# What's the difference in effect between a fermentation bucket and a demijohn (or carboy, etc)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-in-effect-between-a-fermentation-bucket-and-a-demijohn-or-carboy-etc/626623>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-in-effect-between-a-fermentation-bucket-and-a-demijohn-or-carboy-etc/626623 "2012-06-28T19:48:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Bisected8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Bisected8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bisected8)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-in-effect-between-a-fermentation-bucket-and-a-demijohn-or-carboy-etc/626623/21 "2012-06-30T17:30:02Z")

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Well, mixing won’t be a problem. The recipe I’m following doesn’t require any stirring between mixing everything and racking (I’m planning to do all the stirring and aerating in a pan before siphoning it into the first demijohn and leaving it to ferment. After taking a hydrometer reading, of course. My plan is pretty much;

[ol]  
[li]Boil 6 pints of water to make sure it’s clean, add the honey. Use another pint to rinse out the jars to make sure I’ve got all of it.[/li][li]Activate the yeast. Prepare the nutrient. Add them when it’s cooled, top it all up to a gallon and take a hydrometer reading (yeah, technically I’m supposed to do that before adding the yeast, but I’d imagine measuring AG before diluting it further will throw things off far more than a bit of yeast could manage in a minute or two).[/li][li]Stir/aerate the mixture.[/li][li]Siphon it into my first demijohn and add a sliced up orange and a couple of cloves for flavour (and extra food for the yeast).[/li][li]Plop on the airlock and wait until it’s ready to rack.[/li][/ol]

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**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-in-effect-between-a-fermentation-bucket-and-a-demijohn-or-carboy-etc/626623/22 "2012-06-30T17:37:53Z")

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> [@Bisected8](#):
>
> I’m hoping to make some blackberry mead in autumn

quibble  
Blackberry melomel

> **[Mead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead)**
>
> Mead (/miːd/), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. Possibly the most ancient alcoholic drink, the defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, c Mead that al...

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**Author:** ![Bisected8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Bisected8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bisected8)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-in-effect-between-a-fermentation-bucket-and-a-demijohn-or-carboy-etc/626623/23 "2012-06-30T17:45:49Z")

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> [@drachillix](#):
>
> quibble  
> Blackberry melomel
> 
> [Mead - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead)

Counter-quibble; hypernym.

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