better bottle vs. bucket

[JNye]

So I have used glass carboys(love em), buckets(love em) and a water cooler bottle(meh). Am I missing something? What is the point of a "better bottle"? I see absolutely no benefits over a bucket, except being able to see in(pfff).

Seems like the shape comes from the water coolers and got passed on to us. The only reason I even have a (plastic) carboy is because it was free. I guess the question is am I missing something to these better bottles, because I think I'm gonna stick to glass carboys for glass fermentors and buckets for plastic fermentors.

 

[Pappers_]

If you like a glass carboy, you'll like a better bottle. And they won't shatter. Nothing wrong with buckets though. Its preferences, not right and wrong. FWIW, I ferment in both glass carboys and better bottles.

 

[Nurmey]

I ferment in glass, better bottles, and buckets and they all get the job done. Any way works just fine but BB and buckets are a lot easier for me to move around.

 

[wh4tig0t]

2 reasons:

1. I recently dropped a BB full of oxyclean and all it did was dent the bottom in a sort of ugly way, but not in a way that really effects the functionality. Had it been glass, who knows what would have happened.

2. You can siphon with a carboy hood and sterile filter, or even just use co2 to push your beer out, don't know that that would work with a bucket.

 

[JNye]

i understand the pros/cons of glass vs. plastic, it seems to me the odd shape of a PLASTIC carboy has no benefit except for the manufacturer(cause they exist already for another purpose), as compared to a plastic bucket. I just think the bucket makes much more sense when choosing PLASTIC...but I did want to make sure I am not missing something.
The CO2 thing doesn't really do anything for me, I siphon and am fine with it.

 

[SumnerH]

i understand the pros/cons of glass vs. plastic, it seems to me the odd shape of a PLASTIC carboy has no benefit except for the manufacturer(cause they exist already for another purpose), as compared to a plastic bucket. I just think the bucket makes much more sense when choosing PLASTIC...but I did want to make sure I am not missing something.
The CO2 thing doesn't really do anything for me, I siphon and am fine with it.

The shape of the carboy lets you minimize headspace, which can be important for long-aging beers (e.g. if you're doing a lambic, too much oxygen in the headspace can promote acetobacter and an overly vinegary flavor). Better Bottles also have much lower oxygen permeability than HDPE buckets, which might also be important for longer aging.

For most beers, I use buckets.

 

[mtnbikerbrewer]

It depends on what you are using the better bottle for. I wouldn't use one as a substitute for a primary fermenter, the biggest normally available are 6gal and that's too small in my opinion for a 5gal sized batch. Better bottles are more meant to replace carboys for secondary conditioning (which I recommend on nearly every beer to reduce diacetyl and acetaldehyde, prevent autolysis, and aid in clarification).

For primary I would stick to 6.5 gal or larger fermentation buckets or 6.5 gal. carboys.

For secondary, it just comes down to personal preference. You want to use either a carboy or Better Bottle because of the size and shape reduces amount of air and the surface area of your beer that is exposed to said air during the conditioning phase, protecting it from spoilage and oxidation. The Better Bottles have proven themselves to be very much interchangeable with carboys for most uses. I use glass carboys because that's what I have always used and they are simply "traditionally preferred" (other than that, no real reason).

Better bottles have negligible permeability, are lighter, usually a bit cheaper, and more damage resistant. I often recommend Better Bottles to my elderly winemakers since they are considerably lighter and more forgiving to droppage and bumpage. The only real draw back to Better Bottles is that though being quite scratch resistant, they can scratch, so I always recommend that people take extra care to that detail while cleaning.

 

[944play]

MHO, kegs make far better "secondary fermenters" (brite tanks, k?) than other vessels. Cmd-V:

Built in handles!
Built-in diptube
Unbreakable
You can carbonate in it (naturally or forced)
You can serve from it
Closed transfer possible/easy
Easier to purge w/CO2
No light intrusion
Smaller footprint than bucket/carboy
Same(ish) price as carboy
Bigger aperture than carboy (for dry-hopping, cleaning, etc.)

 

[mtnbikerbrewer]

I know a lot of people who do that with great success. I prefer to condition in secondary, let the sediment drop out, then rack into a keg for either serving or long-term conditioning (for the same reasons you listed above). Normally, most of my kegs are just tied up with serving and I have a bunch of carboys. I always purge my carboys (unless I'm less than 1" from the bung) using my keg charger. Light doesn't really bother me since the room in my basement is dark with no windows, then after a week I throw my carboys into a temp controlled deep freezer to crash out.

 

[Yooper]

I LOVE Better Bottles. Not so much for beer, though. They are a winemaker's dream. I keep very few beers in a fermenter long enough to worry about headspace, but occasionally I do.

The shape of the BB reduces headspace, just like a carboy. That's very important when fermentation slows or ceases, since you want to prevent oxidation. The great thing about BBs is that they are not gas permeable, so in that way they are like glass (and NOT water cooler "carboys") but they are light so I can actually lift them and carry them to different areas. For bulk aging, they go in one place. For cold stabilization, they go into the basement. I hate doing that with glass carboys! I'm a 135 pound weakling. Carrying 60 pounds of liquid in a glass filled container down a flight of basement stairs is more than a little challenging for me- it's stupid!

Because of the wide mouth of a bucket, it's not a good long term solution for wine. I primary in the bucket, then rack to a carboy or a BB and top up to reduce headspace. That's a pretty standard way to make wine. For beer, I use carboys primarily for lagering.