Better Bottle or plastic water cooler bottle?

I've read some discussions on other websites that though made of different material there is no significant difference in performance as a carboy between better bottles versus a 5 gallon plastic water cooler bottle. There must be a good reason for paying $30 plus shipping for an Better Bottle versus driving down to Lowes and picking up 5 gallons of spring water that you can use to brew in a Plastic bottle that looks just like a better bottle for less thatn $15 (about 1/2 that if you have an empty one to trade in). I am sure has the answers.

 

There are different grades of plastics. 1 and 2 are food grade but most water bottles are 7. Also, you can get BB predrilled, but if you can find a 1 or 2 grade bottle, then by all means have at it.

 

Better bottle is in fact "Better"....in fact, I'd say BEST!

having said that....I have a few #1 Deep rock bottles for Apfelwein.

 

It really comes down to oxygen permeability, but I don't think anyone has proven that the "water cooler" bottles fail to prevent oxygen from entering your beer in the time frame that it is fermenting.

That being said, the decision you have to make is whether or not it's worth it to shell out the extra $15 for the piece of mind that a better bottle offers?

 

I did a batch of Apfelwein in one of the water cooler bottles (with the built in handle).

I would advise against this as it had me halfway between the bathroom and my bed.
(Brewing the Apfelwein that is)


In other words, I saw no issues. The Apfelwein was so good it had me making bad decisions.
-Me

 

+1 to the O2 permeability issue. PET is the only plastic I know of that provides a strong barrier against O2.

I use #7 water jugs to recycle my immersion chiller water; the plastic surface of the water jugs is "rougher" than the Better Bottles are. Better Bottles are very smooth, close to the smoothness of glass; this allows them to be cleaned and sanitized better than a water jug IMO.

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the input.
Crash

 

FWIW, if you can get the new 3L bottles of poland spring, they are made of #1 / PET plastic. They would be a pain to clean as they are ribbde (for her pleasure?), but as a container that you sanitize once then throw away after fermentation I think they would work quite well.

Might be decent for starters / experiment batches

 

At a grocery store the sell the 5 gal bottles with a handle on it for $8.99, but I'll have to inquire on what type of plastic grade it is, I was thinking of using one for the Apfelwine.

 

Those are typically the cloudy white, rough/porous plastic (same stuff they make milk jugs out of). #1 is clear, hard and slick. It feels almost like glass ..

 

Just picked up a walmart camping blue cube 7g, a #2 recycle. It has a air vent and a reversable closeable pour spout. It might be hard to clean, but it looks pretty good for $10.

 

Someone else had done something similar..

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/kick-fermenter-104172/

 

Walmart has #3 5gal bottles. The only down fall is there is a handle in the bottle. Youd have to craft up some sort of brush to clean the handle part but doable I think. I picked 2 up today and I am starting my first Aplewfein tomorow.

 

so am I right in thinking that these #3 bottles from say Walmart are fine if you are only going to have something in them for a short period of time? Like say 1 month. If I racked to a different bottle each month would this be okay? Then once I rack to a different bottle can I clean and sanitize the first one and reuse it for a new batch for the next month?

 

Read this - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/secondary-fermenting-water-jug-79067/

It's the answer to your question about using water bottles for fermentation.