I'm over carboys...

After brewing for over 4 years I am just sick of carboys, they are frigging heavy, pain in the ass to clean and am always nervous about breaking. Would i sound crazy to go back to buckets for fermentation? I mean they seem just way easier, other then possibly scratching them and harboring bacteria in the scratches what are really the set backs to a bucket? I dont know why I stopped using buckets in the first place. Do carboys just seem cooler? Anyway, what I am asking is am I crazy for going back to fermenting in buckets?

I also just moved to Denver and now have to build a fermentation chamber for my carboys and what a pain in the but to have to lift them up and over into a keezer. I am thinking i should just buy a 7cu.ft chest freezer and 2 ale pales and be on my way with this already and cut out the annoyances.

Comments?

No, you're not crazy. Glass carboys can be a real PITA. I still use them cuz I like to see what's going on, and I like the ease of keeping glass clean. I have a "Brew-Hauler" for each of my 6.5 gal carboys and that makes it a lot easier and safer to move them around. I also try not to move the carboys more than 5-6 feet, from the table I rack from, to the swamp cooler and back.

I am with you there for sure. I have several buckets and several carboys. I have found that I will always use the buckets first if they are available and last resort to a carboy.
Second I normally use better bottles for secondary as they are lighter/easier to clean after secondary than primary for sure.
Eventually I am sure I will get tired of moving everything into my fermentation keezer but been thinking of rigging up some sort of swinging pulley system in the garage to move everything around.

I felt the same way years ago, so I switched to fementing in SS Pots. I got the Cheap-o ones from Austin Homebrew.

I just use 6 gallon better bottles for primary fermentation and 5 gallon for secondary (when I do a secondary). Much easier to handle than glass and you can still see what's going on.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

No, you're not crazy. Glass carboys can be a real PITA. I still use them cuz I like to see what's going on, and I like the ease of keeping glass clean. I have a "Brew-Hauler" for each of my 6.5 gal carboys and that makes it a lot easier and safer to move them around. I also try not to move the carboys more than 5-6 feet, from the table I rack from, to the swamp cooler and back.

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Yeah, thats nice not to have to move your beer around much. Unfortunately I have to lug my crap from one floor to another do to living in a apartment building. See I find carboys difficult to clean, I usually fill them to the brim with water then throw in some oxi-clean and then use my carboy brush after its been soaking for a while and it works really well, but dont you think opening a lid and cleaning a bucket is even easier? Basically what I am looking for a a reason why NOT to use a bucket other then it being plastic and harboring bacteria in scratches?

'I love glass carboys,it make me "concentrate completely on the task at hand",

Same here. I am all plastic after a glass break. I figure I can buy 4 buckets for the price of a carboy so I am not worried about scratches or bugs. I have a refrigerator that I use as a fermentation chamber in the outside shed so it is not like I see what is going on.

I've been feeling the same way lately. I have two glass carboys and one bucket. I use them all, but I prefer the bucket. Everything about it is easier. Easier to fill, easier to clean, easier to take gravity samples, no worries about an ER visit. And I honestly can't detect a difference in the taste of my beer. I've considered trying Better Bottles, but aside from the freedom from worry over breakage, all the remaining drawbacks that apply to glass apply to them as well. I'm at the point where I need to add another FV or two, and I'm probably going to go with buckets.

LLBeanJ said:

I've been feeling the same way lately. I have two glass carboys and one bucket. I use them all, but I prefer the bucket. Everything about it is easier. Easier to fill, easier to clean, easier to take gravity samples, no worries about an ER visit. And I honestly can't detect a difference in the taste of my beer. I've considered trying Better Bottles, but aside from the freedom from worry over breakage, all the remaining drawbacks that apply to glass apply to them as well. I'm at the point where I need to add another FV or two, and I'm probably going to go with buckets.

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Oh yeah try to add fruit, oak or whole hops to a carboy. #canbedonebuthard

LLBeanJ said:

I've been feeling the same way lately. I have two glass carboys and one bucket. I use them all, but I prefer the bucket. Everything about it is easier. Easier to fill, easier to clean, easier to take gravity samples, no worries about an ER visit. And I honestly can't detect a difference in the taste of my beer. I've considered trying Better Bottles, but aside from the freedom from worry over breakage, all the remaining drawbacks that apply to glass apply to them as well. I'm at the point where I need to add another FV or two, and I'm probably going to go with buckets.

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Exactly!

Well, if anyone is in the Denver area I will be selling 3- 6.5 gallon carboys, 2- 5 gallons carboys and 2- 15 gallon demi-johns. Jeeeesh ya know hom many bucket si can buy with that.

Better Bottles (plastic carboy) eliminate a lot of the weight but still are a pain to clean and are not enjoyable to move around with 5 gallons of goodness in them. Buckets are the way to go. You can use a plastic spoon if it puts your mind to ease on the scratching issue. Better yet, make the ~16$ investment in a new bucket and prove to yourself that they work just fine. Sounds like a great reason to need to brew up another batch to me.

I've never used anything except buckets. Still have the same ones I started with ten years ago. They are so simple to clean and all of them have spigots for racking. An occasional bleaching is the only extra work I do.

I have 4 buckets and three carboys. I always use the buckets first. I only seem to use the carboys if my buckets are full or if I want to brew something that will take a long time and I don't want to mess up my pipeline.

I might hold onto a couple carboys if I ever want to make some sours, other than that I think im going to make the transition.

I got the best of both worlds i guess because i have 3 2 gallon wide mouth glass fermenters.Easy to clean and haul around although i use tubs to haul them easier.Only problem is i had to modify some lids which i dont always get a super tight seal with.A little plastic wrap and electrical tape goes a long way though for a good seal.

Got back into brewing about 1 year ago - after about a 15 year break. :rockin: Back then I used a bucket to ferment, but I wanted to see what was going on (and my fermentation bucket had scratches from years of being banged around the basement) so I bought a glass carboy.

4 batches of brewing outside and lugging that heavy S.O.B. down the steps into the basement (and trying to swirl it around to get decent aeration) changed my mind! Still wanting to see what's going on, I picked up one of the 6gal Better Bottle carboys. Batch #5 (and currently batch #6) has been fermented in it. OH MY! That's the cats' meow, in my opinion! Even with 5 gallons of wort in it, I can pick it up, shake and swirl it around, RUN up and down the steps, etc. etc! As far as cleaning is concerned, I follow Better Bottle's recommendation. 1 tablespoon of PBW in a gallon of the hottest water I can get out of the faucet (SHOULD work with oxi-clean too, YMMV!), agitate the heck out of it 'til I see all the krausen residue gone, and done! As a bonus, I can use the same carboy handle from the glass carboy on the Better Bottle carboy! (You probably don't want to mess with the Better Bottle handle, it's comparatively expensive and NOT very useful!)

The only concern I have with it so far: I had to go to a 1/4" id blow-off tube in a rubber stopper because the opening is larger than a standard carboy - where you can stuff in a 1" tube. SO FAR, so good though!

I have a few buckets and one better bottle. I always wanted a glass carboy though so I bought a used one from a friend who was getting out of the hobby. I brought it home, cleaned the crap out of it and had it drying in the garage. The wife came home, knocked it over and it shattered all over the garage floor. I figured it was a message...stick to the plastic.

i'm all about the buckets. glass carboys are a PITA and really, for how cheap buckets are, it's easy to replace them if they get scratched and so much easier to clean and deal with.

Better bottles are the way to go. Most kraussen residue can be removed by putting a microfiber towl in the bottle and swirling it around with just a little water. If it's stubborn kraussen PBW dissolves it quickly.

I prefer the buckets over glass. But when I'm aging a wine the 5 gallon carboys are good at having very little head space for aging. Maybe a bucket wouldn't be bad for aging a wine anyway and I'm just being anal about nothing.

I am just so sick and tired of carboys, just a complete pain.

You front range brewers that are scared of glass carboys please send me a PM and let me know where I can pick them up!


Thanks!

riverfrontbrewer said:

you front range brewers that are scared of glass carboys please send me a pm and let me know where i can pick them up!

Thanks!

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+1

I don't understand the general aversion to buckets, I ferment every batch in the same bucket I bought when I started brewing in 2008. Original lid as well. No infections no explosions no issues whatsoever. Easy to clean and aerate, only downside is you can't watch the magic happen.

I prefer better bottles for the primary (so I can watch all the fun) and then secondary in buckets, especially when dry-hopping. Dry-hopped once in my carboy and I will never go back. I have two better bottles and three buckets. That seems to do me fine but might get to be a problem if I start some sours that are going to take a year or so

I've actually been joking about this lately at the hbs. Seems every noob is eager to get away from buckets (me included) but then after brewing for a bit see the light and go right back. I mean, carboys have their place and I have about a dozen but every one is filled with something with bugs. Oh, and getting fruit into a carboy may be hard, but getting it out is ridiculous, completely overlooked the fact that it would swell up.

Sold my carboys and will be doing the rest of my beers in cornies using the closed-system pressurized fermentation system.

I brewed with glass for years, but I am ready to now go rogue.

i brew all of my sour beers using the same gear i use for clean fermentations and have not had a cross contamination yet, with proper sanitation you shouldn't have a problem.

Ya I never bought into the glass carboy crap. I mean plastic carboy would be ok but buckets are so versatile and cheap. Oh and don't buy into that crap about HDPE leaking air or whatever that crap is they say. I pressure test HDPE pipe at work quite often, it's good stuff. Oh and with a bucket you can have a spigot too.

estricklin said:

Ya I never bought into the glass carboy crap. I mean plastic carboy would be ok but buckets are so versatile and cheap. Oh and don't buy into that crap about HDPE leaking air or whatever that crap is they say. I pressure test HDPE pipe at work quite often, it's good stuff. Oh and with a bucket you can have a spigot too.

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Buckets are for hauling crap, glass carboys are for fermenting beer. Of course you can put crap in a carboy it's just not as easy as putting crap in a bucket.
Oh crap I need to go rack my cream ale out of my glass carboy.

aubiecat said:

Buckets are for hauling crap, glass carboys are for fermenting beer. Of course you can put crap in a carboy it's just not as easy as putting crap in a bucket.
Oh crap I need to go rack my cream ale out of my glass carboy.

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Lol, because the quality of beer you make is dependent on whether you use a plastic bucket or glass carboy, right?

I have a bucket that I rarely use and a couple of 6 gallon Better Bottles. I find the Better Bottles are EASIER to clean than the bucket. Some Oxyclean for a soak, drain, add some hot water and a washcloth, swirl and drain - done.

Did not and will never consider a glass carboy. Too heavy and too dangerous.

Over 17 years I started with buckets, went to carboys, tried a better bottle, used a couple V-Vessels, Dropped a 6.5 gallon carboy through the bottom of my brew sink, thought about stainless conicle .......... did the math....

Back to buckets. I still have a couple 5 gallon carboys for long term secondary of big beers. But I have 8 buckets, and that is all I use. Don't see myself ever using anything else again. I also now use bottling buckets with spigots for all fermenting - no more siphoning either. Buckets and spigots are really easy to clean. I replace spigots/buckets as I feel necessary because they are cheap. Have not had a single infection in the last 3-4 years since going back to only buckets (40+ batches per year). I would say I had more infections/problems with all other types of fermenters than with buckets.

To me, the biggest downfall of most other options is the simple fact that they are a PITA to clean. Not buckets.

I've been using buckets primarily and I have a better bottle to use for secondary, but with that being such a pain in the ass to clean I'll probably just stick with buckets. I'm somewhat clumsy and accident prone, so glass carboys scare the crap out of me. I can just picture myself dropping it while cleaning it.

mewithstewpid said:

Lol, because the quality of beer you make is dependent on whether you use a plastic bucket or glass carboy, right?

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No, I don't care what others use for fermenting their beer because that is what they are satisfied with. I was just making fun of the crappy crap post before mine.

E-Mursed said:

Sold my carboys and will be doing the rest of my beers in cornies using the closed-system pressurized fermentation system.

I brewed with glass for years, but I am ready to now go rogue.

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I have 5 cornies... How well does this work? I would like to know more about it.

No glass........or sky diving for me! I use Ale Buckets and Better Bottles.

I've used and loved glass for almost 10 years. After my recent injury (see my post in general chit-chat) I am going for all better bottles. I will keep a few 5 gallon glass around for extended aging and sours though.