those who use buckets as fermenters

[LostHopper]

I'm moving away from glass carboys for 5.5g batches and I picked up 6.5g brew bucket with lid from LHBS. The lid has no gasket but seems to seal fine (no leaks when sanitizing). The LHBS says gasket not needed. The lid is tight to get on and really tough to remove. I'm getting airlock activity but I wondered if a gasket would be the preferred style of lid for fermenting.

Note: it did take a little longer than usual to get airlock activity but I don't know if that is due to almost a gallon of headspace or the lid leaking. The lid really feels like it's sealed well but after repeated use I could see it being an issue.

 

[bigdawg86]

My OCD was also bothered by the lack of a seal that the buckets gave me. My local hardware store had bucket lids with gaskets, but those too didn't seal after the first few uses. I finally settled on gamma lids for a few reasons. They seal better (not perfect), it's much easier to screw open to check gravity or dry hop. The lid is twice as thick as others so adding a bung port for a thermowell or other stuff works well.

The only con to the gamma lid is the ledge on the inside of the bucket lid contraption is hard to clean... so you have to ensure you hose it out really well and sanitize well.

 

[motosapiens]

I used gasket-less buckets for years. they seem to seal as well as I need them to. I could never detect any leakage.... but it's not like you need an air-tight seal anyway unless you're doing some kind of LODO fad. Stuff is coming out of the bucket throughout fermentation, so positive pressure prevents stuff from getting in.

 

[LostHopper]

Thanks
Thinking it through I could not see a problem but going from glass where I can see fermentation kicking in to opaque plastic where I see nothing but airlock bubbles I just needed the reassurance.

(no LODO here)

 

[myndflyte]

I wouldn't be too concerned about the lids sealing. Honestly you could probably crimp sanitized foil on the top and it would be OK with all the positive pressure from fermentation.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I've made several batches with plastic wrap (Glad wrap; not sure what the rest of the world calls it) over the bucket. All you really need is something to stop stuff falling/flying in. The only benefit of a good seal is that the airlock works! Out of my six fermenting buckets, one of them gets an airtight seal.

 

[motosapiens]

Thanks
Thinking it through I could not see a problem but going from glass where I can see fermentation kicking in to opaque plastic where I see nothing but airlock bubbles I just needed the reassurance.

i hear you there. i have been known to pop the rubber stopper out so I can peek in there and see what's going on when I use a bucket. I mostly use clear Fermonsters now (unless they are both full), and the clear is handy, but it also means I have to lift the t-shirt it wears to look at it, since I like to protect them from the light.

 

[MaryB]

One of my fermenting buckets doesn't airtight seal. Microbes in the air can't climb UP under the lid to get in so no worries! To make life really simple I have a spigot on all of my fermenting buckets. The trub/yeast cake never reaches the height of the inlet so when bottling/kegging the only trub is the little that settles in the valve body. Makes life a heck of a lot easier to not have to dink around with a siphon!