Carboy vs. Bucket

[Brew-Happy]

Google Fight : Make this fight with googleFight ale VS lager

Lager wins! but i like ales

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=beer&word2=water

Water wins!

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

These threads always digress into ridiculousness because no one can discuss plastic vs. glass more than a couple times. A simple search yields days of reading and at the end it is all just personal preference. We are a community of drunks, how can things not divolve to google fights....

Google Fight : Make this fight with googleFight drayman86 VS Revvy

No hard feelings, thick skin is always a necessity here.

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Boerderij+Kabouter&word2=Revvy

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Tenchiro&word2=Revvy

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=conpewter&word2=Revvy

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=fastricky&word2=Revvy

Damn Revvy destroys us all....

 

[Revvy]

These threads always digress into ridiculousness because no one can discuss plastic vs. glass more than a couple times. A simple search yields days of reading and at the end it is all just personal preference. We are a community of drunks, how can things not divolve to google fights....

Damn Revvy destroys us all....

Lindsay VS Revvy

But not by Lindsay Lohan......

 

[richbrostrom]

The questions aren't quite the same.

For primary, you're better off with a bigger container than the volume you're putting in it; fermentation's going to create a big volume of foam. Also, you're creating a ton of CO2 so the shape isn't really important. Consequently, a 6.5 gallon bucket (for a 5-gallon batch) is a cheap solution, though a large carboy (plastic or glass) is also fine.

For secondary, you want something the same size as your batch with a small amount of empty space above the beer to prevent as much oxygen as possible from coming in contact. Consequently, a 5-gallon carboy (for a 5-gallon batch), plastic or glass, is preferred since the narrow neck allows less oxygen in. Ideally your beer reaches up to the neck, eliminating a large empty space in the carboy.

Finally, many beers don't need a secondary fermentation at all.

Thanks, I'll do a search before posting next time.

 

[flyangler18]

Some participants in this thread should be ashamed of themselves.

I understand the good natured ribbing, but you should take the time to address the OPs question before lambasting them for not doing a search and ranting about forum etiquette. Or worse, devolving a thread that had some merit into nothing but drivel.

And for the record, related threads are only visible after the posting has been made. If I am creating a new thread, the related threads features does absolutely nothing for me.

Carry on.

 

[SumnerH]

These threads always digress into ridiculousness because no one can discuss plastic vs. glass more than a couple times. A simple search yields days of reading and at the end it is all just personal preference.

The thing is, he didn't ask about glass vs. plastic. He asked about buckets vs. carboys, which is about the shape of a container and not the material it's made of.

There is some consensus* that a carboy (be it glass or PET) is better for secondaries to help prevent oxidation (the narrow neck means there's less headspace, and less O2 exposure), and that the shape doesn't matter much (if at all) for primaries. And there is also some consensus that a primary fermentor should be bigger than the batch of beer you're making, to help prevent blowoff.

*Not complete, but pretty broad

 

[Homercidal]

Thanks, I'll do a search before posting next time.

Wow, rich, they really nailed you to the cross this time!

Granted, there have been plenty of VS threads on this board, but i'm surprised at the tone of this one. Normally, these guys are much nicer.

FWIW - I use a bucket for primary and a carboy for secondary. Here's why:

Buckets are cheap and are easy to clean. There is lots of trub and gunk around the rim so it is easy to wipe with a SPONGE (not a brush or green scrubby thing; don't want to scratch it) and have a nice handle and I can drill a hole for s spigot just up from the bottom to pour the beer off when bottling, or transferring to secondary.

The secondary is a carboy, because my carboy is a 5 gallon glass unit and I am positive that I can reduce the O2 getting into the beer to nearly nothing (the airlock system might leak a tiny bit). Therefore it make sense to clarify in that.

However, I rarely secondary anymore, because consensus seems to be that most beers will not be in any container long enough to worry about autolysis, one of the big reasons people used secondaries to begin with. (Another vs thread). A big beer like a barleywine might require one.

That said, there are lots of people using carboys, or Better Bottles for primaries too. I just like my buckets.

 

[Homercidal]

No luck on paint removal. Though if I bottled a stout I could bring it to work... j/k!

I wonder if it would be worth the time to sandblast these bottles. I have a BUNCH of those small Coke bottles in the basement getting ready for my barleywine and I think a blasted look would be cool.

 

[llazy_llama]

Okay, I do feel kind of bad. I didn't realize the thread was going to blow up like this. Normally these threads go like this:

OP: Hey, what's better, X Vs. Y?
Llama: Do a search
OP: Oh, hey, my bad. Yeah, I searched and found the relevant info.
Llama: No worries. Now you know. Glad you found what you needed.
The End

This one kind of got blown up, and I apologize for that. Sorry, Rich.

Also, Homer, glad to see you upgraded!

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Ahhhh...much better. HomebrewTALK as it should be.

 

[rico567]

+1 one to that...I have 9 and some are buckets, some are carboys, some are glass, some are plastic, some are even water bottles....and they all work..

But anyway....what I'm getting at is why is it that people instinctively phrase their questions in "vs" terms?...why don't people use the word "OR" anymore????

Buckets or carboys
glass or plastic
iodophor or starsan


or
or
or

Or even

AND

Buckets AND Carboys, which do you prefer?

why do people make it into a contest, or a battle???? Why is the -VS- always used???

It's this linguistic thingy that I can't understand, and yeah it bugs the heck outta me...maybe I'm pc or something, -vs- means someone has to lose....but you can't lose usually using EITHER of the choices???

A fascinating question, to which I doubt there'll ever be a satisfactory answer. The 1840s in the U.S. seem to have been all about "or." Lots of alternatives explored, huge numbers of movements, utopian socialist communities, etc. Then came the 1850s and it was all "vs." Slavery in the territories vs. free labor, state vs. national rights, etc. Then we fought a bloody civil war. The only question this might answer would be "How can you demonstrate that human character can embody both innocence and Original Sin?"

As for why "vs" might be on the rise.....look around. Me, I fear it.

 

[conpewter]

Before this thread devolved into google fighting, the question was answered a couple times.

+1 one to that...I have 9 and some are buckets, some are carboys, some are glass, some are plastic, some are even water bottles....and they all work..

...

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

A fascinating question, to which I doubt there'll ever be a satisfactory answer. The 1840s in the U.S. seem to have been all about "or." Lots of alternatives explored, huge numbers of movements, utopian socialist communities, etc. Then came the 1850s and it was all "vs." Slavery in the territories vs. free labor, state vs. national rights, etc. Then we fought a bloody civil war. The only question this might answer would be "How can you demonstrate that human character can embody both innocence and Original Sin?"

As for why "vs" might be on the rise.....look around. Me, I fear it.

uh........ban

 

[llazy_llama]

Why ban?
(10 char)

 

[richbrostrom]

Okay, I do feel kind of bad. I didn't realize the thread was going to blow up like this. Normally these threads go like this:

OP: Hey, what's better, X Vs. Y?
Llama: Do a search
OP: Oh, hey, my bad. Yeah, I searched and found the relevant info.
Llama: No worries. Now you know. Glad you found what you needed.
The End

This one kind of got blown up, and I apologize for that. Sorry, Rich.

Also, Homer, glad to see you upgraded!

No Worries

 

[Revvy]

A fascinating question, to which I doubt there'll ever be a satisfactory answer. The 1840s in the U.S. seem to have been all about "or." Lots of alternatives explored, huge numbers of movements, utopian socialist communities, etc. Then came the 1850s and it was all "vs." Slavery in the territories vs. free labor, state vs. national rights, etc. Then we fought a bloody civil war. The only question this might answer would be "How can you demonstrate that human character can embody both innocence and Original Sin?"

As for why "vs" might be on the rise.....look around. Me, I fear it.

WOW..this is actually a fascinating answer...I'd be interested to explore it further...I've always been interested in human dynamics (most minister types are...."why people tic" or "Why/What people believe.") That's why I FINALLY posed the question...it's this phenomenon that I've been really curious about...

I mean, me personally, I use unconsciously I guess have always used "and/or" where it seems a lot of people use versus....