Better Bottle Website!

[George7845]

I just started out with a ale pail, better bottle, auto-siphon, and a bottling bucket. I bought all my equipment piece by piece and spent like $140.00, but that included a bottle of star san, hydrometer, blah blah blah. I actually searched after the fact and saw beginner kits for like $80.00, well i guess that would be another case of male testosterone poisoning on my part. I should of shopped around but i didnt!

But anyways, i took a look at Better Bottles official website and they have some cool tools!. They have their ported bottles with adjustable spigots. You dont have to siphon out, you just adjust the dip tube from the outside so its not sucking up yeasties! They also have the liquid-less airlocks! so you dont have to worry about suck up! Then of course they have handles and all the basics. The equipment looks nice, and sounds great, but has anyone used the adjustable dip-tube or the liquid-less airlocks? Im really curious, if this is as good as it sounds i think im going to be investing in some better bottle equipment in the future.

:rockin: George

 

[SumnerH]

But anyways, i took a look at Better Bottles official website and they have some cool tools!. They have their ported bottles with adjustable spigots. You dont have to siphon out, you just adjust the dip tube from the outside so its not sucking up yeasties! They also have the liquid-less airlocks! so you dont have to worry about suck up! Then of course they have handles and all the basics. The equipment looks nice, and sounds great, but has anyone used the adjustable dip-tube or the liquid-less airlocks? Im really curious, if this is as good as it sounds i think im going to be investing in some better bottle equipment in the future.

I love my Better Bottles, but I've avoided the ported ones after seeing posts like these:

Do these things really suck or what? I used a BB w/spigot for my secondary for the first time. When I was ready to rack to the keg, I opened the spigot and the brew barely flowed out of the spigot. Would have taken hrs to empty 5g into the keg. Finally gave up and siphoned. What's the deal? Am I missing something or do they just suck?

Some people love them, though. For me, I'd rather spend the $$$ on something else; autosiphons work fine.

 

[KillerKellers]

I have some ported buckets I used to ferment in, but cleaning the valves is a requirement and a pain. I ditched all of them for standard ale pails. I have a few better bottles for wine/apfelwein and maybe to secondary (very rare).

 

[smokinghole]

I love my ported better bottles and I hate traditional siphons. I carry a small CO2 bottle with me when racking. That way I can blow caked up yeast out of the valve assembly if flow is slow. Hell sometimes I even just blow a tiny amount of air through it not like a couple bubbles are going to oxidize the beer. The issue with slow flow is typically the yeast clogging the valve, however the old valves (I have two) were much slower than the new valves. I bought 4 new valves and they're MUCH faster.

Little tip. When you fill a better bottle face the spigot inside the bottle in a downward position that way yeast doesn't fill the tube up. You'll still get yeast in the valve assembly bu it won't fill up.

 

[Whut]

Little tip. When you fill a better bottle face the spigot inside the bottle in a downward position that way yeast doesn't fill the tube up. You'll still get yeast in the valve assembly bu it won't fill up.

What somkinghole said - that's a big tip! I have one and love it but the $80+ price tag for the entire assembly tarnishes it a bit.

 

[ghart999]

I agree with smokinghole. They can clog (1 out of 4 times). I just blow air up it to declog it. I haven't used an autosiphon in ages. Mine has spiderwebs in it now.

Of course I bought them a few years ago when you could but the whole autosiphon assembly for $27. Now they are like double that price which is stupid. $50+ for some plastic parts should be illegal. I am glad I have them but I would never buy them again if I needed more.

 

[Bigscience]

I have some ported buckets I used to ferment in, but cleaning the valves is a requirement and a pain. I ditched all of them for standard ale pails. I have a few better bottles for wine/apfelwein and maybe to secondary (very rare).

Cleaning the valves is a must. The one and only brew I lost was because I got complacent and lazy with the valves. Now I take them totally apart including the little cup and soak in 10% bleach. Between brews I leave disassebled and dry.

Running starsan/iodine is not enough to decon these guys.

 

[smokinghole]

The new improved valves are MUCH easier to clean. You just pop the valve assembly off and then you can clean the part on the bottle. This is how I do it and I (knock on wood) have not had any sanitation issues.