Making a bottling bucket

I am looking to convert one of those 5 gallon buckets you can get at walmart for a buck into a bottling bucket and need to know what kind of valve I should get, and anything else I might need to consider for this.

I was figuring I might find something in the way of a gas valve you would find in a science room where it has that tapered connector that would allow you connect a blow off tube. But was not able to find anything at Lowes.

Any suggestions?

Just Google bottling spigot. They are only about $4. For the bucket I would make sure it is food grade. Off flavors or chemicals from non-food grade plastic aren’t worth the savings.

1 Like

No worries on the bucket as it is an old icing bucket that I sanitize prior to use.

Found a spigot on amazon and now am waiting for it to arrive.

Just a quick question on functionality. Is it better to use an autosiphon to transfer the brew into the bottling bucket from the fermenter, or is ok to simply pour it from one to the other?

The reason I ask is the autosiphon that came with my starter kit seems to be getting worn out.

Siphon it if you can. You will want to leave as much junk behind as possible. Plenty of yeast will tag along to condition in the bottles.

Along with the junk and yeast, dumping could severely oxidize your beer.

1 Like

Then I guess pouring it through a strainer to catch most of the junk would be an even worse idea?

1 Like

Correct.

Glad I asked then.

BTW, since I am obviously relatively new to this, why is oxidizing bad?

It makes your beer taste like stale, old damp cardboard.

1 Like

Splash it when going into the fermenter to give the yeast some O2. After fermentation try not to get any O2 in. Some will get in no matter how hard we try. just try to keep it at a minimum. Most of us that keg will purge the O2 out with their CO2 tank keep it out. In bottles just try to keep any transfer “quiet” (no splash noise) going into the bucket and fill the bottles to about the same level you see with commercial beer.

Can’t say I knowingly had an oxidized beer using just a little caution.

On a somewhat related note, would it be wise to allow the beer to ferment in the bottling bucket, or would the yeast cause problems in the valve?

My last beer I fermented in a bucket with a spigot. Then just bottled from it. Used the domino dots in the bottles do didn’t need to add sugar to the bucket. I may put spigots on more of Mr buckets. Keep them higher up on the bucket