Lagering in a better bottle

Does anyone lager in a better bottle? I know they don't handle negative pressure, but what about a fermwrap? What are some tips/tricks to it?

I have an old heating pad I stole from my wife, one of the awesome ones that doesn't have that annoying auto-off-not-gonna-burn-your-house-down switches that I put between two better bottles and control with a Ranco. So far I haven't melted a bottle, nor burnt my house down. Remember that you can boil water in a paper cup because the water keeps the paper below the burning point.

I was thinking just foil over the top, but if I'm using a thermowell stopper with a temp controller would I just open it periodically to relieve the pressure?

I use those orange silicone stoppers with the two ports on them, one gets a blow off tube and the other gets the thermowell where I place the Ranco probe. You don't want to foil over the top as that does not provide an adequate oxygen barrier IMO.

You don't get any suck-back from the blowoff tube?

I lager in a better bottle using a sponge-stopper that I got from Austin Homebrew. I don't even own carboys anymore, way to heavy and dangerous for no real benefit.

Airborneguy said:

I lager in a better bottle using a sponge-stopper that I got from Austin Homebrew. I don't even own carboys anymore, way to heavy and dangerous for no real benefit.

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They look cooler.

For whatever reason I find it easier to do carboys (plastic) than buckets. I guess I don't trust the handles on buckets.

I do open fermentations now, I've come home to bowed lids and clogged airlocks and have been super lucky.

Chefencore said:

You don't get any suck-back from the blowoff tube?

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Oh, I see what you are saying I was thinking of brewing a lager...durr. Usually I transfer straight to a cornie keg before going into the fridge for lagering. However, when I get lazy I yank the blow-off tube and either set one of those white caps that come with the orange caps onto the opening while it cools down or jam in an airlock and let it bubble backwards...not too big a deal really as there is still plenty of CO2 in the headspace and more in solution that is slowly working its way out to equilibrium.