When Should I But a New Fermenting bucket?
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I have 5 2 gallon buckets and have been using them for about 4 years now. Just keep scratch free and clean.
masskrug
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I've used food safe trash bag liners for my last 6 beers. No problem. It is like a new fermenter every time. Clean up is so much easier on bottling day as well!
http://fermware.com/fermentation-bucket-liners/
http://fermware.com/fermentation-bucket-liners/
You should have bought a new fermenter when you got the first one. That lets you have 2 batches in fermenters at once so you don't feel the need to bottle too early or be frustrated because you have time to brew one and have your fermenter full. I make smaller batches and sometimes I may have 5 fermenters full at one time.
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Scturo
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I wish I had more room to brew multiple batches. I'm limited by my fermentation chamber, and over all house space. Maybe eventually I'll get/make a keezer so I can brew more. For now, it's 1, 5 gal batch and 1, 3 gallon batch every other month.
You really only need the fermenter kept cool for the first few days, usually 4 or 5. After that you can put a new batch in. Having extra buckets in the way while they are fermenting could be a problem with space limitations but once they are empty you can (carefully so they don't scratch) them.
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Scturo
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I've read that the first 4-5 days is the critical part of fermentation. As I get more experience I may go that route. Right now the recipes I've been following call for 21 days at controlled temp, and I feel nervous about not following them.
I have 2 but my original is over 10 years old and tons of scratches, even rust stains on bottom from when I left caps sanitizing in the bottom, never had an infection in 12 years of brewing, used to use bleach based but now use starsan. I also have 2 glass carboys as backups as most are primary only fermentation and the carboys don't get used that often, mostly for wine.
GHBWNY
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A lot is mentioned when comparing glass to plastic about plastic scratching. I can't think of a good reason for a bucket to incur scratches, at least ones deep enough that, after a good cleaning and sanitizing, would still harbor bacteria. An occasional stirring with a metal spoon, if not gentle, should not even have to make contact with the plastic itself. No scratching there. Cleaning a bucket is best done with a plastic bristle brush. No scratching there. Beyond that, I can't think of anything else that might scratch the plastic. I have used the same plastic bucket for at least 15 batches and there's not a scratch to be found. If you're *scratching* the inside of your plastic fermenter during a normal brewing operation... 
...just sayin'.
...just sayin'.Northbank
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Can anybody link me to this site?
catdaddy66
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Thats what I do too. Just recently got two big mouth bubblers, one has 5 gal of California common in it and the other is empty. I have a grand total of 5 fermenters. Woohoo!
A lot is mentioned when comparing glass to plastic about plastic scratching. I can't think of a good reason for a bucket to incur scratches, at least ones deep enough that, after a good cleaning and sanitizing, would still harbor bacteria. An occasional stirring with a metal spoon, if not gentle, should not even have to make contact with the plastic itself. No scratching there. Cleaning a bucket is best done with a plastic bristle brush. No scratching there. Beyond that, I can't think of anything else that might scratch the plastic. I have used the same plastic bucket for at least 15 batches and there's not a scratch to be found. If you're *scratching* the inside of your plastic fermenter during a normal brewing operation...
I stack all my buckets (of different sizes) inside one another when storing them. I imagine this might scratch them. Doesnt seem to do any harm though
A lot is mentioned when comparing glass to plastic about plastic scratching. I can't think of a good reason for a bucket to incur scratches, at least ones deep enough that, after a good cleaning and sanitizing, would still harbor bacteria. An occasional stirring with a metal spoon, if not gentle, should not even have to make contact with the plastic itself. No scratching there. Cleaning a bucket is best done with a plastic bristle brush. No scratching there. Beyond that, I can't think of anything else that might scratch the plastic. I have used the same plastic bucket for at least 15 batches and there's not a scratch to be found. If you're *scratching* the inside of your plastic fermenter during a normal brewing operation...
If you're careful there should be minimal chances of scratching. I was once using my bucket to soak all my brewing equipment in starsan, I took everything out but I missed the scissors. I put the lid on and gave it a good shake to sanitize the inside and needless to say it left some pretty deep scratches. Lesson learned. I still use that bucket though and I've never had an infection.
I second this. I bought a big kit for my intro and I bought an extra fermenting bucket at the same time. I knew I'd want this type of flexibility. They're like 15-20 dollars total - might as well, you know?
Happy brewing!
