Glass Carboy with bubbles in the glass . . .

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HABIT

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I picked up a 5 gallon glass carboy from a local water company. I thought I was well on my way to a steady supply of them at a decent price. As it turns out there are tiny bubbles in the glass through out the jug.
After reading a bunch of horror stories on here and other places I'm leaning towards picking up a couple Better Bottles. I have 2 large stand up freezers that have removable shleves and a medium size chest freezer and looking to do some Lagers and build a "Keezer".
I came across a post a couple days ago (search is your friend) that had the pressures listed and the PSI that the bottle endures at the throat/neck and the body of the bottle but not sure if the numbers used were for Primary or Secondary/Clearing stages.
I'm pretty sure the consensus will say " RUN FOREST RUN" but I have to ask . . .

My question is this . . . I know NOT to use the the "bubbly" carboy for primary fermentation but what about clearing in it ??? Maybe clearing Ciders or Wine over the long term ???
 
Are we talking about tiny bubbles in the glass? I don't know that I've ever seen a carboy that didn't have a few. I use my 6.5 gal carboy with bubbles for primary all the time. Use a full size bloww off tube and you're good.

Perhaps you're talking about bigger bubble though?
 
I used to have 2 of them, but I broke one performing a brilliant "experiment" (boiling hot wort and topping it off with cold water while resting it on it's corner so the faucet would hit the opening). The other one works just fine. Go for it, it'll be just as good as any glass carboy.
 
Still waiting for mine to float to the top. I do wonder if it's just the Mexican glass or if the current Italian production has them also.
 
I tried to take some pics but they don't seem to come out with it full of water. Maybe if i peel the sticker and back light it with a darker background.
The bubbles as small, maybe a little bigger than the size of a dot with a ball point pen. I hate to use the analogy but maybe the size of a small flea. :eek:
 
Unless there are thousands I woudn't worry. Be careful when cleaing it can be easy to mistake a bubble for gunk. Then you waste time and effort trying tclean a bubble
 
i bought a fermenter recently and have used it twice and today i noticed extremely small bubbles around it, but not riddled in bubbles. about the size of the ball on a ball point pen. i guess i cant really give advice but i have lugged it, full, up and down stairs a few times with with no problems... maybe i should be a bit more careful with it...
 
The bubbles you see in the glass may occur if the glass is blown and not mechanically formed....older bottles which were hand blown have these "bubbles" in them...One thing to watch out for is non tempered glass, which cannot withstand high temps like boiling wort, and will crack...to use as a secondary should be NO problemo...Chance 'em as a primary...I have one with bubbles and i use it as a primary..good luck...:mug:
 
The bottom of the bottle reads something like this . . . . . .

Warning Glass is Fragile Do Not Bump or Heat
Made in Mexico / 5 Gallons
Has a VR symbol in the bottom of it.

This leads me to believe that is NOT Tempered.

THANKS for all the great input and shared experiences.
 
your not likely to find any carboys that are tempered, and if you do you wouldn't pay the money to purchase anyway. use a milk crate to haul that puppy around and keep it from clanking off other objects and it'll likely serve you well for many years.



when you buy better bottles do the same with the milk crate. BB's have a tendency for the layers of plastic to separate when under repeated stresses as in when you tilt a full bottle over whil cleaning witht the bottom resting unevenly.
 
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