The Carboy: A Place to Ferment Your Beer

After wort has been boiled in the brewpot, the next step is transferring the wort into a primary fermenter. This primary fermenter can come in many forms. It is, more or less, the vessel in which the beer sits for a few weeks in order to allow the beer to ferment.

Primary Fermenters are nothing special, and they simply provide a place for the beer to rest without air contact. Primary fermenter's can also be referred to as carboys, and are made of many materials. On the low end, food grade plastic buckets can be found for about ten dollars. These plastic buckets are very cheap and a great way to start a home brew setup, but if you think you will be brewing for a long time then another material is probably better for you. The next grade up in quality is the glass carboy. Glass carboys are often referred to as demi-johns.

Originally the term demi-john referred to any bottle with a neck, and a very large bulbous base. This term evolved over time to refer to any glass carboy. Glass carboys are the most fragile of the fermenters and wort must be cooled with a wort chiller before being transferred to a glass primary. Care must also be taken not to set the demi-john directly onto concrete or other rough surfaces, as this will create scratches that may eventually turn into cracks. Demijohns can normally be found for under fifty dollars.

The highest quality primary fermenter is the stainless steel fermenter. This type of fermenter is not often used by home brewers because they normally cost hundreds of dollars.

Most homebrewers will normally start out with a normal fermenter, but over time may look into the advantages of a conical fermentor. A conical fermenter makes it so that the yeast in the fermentor will create a spiral motion as it settles. This can often lead to a higher quality brew. These devices are great, but they normally command a price of a couple hundred dollars.

The difference between a normal bucket and a carboy is the airtight quality that a carboy has. This airtight quality is achieved through tight seals, and the use of an airlock. An airlock is a small s shaped pipe that contains water or vodka in the middle. This airlock then allows for air to bubble out of the carboy (a standard occurrence indicating that the yeast is working), but at the same time limits the entry of foreign air into the brewing process. Airlocks normally cost under 5 dollars and most carboys have a special fitting that makes it easier to couple them to the fermenter.

The fermenter is a very important aspect of the brewing process. In order to increase production levels you would simply have to increase the number of fermenters, this is a cheap way to increase beer production levels. Beer can normally be left in a fermenter for up to a month, but will only need to be left in the fermenter for a few weeks.