Big Mouth Carboys. Thiughts??

[Aerofan81]

Hey everyone, I'm thinking about getting a couple of big mouth Carboys to use for my fermenting since a lot of the brews I make are some robust flavor that can linger in plastic. Anyone have any success with a particular brand? I was looking at this Kegco one. http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home-brew/SD-7340J-glass-jar.html

Or this from Northern Brewer. http://www.northernbrewer.com/big-mouth-bubbler-evo-2-6-5-gallon

The issue I'm having in choosing is the kegco one has no reviews that I can find anywhere and the Big Mouth Bubbler has really poor reviews on being not so airtight with the new EVO2 series and their lids.

Anyone have either of these?

 

[CJ-3]

With whichever style you choose just keep in mind that there are a lot of threads here where homebrewers have gotten seriously injured by a broken glass carboy. Some really nasty pics on this site of the stitches received.

 

[day_trippr]

It's hella worse than "broken carboys" because those stupid MW/NB glass bombs are way thinner than any legit carboy and have been broken by simply lifting them in a carboy carrier.

Carboys break from misuse or straight out drops.
Those bubblers grenade without legitimate provocation...

Cheers!

 

[Hoppity]

I swore off glass two years ago and haven't bled since. I only used thick Italian carboys before that and still bled twice. Use plastic and secondary in a keg if you're paranoid about leaching plastic.

 

[mongoose33]

I have the northern brewer Big Mouth Bubblers.

I like 'em a lot. I read the reviews on people not being able to get them to seal, and here is my experience (albeit, limited):

The first time i used them, no problem sealing. The airlock bubbled as it's supposed to, and the beer fermented.

The second time, I didn't get any bubbling. Good kreusen on top so yeast activity clearly was happening, but a dead airlock. I contacted NB about it, talked to one of their "brewmasters," and he asked if the ring was tightened down fully. I thought it was, but gave it one more crank to tighten it further, and it sealed.

Aside from the fact that it's not glass (meaning lighter and less dangerous), it's also wonderfully easy to clean. I racked beer out of the primary this afternoon; after I had that all settled, I laid the BMB on its side on a folded towel next to the sink, sprayed it out with the sprayer, put in a quart or so of PBW solution, reached inside with a soft cloth, and cleaned it right out. A couple of spray rinses, and there I was--a clean fermenter. Maybe five minutes.

Could the seal be better? I don't know--it's sealed for me twice, but then I'm using the equipment I have, and not the equipment others have, with which they've had difficulty.

I'm going to get 1 or 2 of the baby BMB fermenters, the 1-gallon sizes, so I can do some playing around. I also wish they offered them in 3-gallon sizes so it would be easy to do split batches for experimentation.