# Fermenting in cube



## Stuwort (8/11/14)

Does any one else ferment in a cube?


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## Eagleburger (8/11/14)

yep.


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## Stuwort (8/11/14)

I ferment in a cube and use the lid to keep a head of pressure in the FV. This time I forgot to back it off after pitching and the FV now resembles a bee stung version of its old self. I can't seem to post any photos from mobile, but I very nearly ended up with 13L of my pale ale on the floor.


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## Diggs (8/11/14)

Yup, I can fit 2 x 20lt cubes in my bar fridge. Gladwrap lids.


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## manticle (8/11/14)

Release the pressure. It should go back ti normal. If not, next time you put hot liquid in, it should behave as normal.
There is an article in the wiki article section about fermenting in the no-chill cube.


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## Blind Dog (9/11/14)

I sometimes use bunnings jerry cans as I can fit them next to the SS brew buckets in the fridge. I Use blow off tubes as there is very little head space

I think there is a fairly lengthy thread on here on using and cleaning the cubes/cans after fermentation


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## troopa (9/11/14)

Yup me too. can fit 4 cubes in my fridge at once.
Cleaning them suits me too.. fill up shake round rinse out, fill with sodium percab. and leave for 2 days. Clean, Starsan, Use again.

They have always gone back to shape after a forgetful pitch and tight lid. Usually the next brew and its good to go.


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## Ducatiboy stu (9/11/14)

Cubes are awsome. You can even stack them.


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## Cervantes (9/11/14)

Blind Dog said:


> I sometimes use bunnings jerry cans................


Me too. I can fit six at a time in my fermenting fridge if I need to.


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## Kingy (9/11/14)

I probly would ferment in them if I didn't fill em right up so much. Not enough head room.


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## Trevandjo (9/11/14)

What's better for these? Airlock, blowoff or glad wrap?


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## manticle (9/11/14)

Lid on 3/4 tight.


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## Ducatiboy stu (9/11/14)

Trevandjo said:


> What's better for these? Airlock, blowoff or glad wrap?


Depends on the yeast.

Blow-ff tube is easy to make and stops a lot of mess, but only needed with balistic yeasts

or do as Manticle suggests...

Sometimes I leave the lid loose and put a tea towel or something over it


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## storeboughtcheeseburgers (9/11/14)

How do you go about extracting from those bunnings things.. Excuse if a dumb q, but do they have a bung? Or is it syphon territory?


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## zooesk (9/11/14)

Also when you guys are fermenting two of more cubes in your fridge where do you put the temp probe


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## fletcher (9/11/14)

storeboughtcheeseburgers said:


> How do you go about extracting from those bunnings things.. Excuse if a dumb q, but do they have a bung? Or is it syphon territory?


they have bungs and a screw tap fitting on the side/bottom.


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## michaeld16 (9/11/14)

Was gonna try this method On my next cube of wort I got waiting but haven't got a tap on it at the moment after reading about people having trouble with the taps popping off after putting nearly boiling wort in the cube. I was gonna just lay the cube over and unscrew the bung and put on sanitized tap when ready for pitching. I don't see headspace being an issue this time as its a 20 ltr cube with 18 ltr of wort in had to squeeze the shit out of it.


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## michaeld16 (9/11/14)

zooesk said:


> Also when you guys are fermenting two of more cubes in your fridge where do you put the temp probe


. 

Maybe sandwich the probe between both cubes?


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## zooesk (9/11/14)

michaeld16 said:


> .
> 
> Maybe sandwich the probe between both cubes?


thought about that but what about if you stack them I was just wondering what methods you guys used


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## Black Devil Dog (9/11/14)

Out of curiosity, when fermenting in a cube, how is the wort aerated before pitching the yeast?


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## manticle (9/11/14)

If you have an aeration kit, you would use that. Otherwise close the lid and shake end to end.


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## Stuwort (11/11/14)

Here is the photo of my nearly split cube. But on a positive note, I just dry hopped the wort and it is going great.


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## manticle (11/11/14)

Funnily enough, I forgot to back the lid off mine after pitching soon after reading your original post. Swelled right up but returned to normal after gas release and a couple of days.

I use blue willow jerries.


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## Ducatiboy stu (11/11/14)

Black Devil Dog said:


> Out of curiosity, when fermenting in a cube, how is the wort aerated before pitching the yeast?


If your kettle has a tap open it up and let it fill quickly, this will aerate it. Let it splash as much as possible and foam up


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## CoxR (18/11/14)

Hi guys, when fermenting in a cube what is the volume you can ferment for a 20L cube?
This idea is very appealing as I could fit 3 maybe 4 cubes in the fermenting fridge.
Cheers,
Rodney


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## CoxR (18/11/14)

I was also wondering if these type of water containers are ok to use?


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## manticle (18/11/14)

If the cube is hdpe, recycling symbol 2, it is good.
In my experience a 20 L cube will hold closer to 22-23. How full depends a bit on yeast and brew but I fill mine right up - at least 20 L worth. Some yeasts will leak some krausen when active - it's not drastic and easily cleaned. Many will not leak at all.


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## Midnight Brew (18/11/14)

I think Ive pushed one up to 21.5L so had about 1.5L head space. If you do that with wy3068 you're gonna have a bad time.


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## CoxR (18/11/14)

Bugger, I just checked it has a recycle symbol 2. Would it be ok to use with cooled wort or are the HDPE cubes the only option?


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## manticle (18/11/14)

My mistake and I have edited accordingly. HDPE is recycling symbol 2 so go for broke. Hot and cold.


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## CoxR (18/11/14)

Cool thanks for the quick reply.


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## hathro (18/11/14)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> If your kettle has a tap open it up and let it fill quickly, this will aerate it. Let it splash as much as possible and foam up


Isn't hot side wort aeration something you'd want to avoid?


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## manticle (18/11/14)

In my view yes although I've read aeration during mash is more of an issue than post boil.
Personally, I'll avoid both until the wort is cool and I'm about to pitch.
Stu may have been talking about wort that is chilled in the kettle, then run into cube to ferment.


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## kaiserben (19/11/14)

hathro said:


> Isn't hot side wort aeration something you'd want to avoid?


I don't claim to be an expert, but, from what I've read and what I've experienced, Hot Side Aeration isn't a huge problem for home brewers. And not even a consideration when you drink your beers fairly quickly. 

I pour hot wort directly from of the kettle through a funnel and into my cube (mostly because I don't have a tap or siphon or hose/tubing I'm comfortable pouring near boiling wort through). So my hot wort splashes plenty. Yet I haven't noticed anything but wonderful, tasty beer. I'd try to avoid this if I had the equipment, but the way I see it it's not the end of the world. 


But that's slightly off topic, because I think Stu got mixed up and was talking about chilled wort from a kettle rather than no-chilled wort already in a cube. 

So, after the wort has cooled to yeast pitching temperature I let air into the cube without taking the lid all the way off. I then seal the lid on air-tight and shake the crap out of it to aerate. I then take the lid off and pitch the yeast, Then close the lid just enough so you can still hear air being pushed out when you squeeze the cube, and then sucked back in again when you stop squeezing. And leave it to ferment. Easy!


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## JDW81 (19/11/14)

Black Devil Dog said:


> Out of curiosity, when fermenting in a cube, how is the wort aerated before pitching the yeast?


Crack the lid to let some air in, seal again and shake the s&@t out of it. Release pressure and repeat a few times. You get a good arm workout at the same time.


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## CoxR (12/12/14)

I am using a cube for fermenting for the fist time, (20L pictured above) I didn't no chill as I have not worked out the hop side of things to do that yet and that is another question for a different thread.
Well anyway after I pitched the yeast last night US-05 I put in the the fermenting fridge had a couple more beers and went to bed. I went to check this morning and discovered that one of the caps was not done up very well it was on just not done up as suggested eg. done up tight then just backed off. Problem or not?


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## manticle (12/12/14)

It needs to be backed off rather than tight, otherwise the CO2 has nowhere to go and the cube will swell and possibloy, eventually burst.


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## CoxR (12/12/14)

Well it was certainly backed off, it was loose.


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## manticle (12/12/14)

So all good. As long as krausen can't push it off as it generates.


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## pipsyboy (12/12/14)

I ferment in cubes as I can get 3 in my fridge. 


Wort is aerated by putting into a bucket and then into cube through tap. About half a meter drop and plenty of foam. Temp probe attached to middle cube.


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