Weird fact from HBS True?

[IrregularPulse]

I just got home from my LHBS. I went to buy a Betterbottle. THey only had 6 gallons and I'm doing a 5 gallon brew. I figured that would be okay. THe lady that own the shop told me that with carboys you couldn't just put 5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy. Why can't you if you can put 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon bucket? you still have empty space up top between the beer and the airlock. Whats the difference? THey're also plastic vs plastic. I didn't understand. Ended up buying the 5 gallon glass one for the same price.

 

[AFAJ Brew Guy]

Huh? I have 5 gallons in a 6 right now. I don't know why she would say that as it would seem that you would want more headspace for the krausen. With a 5 make sure you rig up a blow off tube or you may end up with one hell of a mess on your hands!

 

[Pugilist]

Don't know what she meant. I bought 6gal carboys from my LBS and they are fine. If anything 5 gals in a 6 or 6.5 eliminates the need for a blow off tube (with the exceptions of bigger beers).

 

[cowgo]

You are more than fine with putting 5 gallons in there.

On the other hand, I've learned not to question, WTF? on here because, invariably, someone comes along with a perfectly reasonable "TF"

 

[janzik]

I just got home from my LHBS. I went to buy a Betterbottle. THey only had 6 gallons and I'm doing a 5 gallon brew. I figured that would be okay. THe lady that own the shop told me that with carboys you couldn't just put 5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy. Why can't you if you can put 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon bucket? you still have empty space up top between the beer and the airlock. Whats the difference? THey're also plastic vs plastic. I didn't understand. Ended up buying the 5 gallon glass one for the same price.

I'm not sure why she would tell you that. If you have 5 gallons of wort, and then you aerate it, you're already going to have problems with the foam coming out the top before you even put the bung/air lock on. My last couple of batches have all been primaried in a 6.5 gallon carboy. In fact, my last batch, I screwed up my final volume and had close to 6 gallons (I over estimated how much boil down I've been getting because I've been getting pissed that my final volumes have been around 4.5 gallon) and while I was aerating, I was having a problem getting all of my cooled down wort in the carboy (it was foaming due the aeration). A day or so later I checked on it and I had beer in the airlock just waiting to explode out. I can't recommend using that carboy, but if you must, I would definitely suggest using a blow off tube rather than a bung/airlock. Somebody else may want to weigh on even using a 5 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch at all...

 

[eddie]

A five gallon carboy is really too small for a five gallon brew. You can use it in a pinch but a 6 or 6.5 would be much better. The smaller carboy doesn't allow enough head space for the krausen and will require a blow-off no matter what beer is being brewed. However, the opposite holds true if you're transferring your beer to a clearing tank (often referred to as a secondary fermenter.) In this case, you'd want to use as small a carboy as possible that would still hold the entire volume of beer. A five gallon carboy for a five gallon batch would then be ideal.

 

[Jesse17]

Did she know you planned on using is as a primary?

If she thought you were using it as a secondary, then she's probable referring to the fact that a lot of people use the smaller carboys for secondary, because they want less head space now that the krausen phase is over, in order to reduce exposure to oxygen.

That's my guess at what she was referring to anyway.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Maybe thats what she meant.I already decided that's what I will use it for (secondary). I guess when my mad money account (wife has no say over) builds back up a lil I'll bauy the 6.5 gallon better bottle from her. I am not thinkin she didn't know better because her husband has setup all the breweries in columbus and setup two micro breweries downtown. I'd say they know what they're doing when it comes to brewin. She probably just thought I was gonna use it for a primary.

While this thread is going, and since i'll be doing it tomorrow night, How do I start my siphon to transfr to my secondary? Read something about filling the racking cane with water before putting it into the wort, Does this cause a suction when the water releases?

 

[Yooper]

They don't make Better Bottles in 6.5 gallons- only 3, 5, 6 gallons sizes. I wish they made the 6.5- I'd buy one!

siphoning by using water can be done (that's how I used to do it) but it is very challenging. For $14, I'd get an autosiphon. Barring that, you fill the siphon with water, crimp the end, and put the racking cane in the primary and the end of the tubing in a jar on the floor. Make sure you always hold the racking cane end higher, or all that water will end up in the primary. Then, let go of the end that's in the jar and the water will run into the jar. When the beer starts to flow, crimp that end again but don't lift it high, and put that in the bottom of the carboy so it doesn't splash your beer. Make sure the tubing lies against the bottom. That's it!

It's not too hard, but practice with water a few times before you try it with your beer.

 

[Jesse17]

Do you have Star San, or another 'no rinse' sanitizer? It's better if you use a sanitizer solution than water, but water will work 99% of the time.

Here's the process:
Fill your racking cane/tubing with sanitizer solution or water, and cover the end of the tube with your SANITIZED finger.

Place the racking cane in the wort, and hold the other end over a bucket/pot/whatever at lower elevation than the wort. Then remove your finger and it should start siphoning the wort into the tube as the water/sanitizer drains out. As soon as the wort starts to come out of the tube, cover it with your finger again.

Place the tube over your secondary (still lower than the primary) and remove your finger to start the siphon. Quickly lower the tube to the bottom of your secondary and leave it there, so the wort doesn't splash when it siphons into the secondary.

Whala!

 

[Tommish]

Also, when the siphon is going, remember to keep the liquid surface of the primary higher than the liquid surface of the secondary. This will keep the siphon flowing in the right direction since the siphon flow is an effect caused by the liquids "trying" to reach an equal height.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Cool, I'll lift the primary a buckets height above the secondary, probably lift it (very carefully and steadily) onto my dryer. How do the auto syphons work? a hand pump of sorts? sounds like its worth 14 more dollars on top of the 100 i spent yesterday

 

[libs]

Auto siphons basically work like a hydraulic piston. It comes in two pieces - basically a racking cane inside of a larger tube. You put the assembly in the beer, draw the racking cane up to fill the larger tube with beer, and push it down. I love mine!!

Try moving the beer about 45 minutes before you actually start the siphon (do that first, then start your sani ritual). This will let anything that you disturbed settle back down.

 

[Catfish]

You are better off with the glass anyway (just don't drop it).*

Maybe she was drunk and thought that you wanted to put 6 gallons of beer in a 5 gallon carboy...


*Better bottles are a PITA to clean and scratch pretty easily. I prefer buckets or glass carboys. If you disagree that's okay, it's just my opinion.

 

[EamusCatuli]

I have a 6 gallon carboy with 5 gallons worth in it too! Crazy people telling lies!!!!

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Did she know you planned on using is as a primary?

If she thought you were using it as a secondary, then she's probable referring to the fact that a lot of people use the smaller carboys for secondary, because they want less head space now that the krausen phase is over, in order to reduce exposure to oxygen.

That's my guess at what she was referring to anyway.

True. Another thought... Did she even know you were using it for beer? For wine-folks apparently it's common knowledge that you want to eliminate headspace to prevent O2 exposure.

 

[feedthebear]

I did a 2 gallon cyser in 5 gallon carboys for the primary and secondary with no problems.