so this week i bought my fermenting equipment. after much deliberation and teeter tottering i decided to do initial fermentation in 6.5 gallon bucket, rack to a five gallon carboy for secondary, then rack back to my bucket which has a spigot for bottling. these choices were not made flipantly. i will tell you how i made them.
the desicion to use the bucket was based upon three things: one, ease of oxigynation of the wort. with a nice wide open bucket it will be easy to pour the wort viguorously back and forth from the pot, introducing plenty of oxygen for pitching of the yeast. short of using a pump and stone, i am pretty sure it will be the easiest way.
the second reason i chose to use the bucket over the carboy for my initial ferment is that in the future i may want to harvest my own yeast. the nice wide mouth of a bucket will allow for skimming of the krausen, which is virtually impossible with a carboy.
the third use i have for the bucket is ease of bottling. with a pour spout on my bucket bottling will become hassle free. i hate those crappy little gravity and spring pourers. all they do is clog and leak and generally are a just a pain in the ass.
i am aware of the extra exposure i am putting my beer through to things such as oxygen and contaminants by racking back and forth between bucket and carboy, but, if you are careful these things can be dealt with. in the long run i believe the beer will be better for the extra steps. definately clarity will not be an issue.
does anyone want to discuss this further?
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