beerman0001

Recipes 

Better bottles only go as high as 6gal but they work great. 6.5 gal glass is the best size but they are heavy when full.

__________________
Fermenting.
On tap: World wide lager, Dopelbock, Apfelwein, American Wheat, DFH 90, Dortmunder export, Skeeterpee, Chinook/Citra ipa.
Waiting on a tap. Maibock, Two Hearted, Pliny the elder, Chimay White, Roggenbrier, DFH60
Fermenting:Apfelwein
On Deck:
Hiding in dark corner: Lambic, Flanders red, Oud Bruin, DFH 120(in bottles)

BamaRooster

Recipes 

I too have started using better bottles and have been very pleased. But a blow-off tube is almost always required because of the 6 gallon size.

__________________
wait....what do you mean all the beer is gone!

rustym

Recipes 

Go with the 6.5 gallon. You won't regret it. If you stay in this hobby, you find that you'll want to do 6 gal. batches that end up with 5.5 gals. in your fermentor and then end up with a full 5 gals. to bottle or keg. A 5 gal. won't work. The headspace is no problem for fermentation. Buckets are fine, but I like to see the action going on! Also, my last brew had to have a blow off tube in the 6.5 gal. carboy.

zeg

Recipes 

+1 on the 6.5 (or preferably, IMO, 6 gallon better bottle). In primary, there's no reason to worry about oxidation unless you do something silly to blow all the CO2 out.

If you are going to do beers that require extended secondaries, or if you're going to do wine or mead that will require racking, having a 5 gallon fermenter is convenient. In that case, you do need to be more worried about headspace. This would be pretty rare with beers.

strambo

Recipes 

I love my 8 gal bucket...I have done 1 month primaries in it a couple times, it isn't an issue. Never need a blow off either. I have a 5 gal BB and a 3 gal BB for secondaries on fruit and the 3 gal is for half batches.