glass carboy VS plastic carboy.. which to chose?

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802VermontHomebrew

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which do you prefer? my operation will be in my unfinished basement if that makes a difference.. I am thinking plastic just incase if it were ever to fall on the concrete floor from the table... Let me hear your thoughts.
 
I say Glass but everyone is different...just as a friendly FYI this has been beat to death....search FTW!
 
I have to have the plastic. I'm too clumsy to use glass. I dropped my PET carboy full of wort in my lager chamber yesterday. It fell a foot and bounced. I hate to think what would have happened if it were glass. Also 5+ gallons of wort weighs around 50 lbs. Add the weight of the glass and it gets very heavy to move around. That is why I prefer the Better Bottles.
 
as far as the safety concern I am totally with you on that! I have been thinking about the "what if" in the back of my mind if it were to ever fall and smash all over my basement floor. I think I am going the plastic route ftw.
 
I say glass if you can afford it. You can see what is happening inside your brew, will help you understand fermentation and if there is a problem.

I see no reason why you would break on. Just use common sense and buy one of those plastic protecter thingy that sit around it.
 
I prefer glass myself. My kit came with a "Better bottle" which I have used but I like the tradition of glass. Although you need to be more careful when moving a glass bottle you don't need to be as careful when cleaning. Not as likely to scratch the inside of a glass bottle with the bottle brush.
 
I started with a better bottle as a secondary. So far, I like it. The only thing that irks me is that it flexes when you move it so I'm afraid that it stirs up the trub. I just landed a pair of 5 gallon glass carboys for $15 each, so I'll use one for my next beer and see which I prefer.

Agree with earlier posts, use the search function! :)
 
You can still see in a better bottle.

Glass is tradition and people like it better just like you would like to drink out of a glass instead of a cup. The only real advantage for glass is that it's harder to scratch. However, it's so easy to break compared to the better bottle, and the plastic is so easy to handle when cleaning or moving wort I would never consider glass. Wet glass is so slick i wouldn't want to have to clean or empty a full carboy.

A lot of people siphon cleaner out of their carboy, while I have no worries about just tipping it over and pouring it into the sink with the better bottle.

One random tidpit, I heard theyre going to stop making glass carboys? Some manufacturer in mexico shut down does anyone know if that's true?
 
Weird this has never come up before on HBT.

I like & use glass but plastic is probably a great choice for most.

Off topic, but does anyone know who the best online retailer is? I've been wondering. Also, can you make good beer from extract or do you have to go all-grain? And is it possible to overpitch by dumping onto a yeast cake? Or should I make a starter--how do you do that? And how long should I let my beer carb up before I try one? What's the best method for force carbing?

Edit: can't believe I forgot to ask whether I should keep using StarSan or switch to Iodaphor.
 
To the OP:

I have 13 glass carboys (12 x 6 gallon, 1 x 3 gallon) (mostly for wine and cider making) and 2 plastic carboys (Better bottles).

In my opinion, go with plastic if you know you'll mostly be doing beer. You may want one glass one if you start making Apfelwein (then you can do either beer or Apfelwein in it).

The reason I have so many glass ones is that I make quite a bit of wine and Apfelwein, so I need to have the option open.

When I'm making beer, I only use plastic, unless my two better bottles are full (happens regularly).

Basically, the added weight/slipperness of glass is not worth it in my opinion. I would rather replace all my plastic carboys once every five years than have one glass one break on me in my lifetime (think what a 5 gallons of beer looks like on your floor... have fun cleaning up).

You may also want to consider not using a secondary (I'm assuming the carboy is going to be the secondary): https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

One random tidpit, I heard theyre going to stop making glass carboys? Some manufacturer in mexico shut down does anyone know if that's true?

The Mexican maker of carboys has closed. The Italian ones did go up a bit in price, but nothing significant.
 
Between glass and plastic, I prefer glass. But, after breaking a carboy, I decided that stainless steel is what I'm going to use from then on. I use a 13.2 gal and a 15.5 gal Sanke keg for fermentation. The best part of using kegs - I can put a gallon of water in it, cover the opening with some aluminum foil, set it on the burner, and boil it for a half hour while the mash rests. It's not sanitized, it sterilized.
 
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