Plastic (PET) carboys vs Glass

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matty13

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Hi All,

Pretty new to homebrewing and am going to start utilizing a secondary with my next batch at thus need another carboy. My current carboy is a 5 gal glass and would like to purchase either a glass or plastic (PET) 6.5 for primary and use the other for secondary. Is there much of a difference? I've heard of bacteria, etc getting into the scratches of plastic. Any advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
 
There's really no difference, it's a matter of choice. And this discussion has actually been done to death on here. In fact if you look below at the similar threads box you will see quite a few threads.

Bottom line, there is no best in brewing, only what YOU prefer. Plastic and glass these days both work perfectly fine, and people are quite happy with their choices. And ultimately you'll have to make up your own mind. All you'll in these type of threads will be people's preferences, it will be 50 50, and you'll STILL have to go in the store and pick one or the other or both.

And FYI, all "This Vs That" arguments are summed up pretty well in this thread This Vs. That - A Pro/Con Analysis
 
Hi All,

Pretty new to homebrewing and am going to start utilizing a secondary with my next batch at thus need another carboy. My current carboy is a 5 gal glass and would like to purchase either a glass or plastic (PET) 6.5 for primary and use the other for secondary. Is there much of a difference? I've heard of bacteria, etc getting into the scratches of plastic. Any advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

id go glass for the primary, i like being able to scrub the insides of my carboys and never have to worry about scratches. If you dont want to go glass then id go with a bucket instead of a carboy shape for easier clean up and access.. just my opinion. ;D i love glass carboys but they can be a real PITA as far as accessing and moving around! i always put my glass carboys in milk crates to make moving more manageable/safer. good luck
 
I had to make this decision as well recently. I went with plastic for a few reasons:

- easier to carry up and down stairs, which I'll have to do
- no worry about pouring warm/hot wort into if using as a primary
- cheaper shipping (in my case)
 
Matty-Welcome fellow Denverite! As the others say, this is definitely going to be a personal decision and there are pros and cons to each choice. With the glass vs plastic debate aside (I use both depending on space and what I am doing) I would recommend buckets for primary's mainly because it keeps light out.....you don't really need to watch the fermentation. I believe it was Revvy who recently said the novelty of watching fermentation quickly wears off, and I would whole heartedly agree.

Good Luck!
 
Hmm. I could get 2 PET's for $10 less than 1 glass carboy of the same size. . . ugh!! I hate decisions like this. I'm not sure I would feel comfortable thoroughly cleaning the PET for fear of scratching it and providing an infection source. However, it'd be very nice to have two large fermenters. *slaps self*
I'll never decide.
 
I started with a glass carboy and it cracked by pouring hot tap water into it. It's been all Better Bottle from there. They are a heck of a lot lighter than glass and won't break a toe. Both are easy to clean, just fill with water and put OxyClean (or generic Sun version) and let it soak. You may see some krausen crust left but that goes away with a final rinse. No scrubbing involved.

Good Luck!
 
I just received my first better bottle today, 5 gallon glass came with my kit, but it slipped out of my hands when I was getting ready to clean it. Oops.
 
Why would you put anything in a better bottle to scratch the insides?

As it has been stated just put a measure of Sun OxyClean in the bottle, fill it up and the next day it is clean. Rinse it out, tip upside down and dry. Ready for the next batch.

I also like the little hump on the bottom of the bottle. Rested my auto siphon on it and no trub in my bottling bucket.
 
I started with a glass 5gallon carboy but that damn thing is too heavy to move around..I went with 2 7.5gallon Ale Pails and never looked back..Easy to carry, light weight..built in handle and they hold more beer and dont overflow.
 
I started with a glass 5gallon carboy but that damn thing is too heavy to move around..I went with 2 7.5gallon Ale Pails and never looked back..Easy to carry, light weight..built in handle and they hold more beer and dont overflow.

Yeah, I actually met a kid at Uni that used to brew and wanted to get rid of his stuff, I got 2 large Ale Pails and a LOT of other stuff for $40. I love the Ale Pails, they're great. Now I strictly use the pails for primary, and been using a 6.5G glass for secondary but even inside of a milk crate it's a straight bastid to move around. Supposed to get 2 PET's for the Holidaze, and pretty excited about trying them out. :ban:
 
Not sure what the difference would be between the two. Many homebrewers use the buckets which is a petroleum product just like the PETs. So there shouldn't be much of a difference.
 
Not sure what the difference would be between the two. Many homebrewers use the buckets which is a petroleum product just like the PETs. So there shouldn't be much of a difference.

Other than the shape, which makes buckets MUCH easier to clean thoroughly when used in primary, I don't think anyone actually was arguing that there was a vast difference between buckets and PET's, which are both High Density Polyethylene, the thread was about glass vs. PET's.
 
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