Bag in a Box and Collapsible Plastic for aging?

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience using the bag-in-a-box system or the 5 gallon plastic collapsible containers for long-term conditioning? I have both my glass carboys tied up as "secondaries" for 3 and 6 months and would like to free them up for more pipeline brew.

The cost of a new carboy is around $35, a heavyweight plastic container only $6; bag in a box less than half that. It seems to me, that with long-term aging headspace is not required, and the ability to remove all air from the top of the brew would be desirable to minimize any chance of oxidation. I would think you could leave a bit of expansion left in the container just in case there was any outgassing of CO2.

The winemaking industry has been using these for years; I have even found bag in a box setups of 250 gallons for "storage and conditioning for up to a year."

Thoughts? Pros and Cons?

Thanks,
John

I have used the bags used in the wine kits for temporary storage of wine, but never beer. I am sure it would work temporarily, but I would not go for long term storage as most plastic even when called o2 resistant will allow some o2 leakage which will cause oxidation.

Salute!

Even at $20-25 each, a cornie is my conditioning container of choice. Wine doesn't get light-struck, stainless steel is opaque.