Used fermentation buckets

jason1414 · Jun 9, 2016

I am really trying to do this brewing thing on a tight budget at the moment. I have access to a bunch of 6 gallon pickle buckets, food grade, I am going to sanitize them. Does anyone have any thoughts on using used buckets??

Pappers_ · Jun 9, 2016

Hi, welcome to HBT and the homebrewing! I moved this to the Beginners forum, where more folks might see it. Using food grade pickle buckets would be just fine. You want to be careful with plastic, generally, to avoid scratches in the surface. Its hard to clean inside the scratches and the wild yeast and bacteria can grow in those scratches. So, don't use scrubbies or anything that could scratch the surface when you clean it the buckets. If you use soap, rinse the bucket very well - soap is bad for beer.

smyrnaquince · Jun 9, 2016

I've seen some people say that you can't get the pickle flavor out of the plastic, but I've had good luck soaking the buckets in a bleach-water solution, then letting them air dry.

Where did you find 6-gallon pickle buckets? I could only find 5 gallon ones.

Junk-Man · Jun 9, 2016

I picked up some 7 gal food grade buckets from a restaurant re-seller which were used for soup stock.
they had a VERY strong distinctive odor but a two day soak with OxiClean reduced it enough that it had no effect on my beer.
after a couple of brews all they smell like is beer. Sweet, sweet beer

dwhite60 · Jun 9, 2016

jason1414 said:
I am really trying to do this brewing thing on a tight budget at the moment. I have access to a bunch of 6 gallon pickle buckets, food grade, I am going to sanitize them. Does anyone have any thoughts on using used buckets??

If you don't mind doing smaller batches, you can pick up a new, food grade, bucket at Lowe's hardware for less than $5.00.

All the Best,
D. White