I brew ten gallon batches, and ferment primary only in 6 gallon buckets. But quite often, I get krausen coming through the airlocks and spill all over my freezer. It’s a pain. I’m thinking 7 gallon buckets would be the way to go.
Any suggestions?
I use 7 gallon brew buckets when I my 6.5 carboys are busy. I’ve never had any blowouts from one of my buckets. I usually am doing 10 gallon split batches as well.
Just start using a blow off tube. No more mess, no extra purchases!
Dave
I brew in the 7.9 (let’s call them 8) gallon buckets. This allows me to do 6 to 6.5 gallons comfortably without a blow-off or a fermentation lock.
I’ve never had a blowout when doing 5 gallon batches in my 6.5 gallon bucket. If I were to buy another, I’d go with the 7.9 gallon size that Euge mentions.
Where do you get 7.9 gallon buckets?
This is what I’d go with.
OUCH! I don’t think I could bring myself to paying $23 + shipping for a bucket. All of my 5 gallon ones were free.
The 7.9 gallon buckets are usually used for fermenting wine. You might be able to get a better deal at your LHBS or at least save on shipping.
I ferment 5.5 gallon batches in six-gallon better bottles so I always use a blowoff. Most times there’s some but sometimes there’s not.
I just ordered a bunch of stuff from their site the other day. The only downsides are there’s a $10 fee for orders less than $50, and shipping is not cheap. I haven’t gotten my order yet so I can’t attest to the quality of their products (but a food-grade bucket is a food-grade bucket).
+1. Why not just spend $1 on 2 feet of hose? Fermenting a 5G beer in a 7.9G container leaves a lot of headspace. I’m much more comfortable with a blow off tube than leaving that amount of headspace above my beer.
Dave