Plastic Bucket Primary?

[crbice]

I'm new to brewing and in order to save money I was considering using food grade plastic buckets to ferment during the primary and transferring it to glass carboys for the secondary. I have been told that plastic buckets even food grade can allow amounts of oxygen if fermented for over a week and would love to avoid that but would also like to save some casholla. Suggestions?

 

[NewWestBrewer]

I'm new to brewing and in order to save money I was considering using food grade plastic buckets to ferment during the primary and transferring it to glass carboys for the secondary. I have been told that plastic buckets even food grade can allow amounts of oxygen if fermented for over a week and would love to avoid that but would also like to save some casholla. Suggestions?

From everything I have read on here you have no problems with food grade. I primary in them and leave it for 3 weeks...no need to secondary.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

You'll pick up more oxygen taking samples than you will from the permeability of the plastic over the course of a couple weeks.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I agree with NewWestBrewer. Nothing wrong with plastic, so long as you treat it right. Use extra caution when cleaning, as in, use a proper brewing chemical cleaner and don't scrub with anything abrasive. The enemy of plastic brewing is contaminants hanging around in scratches. I only moved to carboys because I like to watch

 

[JLem]

I exclusively use plastic buckets for primary fermentation. No issues keeping beer in them for even up to 6 weeks...though usually only let it go 2-3 weeks since there's no need to wait any longer. No need to transfer to glass after a week - in fact, no need for a secondary for most beers, period. Just ferment in the bucket for 2-3 weeks then transfer to a bottling bucket and bottle (or keg if you set up for it).

 

[sweetcell]

yup, no need for a secondary for most beers. if you have glass carboys you were going to use as secondaries, use those as primaries instead.

 

[beergolf]

Like JLem I also use mostly plastic and have no problems. I recently had to leave town on short notice for an extended period of time, so a few brews I had fermenting were left in the buckets for over 2 months. Guess what? They were fine.

I have done a lot of brews and I have figured out that it is very difficult to wreck a brew if you sanitize well.

 

[BrewerinBR]

I use plastic buckets and have left beers for up to 60 days without any trouble. Clean well and inspect any scratches in them I replace... they are pretty cheap 12 bucks at my LHBS includes the lid. Have not done many secondaries... only a few times for lagers

 

[eastoak]

don't the the whole scratch thing worry you either. wash and sanitize all of your gear well and you you will be fine. i ferment in buckets given to me by my 70yr old neighbor who brewed beer years ago (there was a bottle washer still in the packaging among all of the stuff he gave me and the price was $2.69 so that must have been very long ago) all scratched but i clean/sanitize them very well after use. focus on your process and good sanitation in your brew house.

 

[Yooper]

I exclusively use plastic buckets for primary fermentation. No issues keeping beer in them for even up to 6 weeks...though usually only let it go 2-3 weeks since there's no need to wait any longer. No need to transfer to glass after a week - in fact, no need for a secondary for most beers, period. Just ferment in the bucket for 2-3 weeks then transfer to a bottling bucket and bottle (or keg if you set up for it).

That's what I do, although I've never left my beer in a bucket for longer than about 3-4 weeks. I normally ferment in the bucket, and then keep the beer in there until I bottle or keg on about day 14 or so.

 

[BigFloyd]

Another fan of plastic fermenter buckets here. I like the 6.5 gallon variety due to the extra headspace. I normally ferment around 5.1-5.2 gallons and they've worked great.

For cleaning, I just spray out with a hose and soak overnight with a scoop of DIY PBW (2 parts oxyclean, one part TSP) added. Afterwards, rinse well and the bucket is ready for the next batch.

I don't bother with a secondary. Instead, I simply cold crash the primary bucket 5-7 days at 35-36*F before kegging/bottling.:rockin:

 

[Shred]

Plastic is totally fine. It's all I use. Also, secondary is unnecessary unless you have a very specific reason for racking off your trub layer. I generally go 4 weeks in plastic primary then bottle. Tastes good and hasn't killed anyone yet.