Carboy OK for first fermenter?

[CdrDave]

Hello all, I'm new here and also new to the hobby. Forgive me if this has been asked, I couldn't find the answer. I'm doing a lot of initial homework and hope to order my homebrewing equipment very soon. I see that most kits come with a bucket as a primary fermenter and some come with a carboy as a secondary. I'm curious, is there a negative side to just using a carboy as my primary? I think it would be cool to watch the fermentation process and having a glass carboy would allow me to do that.

 

[944play]

All the pluses and minuses of the popular vessel types are in the sticky:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/vs-pro-con-analysis-109318/

 

[Brasco20]

carboy is fine for fermentation, cool to watch it. Also allows you to see the trub when racking to the secondary. I use glass carboys for both.

 

[MetallHed]

most kits that come with glass carboys are 5 gallon carboys.

MAKE SURE you rig up a blow-off tube. An airlock will not work due to the krausen rising off the beer. In the future I'd get a six gallon carboy to use as a primary and use the five gallon carboys for secondary/bright tanks.

good luck!

 

[SumnerH]

Hello all, I'm new here and also new to the hobby. Forgive me if this has been asked, I couldn't find the answer. I'm doing a lot of initial homework and hope to order my homebrewing equipment very soon. I see that most kits come with a bucket as a primary fermenter and some come with a carboy as a secondary. I'm curious, is there a negative side to just using a carboy as my primary? I think it would be cool to watch the fermentation process and having a glass carboy would allow me to do that.

It's fine. The 2 major negatives are:
1. It's clear, so keep it out of the light (towel wrapped around it or t-shirt over it or something) when you're not actually looking at it
2. Size--if your carboy is a 5-gallon one, use a blowoff tube and/or fermcap. Even with a 6 gallon, the blowoff tube's not a bad idea.

Obviously 1) is also an advantage in some ways too!

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I used to ferment in 6.5 gallon carboys, and if I did do a secondary (not often), it was in a 5 gallon carboy. As was mentioned, you'll need the head space for primary, so 6 or 6.5 would be what you need. I also don't do a secondary very often. Only on high gravity beers so I can bulk age, or something that needs to be very clear. I just let my beer sit in primary for 4 weeks, and then rack to the bottling bucket, or keg.

Also, be careful with glass. Don't use hot water to clean. Use a carrier like a milk crate or BrewHauler. And handle them gently. I broke a carboy last year, and it scared me enough to want to do something about the inherent danger. Towards the end of the thread I linked to, I did an experiment with a sacrificial carboy. It worked pretty well, so now my remaining carboys have been treated. I don't use them all that often now since I ferment in Sanke kegs, but they are still used on occasion. I'm a little leery of fermenting in plastic due to possible infections, but a lot of people do without any problem.

Good luck. Welcome to HBT. And welcome to the obsession.

 

[CdrDave]

Wow, thanks for the replies!! Very helpful!! I'm glad I joined this forum before making any purchases

 

[CdrDave]

Hey homebeerbrewer, thanks for that link. Wow! Thats kinda scary stuff. I am a guy that prefers to spend more on quality up front because when you get the cheap stuff, you usually end up upgrading to the quality stuff in the long run and then spend more as a result. Theres just something about plastic that sounds cheap compared to glass to me. However, after reading those links, I'm not messing with it. I'm in the military and move every 2-3 years, so this stuff is going to get bounced around at least that much, even if I handle it with great amounts of TLC. It think I'll give the BB a try. At least I can get over my initial facination of being able to watch the process as a new homebrewer. I'm sure i'll eventually move to buckets or cornys after the "cool" factor wears off. Thanks guys.

 

[SumnerH]

Hey homebeerbrewer, thanks for that link. Wow! Thats kinda scary stuff.

http://brewing.lustreking.com/articles/brokencarboys.html has lots of great stories, like:

I had let a 6.5 gal glass carboy sit overnight with bleach water overnight. The next morning, I dumped the water and began to carry it up the concrete stairs to the back door of the house. Halfway up, I stumbled and fell. I tried to catch myself on the railing to keep from landing in the glass, but couldn't stop myself in time. My left hand came down and when I lifted it up, it started pulsing out blood.

I went to the ER, where they stitched me up and referred me to a plastic surgeon. Two days later, I met with the surgeon, who told me that I had severed the major nerve in my left thumb and one of the major nerves in my left index finger (along with the muscle that draws the thumb to the little finger).

A week or so later, I was in surgery where he sewed my nerves and muscles back togeter. I spend the next 5 days in extreme pain and on very powerful pain killers. I was in a cast for 3 weeks I think (I don't remember off the top of my head) and then I had to be careful with it for the next 2-3 months (no lifting or strong grasps).

That was ~3 years ago, and I still haven't recovered completly. I have some feeling in my finger and thumb, but not much. After the accident, I switched to plastic carboys and never went back.

If you use glass carboys, be careful!

 

[homebeerbrewer]

CdrDave, the "cool factor" never wears off, but after an incident like mine, I just wanted the safety of stainless. Better Bottles are clear enough to see through, so you can still watch and be fascinated by the yeasties doing their job. I'm like you though, I like to buy things once. But, being in the military (thank you), it might be a better option for you to use plastic.

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

Frankly, if caboys were as easy to clean as a plastic bucket I would use strictly carboys. Glass is impermeable to oxygen, plastic less impermeable which is important if you intend to leave your beer sit in the primary for extended periods of time. Glass is a better insulator than plastic and therefore protects somewhat better than plastic against brief temperature changes. It will still allow the change, just slower. Glass doesn't scratch like plastic and therefore is less likely to harbor bacteria in places you cannot clean.

The downsides are: they can be dangerous - that's a lot of glass to be hauling around and they do break. The opening is small and therefore cleaning them is more difficult. It just takes a good carboy brush and patience enough to get all the proteins off from the sides left behind during the ferment so it can be done. When you do clean them, especially if you have any soap on your hands, the weight of the glass makes it much more difficult to handle, therefore slippery, therefore more likely to bang hard against the edge of a sink or drop. Ugly ugly.

So, just as 944Play pointed out a lot of people go through this debate and it is strictly a matter of personal preference. I have two plastic bucket primaries and two glass carboy secondaries. The number one best investment I could have ever bought for my carboys (next to a good carboy brush) is a carboy harness. It straps on/under the carboy and gives you handles on each side making it easier to carry. It doesn't help you when you're cleaning though.

Hope that helps...