Are fermentation buckets supposed to be airtight (minus the airlock)?

I was looking at getting a bucket for doing a secondary ferment for things such as fruit beers since it is easy to get the fruit in and out of when I noticed that morebeer.com's (where i usually order from) buckets don't have gaskets in the lids to form a seal with. I haven't found proof of other buckets with gaskets in them but it seems to me like they should. Am I off base?

So the one they sent you does not have a gasket? Or does it "appear" as though it does not from a picture?

With the buckets I use in packaging, every now and then, the manufacturer will send a few lids without the gasket. It happens!

Most bucket lids have gaskets but that's not to say that even those have an air-tight seal. Most of us don't worry about it. It's more than likely that you won't see any activity out of your airlock, but your fermentation will be fine.

Yes, they SHOULD be air tight especially if you do a long secondary. As a practical matter it depends on how long you are in the secondary and how long before you drink the beer. Plastic buckets will let oxygen permeate regardless.

Hermit said:

Yes, they SHOULD be air tight especially if you do a long secondary. As a practical matter it depends on how long you are in the secondary and how long before you drink the beer. Plastic buckets will let oxygen permeate regardless.

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I don't think plastic buckets need to be airtight- but I also think that a plastic bucket, with the wide headspace of a bucket- shouldn't ever be used as a secondary.

Either add the fruit to the primary, or put the fruit in a carboy and rack the beer onto that. I know it's not easy, but the wide headspace of a bucket is not a good idea once fermentation has slowed down. I guess some fermentation would restart from the fruit addition, but not enough to maintain an entire headspace of a bucket for very long at all.

DAlexander said:

So the one they sent you does not have a gasket? Or does it "appear" as though it does not from a picture?

With the buckets I use in packaging, every now and then, the manufacturer will send a few lids without the gasket. It happens!

Click to expand...

From the morebeer.com webpage with the bucket on it here it says: "Lids are not gasketed and so do not form a perfect, airtight seal. Not intended for long-term storage."

That statement made me a little leery of using the buckets from them in the first place. I will probably order from somewhere else to get a bucket. I currently have 1 6 gal glass carboy and a 5 gal glass secondary.

Does it make sense to add fruit to the primary after it is practically finished to do a single carboy double fermentation? I might not worry about a bucket if that was the case. How easy would it be to get wet soggy fruit out of a glass carboy?