Clearing Containers

Ive been reading on containers... PET vs glass vs .....
Yesterday I found something when reading on food grade containters... that was using containers that previously held food.
I thought: What if I used 1-gallon water jugs from the store?

Put my mead in that instead of buying a gallon glass jug?

For my money... I wouldn't.

Ever notice how some of them almost taste like plastic? Glass only for me...

Beyond that, there is the question of the permiability of plastic. Long term aging in plastic is not recommended either.

My 2cp..

I would agree with that sentiment. Regardless of plastic being deemed "food grade," all plastics leech chemicals of one kind or another. I would consider all of them unsuitable for long-term aging.

The "leeching chemicals argument" is not your concern. Anything you put your brew into is going to leave a little something of itself in your liquid. Glass is no different, or better, in this respect. The amounts and nature of the chemicals are important and for HDPE and PET these are nearly imperceptible and mostly benign. Having studied environmental toxins for the last two decades, I can tell you if you have the proper analytical tools, you can always find something. Fortunately (i think?), you encounter more (and worse) toxins filling up your car than drinking beer or mead brewed in plastic. That said, the bigger concern is that not all plastics form suitable oxygen barriers. Oxidation of your product over the prolonged storage/aging times required of most meads can occur if the plastic is not suited for the task. It would be a shame to wait so long only to be thwarted by a little O2.

Thank-you for the replies... this is good to know.
So... what is the line between O2 being good for fermentation and bad for clearing.
My first batch of mead is a 3gal Orange Blossom. I kept reading that headspace in clearing needed to be minimal; so I bought a 3gal PET Better bottle (something somethin). So I probably need to buy some 1 galloon glass bottles for future (5gal) batches?

Once you hit about 1.010 or lower on your wine/mead/cider, the yeast stop using the oxygen up and the oxygen still in there can start to cause some oxidation issues. That's why you stop stirring the wine/mead by then, and airlock it securely as well as topping up in the carboy.