Do I need a carboy?

[davyE]

Hi all
I'm looking into doing a California connoisseur white zinfandel 30 bottle kit. This will be my first attempt at wine making and just need to know can I do it with the two fermentation buckets I have or do I need to buy a carboy as well?
Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[The Baron]

you can use a normal Fv if you want I have used the same ones for beers and wines although they say it is not good practice and the red wines do tend to stain the FV's a bit but I have never had a problem, its your choice but should be fine

 

[davyE]

Ok sounds good. Don't want to be spending money on gear I don't really need.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

As the Baron says get a 23 litre fermenting vessel (bucket with lid) i wouldn't want to move a glass carboy with 23 Kg of liquid inside and degassing would be a pain with the small neck.

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

One time, I brewed up one of those beer kits, 40 pints. Had to move it across the room and up onto a chair to siphon it. At the time it was fine, felt a bit stretched but fine.
Next day, I was literally stuck at like right angles. Couldn’t lift my back up for 2 days.
Had to take time of work. They were quite sympathetic though when I explained about the beer. Lol

Also I’m pretty sure it was a Woodfordes Wherry so it was legit worth it.

 

[davyE]

Ok that's good I'll not be getting the carboy then. The only reason I thought I needed one was because I watched a video on YouTube and the guy said it needed to be in a carboy for the clearing stage. But if not even better.

 

[hedgerowpete]

Hi all
I'm looking into doing a California connoisseur white zinfandel 30 bottle kit. This will be my first attempt at wine making and just need to know can I do it with the two fermentation buckets I have or do I need to buy a carboy as well?
Any help is greatly appreciated

couple of pointers, buckets are a lot easier to handle and move than glass carbouys , been there and broke that.

you might not know as a novice but a bucket ferment is better as it reduces the amount of held CO2 in the must, the co2 from ferment will seal the top and push the oxygen out, so its a win win set up. its only bad points is that the rim edge is not 100% gas tight and once the ferment stops and the pressure equalises it will allow oxygen to get back in

if you want to do large kits all you need is a big bucket and a big fermentor or five demijohns , which ever suits you best

 

[davyE]

Thanks for the advice. I'm just going to go for it and Hopefully it'll work out ok and keep the wife happy and well topped up so i can get few brews ready for the better weather coming back.