Secondary as a second primary?

[thood6]

So the kit that i originally bought came with a 5 gallon glass carboy as a secondary fermenter. So the question is; if i put a wide blow-off tube coming off of the carboy can i run the typical five gallon batch in it? or is that a disaster waiting to happen?

 

[HopKeller]

Someone asked the same question about and hour ago...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/5g-carboy-sufficient-second-primary-260371/

 

[unionrdr]

I'd rather have a 5.5 to 6.5 gallon one myself. You need a little head space at least using it as a primary. Less as a secondary.

 

[onipar]

Yeah, this was literally *just* asked, but for convenience, I'll post the answer I wrote there :

I was recently given a 5 gallon glass carboy that I wanted to use for primary (My bucket was full).

What I did was I went to my supermarket's bakery section and asked if they had any buckets. Thy gave me a whole bunch for free, one of which was a 2 gallon bucket. Score!

I made my five gallon batch, put 4 gallons worth in the glass carboy with a blow off tube (which I didn't end up even needing), and put he other gallon in the 2 gallon bucket.

As a bonus, I'm using that 1 gallon as a test batch to do all manner of strange things to.

 

[Homercidal]

I'd use it until I could get another bucket.

But you better make dam sure ta put a blow off on it!