Switching from Mr. Beer

[rhoffmann79]

I was interested in switching from my Mr. Beer kits to something more. A friend of mine gave me his glass carboy and bottling bucket and I already have a racking cane. Don't really want to spend the money on a fermenting bucket if I don't have to right now so I was wondering if I could just make the wort and split it between the two 2.5 gallon mr beer kegs to ferment and then transfer to the carboy and go from there. Would this screw anything up in the fermenting process?

 

[Trokair]

I would just use the carboy in your case and forget about secondary fermentation. Leave the beer in the carboy for the full amount of time, rack to bucket, and bottle.

 

[unionrdr]

I think the question to ask at this point is how big is the glass carboy?

 

[ktm250]

If you don't secondary, just ferment in the carboy. You can let it sit in there for awhile.

If its a 5 gallon carboy be sure to use a blowoff tube. In fact I would just do this till I could save up $30 or so for another carboy.

I have moved away from plastic buckets anyways. To hard to make sure it's clean enough after a few uses. Gets scratched up and all that.

 

[Trokair]

I think the question to ask at this point is how big is the glass carboy?

Ah, good point.

I wouldn't hassle with one that is smaller than 5 gallons. If it is smaller, go buy yourself one. Maybe find the super cheap Better Bottles at Walmart if you are lucky.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,I was wondering because a 5G carboy is great for a secondary,but a bit small for a primary. And if you take care not to use anything abrasive on plastic fermenters,you won't scratch them. Or stacking one inside the other,same deal. Clean them properly & they'll last a very long time. Proper care of anything is paramount to longevity. Tools dito.

 

[3PegBrew]

Union is right. Care for your tools and beer stuff as if it were your only heir to your name.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup! I've still got Craftsman tools,for instance,that my father bought me in the summer of 1973 for my junior year of auto tech coming up. Keep things cleaned properly,don't abuse them,& stored properly all add to how long things last.
A 6.5 gallon carboy is the right size for a 5 gallon batch,leaving a decent head space.

 

[solbes]

Not sure I'd want to make 5 gallon batches in a 5 gallon carboy. You need some headspace, even with a blow off tube. If it's a 6 or 6.5 gallon I would use that for primary only for 3-4 weeks, cold crash, and bottle. Most of my sub 1.060 beers do not get secondaried now.

You certainly could ferment in primary in 2 Mr Beer kegs, but obviously this is a lot more work.

 

[atom]

a 6.5 gallon bucket with lid shouldn't be much more than $15...maybe free if you can get one from a bakery...

 

[Beer-lord]

I've made a few 5 gallon batches and split it up into 2 Mr. Beer kegs. I plan on doing more. Then I dry hopped one and leff the other alone. I plan on trying different yeast strains in the future.

I'm one who 15 years ago did 5 gallon batches and have now gone to smaller brews. Works better for me but not for everyone. I usually just tell my local brew place what I want to brew and if I want to do all grain, grain/extract or all extract and he puts together a kit for me for any size I want. Cheaper than Mr. Beer kits (which are surprisingly good).

 

[ArcLight]

I have 2 Mr Beer Fermenters. The problem is they are 2.13 gallons each, so thats 4.25 gallons.
If you add less water (instead of topping off to 5 gallons, you top to 4.25) it will work, but your gravity will be higher, and I'm not sure how it will taste.

I wish the Mr. Beer fermentors were a tab bigger, say 2.25 to 2.5 Gallons

 

[comer88888]

I brew 5 gallons of beer in 5 gallon carboy it works just use a blowoff tube. No need to secondary.