Plastic fermenters

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Bstrange

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Howdy all,

I am preparing to make my first batch of beer this week. Since I have celiac disease I have to re gluten free. I am also a complete newbie so I bought 1 can of the Breiss sorghum syrup and am using their Honey of a Gluten Free Lager recipe.

My question: I attempted a hard cider last fall and after cleaning my ale pail noticed a faint apple smell. Will this affect my beer? I used boiling water to sanitize and a dairy acid soap to clean.

Thanks!
B. Strange
 
I agree with helibrewer, you should be ok if you clean and sanitize appropriately. I have made beer and cider (and wine) in the same plastic bucket without a problem before fwiw.
 
If in doubt, put that bucket out in strong sunlight for a day, making sure all inside surfaces are "touched" by sunlight for at least an hour. If it's clean and sanitized, the remaining bacteria will be eradicated by the UV.

That said, a good scrub (soft plastic brush) or mopping (use a washcloth) with a hot PBW solution, followed by a thorough rinse and a good mopping with Starsan or Iodophor/IO Star should leave that bucket as sanitized as needed.
 
If in doubt, put that bucket out in strong sunlight for a day, making sure all inside surfaces are "touched" by sunlight for at least an hour. If it's clean and sanitized, the remaining bacteria will be eradicated by the UV.

That said, a good scrub (soft plastic brush) or mopping (use a washcloth) with a hot PBW solution, followed by a thorough rinse and a good mopping with Starsan or Iodophor/IO Star should leave that bucket as sanitized as needed.

stupid thought maybe one to many homebrews, but if i pulled my UV light from my a/c and stuck it in my fermentation fridge I could use that to sanitize? has anyone tried a uv light for sanitation?
 
As a new brewer, this is a reason why I chose glass over plastic food grade buckets.
Glass comes with its own set of negatives, though, and it makes you wish you'd gone stainless.

That's all I have to say about that. :)
 
Thanks all. I am planning on brewing late this week and will see how it goes. My wife bought Star San today for our dairy equipment so I am going to use it on the bucket. I'll try the sunshine idea as well. Perhaps a stainless equipment budget needs to be started?��
 
stupid thought maybe one to many homebrews, but if i pulled my UV light from my a/c and stuck it in my fermentation fridge I could use that to sanitize? has anyone tried a uv light for sanitation?

Great idea!
To sanitize your fridge or the inside of your fermentor? For the latter, stick the light inside it, I guess that may work.
 
Thanks all. I am planning on brewing late this week and will see how it goes. My wife bought Star San today for our dairy equipment so I am going to use it on the bucket. I'll try the sunshine idea as well. Perhaps a stainless equipment budget needs to be started?��

I've used plastic buckets for the past 5 years and never encountered a problem. Good cleaning is essential, then rinse well and mop the insides with Starsan. And Starsan again, right before filling with wort. Don't forget the lid and its rim groove.
 
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As a new brewer, this is a reason why I chose glass over plastic food grade buckets.
Glass comes with its own set of negatives, though, and it makes you wish you'd gone stainless.

That's all I have to say about that. :)

Can you reccomend a good 5 gallon glass container for fermenting in that wont break the bank and is convenient ?
 
The 5 gallon glass carboy is as cheap as you will get - hard to find used

http://www.northernbrewer.com/5-gallon-glass-carboy

Exactly the same carboy style I own. I have four. One 6gal, one 5gal, and two 3gal glass carboys. I'd really love to go SS Brewtech stainless steel, but don't quite have the $400 for a nice upright.
If you get the glass carboys, make sure to invest in a good flexible cleaning brush or two you can bend to get the shoulders cleaned.
 
Howdy all,

I am preparing to make my first batch of beer this week. Since I have celiac disease I have to re gluten free. I am also a complete newbie so I bought 1 can of the Breiss sorghum syrup and am using their Honey of a Gluten Free Lager recipe.

My question: I attempted a hard cider last fall and after cleaning my ale pail noticed a faint apple smell. Will this affect my beer? I used boiling water to sanitize and a dairy acid soap to clean.

Thanks!
B. Strange

That faint apple smell will be completely masked by the next batch of beer. Boiling water will sanitize pretty much instantaneously so you don't have to worry about that. The fermenter will only be sanitized until the surface cools but unless your place is bacteria laden the small amount likely to get on the surface is minor. Starsan will maintain sanitization until dry. That is the biggest reason to use it as you can rinse the fermenter and add the wort while it is still wet. The biggest factor that may affect the beer will be the soap used. You may need an extra rinse to make sure all soap residue is gone. Any left in the fermenter will cause your beer to be headless.
 
The 5 gallon glass carboy is as cheap as you will get - hard to find used

http://www.northernbrewer.com/5-gallon-glass-carboy

Nice I saw one of those and thiught to get one. Are there any kegs or something similar that you can store a large batch of brew, where you can prime the keg or cask as opposed to the CO2 ? Basically instead of bottling Id rather put large batches away in something that has a spigot, and a keg is one option but I still want to prime. Used oak casks maybe ?
 
Nice I saw one of those and thiught to get one. Are there any kegs or something similar that you can store a large batch of brew, where you can prime the keg or cask as opposed to the CO2 ? Basically instead of bottling Id rather put large batches away in something that has a spigot, and a keg is one option but I still want to prime. Used oak casks maybe ?

I see glass carboys offered on CraigsList all the time, often with other goodies.

But... glass is fragile and can cause serious injury when it breaks. A keg is much more resilient, and can be purged easily to prevent or at least reduce oxidation.

Sure, you can prime in a keg. Even treat it like a cask by turning it sideways.

Just realize, a keg is for 5 gallons of beer which leaves a bit more than a quart of headspace. Almost ideal for secondaries, but not so for primaries unless you reduce the fill volume.
 
Nice I saw one of those and thiught to get one. Are there any kegs or something similar that you can store a large batch of brew, where you can prime the keg or cask as opposed to the CO2 ? Basically instead of bottling Id rather put large batches away in something that has a spigot, and a keg is one option but I still want to prime. Used oak casks maybe ?

The problem with any larger volume vessel and not using CO2 is that as you use the product you are not replacing the CO2 so you end up with more and more air filled head space. What you are referring too is exactly what was used 150 years ago, a cask ale.

To avoid the eventual sour you will get with a oak barrel you could modify a keg to add a spigot and a vent. Or you could get a beer engine.

But if you want properly carbonated beer that remains as stable as long as possible I would stick with bottles or kegs with C02.
 
I see glass carboys offered on CraigsList all the time, often with other goodies. But... glass is fragile and can cause serious injury when it breaks.

Which is why I use plastic. Broken glass carboys can cause major injuries. The odds of an accident are low, especially if you are careful, but one slip and fall or a dog/cat/child underfoot and there's a trip to the ER in the future. There's at least one story of a glass carboy killing someone. Plastic is lighter, cheaper, and won't kill you.

There's a whole debate on glass v. plastic v. stainless, which I don't want to get into, but the images from broken carboys are graphic. Be careful with glass.

Also, craigslist is great. You'd be surprised at what you can find. I just passed on a guy selling a lot of 13 carboys for $110, largely because I already have six carboys.
 
But if you want properly carbonated beer that remains as stable as long as possible I would stick with bottles or kegs with C02.

Alright Ill just stick with bottling, I have pop top bottles which I like.

I know the Norse used to have "Ale parties" where when the Ale was done each full moon they just got into drinking until the batches were done. I have to imagine it was the same with mead, where once it finished fermenting the whole batch was just drank within a few nights.
 
Can you reccomend a good 5 gallon glass container for fermenting in that wont break the bank and is convenient ?
Glass is not convenient-unless you're using one gallon mayo jars. Glass carboys are hard to clean and have a tendency to slip and break, often sending the poor guy to the hospital for stitches or worse. And you can't stack them.
I used plastic buckets with spigots for 25 years and I love them. Now I mostly use my stainless conical, and I do have some glass carboys for long term aging of mead, cider or vinegar. But those carboys sit on a bench for months or years and I don't have to move them until they are empty.
 
Only briefly mentioned so far. If you are doing 5 gallon recipes a 5 gallon carboy is not big enough. You need a 6 gallon PET bottle, a 6.5 gallon bucket or a 6.5 gallon glass carboy. You need space for the krausen when fermenting. The more expensive are the conical fermenters in plastic or stainless steel.

Before you decide on glass carboys, give this thread a look: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523

I made my decision based on weight. A glass carboy weighs about 15 pounds. A PET carboy weighs 1.512 pounds..... I have never regretted deciding on plastic. I have 7 Better Bottles.
 
Although I fully acknowledge the risks of glass. If the original request for a 5 gal fermentor is valid, i.e. planned batch sizes are 4 gallons or less, the risk is reduced. The smaller the carboy (assuming no manufacturing defects) the less the risks of breakage. Smaller carboys weight less, easier to handle (less likely to slip), and assuming equal thickness are structurally more sounds the smaller you go.

So going from a 6.5 gal glass carboy to a 5 gal glass carboy will reduce your risk (not eliminate but reduce)

I use both plastic and glass. I like the glass for the feel, aesthetic, and heat transfer properties. But certainly admit I feel more safe carrying my plastic out to the shop where the fridge I use for cold crashing resides.
 
My first fermentor was a Northern Brewer glass carboy.
As soon as I emptied it, I rinsed with a JET CARBOY WASHER and added some dollar store OxyClean knock-off, filled and set out in the sun for a couple hours.

Then I would drain all but a half gallon or so and stuff in a wash cloth which I swirled around to knock off the stubborn stuff and rinsed with the jet washer again.

Finally, I'd swirl a gallon or so of Star-San in it, drain, and rubber-band some Cling Wrap over the mouth so it is ready to be filled.

I've been kegging for about 18 months now and if it isn't a hoppy beer, I prefer to add priming sugar to the keg and let it sit at room temp for 3 weeks before I put it on CO2 to serve. It doesn't make sense, but it really gives it a different carbonation than force carbing for some reason.
 
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