What is the best carboy to do primary fermentation on a 5 gallon batch? I’ve been using a 6.5 gallon bucket, is a 6 gallon carboy sufficient?
I have a 5 gallon Better Bottle that I use for secondary, is there anything I should know about cleaning it out since this is the first time I’m using it. Is it as easy as giving it a good rinse (and probably throwing some pbw inside)?
For Primary I think the 6.0 Gal carboy is standard. I would use a blow off tube versus one of those plastic airlocks in a stopper, especially for the first few days (if not just for the whole time).
If you are asking how to clean a 5 gal better bottle that is new, that is how I would do it. if you add about 1/2 gal of warm water, put your hand over the opening (obviously I hope you knew that part ha ha…) and shake it really well it really swooshes around pretty well too. they are so light you can give it a good shake.
You can use a brush but be gentle with it, you don’t want to scratch the sides just knock the gunk off. really if you fill it with hot water and add PBW or Oxyclean, it’ll be pretty much cleaned by the next morning. I do like to brush the “bathtub ring” off though.
A 6gal carboy is going to need the blowoff. I personally like to ferment in buckets and transfer to carboy once things slow down a little.
Put a rag inside the carboy with the water to “scrub” any deposits off. Then you avoid scratching with the end of a bottle brush.
Outside of not being able to see inside, why not stay with the pails? Much cheaper. Lighter than glass. And they will not break.
I guess mostly it was just being able to see whats going on inside.
A 6 gal carboy is sufficient, but a 6.5 or 7 gal carboy is infinitely better. Using these, I’ve never had to use a blowoff tube.
The 6.5 ones seem to be fairly easy to come by these days.
