bucket vs. carboy

[dean2k]

Does anyone here use (or have experience with) a bottling bucket with spigot as a fermentation vessel as opposed to a glass carboy? Any problems?

[LiverDance]

I use plastic buckets all the time to ferment with no issues.

[canuck]

Other than my SS conical, I use 30L buckets for all of my fermentation......no issues whatsoever. I installed spigots in all of my buckets for easy transferring to kegs as I HATE siphoning.

[dean2k]

Other than my SS conical, I use 30L buckets for all of my fermentation......no issues whatsoever. I installed spigots in all of my buckets for easy transferring to kegs as I HATE siphoning.

Shit. I mean to say bucket with spigot, not siphon. Thanks guys.

[jacinthebox]

buckets here...although I did do my RIS in the carboy (left for 30 days).
I like using the bucket and racking over to the carboy after 5 days...helps me with clearing the beer

[dean2k]

Actually Justin, if anything for me it would be the other way around. Carboy to ferment and then bottling bucket with spigot for bottling. But ideally, I'm looking into fermenting in a bucket with a spigot and leaving it on the trub until time to bottle and then using spigot/want combo to bottle. Want to see if anyone has had issues with leaking, clogging, etc.

[TimG]

What are you guys using for spigots? I"m looking for some of those 'rotating' ones at a good price (likely want 3-4).

[jacinthebox]

Actually Justin, if anything for me it would be the other way around. Carboy to ferment and then bottling bucket with spigot for bottling. But ideally, I'm looking into fermenting in a bucket with a spigot and leaving it on the trub until time to bottle and then using spigot/want combo to bottle. Want to see if anyone has had issues with leaking, clogging, etc.

I Primary in the bucket, transfer to carboy for secondary, transfer to bucket for bottling

[GuingesRock]

I think you are supposed to take the spigot apart and clean/sanitise properly if it is on a bucket as they are a source of infection. You’ll find all kinds of mould and grunge build up inside them. Some people have concerns about spigots because of that. They are not on a boil kettle so they don't get sanitised by the heat of the boil.

I took it a bit further and dispensed with buckets carboys and syphons http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... 607#p63370 even less trouble.

[GuingesRock]

Here's an article from an Australian BIAB expert/pioneer...he hates spigots: http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php ... 153#p31316

...just another argument for you to consider.

[dean2k]

Seems feasible, except that buckets are dirt cheap and an inexpensive way to find out if it works for my needs.

[canuck]

What are you guys using for spigots? I"m looking for some of those 'rotating' ones at a good price (likely want 3-4).

That's basically what I have been using. IIRC, they cost about 3 or 4 bucks each.

[TimG]

That spigot has a 'dip tube' that can rotate?

[jacinthebox]

I picked a spigot from NG...but now on the fence about drilling a hole in one of my clear buckets....I love my clear buckets.

I may just buy a cheap bottling bucket, drill and attach my spigot

[dean2k]

Anyone know the current going price on a bucket that already has the spigot? And/Or with a proper air lock hole pre-drilled. Fuck, do these things have names? FULL SERVICE BUCKET!

Part 2: In theory, there shouldn't be any problems with lots of extra head space in a fermentor correct? eg, 3 gals in a 6 gallon bucket. That space just fills up with CO2 right?

[Jimmy]

I went the spigot route on one of my clear buckets and I am pretty happy with it.

[GuingesRock]

I agree, no problem with headspace...like you say. In theory CO2 is heavier than air and forms a blanket over the beer. The air will tend to be expelled first. Some diffusion occurs, but in practice I don't think there is a concern with a large headspace. I always wonder if the layer of krausen on the surface provides some protection too from air. Also I have wondered...I have my hops in the fermentor and they float and form a thick layer on the surface with the krausen. Since hops are highly anti-microbial, I wonder if that reduces the risk of infection ?...I believe it might. Never had an infected batch any way...touch wood!

[TimG]

Jimmy,

Did you buy those locally? How much? I assume they are the 'rotating ones' so you can start the draining well above the trub and then slowly make your own to pull off the last bit?

What size hose fits over the outlet? It'd be great to keg (or transfer to secondary) by just sanitizing a hose and slipping it on vs gearing up the autosiphon and then 'holding' it will it siphons. That is my main motivation.

[Jimmy]

Jimmy,

Did you buy those locally? How much? I assume they are the 'rotating ones' so you can start the draining well above the trub and then slowly make your own to pull off the last bit?

What size hose fits over the outlet? It'd be great to keg (or transfer to secondary) by just sanitizing a hose and slipping it on vs gearing up the autosiphon and then 'holding' it will it siphons. That is my main motivation.

They are from NG. They do rotate but don't have anything on the inside to change the level you're drawing from. I don't really see the need to change the level as the spigot is high enough to clear any trub on the bottom - I just slide something underneath the bucket to maximize draw without picking up any trub.

I believe it was 3/8" hose that I picked up from Home Depot.

[TimG]

So turns out I was thinking something like this:

http://www.better-bottle.com/products_master.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have to go to racking adapter on the left hand side of the page.

Looks super slick and easy enough to clean. Sort of scared to find out what they cost (probably $20+ each or something). I guess 3 fermenting buckets with these isn't that bad at like $45 each. It all adds up..

[canuck]

I picked a spigot from NG...but now on the fence about drilling a hole in one of my clear buckets....I love my clear buckets.

I may just buy a cheap bottling bucket, drill and attach my spigot

I just used a 1" spade drill bit to install my spigots.......only took a few seconds to install them. I installed them high enough so that they are above the trub.

[Jimmy]

I heated a 1/2" stainless coupler and melted my way through. Perfect fit!

[canuck]

I heated a 1/2" stainless coupler and melted my way through. Perfect fit!

That will work too I guess!!

[GuingesRock]

When I had a bucket and a spigot. I used a hole saw. Worked well too. Drill through a bit from one side and then the rest of the way from the other side to make neat job.

[GuingesRock]

You asked if anyone had problems with buckets and spigots.

When I started brewing, I went to WineKitz and I bought a couple of boxes of FestaBrew West Coast IPA (loved it) and a plastic fermenting bucket (one of those white ones with a lid that is impossible to get off) and a spigot.

I was in heaven with my new project. Very exciting! I drilled a hole in the lid for a rubber bung and air trap and a hole near the bottom for the spigot. I got the only kind of spigot they had, and it was the wrong kind. You couldn’t attach a tube to it, but I merrily bottled into my stainless steel water bottles. The beer squirted out of that spigot in a coarse spray and the bottles half filled with foam. Eventually I thought that couldn’t be good, because of all that oxygen (I’d been doing some reading - which isn’t always a good thing) and I found a short length of tube that I could shove up inside the spigot and used that. I couldn’t get the spigot apart to clean it, but I ran starsan through it and thought I was doing a great job!

That airlock got me every time. I read something about being careful not to get the airlock water in the beer to avoid contamination and infection, so, the first time I tried to pull that lid off carefully. It took nearly all my might, even to just lift the edge of the lid, and the water sucked back into the beer as the lid finally gave up the fight and came off…The next time I approached that thing cautiously from a distance and thought about it. This time I would push the lid down with one hand and pull the rubber bung and air trap out with the other, before I took on the lid. I had to pull hard on that rubber bung to get it out, and pulling on it lifted the lid a little under my other hand…just enough to suck the water in again. By the third time, I got the hang of it! and became blasé about it, because I had had success, and on the fourth time, of course, I failed again. You can apparently put neat vodka in the trap so if that happens there is no harm to the beer, but every time I looked at the vodka bottle it seemed to be empty. I think one of those traps that come apart might help too.

Eventually the lid broke and cracked right across the top when I was trying to get it off. The spigot had a layer of black smelly paste between the central revolving tube and the body of the spigot. I put it up by the road in one of those clear blue plastic bags and I have never seen it since.

I did get some buckets like Canuck has and some proper spigots, but I never set them up as I started fermenting in the brew kettle. I use the buckets for storing grain and they work a treat for that.