Ice Mountain Water Jugs = Better Bottles?

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Mirilis

Mirilis

Lvl 10 Beer Nerd
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
1,876
Reaction score
164
Location
Chicagoland
So, im sitting here at work and I walk by a stairwell and notcie what looks like a giant wine rack full of those 5 gallon Ice Mountain water bottles and I think to myself.. surely If i got my hands on 4-5 of those I could brew forever and not have to worry about 5 gal fermenters again... hell i may even be able to make a conical out of one as a project to see if it works..

Anyone ever use one of those bottles? If so how could i go about procuring an old one as i have never seen the ice mountain guy come to drop them off.
 
I have been researching the same thing.

Look for a recycling symbol on the bottom. From what I have read, if the Number is 1 (PET) or 2 (HDPE) then it should probably be OK. Anything lower would be too oxygen permeable, and wouldn't be recommended.
 
This is probably the most debated topic posted on here every week...Here's my take on it...

If they're pet or hdpe use them....but most of them are polycarbonate NOT PET or PETE.

Polycarbonate uses BPA (bisphenol-A) in it's production. BPA may mimic the natural female sex hormone estradiol. In animal research it has been linked to female reproductive disorders, breast and prostate cancer, and attention and developmental problems.

Basically polycarbonate bottles have the potentiality to leach stuff into your water or beer...

I just found a home water purification company online that switched to shipping actual better bottles with their filter systems, because of the difficulty of finding ones that weren't polycarbonate.

I'm betting in the near future more and more water distributors will be going the same route because of all the press about estradiol in water bottles, and we'll be able to find more and more Pet water jugs at the big box stores then there are now...

And since it looks like the Better Bottle people are one of the few producers of the product, more companies are jumping online to fill the need. Which of course means the prices will go down.

Evidently some people are already finding Pet bottles in the water section of Homedepot and other big box stores now...so some places are making the switch already.

And at the same time, on here and other places, people say they use the other types all the time...so really it's gonna come down to your choice...
 
^^^what he said. What you are looking for on the bottom of the bottle should look like this:
Plastics_7.gif
only with a 1 (best) or a 2 in it.
 
Interesting. I just checked the Deep Rock bottles on my water cooler at the office, and they're PET.

I have about five glass 5-gallon carboys, though...

[edit]I see I'm about 4 minutes late. Windy on the plains today, Bigkahuna?[/edit]
 
#1 thats awesome

i have 7's delivered at home (live in DC, not interested in drinking the water that has mutated the fish in the rivers into bi-sexuals)

i'm not very well versed on the perils of plastic, anyone read about drinking (normal water, that is) out of 7s? More importantly, sometimes i use this water to brew, home i'm not getting too much bleeding in the water.
 
Mirilis said:
probably not a way i can talk you into "aquiring" a couple and mailing them my way :p
Click to expand...
I've got family in Ohio...What do you suppose it would cost to mail a jug...It would probably be nearly as costly as just buying a glass Carboy.

If you find out...just ask. The deposit is $5.00
 
You should look around. The 1s are becoming more popular these days. Check with some office building around town, or call a water distributor and see if they use the good jugs. Odds are they will sell you a bottle, but if not, at least you know if there are some floating around town.

We got the good ones here and the deposit is only $4 each.
 
HighPlainsDrifter said:
^^^what he said. What you are looking for on the bottom of the bottle should look like this:
Plastics_7.gif
only with a 1 (best) or a 2 in it.
Click to expand...


Great, my lhbs sld me a plastic jug and it has a 7 on the bottom! It was in the wine making section, I have only ever used it to make apfelwein, is that ok??
 
wildwest450 said:
Great, my lhbs sld me a plastic jug and it has a 7 on the bottom! It was in the wine making section, I have only ever used it to make apfelwein, is that ok??
Click to expand...

I might not be reading that right, but I want to make sure you know that a 7 is NOT RECOMMENDED for use. The picture was to show you the logo, but you really want a #1 in the middle of those arrows.
 
jtvinny said:
I picked up some 3 gal #1s today at Lowes for 4.50 each, no deposit and filled with spring water. Game On!
Click to expand...

Me too, got a 3 gallon #1 PETE bottle at Lowes for $5.

I live in Northern VA, the bottle looks identical to the original poster, but had a different brand label on there. I will have to check out the 5G ones to see if they are also #1.

Drank the water and made apfelwein :).
 
Dang! I jsut picke dup a 3 gallon glass carbouy! I wanted a smaller jug than 5 gallons, and I didnt' even know I could get a plastic one for LOTS less!
 
Ooooohhhh, so the Lowes ones are PET? Well now, that just begs for me to grab a few.
 
I recommend anyone considering using plastic fermenters read the Reader's Digest Feb. 2008 article on drink water.
 
abracadabra said:
I recommend anyone considering using plastic fermenters read the Reader's Digest Feb. 2008 article on drink water.
Click to expand...

An interesting read. The bit about some of the plastics leaching chemicals into the water is caused by a different plastic, Polycarbonate, and the minimum amount of PBA dangerous to humans is unknown, according the study.

The fact is, the Readers Digest article seems to have gathered a lot of it's information from everyday people, and from "experts" word of mouth, but did not give any clinical study. I think that you can find a problem with nearly anything these days, if you look hard enough, or use your imagination. It would have been nice if they could have provided references to actual studies, rather than simply restating what many others online have been saying, whether they know what they are talking about, or are just repeating what they've heard.

On the other hand, I did like the parts about the quality of bottled water maybe not being as heathly as your own tap water, or the misleading labelling about the source of various bottled waters.
 
jtvinny said:
I picked up some 3 gal #1s today at Lowes for 4.50 each, no deposit and filled with spring water. Game On!
Click to expand...


I called, they have no idea what I am talking about. Do you have an Item # from your receipt. That would be awesome, thanks.
 
I will see what there is as far as a sku or item number. I'll post back after lunch.
I noticed that they had water from two different companies. The 3 gal that i got was farther back in the store near the dispensers/coolers. The bottles near the register/front door where in a variety of sizes (1/3/5 gal) but were of lesser quality. I should see if they can order 5gal from the same company that puts out the 3gal #1.

edit: ok so I couldn't wait until after lunch when I thought that they might have 5 gal #1 bottles available.
 
I just got off the phone with Absopure (www.absopure.com 1-877-554-2276) and although they don't do home delivery of 5 gal. bottles in NC she said that they produce their own bottles and that I should be able to get 5 gal bottles of water at Lowes. The info for the 3 gal. follows:
Sales # 88108 http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=88108-45903-3GSPRINGU&lpage=none
and the number below the bar code is 46121 26005 (sku?)
anyway, hope that helps out. :mug:

Edit:

I talked to a guy from Absopure this afternoon and he told me that their 5 gal jugs (carboys) were #1 PET as well. Now to find a few...
 
I ran to Lowes at lunch. Actually went to 2 different stores as the first didn't have the same bottles I got at the other one. Theirs were round and #7 plastic.

Long story short, I went back to the original place I got the 3 Gal carboy and bought the last 2 absopure 3Gal they had. Seems they are switching to another brand, and they are made from #7 - Other.
 
I went to walmart yesterday and i saw that they sell empty 5 gallon jugs in the water section (near the plumming stuff) for 6 bucks a pop. Problem is they are made with the material ( 3 ) on the recyclable.. PVC. How terrible would it be to use it?
 
I almost bought one of those PVC bottles, but noticed that it was molded in two parts and glued/fused together. I figured that huge seam could harbor tons of bacteria...

FWIW, PVC itself isn't harmful -- plenty of water pipes are PVC. All the safety data focuses on PVC heated to high temperatures, which is obviously not an issue for a fermenter.
 
Mirilis said:
So, im sitting here at work and I walk by a stairwell and notcie what looks like a giant wine rack full of those 5 gallon Ice Mountain water bottles and I think to myself.. surely If i got my hands on 4-5 of those I could brew forever and not have to worry about 5 gal fermenters again... hell i may even be able to make a conical out of one as a project to see if it works..

Anyone ever use one of those bottles? If so how could i go about procuring an old one as i have never seen the ice mountain guy come to drop them off.
Click to expand...

They will work fine, don't all the type 7 will kill you stuff scare you. Yes type 7 can give nasties that will cause the shrinky winky but only if you are a FETUS!! So don't give you beer to a fetus!! This info is from a PhD who works on hormone mimicking compounds so they know their stuff......
 
I've had one of these break on me after one use... I'm going to glass carboys. But they work fine, you can't really see into them as well though and they tend to retain smells. No good.
 
glas9396 said:
I've had one of these break on me after one use... I'm going to glass carboys. But they work fine, you can't really see into them as well though and they tend to retain smells. No good.
Click to expand...
how did you break a plastic carboy? run over it/
 
richab said:
how did you break a plastic carboy? run over it
Click to expand...

To be honest my roommates probably knocked it around causing it to crack... but plastic is definitely limited in terms of durability... that shouldn't stop people on a budget from using these bottles, I use them, but if you're going to spend the money on a plastic bottle ($12.99 @ Lowe's) you might as well buy a glass one for $25 that's going to last forever (to give you an idea of my reasoning).
 
glas9396 said:
To be honest my roommates probably knocked it around causing it to crack... but plastic is definitely limited in terms of durability... that shouldn't stop people on a budget from using these bottles, I use them, but if you're going to spend the money on a plastic bottle ($12.99 @ Lowe's) you might as well buy a glass one for $25 that's going to last forever (to give you an idea of my reasoning).
Click to expand...


Until it breaks at the neck and you slice a vein...if you're spending 25 bucks go for the betterbottle...They rock.
 

Similar threads

W
35% Hydrogen Peroxide for sanitation
Replies
22
Views
808
Peebee
Peebee
SanPancho
Range Anxiety- wireless hydrometer relays-- tilt or Nautilus (ispindle)?
Replies
4
Views
540
Thorrak
T
CKuhns
Faux Ice Cider
Replies
1
Views
800
JasontheBeaver
JasontheBeaver
L
Is buying a kegerator for sparkling water worth it?
Replies
10
Views
558
fluketamer
F
M
Aften one year of brewing i finally joined
Replies
3
Views
247
HBT_Admin
HBT_Admin
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top