Is a 3 1/2 gallon bucket big enough to ferment a 3 gallon batch in?
If your temp is controlled, yes… If not, and depending on the yeast… You’ll get an air locker launcher! Sneezles61
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Plan to use a blow off tube even with a very low OG brew and temperature control. Better to have one in place than clean up a mess. One-half gallon of head space can get filled quickly.
A large part of this too is yeast selection. A wheat yeast, like wyeast 3068, is a no go as they require up to 33% headspace.
Like the others have said, control your temps and use a blowoff.
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I do mostly 3-gallon batches. For primary I use 5-gallon carboys that were intended to be secondaries for 5-gallon brews. They’re (relatively) cheap and every home brew shop sells them. I do have proper temp control, and don’t really do brews notorious for blow-off like RIS’s and Heffes, but I have never even come close to a blow-off with that setup.
I use the 5-gal plastic Big Mouth Bubblers, but the old, barely adequate, lid design. I think the new lid is even worse, so I’m not sure I can recommend them. For secondary (which I almost never do at this point) Better Bottle makes a square 3-gallon bottle; 2 can fit perfectly side-by side in my fermenting freezer, meaning I can fit 2 secondaries AND a primary.
Just go to ace and get a five gallon bucket and lid
