explain to me the Better Bottle system.....

[elbajista]

Someone on here had posted a few photos and a diagram of a system that utilizes better bottles with spigots to transfer beer from Primary to Seconday fermentation. I can't seem to find it, and being that I'm going to probably buy some Better Bottles from my local winery tomorrow, I could use some input.

Is it worth it to pay for the spigots that are more than the price of the actual carboy?

 

[SuperiorBrew]

www.better-bottle.com

 

[malkore]

"Is it worth it to pay for the spigots that are more than the price of the actual carboy?"

My opinion, no. I prefer to siphon, than drain with a spigot. I don't know about better bottles, but people that use buckets w/ spigots for primary often complain about dumping too much yeast into secondary, because the spigot is too low.
I can very easily not suck yeast up with my auto-siphon, and it only costs about $10, one time...instead of $15-$20 per better bottle.

 

[Bobby_M]

If money is no object, the racking port on the better bottle seems awesome. However, malkore is right that you'd have to spend a ton of money if you have a few BBs and I don't think it's a great value.

There's no problem sucking up yeast or trub because you can adjust the height of the inlet on the fly.

Mortals with limited budgets just use plain BBs like any other carboy. Rack in, rack out.

 

[elbajista]

Thanks for the feedback! I figured it was a bit out-landish. Today is my day to hit Lowes/HomeDepot for a bottling bucket, and the local winery for my carboys.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

It all depends on how you look at it. Is a $10-12 auto siphon needed when a $1.50 piece of hose will do the same thing?
I really cant see how they are charging as much as the for the plastic racking arm and valve as they do for the whole bottle but if you ever use one I bet you would want them on all your BB's .

 

[menschmaschine]

I use BBs with the spigots and love them. They are adjustable (while racking) to avoid sediment. I use normal sanitation procedures for them (iodophor) and never remove them. As an extra measure, before racking I wipe down the outside and up the hole of the spigot with 70% Isopropyl alcohol. I don't regret buying them, but they are pretty expensive and not necessarily worth it for the cost.

 

[raceskier]

Go to the BB page Superior posted, select the Products tab at the top, then the How-To Tips at the left and drop down to Racking. There is a good explanation of the variety of options available when using the ported bottles. The big advantage I see is that until bottling, if you CO2 purge as they suggest, you can keep the fermentation process Oxygen free for the entire time after initial oxygenation. If you have a beer gun, you could even keep the bottling O2 free. In addition, you can greatly reduce the opportunity for contamination. From the time I drain my wort from my covered, valved brewpot through a chiller into the BB, until I bottle, the only time I remove the bottle closures is to aerate/add yeast and to swap fittings at transfers. Very hygenic.

Not that I really like Better Bottles or anything.