So yesterday, I got around to bottling my very first batch of Caribou Slobber that came with the Essential Brewing Kit from NB and I noticed that after transferring an bottling the brew and washing everything afterwards, the fermenting bucket was stained inside. I cleaned the equipment with non scented cleaner and it did lighten the stains. My question is, am I supposed to clean it with something stronger that will remove the stains or is it always going to be like that. Granted the stains aren’t super dark, but I just don’t want it to affect future brews that I do. Please help a newbie!!!
No worries, my fermenting buckets are slightly discolored and have some residual hop aroma. I actually enjoy the aroma when I get it out of the basement. Clean it well, remove all the gunk, and sanitize it, and you won’t have any issues. Putting it in the sunlight will help remove off colors and odors, but food-grade plastic is not UV stable, and it will get brittle and break if it sees too much.
The stain is all part of the fun. Plastic buckets will typically last you for a dozen or two batches before you might want to consider replacement. If you want to reduce chance for contaminants permanently, you can switch to glass fermenters.
Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated! I was already starting to think that I would need to replace the buckets after one use! I do plan to switch to glass fermenters later on down the road. But for now, I’ll just stick to cleaning and sanitizing well. Thanks again!
I’ve run about 40 batches through one of my buckets. Only problem is that the rim seal is worn to the point that the airlock only bubbles during active fermentation. Makes it a little more difficult to monitor fermentation progress via airlock activity. If you’re careful with how you wash and store the bucket, it will last for many many batches. I’ve run both clean and funky beers through them without any cross-contamination (as if that’s a bad thing… :mrgreen: ) No lacto/pedio yet, that gets saved for glass.
Buckets are great for primary fermentation. Glass is great for secondary/long aging. To each their own, but I’ve gone from all-glass to plastic bucket/primary and glass/secondary. Slowly changing over my glass carboys to plastic. Or at least, adding to my capacity by buying plastic instead of glass. Those things are a little scary to be handling all the time.
[quote=“porkchop”]I’ve run about 40 batches through one of my buckets. Only problem is that the rim seal is worn to the point that the airlock only bubbles during active fermentation. Makes it a little more difficult to monitor fermentation progress via airlock activity. If you’re careful with how you wash and store the bucket, it will last for many many batches. I’ve run both clean and funky beers through them without any cross-contamination (as if that’s a bad thing… :mrgreen: ) No lacto/pedio yet, that gets saved for glass.
Buckets are great for primary fermentation. Glass is great for secondary/long aging. To each their own, but I’ve gone from all-glass to plastic bucket/primary and glass/secondary. Slowly changing over my glass carboys to plastic. Or at least, adding to my capacity by buying plastic instead of glass. Those things are a little scary to be handling all the time.[/quote]
I am also switching to plastic.
