Quick Question

[Tactical-Brewer]

Ok, so I've recently fallen into a large stash of quality food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids. A drill, gasket, and few minutes, I've got a steady stream and nearly unlimited source of fermenters.

So, given the fact that they're 5 gallon, a single one would be too small to hold it all on a 5 gallon batch. So my question is, when I start doing 5-10 gallon batches, and don't plan on doing a secondary, couldn't I just put 2.5 gallons in two 5 gallon buckets or 3.33 gallons in 3 buckets and call it a day?

I know there'd be a lot of headspace, but since it is still in the primary, the c02 would push out any oxygen and I should be kosher until I'm ready to bottle correct?

Thanks,
JK

 

[msayler]

Nice score. I'd say it's definitely possible, but that's a lot of headspace. First rule? No peeking.

 

[slym2none]

I would just scale to 4- or 8-gallon batches. But between your choices, I'd go with 3.33G/3 buckets.

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

Thanks Mslayer! That's the toughest part of them being in buckets vs carboys... can't see all the awesomeness, but nope, no peeking.

Slym, I don't know why on earth I didn't just think of scaling down a gallon haha. It's crazy how sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to see for me.

Thanks guys!

 

[slym2none]

That's what we are here for, man.

 

[doug293cz]

If the headspace volume in the primary fermenter is less than the wort volume, you should have no trouble with excess O2 in the headspace.

2.5 gal of 1.040 OG wort will create about 38 gal of CO2 (at atmospheric pressure) as the beer ferments down to 1.010 FG. If this were in a 5 gal bucket, you would have a headspace volume of 2.5 gal, and the CO2 generated to headspace volume ratio would be about 15:1. Pushing that much CO2 out the airlock will reduce the O2 levels to below 1 ppm (if I did my math right.)

Brew on

 

[Brulosopher]

I'm not convinced headspace has all that big of an impact...

Either way, I'd just scale the recipe down a little as well 🤓

 

[andy6026]

These new buckets sound like an albatross. I say ditch them and get ones that will fit the size you want to brew, rather than brew according to their size. Buckets really aren't that expensive. In 3 years of brewing I've bought... 4 of them? What you'll save in money is not worth cleaning an extra bucket after every brew.

Ask all the folks in this thread if they would scale down the size of their brews to accommodate the bucket being free. I bet they'd say no.

Use the free ones for milled grains or lego or something... Turn it upside down and you've got a free chair.

 

[RM-MN]

I brew a lot of 2 1/2 gallon batches and ferment them in a 6 1/2 gallon bucket. No problem. Since you have the buckets, put them to use. I might not put a really small batch in them but anything over a gallon would probably work well. As Doug203cz points out, the process of fermentation puts out a tremendous amount of CO2. It's doubtful that you would have enough oxygen left in the bucket to oxidize your beer.

 

[estricklin]

I love cheap/free 5 gallon buckets. Allows me to have lots of fermenters and spend the rest of my money on ingredients! You won't have to scale your recipe down very far at all. I put about 4.75 gallons in each one. 1 out of every 3 or 4 I will have to switch the airlock out for a clean one on the 2nd day or so. I just keep a few fresh ones in a small container of star San next to my ferm chamber. Anything high gravity I like to leave a little more headspace though.

Really, I've done like a hundred like this.

 

[andy6026]

...ingredients aren't that expensive either.

I'm all for free stuff... I'm just not going to reduce my volume for the sake of a free bucket. Nor am I going to double my fermenter cleaning effort for a free bucket either.

Like how many batches to you get out of a bucket... 30-40 or more? And it costs what, $15-20? So you save 50 cents per batch, by either reducing your volume or doubling the number of fermenters you have to clean.

Next thing you'll be building your brewery around a free grommet.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'd scale the recipes down or up to volumes that fit the buckets. The best part of splitting is you can brew different takes on the same wort. Use 2 different yeasts if you're into that kinda thing. Or dry hop with different hops. I've done double size mashes and split the wort to boil with different hops and other ingredients. Or boil the entire lot for most of the time, then drain off half for a different hop, spice, herb, etc.

On a similar note as @andy6026, 2 things to be aware of, you'll either get smaller volumes of beer for the same work or more buckets to handle/clean. If that doesn't fit your life style, or drinking style, then you're better off using larger buckets.

Also, if you keg, you may end up with only half or partially filled kegs. In that case, use a "liquid purge" method to fill the keg 100% with CO2 before racking the beer into it, while leaving the lid on, to prevent oxidation and/or wasting lots of gas (CO2).
Simply purging the keg's headspace doesn't cut it if you only fill your keg 80% (4 gallons of beer) or less! It already takes 5 gallons of CO2 gas (!) to purge a gallon of headspace to 2% O2, and the CO2 usage gets way worse when headspace increases (smaller fill volume). It all takes a bit more planning and work. Alternatively you can buy smaller kegs, to better fit your smaller batches, but don't think you'll save money, that would be false logic.

That said, I often do smaller 1-3 gallon batches just to try out recipes, or brewing beer I know I don't want 5 gallons of. Like a Rosemary Cucumber Saison. Now that one leftover fliptop bottle of a very small batch of Watermelon Saison was delicious after 1.5 year!

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

I'd take the free buckets any day of the week and spend the literal 1 minute if cleaning.

The idea of "I'd just spend the money" isn't a luxury all of us share, so the idea of free/adjust recipes to "fit" free, is something I'm all about as opposed to waiting to justify spending more money on a hobby then more money on a grain bill only for an additional 8 beers. That may drive a few people crazy, but I'd rather be brewing consistently vs waiting to brew at all.

Anyways, thanks for the info guys, I can't wait to brew me some beer! :beer:

 

[1977Brewer]

I ferment 5 gallon batches in 5 gallon water bottles. The total capacity is closer to 5.75 gallons. I've had one blowoff in 12 batches, and after true loss, I'm yielding about 4.5 gallons.

I'm thinking about getting some better bottles this year sometime, but only for aesthetics.

Long story short, I like free stuff, and I use what's on hand whenever possible. I'd use the free buckets.

 

[estricklin]

I'd take the free buckets any day of the week and spend the literal 1 minute if cleaning.

The idea of "I'd just spend the money" isn't a luxury all of us share, so the idea of free/adjust recipes to "fit" free, is something I'm all about as opposed to waiting to justify spending more money on a hobby then more money on a grain bill only for an additional 8 beers. That may drive a few people crazy, but I'd rather be brewing consistently vs waiting to brew at all.

Anyways, thanks for the info guys, I can't wait to brew me some beer! :beer:

We are cut from the same cloth brother. I certainly can understand the other points made, but I brew 10-15 gallon batches and I'd have to spend $300 on 6.5 gallon buckets to buy as many as I need! In the grand scheme of things, we're only talking about a half gallon difference at the most for each fermenter.

I will also tell you that if your making your own lids as well, the grommet hole has to be damn near perfect or you may not see airlock activity like your used to, doesn't hurt anything but just something to be aware of if your an airlock watcher. The plain lids with no gasket, work fine but for me they tend to develop a tiny crack in the dead center after 15-20 uses, I've lost a couple to lacto due to not paying attention to that. I use a finger nail file to smooth the holes after I drill them. I magic marker all over my extremely cheap fermenters, then on the next batch I black it out and write somewhere else. When I make my own bottling buckets, I use a magic marker and mark the increments as they are not marked already. The Italian spigots seem to be less likely to leak, so I have switched to only those. Be aware that the Italian spigot uses a very slightly different size hole than the standard "non twisty" ones. The grommets you can obviously just keep using over and over, when the lid cracks, I jerk them out and save them.

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

Awesome info guys!

I've just got an incredible case of ICDT Dissorder, commonly referred to as "I Can Do That" Dissorder. Nothing wrong with it other than when you see something your mind doesn't stop thinking of ways you can do it yourself and as affordable as possible.

Free beats spending money any day of the week, especially when we're talking a minute amount of loss and aesthetics.

 

[jonny24]

I started brewing two months ago, drinking batch #1 and batch 2 and 3 are in my two 5 gallon buckets fermenting away. Why five gallon buckets? Cus that's what Home Depot had the day I drove over there. And I sure ain't paying the whatever anyone wants for a pre-made "fermenting bucket"... Someone mentioned $15-20?! No way.

All I do is multiply everything by .9, and make 4.5 gal batches. I got 49 bottles out of my first batch which is enough for me.

Oh, and someone mentioned needing a perfect grommet hole for your airlock. What I did was drill about a 3/4" hole and put one of those rubber stoppers with a hole in it. Stopper in hole, Airlock in hopper, bubbling away.

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

Fermcap might come in handy with this, I like the idea someone had to use 2 different yeasts in smaller buckets

 

[andy6026]

I'd take the free buckets any day of the week and spend the literal 1 minute if cleaning.

The idea of "I'd just spend the money" isn't a luxury all of us share, so the idea of free/adjust recipes to "fit" free, is something I'm all about as opposed to waiting to justify spending more money on a hobby then more money on a grain bill only for an additional 8 beers. That may drive a few people crazy, but I'd rather be brewing consistently vs waiting to brew at all.

Anyways, thanks for the info guys, I can't wait to brew me some beer! :beer:

If saving a bit less than a penny per beer (at whatever scale you decide to go with) takes priority over your time and effort then, as others have indicated, you can use the free buckets and scale down your recipes. I would go with scaling back the recipes to 4 gallon batches in the 5 gallon fermenters, and as the person above suggests - you might want to try and squeeze 4.5 gallons into it (I know I would). If you double the recipe then you'll need an extra blow off tube, airlock, jug, etc., which will eat into your savings. Mind you, with the free buckets a second airlock and hose will pay for itself in about 8-10 batches.