Why bother with carboys and blow-off tubes?

[rhys333]

Please weigh in bucket fermenters. Do you guys primary ferment in a bucket with spigot?
You think a spigot is easy to clean?

I think a spigot would make it easier to rack, and yeast harvest, but when I use one (for bottling) I always worry about the cleanliness of the spigot.

I don't use a spigot on my primary bucket, and I prefer to brew with top-croppable strains so that there's no harvesting from the trub.

 

[helibrewer]

What's your process for CO2 transfer? I've been trying to do this with mixed results. What kind of stopper do you use?

I use an orange carboy hood with a gas line connected to the smaller opening (I use 1/8" polyline push-connect tubing for all my gas connections). I use a racking cane in the larger opening.

 

[KegWrangler]

Just as a side note: If you are worried about the pressure blowing up your carboy you can suck the beer into your keg by attaching a shop vac (or even your household vacuum - I've used both) to the gas-ball lock. You'll still need the carboy hood to allow air into the carboy during transfer (with or without filter as you deem necessary).

That said...I'm back to using plastic buckets for primary and kegs for secondary after I broke the glass carboys (one during cleaning and the other somehow during storage in a closet). Murphy strikes again...he also has it out for my hydrometers...and thermometers...and anything else made from glass.

 

[IslandLizard]

Just as a side note: If you are worried about the pressure blowing up your carboy you can suck the beer into your keg by attaching a shop vac (or even your household vacuum - I've used both) to the gas-ball lock. You'll still need the carboy hood to allow air into the carboy during transfer (with or without filter as you deem necessary).

That said...I'm back to using plastic buckets for primary and kegs for secondary after I broke the glass carboys (one during cleaning and the other somehow during storage in a closet). Murphy strikes again...he also has it out for my hydrometers...and thermometers...and anything else made from glass.

Whaaa! You're brave! I would never get a vacuum cleaner hose anywhere near my open fermentors. Those things harbor the worst of evil. Although it sucks, literally, a slight turbulence can cause infection havoc.

I hear you on the buckets. I went "back" to them too. I forgot how easy it is to clean and transport them. And if you drop them by accident nothing disastrous will happen.

 

[KegWrangler]

No no it's ok, the fermentation is protected by a magical blanket or "binky" if you prefer the scientific term.

I never had an infection with the vacuum method but I only used it for a few batches before I switched back.

Just wondering, are people using steel wool, or chainsaws or an alligator on their buckets to get scratches? I use a plastic dish brush and soap to clean with...can't fathom where all these scratches are coming from?

 

[b-boy]

I use an orange carboy hood with a gas line connected to the smaller opening (I use 1/8" polyline push-connect tubing for all my gas connections). I use a racking cane in the larger opening.

Almost the same setup I've got. I have problems keeping the cap from blowing off the carboy. I have to really hold it down.

 

[day_trippr]

Almost the same setup I've got. I have problems keeping the cap from blowing off the carboy. I have to really hold it down.

Big ol' worm clamp solves that...

Cheers!

 

[AnOldUR]

 

[day_trippr]

If .5 psi scares you, stick to siphons...

Cheers!

 

[AnOldUR]

 

[day_trippr]

Amazing what entertains some folks, but enjoy the wait

Cheers!

ps: I have something cooking that'll be ready in a week or so that'll make your brain 'splode

 

[podz]

Please weigh in bucket fermenters. Do you guys primary ferment in a bucket with spigot?
You think a spigot is easy to clean?

I think a spigot would make it easier to rack, and yeast harvest, but when I use one (for bottling) I always worry about the cleanliness of the spigot.

I only ferment beer in a bucket with a spigot, i.e. I don't secondary.

Spigot is easy to clean, just unscrew the plastic nut inside the bucket and remove the entire thing. Drop it in your sanitiser bucket for a few minutes. No big deal.

Spigot makes bottling a piece of cake, just push a silicone hose onto it and you're done. Spigot doesn't do anything to help yeast harvest because it sits intentionally just a bit above the flocculation line.

I save my glass vessels for cider and wine making.

 

[rhys333]

I only ferment beer in a bucket with a spigot, i.e. I don't secondary.

Spigot is easy to clean, just unscrew the plastic nut inside the bucket and remove the entire thing. Drop it in your sanitiser bucket for a few minutes. No big deal.

Spigot makes bottling a piece of cake, just push a silicone hose onto it and you're done. Spigot doesn't do anything to help yeast harvest because it sits intentionally just a bit above the flocculation line.

I save my glass vessels for cider and wine making.

I keep thinking aboit adding a spigot to my prkmary bucket. How do you stop it sucking up trub? I suppose it can be installed a couple inches up, but then I'd have to tilt quite a bit to get the last few pints.

 

[podz]

I keep thinking aboit adding a spigot to my prkmary bucket. How do you stop it sucking up trub? I suppose it can be installed a couple inches up, but then I'd have to tilt quite a bit to get the last few pints.

The spigot needs to be high enough up that the exit point is a little bit higher than the bottom of the bucket, otherwise you run into all sorts of little difficulties.

 

[IslandLizard]

I only ferment beer in a bucket with a spigot, i.e. I don't secondary.

Spigot is easy to clean, just unscrew the plastic nut inside the bucket and remove the entire thing. Drop it in your sanitiser bucket for a few minutes. No big deal.

Spigot makes bottling a piece of cake, just push a silicone hose onto it and you're done. Spigot doesn't do anything to help yeast harvest because it sits intentionally just a bit above the flocculation line.

I save my glass vessels for cider and wine making.

Don't you get some yeast and trub sucking up that way, or is the spigot way above the trub line? Most racking canes use a tippy so liquid enters from the top, preventing suction from below, where the yeast/trub layer is.

When racking I tip the bucket too, to get most beer out, except for a pint or 2 I need to swirl up the slurry for yeast harvest.

There are differently built spigots, and I'm not sure which you're using, but the rotating spigots we get here mostly, consist of two 3/4" plastic barrels rotating within each other, where bugs can hide in between. Ask me how I know.

I always put them in boiling water first so they soften up a bit and I can push them apart. Then clean and sanitize. The rubber washer can harbor mold (black spots) over time. This is the main reason I keep those parts under Starsan all the time or store them thoroughly dried. My bottling bucket has a few inches of Starsan in it, perpetually, although after I started kegging I haven't used it much. Maybe time to dry it out.

 

[podz]

Don't you get some yeast and trub sucking up that way, or is the spigot way above the trub line? Most racking canes use a tippy so liquid enters from the top, preventing suction from below, where the yeast/trub layer is.

There are differently built spigots, and I'm not sure which you're using, but the rotating spigots we get here mostly, consist of two 3/4" plastic barrels rotating within each other, where bugs can hide in between. Ask me how I know.

I use an Italian spigot that doesn't sit any higher than it needs - the spout opening doesn't even clear the ground so it needs to hang over a ledge, never had a problem with it sucking yeast or trub. I clean my bucket with water when I finish a batch and then with sanitiser before I start a batch.

 

[IslandLizard]

I use an Italian spigot that doesn't sit any higher than it needs - the spout opening doesn't even clear the ground so it needs to hang over a ledge, never had a problem with it sucking yeast or trub. I clean my bucket with water when I finish a batch and then with sanitiser before I start a batch.

Yup, that's the same bug trap spigot alright. Look between those 2 barrels that make up the rotating body. There's a small space...

 

[podz]

Yup, that's the same bug trap spigot alright. Look between those 2 barrels that make up the rotating body. There's a small space...

I don't know where you people live, but we simply do not have all of these problems with infections and molds and bugs here like you collectively describe and fear. Personally, I think that it's just FUD - I don't really believe it. I've never had one and I've made _a lot_ of batches of various things. I don't boil sugar, DME, hop pellets, nothing... just toss them right in to my cider, wine or beer and it always turns out fine - no pellicles, no mysterious floating white clusters, nothing like that ever.

 

[bja]

I don't know where you people live, but we simply do not have all of these problems with infections and molds and bugs here like you collectively describe and fear. Personally, I think that it's just FUD - I don't really believe it. I've never had one and I've made _a lot_ of batches of various things. I don't boil sugar, DME, hop pellets, nothing... just toss them right in to my cider, wine or beer and it always turns out fine - no pellicles, no mysterious floating white clusters, nothing like that ever.

A lot of this stuff gets repeated over and over again so many times that people often become paranoid even if they've never had a problem.

 

[kaconga]

I don't know where you people live, but we simply do not have all of these problems with infections and molds and bugs here like you collectively describe and fear. Personally, I think that it's just FUD - I don't really believe it. I've never had one and I've made _a lot_ of batches of various things. I don't boil sugar, DME, hop pellets, nothing... just toss them right in to my cider, wine or beer and it always turns out fine - no pellicles, no mysterious floating white clusters, nothing like that ever.

I drive to work everyday and have never had an accident. I don't understand why anyone would care about seatbelts when accidents are obviously so rare. I mean, in 8 years or working across town I haven't ever had one. Just some food for thought.

 

[bja]

I drive to work everyday and have never had an accident. I don't understand why anyone would care about seatbelts when accidents are obviously so rare. I mean, in 8 years or working across town I haven't ever had one. Just some food for thought.

You're comparing an auto accident and possibly someone's life to a $25 batch of beer? Surely you can do better than that.

 

[BBBF]

You're comparing an auto accident and possibly someone's life to a $25 batch of beer? Surely you can do better than that.

Have you ever seen the pictures of people cut by broken carboys?

 

[bja]

Have you ever seen the pictures of people cut by broken carboys?

What does that have to do with infected beer?

 

[hunter_le five]

The Price of Tea In China, Yuan Renminbi Per Kilogram

 

[podz]

I drive to work everyday and have never had an accident. I don't understand why anyone would care about seatbelts when accidents are obviously so rare. I mean, in 8 years or working across town I haven't ever had one. Just some food for thought.

 

[kaconga]

You're comparing an auto accident and possibly someone's life to a $25 batch of beer? Surely you can do better than that.

False logic is false logic no matter the subject. It is just that much more apparent in my allegory than his. Both are just as flawed though.

 

[day_trippr]

Honestly, if you read the news every day you'll come to realize The World runs on flawed logic

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

What happened to this thread?

Next poster, do me a favor and go back to the beginning and see what it's about. Then post on that. Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

"Nothing goin' on here, Officer. Just out for a stroll."

Cheers!

 

[AnOldUR]

Why bother with car boys and blow off tubes?

It's all a matter of personal preference. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :cross: