Plastic Carboys

Just got done brewing an Irish Stout about 12 hrs ago and the fermenting is already in high gear. I'm get 2-3 bubbles about every 2 seconds. After seeing that I'm not hooked on brewing. My question for all you pros is, is there a big difference between the Better Bottle carboys and those 5 gallon water jugs that are used in water coolers?

I am not an expert but I know better bottles are PET plastic and won't pass oxygen to your beer.

I don't think that is true of cooler bottles.

I think Revvy has a post saying you can use the cooler bottles and LazyLlama's " This versus that" sticky may help also.

Thanks for the feedback. My local water bottling plant actually has PET rated 5 gal water jugs. Was thinking about getting a couple and starting a few batches of the Apfelwein. But push come to shove I can pick up a couple from my LHBS when I get more bottles.

Flip 'em over. If they have a 1 or 2 in the triangle on the bottom, they're pretty usable. If they have a 7, then they're not as good.

(had to edit my post... had it backwards the first time. heheh)

I'm not quite sure why, but my LHBS guy said they were ok for fermenting, but not conditioning/aging. I can only assume they allow O2 transfer.

Gee if they're PET bottles and cheap... I think... You Win!

I think "ChshreCat" has it correct: stick with a #1 or #2 and you're OK. I own two Better Bottles, and although some people see them as overpriced, I disagree. The web site says they're made from a PETE that passes very little oxygen, and has other good qualities. I'm planning on keeping these BBs and conditioning (I only use them for secondary) many, many batches of beer in them. I run about 25-30 batches of beer a year, so let's say I do 100 batches of beer in 4 years. That's a nickel a batch if I buy the cheap water bottle, or 18 cents if I buy the Better Bottle. Doesn't seem like such a big difference when I put it like that.

Thanks guys. I did my first batch ever last night and I'm itching to start more. The water bottling place is 5 min away and the LHBS is an hour away. So if I can save my save the time and gas then that's great. I'll report back in a couple weeks as to how my Irish Stout turned out.