carboys (plastic)

aside from the cleaning issues is there any reason not to use the big plastic water jugs???? instead of the glass carboy. after all the plastic ones can be used and thrown away and your not out any money.

Plastic is actually a porous material so it will not keep your beer as fresh as glass over long periods of aging. This may not be detectable though. The only other possible issue could be plastic residues that could impart a plastic flavor to your beer. Other than that, if you have been using the plastic for a while and not had any problems then I don't see any reason to change to glass. But I personally prefer glass. I have a glass carboy that has been in the family since 1962 and it is in as good of a condition as the day it was made.

yeah for long term i understand i was just wondering about using them for the primary.or short secondaries. instead of buying more plastic buckets. or more glass carboys. but if there isnt any good reason other than that then i may just try it.

I see no reason why not. If all it had was water in it and you sanitize it before use then I say do it.

Did not mean to post on this thread... Haha

The only issue i hear people talk about is contamination/infection from bugs that set up and live in the scratches in the plastic... same idea as buckets. If you are only using them 4 or 5 times then replacing I say why not.