What Fermentation Vessel to Use

Appears in
Brew it Yourself: Make Your Own Beer, Wine, Cider and Other Concoctions
Brew it Yourself

By Richard Hood and Nick Moyle

Published 2024

  • About
For our 1-gallon batches we use either food-grade buckets, fitted with a lid but leaving a small gap to allow gas to escape, or a glass demijohn (carboy) and airlock. They both have their pros and cons, as outlined below.
Buckets
  • Light and easy to carry
  • Large opening makes it easy to deposit ingredients into the bucket (but also easier for unwanted items to fall in)
  • Plenty of space for fermentation, and easy to increase beer quantity
  • Opaque plastic makes it harder to see the layer of sediment, making siphoning into bottles trickier
  • Plastic will degrade and get scratched over time and will eventually need replacing