Question about Better Bottles

So I go to my LHBS today to pick up a Kit to Brew tonight. I have previously asked about Better Bottles, and know they don't carry them there because they do not like them. I told the owner that I ordered two on the web, am using a 6 gallon now as a primary for a Belgian White Ale, and I like it alot and she told me that they almost impossible to clean.
I did read the sticky post about this vs that, and did not see anything as a con for cleaning a better bottle. I thought I could just soak with oxyclean, I know I can't use a brush. The owner of the brew shop said that oxy will eat away at my better bottle, and my beer will end up tasting like plastic.
I have not yet bottled a batch from the better bottle, my first two batches I did in Brew Buckets. Is this a worry?
Thanks,
Dave

Nope, she's wrong. Proceed with confidence. Don't let the OxiClean sit in there for more than a couple of days, and rinse it like you mean it.

Sorry. She is talking out her rear.

Thanks! I feel Much Better!

I agree with the above post. I have a better bottle i use when my glass
carboys are full and it cleans up the same in my opinion. I just put in my
oxy a shack the hell out of it then drain dry until next use then i'll do the
same again and sanitize. The only thing i dont like about a better bottle
is when there full and you have to move them you should remove the
air lock because if not suction will pull in some water from out of the
air lock. It happened to me and i was worried i ruined that batch but it
ended up being a great batch...

I will say that the better bottle is harder to clean than an ale pail, but so is a glass carboy. The ale pail just lets you easily reach in and use a sponge as necessary on any difficult spots. With the better bottle you are pretty much reliant on the oxyclean to do its job.

I have found that on the crusty bits that tend to form on the top of the better bottle, it's easier to get it clean by filling it up maybe 1/3 full with hot water and dumping the oxyclean in there, then inverting it in a sink or tub of hot water for it to soak.

She probably had some sort of issue becoming a distributor. That's typically the case when a retailer says they don't "like" a product.

I bought a better bottle today. I did alot of research into them. I'm very plastic paranoid. These things are alot more "food safe" than the ale pail buckets are. They look like an ideal product to me. The owner of my LHBS said he thought they were a great product, even better than glass in alot of ways. Especially from a safety and handling standpoint.

The makers of Better Bottles have done a lot of testing with cleaners and sanitizers on their products: BetterBottle bottles, BetterBottle carboys, and BetterBottle fermenters and related components – Technical Information

Click on the "Wash/Sanitize" link and read all about it. The short story is that OxiClean, as others have stated, is safe to use.

-Steve

It's an oxymoron on this forum when it comes to plastic. You can find post after post about "don't do that in your bucket" because it will scratch the plastic giving nasties a new place to grow.

Never found a post like that about better bottles. I'm sure that the paranoia about buckets would apply to betterbottles, but since it's all wrong to begin with, ignore it.

I've inherited carboys older than myself. They all work and i've never dropped one. *Apparently the argument for BB's is that if you drop them they don't break* Try not droppping.

Given the choice, I would use *and do use* a plastic conical fermenter most times. Other times it's all glass. The plastic in the minibrew conical isn't even on the same plane as a betterbottle.

Whatever, just pick what you like and works for you. I need to go to bed.

This whole plastic vs glass dabate will be endless. For me, I like glass carboys since they aren't as pliable as better bottles (I have one better bottle which I don't like as much since any nudge and the pressure difference sucks in airlock solution). When it comes to plastic, I've found it just depends on the type of plastic your fermenter is made out of. I still have my first pail that I used for brewing, and I've found it's still safe for brewing (it surely has the 'scratches that harbor bacteria'. However, another pail I bought afterwards wound up not lasting very long. Even though it didn't see much use, I wound up getting infections from it (no matter how much bleach or anything I tried on it). I think it's plastic was just more pourous then my other fermentation pail. From what I've read about Better Bottles, I wouldn't worry about them becoming unsanitary....it's really more of a preference thing. If you're worried about the safety of glass, then stay with Better Bottles. I've heard some arguements about cost differences, but at least around here I've noticed that there isn't much cost difference between glass vs plastic carboys.

HSM said:

*Apparently the argument for BB's is that if you drop them they don't break* Try not droppping.

Click to expand...

Oh, well that advice should clear up all those pesky accidents that keep happening! It's so obvious now!

-Steve

Cleaning tip for BB's: Place a washcloth in with your Oxi-Clean solution. Turn BB Horizontal and "swirl" the wash cloth over the pesky Krausen ring.

Thanks for all of the info! This Board is a great source of help!
I did find out about the suction when moving better bottles in my research before buying one. Because of that, I started out using cheap vodka in my airlock from the begining, no worries about contamination from suck back!
Thanks again!
Dave

SavageSteve said:

Oh, well that advice should clear up all those pesky accidents that keep happening! It's so obvious now!

-Steve

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I kind of laughed at that comment too. Telling someone to not drop something is almost like saying "grow stronger" against the argument that BB are much lighter than glass. I'd like to own a glass carboy someday because it has a "cool" factor for me but with limited funds and space I'm going to stay with BB for now.

I like the idea of the wash cloth that someone mentioned. I may try that.

The easy way to avoid having your bb suck in airlock solution when you move it: use a blowoff tube. I use one for every brew, regardless of whether I expect it to actually blow off or not. A length of tubing run to one of the ports on a carboy cap gets the job done for about 3 bucks.

I love my better bottles. I actually slipped and fell on my basement steps with an (empty) bb in my hands. Pretty sure I'd still be in the hospital if that were glass. I'm a careful guy, but stuff happens. That said, I probably would have been a lot more careful if I'd been carrying a glass carboy. Both work. You've got the info you need to make a choice, and you'll make good beer either way.

elkdog said:

The easy way to avoid having your bb suck in airlock solution when you move it: use a blowoff tube. I use one for every brew, regardless of whether I expect it to actually blow off or not. A length of tubing run to one of the ports on a carboy cap gets the job done for about 3 bucks.

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Slightly off topic. Elkdog - are you using one of those rubber caps with two spouts on your BB? If so, does it fit snug?

I bought one of those rubber caps and it fits way too loose. I later looked and found it was mostly designed for glass carboys.

I thought the cap would be interesting for trying to a closed siphon. I saw a diagram somewhere a while back but never followed up.

pretzelb said:

Slightly off topic. Elkdog - are you using one of those rubber caps with two spouts on your BB? If so, does it fit snug?

I bought one of those rubber caps and it fits way too loose. I later looked and found it was mostly designed for glass carboys.

I thought the cap would be interesting for trying to a closed siphon. I saw a diagram somewhere a while back but never followed up.

Click to expand...

Yep, one of the rubber ones. It's loosened a little with time. I've thought of buying a hose clamp to tighten it. I'm sure that would work, and would bump the expense of the blowoff tube up to 4 bucks. You could also get big tubing that fits snugly in the top of the carboy, but I'm planning to use an old mini fridge for my fermentation chamber, and want to keep things compact.

I used it for a siphon (where you blow in one fermenter to start the siphon) a few times, but the combination of infection risk and dizziness from blowing so hard pushed me to add an auto-siphon onto one of my equipment orders. I sprang for one of the 1/2" ones, and love it. 13 bucks at Brewmaster's Warehouse.

pretzelb said:

I bought one of those rubber caps and it fits way too loose. I later looked and found it was mostly designed for glass carboys.

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No, they don't fit perfectly. If it bothers you, a round of plastic wrap seals them up nicely. I stopped caring several brews ago and just pop them on now.



Back on topic, the "don't drop it" advice is correct, but ridiculous You can use crates, Brew Haulers, wheels, Sherpas, whatever all you like and still have an accident. Things happen. You can trip over your cat (damn cat!). Glass gets exceedingly slippery when wet and soapy. Heck, I've read many stories where the bottom just falls out of carboys with no provocation. Who needs that?

Sure, you can be Careful Man with glass, but I prefer the ease and peace of mind of the Better Bottles. I can lift it and shake the bejeesus out of it during cleaning without worrying about hurting myself.

-Joe

pretzelb said:

I like the idea of the wash cloth that someone mentioned. I may try that.

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This really works a treat. Most of the time an Oxyclean soak is enough, but when it's not a washcloth works great. Surprisingly, it's even easy to get it back out

-Joe

My only complaint about the BB is I wish it was graduated. Not that I can't measure and mark it myself... but it would be nice if it was marked.

nostalgia said:

No, they don't fit perfectly. If it bothers you, a round of plastic wrap seals them up nicely. I stopped caring several brews ago and just pop them on now.

-Joe

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I had not thought of plastic wrap. I do think the ones I bought were never meant for BB and thus don't fit snug. I think that would work for blow off but not for the closed siphon idea I once read about. I need to find that article.

What size is that blow off hose? It looks larger than what I would expect to fit well. Also, do you use the other end of the rubber stopper for anything?

The hose is 1/2" ID vinyl hose. No, I don't use the other tap for anything.

You can stretch the plastic wrap quite tightly, so you could probably still use it to pressurize the BB slightly to start a siphon.

-Joe

elkdog said:

The easy way to avoid having your bb suck in airlock solution when you move it: use a blowoff tube.

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+1. I do this too.

Water bath + better bottle + airlock = suck back for me.

My glass carboy broke when I was cleaning it. I went BB right after that. I only have one glass carboy and it's a 3 gallon one dedicated to meads. I'm a little scared when using it now though.

Cheaton said:

My only complaint about the BB is I wish it was graduated. Not that I can't measure and mark it myself... but it would be nice if it was marked.

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I thought the same thing!
I am going to use an empty gallon water bottle to mark my first one when it is empty, and marked my second already.

Dave258 said:

I thought the same thing!
I am going to use an empty gallon water bottle to mark my first one when it is empty, and marked my second already.

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I figure it may be easier to use one of my ale pails, fill it up to the 5 gal mark with water and siphon (or pour) it into the BB. May get a more accurate mark of 5 gallons this way.

Cheaton said:

I figure it may be easier to use one of my ale pails, fill it up to the 5 gal mark with water and siphon (or pour) it into the BB. May get a more accurate mark of 5 gallons this way.

Click to expand...

That is a great idea! When I sanitize everything for my next brew tonight, I can rack it into the better bottle and mark it off.

Thanks!

Cheaton said:

My only complaint about the BB is I wish it was graduated. Not that I can't measure and mark it myself... but it would be nice if it was marked.

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i agree. i brewed for the first time about a week ago and i forgot to measure 5gal before hand, so i had to eyeball it

Dave258 said:

That is a great idea! When I sanitize everything for my next brew tonight, I can rack it into the better bottle and mark it off.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

This is helpful. For a 6 gallon better bottle:

And for a 5 gallon:

Suckback can be avoided in a BB three ways:

1) Use the BB handle to lift it vertically without distorting the bottle shape;

2) Take the airlock off and cap it before moving it;

3) Use a dry airlock.

With #1, you'll also need to do #2 (insert peurile joke here) since the handle won't fit over an airlock.

I also use a dry airlock.

-Steve

SavageSteve said:

Suckback can be avoided in a BB three ways:

1) Use the BB handle to lift it vertically without distorting the bottle shape;

2) Take the airlock off and cap it before moving it;

3) Use a dry airlock.

With #1, you'll also need to do #2 (insert peurile joke here) since the handle won't fit over an airlock.

I also use a dry airlock.

-Steve

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Those dry airlocks are expensive! Plus, don't you need to buy thier special top? Thats like an extra $30. You can buy another bottle for that and just be carefull with the suckback.
Dave

The orange carboy caps I have fit very snugly on a Better Bottle, there must be different manufacturers.

When moving mine, I avoid suckback by removing the little white cap from the second tube, and replacing it afterwards.

The disposable red plastic caps from Arrowhead carboys also fit VERY snugly onto a BB, and if you work in an office you likely have a never ending supply of them. They are handy for cleaning, I find shaking the snot out of a BB half-filled with Oxiclean solution will obliterate a krausen ring in a hurry. Also great for shaking up and aerating a BB full of fresh wort.