How often can you reuse plastic buckets as fermenters?

[domdom]

I've been brewing for a little over a year now and have been using mostly food grade, 5 gallon buckets i found at lowes. I've been keeping them clean and using star san to sterilize them when i'm getting ready to use them. recently, i was looking at getting a 6 gallon bucket for fermenting from morebeer.com to have a little more head space and reduce blow off. in the description, it said "We recommend using a bucket no more than five times for fermentation purposes do to the vulnerability." Is this true? I know I've probably used each of mine at least that many times, probably more. What point should you replace plastic bucket fermenters?

 

[philjohnwilliams]

I use a bucket that I have had since 1996. I have had one infection, which I killed with a bleach bath, but other than that no problems. Take care of it and a bucket can last a long time.

 

[stvo]

You know I've read that always wondered myself.... I've got mostly glass and 2 buckets

 

[eastoak]

"We recommend using a bucket no more than five times for fermentation purposes do to the vulnerability." Is this true? I know I've probably used each of mine at least that many times, probably more. What point should you replace plastic bucket fermenters?

the bucket vendor would say that wouldn't they. you can use a plastic bucket for many years or until the wheels fall off.

 

[domdom]

the bucket vendor would say that wouldn't they. you can use a plastic bucket for many years or until the wheels fall off.

AHA! good point, but i wanted to check. i'll probably pick a couple up anyways just because i've moved to all grain brewing so i've had some extra wort from sparging that is going to waste using a 5 gal bucket (that and head space so i don't get a a few bottles worth blown off).

 

[ryno1981]

The owner of my local home brew shop told me that he's had one since 1992 that he still uses.

 

[Braufessor]

That is BS. You can use a bucket more than 5 times....... I've got 8 in my rotation that are somewhere between 6 months and 2 years old (maybe more). I do occasionally replace a bucket if I suspect something wrong with it and turn it into a cleaning bucket, a garden bucket, etc...

 

[unionrdr]

Just sounds like a marketing ploy to me too. Cheap & easy to replace,so let's see how many fall for it. I used the heck out of my plastic fermenters for a couple years,not a scratch & still good. you guys with the older ones are showing just how resilient plastic fermenters can be. Not to mention,some are old enough to become museum pieces...

 

[beergolf]

I have several that I have used countless time. I have done about 120 brews so my original bucket has done at least 40 brews.

No problems.

 

[billl]

You can use your bucket until it starts getting scratched. At that point, you should just toss it (or use it for something else.) If you are careful storing and cleaning it and don't use anything metal near it, that could easily be years of use.

Lids on the other hand? They seem to lose their seal pretty quickly for me. I'm not worried about not being able to watch the bubbles, but I just had one essentially become a circular blowoff tube and had yeast dripping down the side and all over the freezer. For $2, I think I'm going to start replacing those more often.

 

[unionrdr]

I've seen those lid size seals for sale someplace when looking for something else. Lowe's I think. They're closer to me than the lhbs anyway.

 

[eastoak]

i bet 99.9% of plastic buckets have scratches of some sort in them and unless it's a really deep gouge there is nothing to worry about. my buckets, all scratched, are used for both sour fermentation and clean fermentations with no cross contaminations in the last 2 yrs. it would be interesting to find the origins of the "trash the scratched bucket" belief, my guess is it must have started before star san was invented. or bleach.

 

[highgravitybacon]

You can use your bucket until it starts getting scratched. At that point, you should just toss it (or use it for something else.) If you are careful storing and cleaning it and don't use anything metal near it, that could easily be years of use.

Lids on the other hand? They seem to lose their seal pretty quickly for me. I'm not worried about not being able to watch the bubbles, but I just had one essentially become a circular blowoff tube and had yeast dripping down the side and all over the freezer. For $2, I think I'm going to start replacing those more often.

You really don't need a lid that seals. I open ferment in a bucket all the time. I leave sitting with a little gap. Then when the first krausen forms, I skim all the cruddy bits off. A second krausen forms a day later (now about day 3-4) and I skim off the yeast and save it for later. After the fermentation has slowed significantly I put the lid over just to keep dirty air off. No issues at all.

 

[Doongie]

The owner of my local home brew shop told me that he's had one since 1992 that he still uses.

I got my bucket in '92 also, dragged it through 5 moves since then, still smells like hops, makes great beer, never had an infection.

 

[Braufessor]

You really don't need a lid that seals. .

TRUE. most of my buckets do not actually send bubbles through the airlock at all..... almost all the lids leak. no big deal at all. The ONLY downfall of buckets is that you cannot "see" the fermentation and lids leak so you can't "see" the bubbles.... you have to trust your yeast.

 

[Brews]

TRUE. most of my buckets do not actually send bubbles through the airlock at all..... almost all the lids leak. no big deal at all. The ONLY downfall of buckets is that you cannot "see" the fermentation and lids leak so you can't "see" the bubbles.... you have to trust your yeast.

No bubbles? How do you sniff the airlock

 

[BBBF]

I've also been using my buckets for years and like another poster there was one infection that bleach took care of. The only reason I'm thinking about retiring some of them is becauase I've started making a couple batches of wine for SHMBO, which provides me with new 6 gallon buckets each year.