Plastic or Glass for my primary?

[Mr_Detail]

I found out today that my local supermarket bakery will give me some 3 gallon food grade plastic pails for FREE. Sometimes that will include the matching lid.
What do some of you guys/gals prefer to use for your primary? I have read that a nice, wide open area (like a pail) is better for stirring and missing purposes. Then use a glass carboy for the secondary. Any opinions will be most appreciated.

 

[cpfan]

I found out today that my local supermarket bakery will give me some 3 gallon food grade plastic pails for FREE. Sometimes that will include the matching lid.
What do some of you guys/gals prefer to use for your primary? I have read that a nice, wide open area (like a pail) is better for stirring and missing purposes. Then use a glass carboy for the secondary. Any opinions will be most appreciated.

Yep that's what I (and probably most others) use.

Steve

 

[jamesngalveston]

I use 2 gallon, 3 gallon,5 gallon,7 gallon, brute trash cans and 50 guart igloo ice chest as primarys...end of story.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Plastic buckets (food grade) are perfect, I rack to glass.

 

[Mr_Detail]

cpfan & Pumpkinman,
If they don't give me matching lids is that still O.K.?
Can you just cover the primary with a clean towel?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

cpfan & Pumpkinman,
If they don't give me matching lids is that still O.K.?
Can you just cover the primary with a clean towel?

Yes during the primary stage is fine - but not after that

 

[richmke]

Be careful that the pail has not picked up the taste/odor of what was originally in it. I picked up a pickle bucket from a grocer, but I used that one for brining a turkey.

 

[Pumpkinman]

I agree with vacuumpumpman and richmke, make sure that the bucket was used for icing, cake filling or such, no pepper or pickle products or your wine will have that after taste.
Budget permitting, I would go to your LHBS and purchase a 30 liter/8 Gallon fermenting bucket with a grommet in the lid for an airlock if you chose to ferment like that. The biggest issue with 3 gallon buckets is that once you taste the wine you make, and friends and family taste the wine you make and love it, you'll need to make bigger batches!

 

[grapeman]

The main problem with a 3 gallon bucket is the size isn't good for really anything but 1 gallon batches. A 3 gallon bucket is too small for primary of a 3 gallon batch.

 

[Mr_Detail]

Thanks guys!
Since I am a newbie at all this, I was planning to start out by making just 1 gallon batches. I figured that 1 gallon (128 oz.) of wine will fill about five 750 ml bottles. I see that they sell empty wine bottles by the case (12 to a case) so I guess I wouold start out by making about 2 gallons of my 1st recipe.

The 1st recipe I wanted to make (Blueberry-Pomegranate) supposedly has to ferment in the bottle for at least 18 months or so I have been told.
If I have to wait that long to see if it is any good , then I would rather make smaller batches of different wines.

 

[Julie]

Thanks guys!
Since I am a newbie at all this, I was planning to start out by making just 1 gallon batches. I figured that 1 gallon (128 oz.) of wine will fill about five 750 ml bottles. I see that they sell empty wine bottles by the case (12 to a case) so I guess I wouold start out by making about 2 gallons of my 1st recipe.

The 1st recipe I wanted to make (Blueberry-Pomegranate) supposedly has to ferment in the bottle for at least 18 months or so I have been told.
If I have to wait that long to see if it is any good , then I would rather make smaller batches of different wines.

It should not be fermenting for 18 months and especially in bottles, you will have bottle bombs. Fermentation should be completed within a couple weeks.

 

[Mr_Detail]

Just to clarify for my sake, the fermenting is done in the secondary container?

 

[Pumpkinman]

I agree with Julie & Grapeman, fermentation should take a week or so, you'll be able to tell by using your hydrometer, then you should rack it off the lees/sediment, and age the wine. 18 months is a good number to shoot for for bulk aging. You may want to take into consideration that it takes just as much time and effort to make a 5 gallon batch as it will a 1 or 2 gallon batch, I only say this because most new wine makers want to start small, only to realize that a few bottles that they made turned out real well and wish that they had made more!
The good side is that you'll use the gallon glass jugs throughout your wine making for years to come!

 

[BernardSmith]

Strongly agree with Tom (Pumpkinman). Unless you are really experimenting (using the same juices with different yeasts or different amounts of tannin or fining agents and the like) I would go for 3 to 5 gallons. The effort is the same and if one bottle is good then five bottles are too few. But that said - and while I am a great believer in patience (I do think that that is one of the most important lessons I have learned in this forum) you may also want to look for a wine that you can make and drink sooner than 18 months. Some fruit wines are traditionally made to be drunk within a month or two after the fermentation has stopped. I am thinking about elderflower wine which in the UK is bottled so that the initial CO2 has not dissipated (you need to watch for bottle bombs)... although IMO if you can wait 9 months or a year the flavors improve by magnitudes. Hard cider is another "wine" that can be drunk in a couple of months although, again if you can wait 12 months the flavors are completely transformed. I guess my point is simply that it can be a challenge to wait 18 months to enjoy the FIRST fruit of your labor if you cannot enjoy some of the pleasures of this passion sooner

 

[Mr_Detail]

Thanks BernardSmith for your post.
You sort of answered another question I was thinking about (are there any fruit wine recipes that age in less than 18 months)?

I wonder if there is such a thing as a master list of sorts that would give estimates as to the aging of different fruit wine recipes in advance of preparing them.

 

[jensmith]

Make your one galleon batches. Bottle when done. Save one bottle for 18 months. Drink the rest. I really like young fruit wine. It does change over time. Not worth the wait! When you find one you like as a young wine make a big batch and age that.
Just be sure to save one bottle for later drinking. In a year or two you will have enough wine built up to let it all age if you chose. For now enjoy this hobby

 

[Bartman]

Thanks BernardSmith for your post.
You sort of answered another question I was thinking about (are there any fruit wine recipes that age in less than 18 months)?

I wonder if there is such a thing as a master list of sorts that would give estimates as to the aging of different fruit wine recipes in advance of preparing them.

Not sure there is or could be such a list, because fruit varies dramatically by breed, growing climate, quality, freshness, etc., in terms of making it into wine. Non-grape wines are more often hit-or-miss on the final product (even following the same recipe, procedures, etc.), compared to grape wines. Some will do well aged, while the next year the same type of fruit wine may not age well. Many (probably most) grape wines don't benefit dramatically from aging more than 1 year or so.

 

[Kraffty]

You can also look into the recipe section here and try Danger Daves Dragon Blood Recipes and you might also like Skeeter Pee. Both really early drinkers from everyones notes. I've had luck with apple wine from juice at about a year aging.
Mike