Carboys vs. Better Bottles

looking to aquire some new fermenters and looking for your opinions.

which is better for a relativly new brewer

glass carboy or the plastic better bottles?

I'm fairly new as well, but after another batch or so with my buckets I'm planning on going with better bottles. Hefting glass carboys around isn't appealing to me just yet. Though if I can get a good deal on some I'd probably pick them up.

I like Better Bottles, but i am still pretty new to this. With some oxyclean and a washcloth they are pretty easy to clean and a lot safer than glass!

Unless you're going to be aging for 4+ months in them, Better Bottles do everything as well as a carboy but are lighter and won't form a million potentially deadly sharp edged fragments if you drop them. Long-term aging is still probably best done in glass.

Buckets are cheaper and easier to clean but you can't see the ferment as it is happening. However, if you've seen it once, they all look pretty much the same.

I forgot to add, buckets stack really nice. You can stack 6 buckets in the same space as one carboy.

RM-MN said:

I forgot to add, buckets stack really nice. You can stack 6 buckets in the same space as one carboy.

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On the other hand, stacking buckets like that will create tiny scratches in the walls that may harbor beer-spoiling bacteria or old strains of yeast.

All work well. I ended up with a mix of buckets and glass carboys - mainly because I inherited several carboys from other people. In a perfect world I would own just a single type of fermentor, but oh well. My mix-n-matched collection works just fine.

Buckets. Waaay easier to clean, easier to top-crop, and cheaper. Like mentioned above, if you've seen one fermenation, you've seen them all, and if you are patient, you dont need to look at the fermenter to see if fermentation is complete b/c you've waited enough time.

I like the Better Bottles. I put an orange carboy cap on mine with 1/2" vinyl tubing for a blow off tube. Lightweight, won't send me to the hospital when I break one ( most likely ), clean up is easy...a couple day soak with Oxiclean and everything comes right off.

Just don't add anything above 120 F or it will warp.

I like buckets. Cheap and easy and light. I've never had a scratch-related sanitization issue with stacking them inside each other.

Carboys for me! Have a fleet of 5 of these bad boys, I just don't like plastic and use them as my primaries/secondaries/lagering tanks. If you wimp or clumzy I don't reccomend them though

I have both buckets and glass carboys. Buckets are easier to handle and cheaper. Glass looks better. I dont personally feel that glass is too hard to handle. Unless you are carrying them up the great wall of China or you have a bad back or recent knee scope.

stainless steel conicals

The problem I have with better bottles is that they don't come in a 6.5g size.
Glass and buckets do.

-a.

Bb

Have been using Better Bottles, and will never look back...glass carboys now hold cider for LT aging

I prefer glass since it is easy to clean without worrying about scratches. My glass is 19yrs old and I have never broken one even with moving several times and a couple of good thunks in the sink with them. That said I just bought a 8 gallon bucket to expand my capacity and to have a backup large fermenter for when I have close to 7gals of wort to ferment. My 6.5gal carboy is best with 6 gals of wort. Just the same, I did not allow the homebrew store use my new bucket as a bag for the rest of the stuff I bought. No need to start off with scratches in the baby!

Just a crazy idea, but you might want to read this:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/vs-pro-con-analysis-109318/

After reading the story in Zymurgy of the guy who almost entirely severed his hand while cleaning a glass carboy I will NEVER buy one.

I like BB, though I wish they had a little more headspace. Still, I'll deal with it for the safety.

I like glass given that it is not easy to scratch with my carboy brush. I have 5 gallon glass carboys for transfering into to bottle from, and 6.5 gallon glass carboys for primary fermentation. I have a 6.5 Gallon Better bottle, I use it mostly for a 1 month secondary for my wines. Hop crud is a PITA to get off the carboy walls - at least for me, even when using oxyclean. Maybe I am doing something wrong?

jjones17 said:

I have a 6.5 Gallon Better bottle, I use it mostly for a 1 month secondary for my wines. Hop crud is a PITA to get off the carboy walls - at least for me, even when using oxyclean. Maybe I am doing something wrong?

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Hot tap water and Oxyclean, soak for a day or two or 10 when I forget. Then dump most, shake it up and rinse. All the crud comes off when I do it that way.

If you're doing normal batches, with normal fermentation time, a better bottle will be the better choice. Better bottle won't explode under a stuck krausen blow-off, it won't break if you drop it, and it won't add 20 lbs if you need to move your carboy.

If you're lagering or doing some multiple-month secondary things like Brett or others then go glass due to the long term oxgyen permeability or plastics.

No need to worry about oxgyen permeability when doing things in a primary less than 3-4 weeks though.

stevo155 said:

Hot tap water and Oxyclean, soak for a day or two or 10 when I forget. Then dump most, shake it up and rinse. All the crud comes off when I do it that way.

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I stick a wash cloth inside mine and shake with plenty of hot water, that does the trick too without the waiting :cross:

DannPM said:

I stick a wash cloth inside mine and shake with plenty of hot water, that does the trick too without the waiting

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Best trick ever! Although oxyclean by itself is pretty amazing

Gordzilla said:

looking to aquire some new fermenters and looking for your opinions.

which is better for a relativly new brewer

glass carboy or the plastic better bottles?

Click to expand...

Go for the better bottle. I have glass and lifting the extra weight and extra slickness of the glass from a fermentation chamber in high humidity is almost like playing Russian roulette. Only downside I can think of is permeability for longterm storage/lagering and the jug being a little less firm when lifting it.

Regarding carboy brush and Better Bottle: I've used a brush on mine occasionally, if the oxyclean didn't do a complete job, and never had a problem. I don't know why others have problems here, but I certainly haven't after uncountable batches.

Here's another relevant thread (see my post #9 for some tips using BB's):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/carboy-221499/

passedpawn said:

Regarding carboy brush and Better Bottle: I've used a brush on mine occasionally, if the oxyclean didn't do a complete job, and never had a problem. I don't know why others have problems here, but I certainly haven't after uncountable batches.

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Yeah but how *many* uncountable batches?

































































sorry, my fingers just typed it without my brain being told until afterwords....little bastards...


!!

stevedasleeve said:

Yeah but how *many* uncountable batches?
sorry, my fingers just typed it without my brain being told until afterwords....little bastards...
!!

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Umpteen.

I don't usually comment but I just broke my first carboy a couple weeks ago, so relevant. Five gallons of pumpkin gingerbread ale splooged all over the garage floor. I was heartbroken, to say the least. Almost busted a kneecap, and had a big black bruise to show for it, but fortunately kept all digits and broke no bones. That said, I still prefer glass over plastic and picked up a new 5 gal carboy today to store my cider long term.

For the typical 5 gallon batch I use:

-6 gal glass carboy for primary for added headspace
-5 gal glass carboy for secondary and long term aging, or
-cornie for long term aging

I'll only use plastic buckets if all my other fermenters are in use, or if I'm using a ton of whole hops which might plug the bunghole or create cleaning problems. I'm not concerned so much about scratches harboring bacteria and I've never had an infection from my buckets, which have been in use for many years; a proper and rigorous cleaning and sanitation regime should take care it. Rather, I'm concerned some of the plastic compounds might leach into the beer over time. It wasn't until recently that they finally banned BPA in plastic drinking bottles, after all. Granted, city living likely exposes our bodies to far worse, but the beer must be protected at all costs. ;-)

jjones17 said:

Hop crud is a PITA to get off the carboy walls - at least for me, even when using oxyclean. Maybe I am doing something wrong?

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I use pbw, fill up carboy 1/4 full of warm water, shake for a few mins, then all the crud is totally gone. Oxiclean is much less effective in my experience.

Thanks for the input, i think im gonna stick with the glass carboys (cause thats what i currently have) Im gonna use them mostly for the 2nd fermentation period. I do have a barleywine in the lineup to do which will sit in the carboy for quite a long time im hoping to forget about it until 9-10months down the road...yummmmmmmy I think for my level of current brewing using the 7gal buckets as primarys and carboys/buckets as secondarys i should be ok.