Is a glass carboy a must?

[mummasan]

I love to watch the yeast. I open my fermentation refrigerator every day to see what is going on in there. It's cool to see the different stages of fermentation.

I have a 5 gallon carboy and when it is full I carry it only about four feet.

 

[wildwest450]

I use these $15 Winpak fermentors... they will never scratch, lightweight, can handle 200+F temps. and come with a sturdy hinged handle. What more could you ask for?

A big glass window on the side.

 

[JVD_X]

People buy glass carboys because they like to watch the yeast.

This is very very true... with the exception of wine. You need to be able to apply a vacuum to degas the wine. This DOES NOT work with buckets. I always switch to glass when I need to degas but I have had a lot of luck with the Winexpert Wine Wand as far as degassing goes.

Plastic is actually the preferred material for bulk aging wine because it allows JUST ENOUGH air through over a year so the wine matures very nicely.

I use these $15 Winpak fermentors... they will never scratch, lightweight, can handle 200+F temps. and come with a sturdy hinged handle. What more could you ask for?

I am wondering how much pressure those could take.

 

[Zen_Brew]

I've never heard of anyone scratching the inside of their glass carboy; you'd have to dig around in there with a spear.

I remember once I had a Spears in a carboy. Now I know some friends said something about.... was it a scratch, no.... I think people said I could ruin my beer from the snatch.

 

[Effington]

I remember once I had a Spears in a carboy. Now I know some friends said something about.... was it a scratch, no.... I think people said I could ruin my beer from the snatch.

Oops you did it again, that's Hoo-Ha Pale Ale!

That's hilarious

 

[mordantly]

Im already loving this new hobbie and figure if im in, im in!QUOTE]

whoa pal. wait till your wallet hears you talkin like that. im pro glass for secondaries. primary would be a lot of gunk to clean out. im lazy. use a 6.5 ale pail. then 5 gal glass. then bottle or keg. then drink! "oh yeah.. im duffman!"

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I love to watch the yeast. I open my fermentation refrigerator every day to see what is going on in there. It's cool to see the different stages of fermentation.

I have a 5 gallon carboy and when it is full I carry it only about four feet.

I to love to see whats going on in there. Much prefer using glass.
Just got a great deal today on a few nice carboys.

 

[mordantly]

perverts!

 

[12packabs]

i only use my 6.5 gallon glass carboy for secondary when making wine. primary wine & beer in plastic buckets. i don't generally secondary beer because i generally do wheat beer

 

[Effington]

Im already loving this new hobbie and figure if im in, im in!QUOTE]

whoa pal. wait till your wallet hears you talkin like that. im pro glass for secondaries. primary would be a lot of gunk to clean out. im lazy. use a 6.5 ale pail. then 5 gal glass. then bottle or keg. then drink! "oh yeah.. im duffman!"

"Duffman is thrusting in the direction of the problem... oh yeah!"

 

[mordantly]

there he is.

 

[Omnihility]

It is a matter of preference. My good friend only uses glass while I use both glass and buckets. I have had some bad experiences with glass cracking and compared to the buckets, they are not cheap to replace.

 

[ecojack]

plastic Better Bottles all the way! cheaper and they dont break!

 

[hercher]

I'll testify to the dangers of glass carboys -- I cut my finger pretty badly when one slipped out of my hand while I was cleaning it. It would have required stitches, but the location of the cut was not feasible to stitch, according to my doctor.

 

[mrcoldone]

plastic Better Bottles all the way! cheaper and they dont break!

Are the 6 gallon ones Ok to use as a primary? I picked up a 5 gallon one for a secondary, but I'm to impatient and ready for another primary.

 

[adc123]

Are the 6 gallon ones Ok to use as a primary? I picked up a 5 gallon one for a secondary, but I'm to impatient and ready for another primary.

Sounds fine to me. I used plastic buckets for a few brews, those were 6.5. You really want 6 gal for the primary of a 5 because of the krausen. I am currently trying to figure out why my beer has a plastic taste, thinking about getting a 6 gal BB for this very reason.

 

[starrfish]

long aging yes... standard stuff no... I have a hopless old ale w/ yarrow, mug wort, heather, & juniper berries with a true secondary of an addition of a brett culture working for 7 months... henry the VIII style. only reason to use glass LOOONG ferment. or a mead with LOOONG ferment!

 

[subliminalurge]

It's like this...

Let's say you're a first-time homeowner, and you need a cordless drill. You wonder if that $12 drill from Harbor Freight will work. Or do you need to go to Wal-Mart and get the $50 Black & Decker? Or should you just go to Home Depot and get the $250 DeWalt?

The answer is that any of them are just fine. It's only a question of how often you want to have to replace them (which depends on the conditions they're subjected to).

The plastic bucket is like the cheap drill from Harbor Freight. It'll do the job just fine, but if you're not really careful with it, you'll be buying another one really soon. You could, in theory, make it last a lifetime, but you would have to be freakishly anal about how well you cared for it.

The glass carboy is like the Black & Decker. For normal use, it just might last a lifetime, but you can still screw them up beyond repair.

A stainless conical is like a contractor grade DeWalt. You can beat the crap out of it, leave it out in the weather for a year or two, and it'll still never let you down.

Honestly, this question comes up all the time and it's not a question of what will work. They will all work. It's a question of how careful can you be in handling it, and how often are you comfortable throwing the old one away and buying a new one?

 

[ABrewingApe]

Don't forget that "really soon", as regards the bucket, can still be years away. I've been using my 6-gal bucket steadily for a year and change now and it still works fine; there's not even any appreciable wear and tear. I expect it to keep incubating solid brews for a good long time.

It's not quite as simple as less expensive = disposable. Sometimes less expensive just means less expensive. Honestly I'd recommend a bucket over a carboy unless you've got an active preference for the aesthetics of a glass brewing vessel (because they sure do look classy, don't they?) and you're comfortable dealing with heavy, slippery, breakable objects.

 

[Hermit]

Let me throw in another variable. If you want to bulk age something, the bucket is out. It will let oxygen in. How long do you want to tie up a stainless steel fermenter? This also is determined by finances.

 

[subliminalurge]

Don't forget that "really soon", as regards the bucket, can still be years away. I've been using my 6-gal bucket steadily for a year and change now and it still works fine; there's not even any appreciable wear and tear. I expect it to keep incubating solid brews for a good long time.

It's not quite as simple as less expensive = disposable. Sometimes less expensive just means less expensive. Honestly I'd recommend a bucket over a carboy unless you've got an active preference for the aesthetics of a glass brewing vessel (because they sure do look classy, don't they?) and you're comfortable dealing with heavy, slippery, breakable objects.

True, a bucket can last for years and years. As I said, it all depends on how much focus you want to put into taking care of it, both during use and in storage. Just like I've seen people get 10 years of use out of a 12 dollar cordless drill (the time he spent monitoring the battery on the non-regulated charger to make sure it didn't get over-charged was worth WAY more than the price of a replacement).

I don't have the patience to be that anal about things. Nothing wrong with those who do, but it's just not how I'm wired. I think durability is something worth paying a little extra for. I like the fact that with my glass if I get some krausen crust I can feel comfortable digging into it with a carboy brush and not worrying about scratches.

Then again, I need more fermentor space, and buying that many carboys would stretch my budget a bit beyond comfort at the moment, so I'm also going to start fermenting in buckets, too.

But I will admit I prefer the aesthetics of the glass. I am "one of those".

Just saying that any of the options will work just fine. It's not really a question of beer quality. It's a question of (potential) longevity, ease of care, and, yes, aesthetics. Decide which factors are important to you, then buy accordingly within your budget.

(As for glass carboys being slippery, I've found that a towel takes care of that problem just fine. As would several other solutions.... Then again, I'm getting to that point where I'm just starting to feel the years creep up on me, so I'm actively looking for solutions that don't require carrying ANYTHING. I suspect I'll be buying lots of tubing in the years to come.... )