Better bottles/carboy and kettle advice!

[Zrab11]

Alright,
Some of you may have seen some of my other Homebrew question posts.. I PROMISE this is the next to last or last one! haha. I'm a very thourough person and sometime maybe over analyze things but i always want to make sure i make the best possible decision. anyway i have a few more questions

As i have looked at kits over the past few days i have seen some come with "Better Bottles", Glass carboys, Plastic Carboys(which i assume are pretty much better bottles), and fermenting buckets.

I'm sure tons have opinions on them and I've seen topics on them before but is there a big consensus on which is actually better. Or do they each have the same pro's and con's and it just comes down to personal preference.?

The way i see it Glass's CON is it can Shatter.. but besides that it is easy to clean and will last FOREVER.
Better bottles won't shatter but can also get warped and scratched over time and cause bacteria and other gunk to get in cracks.
Both these above also have a small opening that could possibly cause problems for shoving bags of hops or other ingredients down in the fermenter to add different flavors to your beer.

Fermenting Buckets are plastic and won't break.. They also have a big opening where you can easily add bags of hops or other ingredients to the beer.
But there is also a lot more room in the bucket to allow the possibility for more oxygen in.

So let me know if i am totally off base on these or if i'm pretty spot on..

And which is the Better one!! If There actually is one.
(i also plan on doing this for a long time. So maybe it comes down to one being better for long time brewers or brewers who play on also going to all grain someday..maybe not)

I also have another question.. Can you not just Ferment in a bottling bucket? This may be a super stupid question.. But the only difference i see from a bottling bucket and a fermenting bucket is their is no hole in the top of the bucket to insert an air lock or blow off hose. But if there was Wouldn't it be much easier and less chance of oxygen getting to your beer if you did not have to transfer beer to a bottling bucket and you could just bottle straight from your Fermenter(bottling bucket) .. Now that might be a really dumb question.. but i thought id ask.

My other question is

IS there any reason for me to get a Brew pot that is less than 6.5 gallons when i plan on ALWAYS doing 5 gal batches.??

Of course i would like a boilermaker but those are out of my price range .

I plan on doing this a long time and might even move to all grain in the next 3 years or so. So should i shoot for a 10gal pot for any reason or will a 6.5gal pot be perfect for me?

My last question is.
Has anyone bought from Austin home brew.com I stumbled upon them today and was intrigued by there "Build your own kit idea" Austin Homebrew Supply

If not i'll prob go with Northern Brewer..unless Better bottles are the way to go then Midwest supplies looks like a good option!

So i hope you can answer these questions for me so that i can make up my mind on what kit to do or if i will just buy supplies individually since i already have 2 5 gallon carboys(for secondary ferm.) 2 brewing books ,A bottle capper, Bottles, and 100 caps.

Thanks for all and any advice.. Hopefully this is the last you see of me till me "Brewed my first batch post" : )

 

[nukinfuts29]

Please god not another carboy vs better bottle vs bucket vs glass vs plastic blah blah thread. I know you are new here, and I applaud you for joining us on this grand journey, but this debate has been done so far into the ground not even Ryan Seacrest will host it.

It's simple. Read the 43543564302384894598 other topics on it, try them both, experiment, decide for yourself.

 

[SauceBoss]

It all comes down to preference and what your price range will afford. I know people who have both better bottles and glass carboys (I for one ferment in a 6 gallon better bottle and use 5 gallon glass carboys for secondary). Here is a link to a sticky that breaks down the pros and cons of each which might be a good read for you to weigh out your options: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/vs-pro-con-analysis-109318/

As for the pot, if you only plan on doing 5 gallon batches you I would go for at least an 8 gallon kettle as this will allow you to do grain batches down the road.

As for AHB, I have ordered from them a few times and every time things have been good and they ship pretty fast. Hope this helps

 

[Zrab11]

Please god not another carboy vs better bottle vs bucket vs glass vs plastic blah blah thread. I know you are new here, and I applaud you for joining us on this grand journey, but this debate has been done so far into the ground not even Ryan Seacrest will host it.

It's simple. Read the 43543564302384894598 other topics on it, try them both, experiment, decide for yourself.

I know its been over done that why i stated in my post i know I've seen lots of posts about this.. But i was just asking for YOUR OPINION.. and if that was the only question in my thread i would understand your hatred towards my post but this post had many questions that i would love anyone and everyones advice and OPINION on.

Thanks

 

[LandoLincoln]

No, there is no consensus whatsoever. It is definitely down to personal preference.

 

[strambo]

I'm new too...but I started with an 8 gal bucket: Pros: inexpensive, safe, easy to use, plenty of head space so blowouts are not a concern (oxygen is no concern either in primary...it will be replaced by CO2 once fermentation begins). Cheap to replace. Also easy to move, won't break etc.

Cons: can't see what's going on, may get scratched at some point (but is cheap to replace).

I also got a better bottle, 5 gal, for those times when I want to secondary for dry hops, fruit or maybe a long bulk age of a big beer.

I also got lucky and my wife bought me a 10 gal pot since the store was temporarily out of 8 gal. ones when she was Christmas shopping for me. I'm really glad, it is more than I need now, but big enough for me to grow into full boils and AG down the road. It is still smaller in size than I would have pictured and fits fine on my stove (with built in microwave overhead). I can boil 4.25 gals on my electric coil range, that's it!

 

[Butter]

Personal preference dude. We use plastic primary and 6.5 gal carboy for primary, just depends on what's clean at the time. Personally I prefer glass cause that's what I started with, and I still like to watch the fermentation process happen.

 

[nukinfuts29]

I know its been over done that why i stated in my post i know I've seen lots of posts about this.. But i was just asking for YOUR OPINION.. and if that was the only question in my thread i would understand your hatred towards my post but this post had many questions that i would love anyone and everyones advice and OPINION on.

Thanks

I know what your asking for. My opinion, as well as literally just about everyone elses, can be found over and over and over with a simple search on the topic. We don't need another thread listing off opinions on it, which inevitably becomes discussion, which leads to debate and omg look another one.

As for the other questions my brain ate itself before I made it that far.

 

[bengerman]

Imho, a 6.5 gallon pot is too small for 5 gallon batches if you want to do a full boil. I have a 7.5 gallon pot and it's still a little bit uncomfortable fo full boils. 8 or larger would be ideal, depending on your boiloff.
I have a bucket, a carboy and a better bottle and I prefer the better bottle. It's easier to oxegenate than a bucket and easier to rack than a glass carboy (larger diameter neck), not to mention being easier to carry than the glass carboy. But, as others have said; it's all about personal preference.

 

[downtown3641]

I'm a fan of the better bottles. I never bought extra buckets, and my original was relegated to turkey brining duty for Thanksgiving so it's officially out of my rotation. As for kettles, go with at least 10 gallons. I used a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer pot and I had to watch it like a hawk during 60min boils of five gallon batches. 90 minute boils would've been worse.

 

[E-Mursed]

It comes down to what you like best, and the only way you will know that is to try everything.

When I started back in 1999, plastic was the noob way to ferment, carboys were a luxury, and big brew pots were not as plentiful as they are now. I used what I could afford and learned the best and worst of each piece along the way. I still have some pieces from my original star up set and just recently bought a 9 gallon pot. I got by just fine with a 5 gallon pot.

Would I like to have had a big pot, carboys, kegs, and a sweet AG set up back then? Hell Yes! It would have been cheaper, but I can't put a price on the knowledge I gained using my basic set up.

Good luck and keep it simple.

 

[daksin]

Oxygen is NOT an issue with buckets. Scratches really shouldn't be counted as an issue against buckets or better bottles, IMO, because an overnight soak with hot oxyclean or PBW will take off anything that can stick to them- you NEVER need to scrub your fermentors again if you do this. If you're storing crap in your buckets that might scratch it or doing some other dumb thing with it, it shouldn't be a fermentor.

Add to that the easy-access top, and I say buckets win.

 

[NorthBayBrewer]

Opinion: I like 6.5 gallon plastic buckets and at least a 7.5 gal, (preferably 8 gal) pot for 5 gallon full boils.

EDIT: scratch the 7.5 gallon minimum, go 8 - 10 gallons