Cracked Better Bottle

So I was cleaning a Better Bottle yesterdsy and I was rolling it on its side and it cracked!!! I could not believe my eyes I was not doing anything that I have not done before or on other Better Bottles!!

Wow, that sucks! I've dropped mine and now it has a permadent in it. Still is beertight though. Have you thought about contacting the people who make them?

Two modes of failure for Better Bottles are flex cracks (by rocking a full bottle back and forth on the bottom rim) and caustic stress cracks (by pouring in PBW and other strong alkaline cleaners in powder form before the water).

If you decide to manually "shake" a better bottle, it is recommended by the manufacturers that you use a tennis ball on the bottom of it. This helps prevent cracking of it due to flexing of the liquid in the bottle.



From the website;

Important Note: Never rock or swirl Better-Bottle carboys without using a tennis ball. Doing so will cause the edges of the bottom of the carboy to flex under great stress repeatedly and eventually cause cracks, like bending a paper clip back and forth.

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There's been a few threads about it. They are a great product, but if they get oscillating there can be problems.


There's no point in contacting them, they already know.....

ArcaneXor said:

Two modes of failure for Better Bottles are flex cracks (by rocking a full bottle back and forth on the bottom rim) and caustic stress cracks (by pouring in PBW and other strong alkaline cleaners in powder form before the water).

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Is it safe to leave PBW or Starsan sitting in a better bottle in liquid form then? I have been trying to get rid of a cider smell in mine for a while.

Yes, you just need the proper dilution and be careful to avoid un-dissolved PBW "crystals" sitting on the bottom of the BB.

Hmmm, I have 2 gals of Starsan in a small water jug.. just like the big Alhambra bottles.. just half size. Guess I better ditch that and make some new.. storing it in glass before it ruins the jug.

The problem with the milk jugs it that are made from a highly degradable plastic. So they break down really quick. Most other plastic jugs should be fine.