this?

I have no dog in this fight either, but that Ale Pail design is on the outside. IIRC

 

[Vorsicht709]

My apologies, I just googled home depot bucket, and the american stores must carry an orange bucket that we dont here in Canada. The ones we I have sold were all white.

I thought people were complaining about the logo on the front of the white buckets.

Sorry.

 

[broadbill]

Mr North, I say to you respectfully, that I've been in the plastics industry for over 20 years. The difference between "dyed and non-dyed"plastics is not insignificant. The red dye is especially nasty stuff.

cheers

As you are the resident plastics expert, I have the following questions:

1. I have no doubt that the red dye is "nasty stuff", but at what rate does the red dye leach from the bucket into water based liquid?

2. How would various solvents (say 5% ethanol, which is basically what beer is) affect this leach rate?

This is the crux of the discussion, at least for me. Its not so much the red dye is nasty, but assuming that is nasty-how much actually leaches from the plastic into the liquid put into the bucket over time.

thanks

 

[bob1852]

Here is my two cents, being a homebrewer and a former employee of the Home Depot (paint department) and someone who has sold hundreds of these buckets. They are exactly the same as the bucket I got from my LHBS. The only diffrence is that the LHBS sells one, and Home Depot sells the other. I dont see why anyone would not want to use the exact same bucket because it is sold at a hardware store.

except the HD buckets are 5 gallons and the LHBS buckets are generally 6-7 gallons.

It's not possible to ferment a 5 gallon batch (usually using 5.5 gallons in the primary) in a 5 gallon bucket - regardless of where it came from or how much it costs. For me, that ends the debate. I want to brew a 5 gallon batch, so I need a 6-7 bucket.

 

[kunstler]

I wanted to set the record straight (or at least part of it) on HDPE and the numbers.

the number 1 or 2 does NOT mean it is food safe - it is about how much oxygen is allowed through.

If you have a yogurt container, look at it, it will most likely say #4 or even 5! It does not mean its not food safe, (it is safe for food or columbo wouldn't be able to sell me yogurt in those nifty quarts) but it does let oxygen through.

FOOD safe containers are made of a much stonger and durable plastic - it has nothing to due with dyes or structure - it just means that it won't scratch nearly as easily as your non food safe.

And then again Food safe is all relative - an oak barrel is not food safe, but if you disinfect and sanitize it properly then it is....the same goes for the home depot buckets - if you clean, disinfect and sanitize the crap out of it, there is nothing thats going to live in that sucker as long as it stays 100% away from nasties. BUT it will easily scratch thus making it difficult to be sure of 100% sterile equipment.

I work in a sign industry, (which uses lots of HDPE plastics) and we even make some bins for whole foods for the Gimme 5! campaign - where they were taking #5 plastic (yogurt containers) to recycle them with a company in the area. #5 is food safe....just lets more oxygen through the walls.

so saying the HD buckets are #2 thus food safe is not true.
saying non-food safe buckets are not safe - debateable based off dyes used - but if its white - also not true if you can GUARENTEE 100% sterlization - which will be tougher due to the density of the plastic.

I use glass - this way I don't have to worry.

 

[Monkey]

I wanted to set the record straight (or at least part of it) on HDPE and the numbers.

the number 1 or 2 does NOT mean it is food safe - it is about how much oxygen is allowed through.

"Contrary to misconceptions, the number does not indicate how hard the item is to recycle, nor how often the plastic was recycled. It is an arbitrary number and has no other meaning aside from identifying the specific plastic." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code

 

[apologeticus]

wikipedia has spoken.

 

[Stagnasty]

que banjo: nang nang nang nang, nang nang, nang nang nang

You win a cookie !!!!! I do play a 5 sting banjo, I also play a mandolin and guitar. If I missed the point,,,that I like lite beer and cheap homebrew therefore I am somehow LESS,,, feel free to enlighten me??? Okay, bye now

 

[Stagnasty]

Dude you're going to hell via the liver transplant wing.

your probbly right,,, reckon I can get a liver on foodstamps???

 

[fire943]

I would agree glass does not leach chemicals into your food. Also depending what research you listen too or website you read almost all plastic is bad for your food. So is it ok for someone to have a Ale pail or HD bucket? I think all points for and against have been stated. Man, I think we all need to have a homebrew after a discussion like that about "buckets." lol

 

[BrewRI]

Get the same recipes, ferment one in a HD bucket, one in a carboy or w/e. Send them to each other. Solve this question it looks like there are plenty of people interested (If $ is a problem find more people who want to judge, collect payments for ingredients, blind taste test it)

 

[northernlad]

"Contrary to misconceptions, the number does not indicate how hard the item is to recycle, nor how often the plastic was recycled. It is an arbitrary number and has no other meaning aside from identifying the specific plastic." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code

I am not sure if you meant this "evidence" as tongue in cheek or not, but for
1) No suitable source would begin with "contrary to misconceptions" or
2) finish with "arbitrary number... indentifying specific plastic"

Wikipedia a a single source bibliography is very dangerous.

From:
http://www.plasticsindustry.org/AboutPlastics/content.cfm?ItemNumber=712&navItemNumber=1123#ric


Myth: The number on the bottom of plastic cups, bottles and containers informs consumers about how to use a product or package.

Busted: This is false and potentially harmful misinformation. Many plastic items are marked with a resin identification code—usually a number or letter abbreviation—which indicates a specific kind of plastic material. The codes were originally developed by the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) to provide consumers and recyclers with a consistent, national system identifying resin types that can enter specific recycling streams for recycling plastics through the normal channels of collecting recyclable materials from households. The code is generally on the bottom of containers and is usually displayed inside a three-arrow recycling symbol. The resin identification codes do not provide guidance on the safe or intended use of a product and should not be used for this purpose.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I bet I am more likely to die from a car accident than drinking beer from a homey bucket.

I bet there are 100,000 things more risky than beer fermented in a homey bucket.

How much safer is drinking small amounts of rinse-free sanitizer than trace amounts or red dye?

How much plasticizer will leach into my beer from the gasket in bottle caps?

How much steroids is in the meat and milk that I eat every day?

How many germs are on the tip of my finger that pulls boogers out of my nose? :cross:

 

[arturo7]

1. I have no doubt that the red dye is "nasty stuff", but at what rate does the red dye leach from the bucket into water based liquid?

2. How would various solvents (say 5% ethanol, which is basically what beer is) affect this leach rate?

BB, these specific rates are beyond my level of expertise.

However, the FDA considers this pigment harmful even in minute concentrations. If they say it's not safe for food contact, I'll follow their advice.

 

[Shawn Cassidy]

Just for giggles.... found at my local Home Depot.

 

[Beernik]

Food grade is all you care about.

I know there are colored food grade buckets. When I was a fry cook, 30 years ago, our pickle buckets were green. Firehouse Subs’ pickle buckets are orange.

The Homer buckets explicitly say, “not food grade” on their website.

 

[kh54s10]

Don't know what HOME DEPOT bucket thread it was in, but someone contacted LeakTite directly. Leaktite said it was food grade UNTIL they add the orange pigment. The white ones are about a dollar more.

I got my buckets at a local dairy. White ones that contained chocolate or coffee syrups. They included the lids for $1.50 each. I have a dozen or so.....

 

[Shawn Cassidy]

You are a lucky fellow.... maybe you have a new side hustle you didn't know about! lol

 

[lump42]

Just for giggles.... found at my local Home Depot.

View attachment 630975

Those are fine as long as you are not brewing 5 gal batches. There wouldn't be any head room. I wouldn't ferment more than 4 - 4.25 gal in there. If you use fermcap, you might be able to squeeze 4.5 gals.

 

[TallDan]

Just for giggles.... found at my local Home Depot.

View attachment 630975

I use those buckets with gamma lids to store base malt.

BUT! you should have waited another six months, just for giggles. Bumping a 9.5 year old thread is a solid necro-post, but you didn't make the decade club.

 

[passedpawn]

I use those buckets with gamma lids to store base malt.

BUT! you should have waited another six months, just for giggles. Bumping a 9.5 year old thread is a solid necro-post, but you didn't make the decade club.

Yep, I've got a bunch of the white Lowe's with the Gamma lids. Pretty sweet combo for storing salt, birdfood, brewing malts, etc. Though, if you buy base malt by the 55# bag and you want a larger container with the same gamma lid, get this: stackable too, in case you want one for pilsner and one for pale malt.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002DJOOI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Jayjay1976]

Holy necro thread...

Makes me curious whether OP has sprouted a horn yet after a decade of brewing in orange buckets?

 

[Schlenkerla]

Walmart sells 5 gallon PET bottles for $9.88. BPA -Free.

 

[Shawn Cassidy]

Well.... resurrection of old posts not only brings awareness back to the topic but fun as well. My oldest post resurrection was one I commented on from the AOL days. That was a 23 year resurrection... lol

 

[Shawn Cassidy]

Holy necro thread...

Makes me curious whether OP has sprouted a horn yet after a decade of brewing in orange buckets?

Excellent question! Now my resurrected post has meaning!!! muhaha!