plastic carboys for lambics

im planning on brewing my wife a peach lambic.i know the fuss about bacteria and wild yeast leaving their funky stuff in your gear(one guy even told me that it impregnated the walls where it was left to ferment!)so i thought about buying a few water filled plastic carboys,brewing with the water,sanitze and using these for lambic only fermenters.any thoughts?



ibought local honey from a health food store and beside it was a 12 oz. bottle of all natural dark amber agave syrup.i've read about the begian candi syrup but has anyone used this stuff?

I read its nasty to clean and it will keep contaminating your batches.

Wonder if a UV gun would help kill the yeast as well?

yeah thats why i want to get plastic carboys.i can just toss'em when im done.i geuss i'm just worried about the plastic putting off flavors in the final product.

use glass?

I know Jamil has talked about his technique for these in one of his podcasts (http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/jamil.php) but damned if I can remember which one. What I do recall is you need something that allows slow oxidation over time. Glass would be out for that reason, water cooler bottles probably allow too much oxygen in. I think he uses brewing buckets as they allow enough oxygen diffusion and are tossable at the end. Another possiblity might be the "Better Bottles" - these you could probably reuse. I know they are marketed as "impermeable" but I have heard they do have some slow oxygen permeation.

You can use a wooden (oak) chair leg (buy them at Lowes or H.D.) and shove it into the glass carboy to allow the necessary 02 permeability. Just ferment as usual and then add the bugs to the secondary. Here is a great read on replicating sour ales (particulary Flemish Red but it can be extended to mimic a Lambic).

Sour Ale