will a 5 gal. ozarka bottle work as a carboy for cider?

Well, the title says most of it. I have a few of these from work that I can have. I'm not sure if these will work well. If they are only good for a 1 time use I'm ok with that since they are free. I will be brewing cider in at least 1 (and maybe all) of them since SWMBO is gluten intolerant. I know I will need a carboy cap for them (and airlock and such). Thanks for the input.

-Billy

People debate the use of water bottles adnauseam.They argue about oxygen permeability and things like that. Looking around the web plenty of people use standard water bottles to make ciders and such in. There's even picture on this site and even in the EDwort thread itself of people using all sorts of things..

It's one of those "ask 10 homebrewers a question and get 12 different answers."

My thought is that you'll be fine .

Free is free!

If SWMBO is gluten intolerant have you looked into any gluten free beer recipes yet?

Will it work? Yes.
Is it ideal? No.

Try searching next time.

i have heard that there are gluten free recipes, but since most gluten free stuff is much harder than it's gluten filled counterparts i figured i would take a swing at it later when i'm more experienced.

Edwort's apfelwein was what gave the idea to use these, but i wanted to make sure it was ok, since he uses a different bottle than the standard ozarka.

thanks for the info guys. and yes, i will try searching next time.

-Billy

I used to work at Zephyrhills.
Great water for brewing, and for a while I could get it free!

Your 5 gal bottle will be fine.
I have used them with brews in them for over 3 months with no problems.

Do you work at the Irving plant?

no, we just used to have ozarka water at our store and when we decided to stop using them we forgot to send back a few bottles.

Thanks for the advice. SWMBO will be happy to hear that I dont have a reason to put off making her cider any longer..haha.

-Billy