1 month - 50 gallons - what I've learned - please read

[Jimmy Von Tripel]

+1.........

.........lol.

 

[edb]

Anyone have any questions about the rest of my post?? I know its a lot of info but there has to be someone out there who has a question or remark to make about it.

Yeah did you drink all that beer yourself?

 

[EvilTOJ]

I have a question; why did you smash up the ca-OW MY ARM STOP IT!!!

But seriously, so where do you work that you were lucky enough to get a whole month off and do you have pictures of your bounty? It can't all be drunk already, you did this just last month!

I demand pictures!

This is an excellent write up, one newbies should definitely read up on.

 

[JnJ]

One downside to the better bottles i have found is that fluctuations in temp tend to suck wahtever is in the airlock back into the carboy.

This happens with glass carboys as well. It's not a function of the container, it is the cooling of the product inside (beer). I had this happen when trying to crash cool in a glass carboy.

 

[Revvy]

All complaints about the carboy smashing aside, I want to thank you for taking the time to write up such a helpful and insightful post. Especially taking the time to link all the products you found useful.

The only think you left off your post was telling us what all did you brew?

I ran back up to the first post to see if you listed it in your sig...

Those of us who are drooling at the thought of 50 gallons of glorious homebrew happily bubbling away in their better bottles want to know just what all are we drooling about.

I demand pictures!

I agree as to the pics...I am admittingly one of those geeks on this forum who likes to see pics of peoples carboys full of juicy goodness.


Good job!!

 

[MikeFlynn74]

now if hed scrapped some SS conicals Id say OFF WITH HIS HEAD

 

[ethangray19]

wow what a thread, very entertaining to read.



Great original post, i found it very useful and the main reason I am considering better bottles is that the damn 6.5 gallon glass carboy is giving me back problems, I mean they weigh a ton. Not much mention of this aspect.


As for the post from the guy who said he got his better bottles from the office water cooler, aren't those made out of #7 plastic and better bottles are the #1 plastic??

How many out there use 5 gallon water jugs made with #7 plastic???

 

[Hopleaf]

 

[Got Trub?]

wow what a thread, very entertaining to read.



Great original post, i found it very useful and the main reason I am considering better bottles is that the damn 6.5 gallon glass carboy is giving me back problems, I mean they weigh a ton. Not much mention of this aspect.


As for the post from the guy who said he got his better bottles from the office water cooler, aren't those made out of #7 plastic and better bottles are the #1 plastic??

How many out there use 5 gallon water jugs made with #7 plastic???

I hear you on the weight issue. I've used glass for over 25 yrs and it is great as a fermentation vessel. As I get older and look to the future of my brewing career I am looking to get away from lifting/moving such heavy, awkward containers. I have some better bottles now and the weight difference is significant so I will gradually replace glass with these. They are made of PET plastic and thus oxygen diffusion is much lower then "water cooler" bottles. I would not store beer for any significant length of time in a water cooler bottle.

In terms of the danger factor those that have posted they will take the risk fine - as long as you understand it is there. The OP was not exagerating the dangers. These things will literally explode if dropped - especially if full of beer - into very nasty shards of glass. To minimize the risk I always move them when they are dry and my hands are dry. I never try to pour out a full carboy - I always siphon the bulk of the water out before dumping the last.

GT

 

[PrometheusBierus]

Okay, I'm back. I was previously Jimmy Von Tripel but I've switched over to PrometheusBierus because of an exchange of words with a friendly forum critic.

Here is the 50 gallons of beer, cider and mead.

For those of you that wanted a list:

Dry Show Mead - 10 gallons
Westmalle Tripel Clone - 5 gallons
Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter - 5 gallons
Ed Worts Apfelwein - 5 gallons
Belgian Wheat yeast Cider - 10 gallons
Hefeweizen yeast Cider - 10 gallons
Belgian Strong yeast Cider - 5 gallons

All the special cider yeasts are Wyeast.

I just carbonated the ciders in the kegs yesterday.

I'm going to leave the ciders in the kegs for 3 months before I start to drink them. And unfortunately I have a large family that will have no problem in guzzling it all.

Prost!

 

[debaniel]

How many out there use 5 gallon water jugs made with #7 plastic???

"Water Boy" is the company that supplies ours, and they are the #1 PET plastic... actually, each carboy varies, but they are all PET - and the one on our cooler right now is #1...


If i ever brew a 4 gallon batch, you bet i'll be using 'em...