OK to use old carboy?

[MaxPower49]

I had a really old glass carboy in the attic. I got it down and cleaned it the best I could. Cleaned it, soaked in oxyclean overnight, and rinsed plenty of times. It is soaking with 1 gallon of sanitizing solution right now. Is it ok to use this thing as a primary? I want to see my brew fermenting. :rockin:

Like I said, it is really old (marking on the bottom says 1926... not sure if that is the year it was made or what). I think it had loose change kept in it for a long time. There are some small scratches on the outside... can't tell if there are any on the inside. When I fill it up with water it looks a little cloudy but I think that is just the glass. Thoughts?

 

[EvilTOJ]

As long as you clean and sanitize it, it's perfectly fine. Nice score on the old carboy! Does it say what size it is? It should be printed on the bottom. If it's 5 gallons, it'd be good for a clearing tank or for cider or wine. You get too much blowoff with a 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy.

 

[bigjohnmilford]

How big is it? I'd make a batch of apfelwien in it first. That way if there's any problems it won't be too costly or time consuming.

 

[MaxPower49]

No, the only thing printed on the bottom is 1926. It looks like it hods around 5.5 gallons. Think that is too small to use as a primary for a 5 gallon batch?

 

[EvilTOJ]

Most carboys, unless specially ordered, either come in 5, 6, or 6.5 gallon sizes. There's only one way to find out how much volume it'll take then. take a gallon jug, fill it with water, pour it into the carboy. If you can only do it 5 times before it's full, it's a 5 gallon. If you can do one more, it'll probably work.

Does it have a screw top, or just a lip like a bottle? If it's got a screwtop it's pretty likely it's 6.5 gallons.

Nice username, btw. Did you get that off a hairdryer?

 

[daktruckie99]

I have 2 glass carboys that were sitting in my fathers house for 25 years. They have been working just fine after a great cleaning and sanitizing. Hell one of them was full of potpouri!

 

[carnevoodoo]

Nice username, btw. Did you get that off a hairdryer?

I hope he got it from the Simpsons.

 

[MaxPower49]

Most carboys, unless specially ordered, either come in 5, 6, or 6.5 gallon sizes. There's only one way to find out how much volume it'll take then. take a gallon jug, fill it with water, pour it into the carboy. If you can only do it 5 times before it's full, it's a 5 gallon. If you can do one more, it'll probably work.

Does it have a screw top, or just a lip like a bottle? If it's got a screwtop it's pretty likely it's 6.5 gallons.

Nice username, btw. Did you get that off a hairdryer?

I measured it by filling it up with water and then racking it to my other 5 gallon carboy I was going to use a secondary. All but about 1/4 or 1/3 gallon fit in. Guess it is slightly bigger than 5 gallons... maybe they had different sizes in 1926? It has a regular lip on the opening... no screw top.

As a matter of fact I did get it off a hair dryer.

 

[EvilTOJ]

OK, it sounds like it's just a 5 gallon carboy then. Not much good to use as a primary unless you make 4 gallon batches.

 

[Henny]

Perfect Apfelwein Vessel!!

 

[MaxPower49]

Well, I went against most of the advice I saw and used the carboy as my primary for a 5 gallon batch.

It is slightly larger than a standard 5 gallon carboy (not sure why), so it has some headroom. I also have a 1" dia blowoff tube. I read that some people actually like using a setup like this since it will allow some of the krausen to blowoff through the tube and not fall back into the beer, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I don't mind losing a little bit of beer... I just want it to taste good.

8 hours after pitching, fermentation is well underway but no foam in the tube yet. I'll let you know how it works out.