carboy vs plastic buckey

[rhoffmann79]

I've seen many people talking about using a glass carboy or a better bottle for their secondary. What is the advantage of this versus using a second fermentation bucket? I know the secondary is not absolutely necessary but I'm still curious

 

[Savage_Justice]

So you can lay down next to the carboy and watch your delicious brew clearing up, aging and be able to talk to it. But like you mentioned, a secondary is completely unnecessary, unless your adding fruit or what not.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Buckets are too oxygen-permeable for bulk conditioning a beer. Plus you can't see what's happening inside without removing the lid.

 

[sendkyleanemail]

I like glass for two reasons:
1. It's durable. No worries about scratching it up with a brush.
2. I can see what's going on without opening it up. For me a big part of the magic of brewing is watching the process, albeit for 10 seconds at a time once a day.

Plastic is lightweight, and cheap as well as opaque(sort of) which are all advantages.

I think for secondary it's preferable to minimize the amount of air space above the beer. A 5 gallon carboy is the best for accompanying this (5 gallon batches of course).

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Buckets are too oxygen-permeable for bulk conditioning a beer. Plus you can't see what's happening inside without removing the lid.

^this^ is the reason you should use glass carboys for any longer term conditioning. and also the reason i use carboys for primaries 80% of the time, i like to see when the krausen actually goes up, then falls. just my preference, but it keeps my mind at ease while the yeast are doing their thing.

 

[Gear101]

be able to talk to it.

That is some funny sh$#.. i just use a flashlight.. LOL

 

[Balto]

^this^ is the reason you should use glass carboys for any longer term conditioning. and also the reason i use carboys for primaries 80% of the time, i like to see when the krausen actually goes up, then falls. just my preference, but it keeps my mind at ease while the yeast are doing their thing.

And this is the reason to be careful when using Glass. I've seen three threads on this subject during the last week. One with injuries.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/plastic-vs-glass-298914/

 

[flabyboy]

To much head space in a bucket. Fermentation should be complete before you transfer to secondary to clear. There will not be a protective CO2 layer on top to protect it from O2 an longer. You want less headspace. 5 gallon carboys are good secondary vessels

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

And this is the reason to be careful when using Glass. I've seen three threads on this subject during the last week. One with injuries.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/plastic-vs-glass-298914/

oh, you gotta be very careful with glass. it would be extremely dangerous to have one drop and shatter at your feet. i've heard some horror stories. i use Brew Haulers on all my 5+ gal carboys, and never put myself in a position that i have to carry them around much, basically lift it out of the swamp cooler and onto a table. and i would hope that anyone using glass carboys would take similar measures to make sure they're safe.