sleepygo

Recipes 

What do you guys prefer? Glass carboy, Better bottle, or the (food grade)plastic buckets? What are your reasons for your preference?

bobbyc

Recipes 

I like plastic buckets for primary, mostly because I have to carry them a ways, and the idea of dropping a glass carboy scares the crap out of me.

I use glass carboys for secondary due to the smaller headspace, and I only have to lift them full once.

seyahmit

Recipes 

I prefer glass carboys, but I will use a bucket in a pinch. I carry my carboys in a plastic milk crate for safety.

rdwj

Recipes 

Same here - Glass in a milk crate is a great option. I don't like buckets. I have one for wine and I think it's a PITA. I don't like the tops - they're kinda tough to get off and I always worry about the seal. Then, there is the whole scratching and bacteria thing.

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On Tap: Whatever I just brewed (got sick of updating it)

FlyGuy

Recipes 

I like to ferment in glass carboys (primary and secondary). I had a nasty infection in a plastic bucket once that was hard to shake. I just don't trust plastic anymore.

Kayos

Recipes 

1 vote better bottle. Lighter, easier to drain and don't break. I had a buddy who poured his hot wort into a glass carboy then tried to cool it by setting it in his pool. CRASH!!! Nasty pool water and beer and carboy in the trash. But then again, I don't hang out with the smartest guys....

sleepygo

Recipes 

Hehehe, not the smartest thing to do, but probably hilarious if you're in the right mood. Yeah, better bottles do sound like the best of both worlds. In fact I don't think I've ever really heard anything negative about them.

ajf

Recipes 

I use plastic buckets as primary for wines and ciders where I make 6g batches. I then rack into 6g glass carboys. For beers, I use 6.5g glass carboys for primary, and 5g for secondary.

Why?
The plastic buckets are bigger than my biggest carboy, and I need them for the 6g batches.
But the glass lasts longer than plastic (I have serviceable carboys over 30 years old), so the glass works out cheaper than plastic; plus watching beer ferment is much better than watching Law and Order.

-a.

Schlenkerla

Recipes 

I use all three.

Bucket as a primary,

Glass Carboy for 2ndary (ales) and a primary for Lt lagers (to blow off fusel resins)

I have four 3 Gal PET bottles. Not Better bottle, but the type you can buy for water fountains. $5 for 3 gal of good brewing water and a dual purpose fermenter. If it gets scratched, I toss it out. Available at Lowes & HD. I usually use them for experiementing or special oddball batches. They have a recycle triangle with a "1" in the center and say PET or PETE next to the symbol.

__________________
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie

BS Nano-Brewery

Primary: Irish Red Ale, Dead Ringer IPA
2ndary: Red Zinfandel
Drinking: Irish Blonde, House Amber
Next: SNPA Clone, Cali-Common, Another Amber

|Myeast 50327|Easy Hop Oast|

McKBrew

Recipes 

Another vote for the better bottles. Mostly because they are so light. Oxyclean will take any nasty deposits out of them without any kind of scrubbing.