Better Bottle vs Glass Carboy

I am looking to start making my first purchases into the world of Home brew. I have looked everywhere and in every store for the equipment I want. I keep noticing this Better Bottle Carboy. Does anyone have any info on it. Is it as good as the Glass Carboy? I think I would prefer glass just wanted more insight on the Better Bottle Plastic Carboy.. Thanks..

OMG...seriously...this is what, the 4th one this week?

I'm not being rude, and there was no way of you knowing it, but this is brought up almost daily. Try out the search feature up top. You're gonna find days and days worth of threads on the subject and various opinions. Go with what works for you and what you're comfortable with. There is also a wiki page on the pros vs cons of both.

Welcome to HBT by the way.


Edit: Here's the link to the wiki page https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Glass_Carboy_vs_Better_Bottle

Thanks.. I will go back and search.. I did a search for Better Bottle.. And couldnt find a listing.. Thats why I posted.,. I will go back and look.. thanks..

Use the "search forums with google" option from the drop down. "Better Bottle" should produce several pages of results.

Seriously. Can we just have a sticky?

basically, Glass has the ability to seriously cut your face off/cut serious arteries. They get vary slippery when wet and are heavy. Better bottles won't shatter and send life threatening shards of very thick glass flying at your throat, wrists, etc. Plus better bottles are/will be comparable price wise as a major glass carboy manufacturer in Mexico is/has shut down.
Just buy a better bottle and don't scratch the inside. Use oxiclean with no scrubbing

This being said, I own 1 6.5G glass and 1 5 gallon Glass Carboy. These were purcahsed before I found HBT and used one. Every fermenter now with be a better bottle or ale pail

Personally I like glass and have never ever had one slip from my grip when full. of course I'm 55 and 160 so I'm larger then most woman.

send life threatening shards of very thick glass flying at your throat,

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Good God man - are you a hand wringer or what LOL

I suppose you never put your hand out a window either!

A linky to Better Bottle's web site: Better-Bottle bottles / Better-Bottle carboys for home winemaking and home brewing

Grinder12000 said:

Personally I like glass and have never ever had one slip from my grip when full. of course I'm 55 and 160 so I'm larger then most woman.



Good God man - are you a hand wringer or what LOL

I suppose you never put your hand out a window either!

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I always forget that people are so much smaller than me. I'm 6'3" and like 360, so a full carboy is still not that big to me.

I prefer glass, but it is heavy and slippery when wet. You can get over the slipperiness by using latex gloves, but a 6.5g carboy with 5g beer weighs over 60 lbs. I can lift one without any problems, but my wife can't.

-a.

When I was gearing up to buy a beer kit, I was all for glass. I thought, what could be better? And, certainly, someone of my pedigree would never be caught brewing in plastic!

But a thread similar to this had a link to some serious, serious, serious horror stories from glass. One guy had a glass carboy literally implode in his hands while he was rinsing it out with water. He ended up with some mangled hands and mounting surgery bills.

Many more stories on there of dudes just dropping them accidentally. Keep in mind, carboys are under pressure...not a ridiculous amount of pressure, but pressure nonetheless. The guy above talking about chards flying is not far off the mark.

After reading all that, I said F*** it and got Ale Pales (buckets, basically). In my opinion, buckets are the best: they don't let it light, they have a nice, big opening for dry hopping, stirring, etc...and they're cheap!

if you are using glass as a secondary ex(im)plosion are not really a problem right since the hard part of fermentation is over. hopefully the wife wont like shrapnel around the house.

-nick

mr jones said:

if you are using glass as a secondary ex(im)plosion are not really a problem right since the hard part of fermentation is over. hopefully the wife wont like shrapnel around the house.

-nick

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The pressure is also formed from 5 or so gallons of liquid pushing against the walls of the carboy. In other words, glass carboys are still very dangerous even in secondary duty. Like I mentioned above, a guy had one literally implode in this hands when all he did was rinse it out. With better bottles and buckets out there, I personally see no need to use glass.

In short, a bucket or a better bottle will perform just as well as a glass carboy, but you won't run the risk of serious personal injury when using them.

I would think that the implosion was caused by a large temperature change. (cold carboy + hot water) If you use your head, and also don't drop it, I think glass is fine. People have been using them for a long time, correct?

joe6pack said:

People have been using them for a long time, correct?

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Yup. Real long time.

joe6pack said:

I would think that the implosion was caused by a large temperature change. (cold carboy + hot water) If you use your head, and also don't drop it, I think glass is fine. People have been using them for a long time, correct?

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This guy had quite a bit of experience. His thinking was, the glass had some weak points when it was manufactured, and when the water was draining out it created just enough vacuum for the thing to go.

Everyone's welcome to use whatever vessels they'd like. But I was 100% for glass, and am now using plastic Ale Pails...that may or may not mean anything to you, but if you get glass take every precaution you can.