Going to do my third brew tomorrow. Up to now I have been transferring wort to plastic bucket with lid and airlock and then doing secondary to glass carboy. I was wondering if there was any reason I cant just do carboys for all fermentation?
thx
I actually prefer the bucket for fermentation and don’t do a secondary transfer unless I am adding fruit and don’t always do it for that. Buckets generally have more headroom so there is no need for a blow off tube. Buckets are also lighter to carry and easier to clean. They are safer to work with also.
I use carboys for fermentation, and there is no reason not to. You can easily see what is going on inside. Like pete b, I don’t transfer to secondary unless there is a good reason to do so (such as adding fruit or long term [greater than 3 weeks] fermentation).
Buckets 'cause I’m cheap and clumsy, and I don’t think I’ve ever done a “secondary”. By the time I got into the hobby in ~2002, most of the veteran brewers were recommending against it.
Carboys work great until you break one. I’ve used the carboy that came with my original kit a grand total of three times until I made the move to plastic buckets. Better Bottles also work well.
A few years back I switched to fermenting in kegs, and I’ll never go back. It’s worth every penny of the investment, and then some.
I like glass carboys. You can see what is going on and an unforeseen extended primary doesn’t result in much risk of oxidation.
I still use my original carboy from 1987 for big beers with very active yeast. It is a big carboy.
I use buckets. I gave up on those lids that have a rubber grommet - a true PITA to clean. Just solid lids for me. And I found that the replacement lids from Morebeer (no hole - I drill the hole) come on and off quite easily, and still seal well enough, although they are a bit pliable.
If you are doing your primary fermentations in carboys, you have to allow more head space - sometimes it will make a mess with five gallons of fermenting beer in a 6-gallon carboy. I couldn’t imagine doing a primary in a 5-gallon one.
I’ve done both and really haven’t noticed a difference. I usually ferment in a bucket, but I only have one, so on the rare times I have a second batch going at the same time I primary in a carboy. A 3 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy is plenty of headspace for blowoff. I have a 3 gallon carboy I use for secondary.
I have both plastic and glass, but I only use the glass if every other vessel is full. It’s heavy, it’s hard to clean, and I know one of these days I’m gonna break it. The plastic ones also have a wider mouth (#7 cork) vs the glass one (#3 cork) so easier for siphoning. The glass ones mouth is just barely big enough for my auto siphon. (The glass one was given to me free, I bought the plastic ones)
In my opinion you can do either/or.
thanks all.
I did a brew Sat and flipped coin :)… This time it went into a 6.5 carboy. Next brew next weekend I will do the bucket and decide in the end. I must say it is neat to sneak a peak and see whats happening but that probably just be the newness phase I am at.
Used carboys for the first 3-4 years, buckets for the last 15.
Only ever used buckets, carboys look too much hassle (difficult to clean, can’t fit a tap, have to siphon).
Big Mouth Bubbler carboys fitted with a valve and dip tube.
Have you had any issues with the lid on these? Seems like everywhere I look, there is someone saying the lid sucks, and someone saying they don’t know what the other person is talking about… thinking about getting one and using the glass carboy I have for meads.
I have used a 6.5 gallon plastic Big Mouth Bubbler for 15 batches and have not had issues with any issues with the lid. I use a blowoff tube now and occasionally it doesn’t seal quite enough around the bung to bubble, so it’s not 100% airtight, but it’s not the fault of the lid. Plenty of homebrewers use plastic buckets with no problems and those in most cases don’t seal 100%.
The original BMB lid design had seal issues. The new lid design, introduced about a year ago, seals well.