Cheaper than a Better Bottle?

Didn't want to steal the better bottle thread, but I was at Lowe's this weekend and noticed they sell 5 gallon bottled water for about $12. The bottle looks an awful lot like a Better Bottle. Any reason that you couldn't use this as a secondary?

Check the bottom of the bottle and see if it says PET or grade 1 in the triangle. If it does then they will work for secondary. Otherwise give it a pass.

If they are the ones I saw, they are PETE 1, so they would work. They also have 3g ones.

Here's something to coinsider though. They had alot more nooks and crannies and a hollow handle. This could make them difficult to clean.

If you are going to buy the water each time and exchange your dirty one. It might make sense.

I am considering doing this with the 3 gallon for mead batches.

All the ones I have seen are 7s (other plastic, unknown O2 permeability, the actual plastic could be almost anything).

I'll keep saying this until I'm blue in the face - why risk $20 - $40 of ingredients, plus all of your time and effort, to save $10 or $15 on a fermenter? Penny wise, pound foolish.

Not to mention that it's only a 5 gallon fermenter, so you can only really brew 4 gallons if you want to use it as a primary.

I nominate the question in this thread for next years Papazian for "Most frequently asked question"

I'm sure I have posted it too though...

BBs are only $20ish for the 6 gallon variety. Water bottles are usually 5 gallons. I'd spend the extra $$ and get BB. I'm using a 3 gallon water jug for a secondary right now and it sucks.

Here is the 3 gallon.
It's a different vendor so the bottle shape is different.

You can plainly see that it is PETE 1.




For $5.47 with no deposit required (per the website http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=88108-45903-3GSPRINGU&lpage=none) seems like an excellent container for experimental batches or mead.

Note the difficulty in cleaning, however.

Course, if you are lazy, you could buy the water, dump it (or use it in the brew) and put your wort directly in it. Water sold for human consumption (and the containers it is packaged in) is sanitary by defintion. You could skip the 'santize the fermenter' step.


However, a 5 gallon primary--- seems a little risky. Gonna get a blow off almost every time on that one.

seems like a great idea for a secondary.

Yeah, secondary was what I was thinking. Plus, if you use bottled water anyway, you could just get a refill ($6 at Lowe's), use the water for the brew and the new clean bottle for your secondary.

I'm a huge BB fan. The couple bucks you save today will not be worth one batch going bad IMHO.

They are light, clear, and have a smooth interior finish that is easy to clean just by soaking if you rinse it out after use.

$6 for 5 gallons of water? How many batchs would it take to pay for a bucket and a charcoal filter for your tap? You probably want the minerals that are in your tap water anyway.

And, the question I always ask on this subject: Has anybody made a bad batch in a <7> water bottle? I have had responses of 'no problem'. Several times. Never a "It ruined a batch, tasted like a wet, old copy of Sports Illustrated, with the swimsuit pics torn out".

Do you think this site needs a 'sticky' thread- "Homebrew Myths Busted" where we can cover plastics, aluminum, table sugar,.... Actual, first hand experiences only?

i KNOW EVERYONE HAS SAID DO NOT USE THESE FOR A SENCEONDARY, I HAVE BEEN FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS AND MINE ARE THE NUMBER 7'S WITH NO PROBLEMS EVERYTHING HAS TURNED OUT GREAT

the others with the 7 are a polycarbonate composite and you will be fine using them. I left a batch in one for a year. (by accident. moved and left it at my parents place years ago when I went to college). Finallly bottled it and it was great.

casebrew said:

...
Do you think this site needs a 'sticky' thread- "Homebrew Myths Busted" where we can cover plastics, aluminum, table sugar,.... Actual, first hand experiences only?

Click to expand...

Don't forget Hot Side Aeration.

check out your local wbottled water supplier they usually sell empty bottles for around 5-6 bucks a pop. mine are from Besco #1 pete 5 gallons excellent secondaries. very smoth inside just like my bb (they refill to)

It's hard to spot some off flavors. I know I can't taste most of them. I was at a homebrew meeting the other night and tasted a batch someone said was tainted. It did taste weird and we were trying to figure out exactly what the off flavor was. We never did settle it, but it tasted exactly like my first batch. Hey, I thought it was great when I first brewed it but now I know better because my tastes have developed. You might think you have the best beer on earth, but a seasoned brewer would spit it out. I guess the bottom line is, if you're happy with your results, keep on keepin on. I pay about $17 for a #1 PET 5 gallon better bottle which is not even much more than the deposit on the #7s.

PETE 1 bottles are designed to prevent O2 permeability. PET 7 are not designed at all and merely just happen. If they have any O2 properties at all, it would merely be a fluke.

Here's an intreresting link I found : http://www.alphap.com/basics/compare.html

With an interesting chart.

Check the right hand column, "recycle numbers". The O2 column is oxygen transmisiliby, lower is better.

Some stuff I noticed: #7 bottles pass only 1/2 as much as #1 bottles. So #7 is TWICE AS GOOD FOR BEER, as far as staling goes. #2, as in bucket fermenters, pass 53 times as much oxygen as a #1 bottle. So #7 plastic would be 100 times better than a plastic bucket. I'll repeat that:

#7 PLASTIC IS TWICE AS GOOD AS #1 PLASTIC.

#7 PLASTIC IS 100 TIMES BETTER THAN A PLASTIC BUCKET.

So, if a plastic #2 bucket is just fine, then it just don't matter, does it?


Note also the CO2 transmissability column, that each of those plastics pass CO2 at 4 to 7 times the speeed of oxygen. Your beer will go flat before it goes stale, in any kind of plastic.

Pardon me while I go post this as it's own thread

casebrew said:

Here's an intreresting link I found : http://www.alphap.com/basics/compare.html

With an interesting chart.

Check the right hand column, "recycle numbers". The O2 column is oxygen transmisiliby, lower is better.

Some stuff I noticed: #7 bottles pass only 1/2 as much as #1 bottles. So #7 is TWICE AS GOOD FOR BEER, as far as staling goes. #2, as in bucket fermenters, pass 53 times as much oxygen as a #1 bottle. So #7 plastic would be 100 times better than a plastic bucket. I'll repeat that:

#7 PLASTIC IS TWICE AS GOOD AS #1 PLASTIC.

#7 PLASTIC IS 100 TIMES BETTER THAN A PLASTIC BUCKET.

So, if a plastic #2 bucket is just fine, then it just don't matter, does it?


Note also the CO2 transmissability column, that each of those plastics pass CO2 at 4 to 7 times the speeed of oxygen. Your beer will go flat before it goes stale, in any kind of plastic.

Pardon me while I go post this as it's own thread

Click to expand...

That's really misleading.

The 7 referes to it's ability to be recycled. Moste water bottles are either PET 1 or 7. The medium discussed here is PLA 7

Polylactide (PLA)
Polylactide is a corn-based resin made by NatureWorks® PLA that requires significantly less energy to mold into plastic containers. It can be shaped into a variety of bottles, containers, trays, film and other packaging. The production of PLA uses 68 percent less fossil fuel resources than traditional plastics and it is the world's first greenhouse-gas-neutral polymer. The properties of PLA are well suited for the injection stretch blow molding process used to form bottles and jars. PLA is primarily suited for short-shelf-life applications that use cold-filling techniques. It is successful as a bottle resin because of its transparency and its fit with all landfill diversion options.

I don't think that most drinking containers use this corn based resin.

Apparently the herd has spoken:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25287

deBunked.