Noob Question

[browndawg]

Ok so when i bought my brewing equipment i bought 2 6.5 gal. carboys and 2 5 gal. carboys. Well now i find myself not using my secondary fermenters anymore unless im adding something to the beer

My question is can i use the 5 gal carboys to ferment in and just throw a blowofff tube on or am i just asking for problems?

 

[Celticway]

Sure as hell can. Use a blow off tube, and who says you have to fill them all the way up. You just gained yourself some capacity by stopping secondaries.

 

[stratslinger]

Might be best to scale recipes back to 4 gallons if you plan to primary in a 5... Sure, a blow off assembly will prevent blown off airlocks and associated messes, but those blow-offs will basically lose you almost all your krausen on a 5 gallon batch, and you'll miss out on some of the filtering properties of falling krausen.

 

[h22lude]

Yeah those would be great for half batches. I have always wanted to make a beer and use two different yeasts. Those 5 gallon carboys would be perfect for that.

 

[pcollins]

I use a mix of 5g and 6.5g as primaries. Yes, you lose some beer and kraüsen so you can adjust volume or just not worry about it. I only adjust volume because I don't want to be babysitting my primary fermenters and I try and swap out the blow off tube asap.

 

[Aschecte]

absolutlly just make sure you use that blow off or you will have beer on the floor/ceiling/walls/you.

 

[Revvy]

Don't forget Fermcap-s in the fermenter if you are going to use a 5 gallon fermenter. That will cut down on the excessive blowoff/foaming.

 

[beergolf]

I rarely secondary but have to 5 gal carboys. I use them for 4 gal batches. They work great for brews that need a lot of time. That way I don't tie up my other fermenters with long ferment times.

 

[wisski]

I wish i had seen this thread two days ago. I bought the deluxe starter kit from Northern Brewer, that came with a 5 gal and a 6 gal carboy. yesterday I brewed my first IPA(5 gallon batch: so i obviously put it in the 5 gallon carboy), and this morning I have Krausen everywhere in my kitchen Ah well means i did something right if that much foam formed in the first 24 hours.