Glass secondary or plastic?

[cyberjoey80]

Hi all again. Quick question. I know alot of people prefer a glass carboy as their secondary fermenter over plastic (I use plastic now), but is their any real advantage. I have read that it produces a better flavor and then I have also read it does not really matter. The owner of my local brew store said it make no difference at all and kind of talked me out of it. If it does not make a difference, I would prefer to stick with plastic buckets as they are harder to break and let in much less light. Any suggestions are appreciated.:fro:

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I fall in the camp of "it doesn't matter" as long as you aren't talking about months and months of secondary such as you might do for a really big beer or lambic.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I agree with BvBG. Get some of those Better Bottles if you'd like to see what's happening in your beer. They're clear plastic carboys made from non-permeable material.

 

[ajf]

Hi all again. Quick question. I know alot of people prefer a glass carboy as their secondary fermenter over plastic (I use plastic now), but is their any real advantage. I have read that it produces a better flavor and then I have also read it does not really matter. The owner of my local brew store said it make no difference at all and kind of talked me out of it. If it does not make a difference, I would prefer to stick with plastic buckets as they are harder to break and let in much less light. Any suggestions are appreciated.:fro:

I use glass for two reasons:
1. I make wine, and the wine stays in the secondary for about 12 months before bottling.
2. I find that for me, glass is cheaper in the long run. I always end up scratching plastic within two or three years, but I have 25 year old glass fermenters that are still as good as the day I bought them. (I've never broken a carboy yet.)

If your LHBS talks you out of an unnecessary sale that could have increased their profits, I think you have a pretty dammed good LHBS.

-a.

 

[cyberjoey80]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, my local brew store is very good. The owner is very knowledgable and very educated in beer matters (does much else matter?).

 

[brewman !]

Get some of those Better Bottles if you'd like to see what's happening in your beer. They're clear plastic carboys made from non-permeable material.

Are those like the "carboys" that one buys drinking water in at the store ? Would they be airtight enough to use for secondary fermentation ? What about cold aging for a month ? What about aging a wine for a year ?

Thanks.

I found the answer to this question. The Better Bottles look pretty slick.

 

[Orfy]

There are several good reasons for glass.

They last longer, do not scratch as easily, there are theories that that the plastic stuff holds flavours and leach chemicals and absorb oxygen.

BUT if you prefer plastic or already have plastic then it's nothing to worry about, your brew will be fine.
I still do the odd brew in plastic.

 

[feedthebear]

I fall in the camp of "it doesn't matter" as long as you aren't talking about months and months of secondary such as you might do for a really big beer or lambic.

I've read that using a plastic secondary isn't bad for a lambic. By using a plastic bucket and wood chips, an oak cask conditioned lambic can be duplicated with out the hassle of breaking in a new cask or making sure old casks don't develop mold, rot, etc.

The idea is that both plastic and oak allow similiar amounts of oxygenation of the beer, which is acceptable for the style. The oak chips are to give the bacteria a place to live for transferring to future batches and to simulate the small amount of oak flavor that a cask would give to the beer.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I use PET carboys from Lowes. 3 gallons for $4.99 each w/ excellent brewing water to boot!!

You can ID PET by looking for a the recycling logo. Triangle with a "1" in the center. You occasionally will find PET or PETE adjacent to the logo.

I use them for both primarys & secondarys. My longest time in one particular bottle is 4 weeks.

As cheap as they are you can pitch/recycle them when they get scratched. I scratched one the other day with the bottle washer. After my boston lager is done its going to the recycle bin. Then off to Lowes for more water.

 

[Yooper]

I use BBs for my beer secondaries, but for my wine I use glass. I don't really know why- but my wine secondaries for 6 months or so and I know that glass is NOT gas permeable at all. It's probably just a phobia of mine, though, and not scientific at all.

Lorena

 

[dantodd]

No at all paranoid, glass in impermeable and plastic is not. For 3 or 4 weeks in secondary is beer is perfectly safe. For months in secondary like a wine or mead might spend I'd stick with glass.

As for oak chips vs. oak cask. There are organisms (brett in particular) that live at the liquid/air boundry within a barrel. They cannot live in a submerged chip/cube of oak. It is possible that they will survive in a chair leg but the surface area is much less. The bacteria etc. at the liquid/air boundry consume oxygen which keeps wine unoxidized.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I've got both.

Glass is pretty durable when it comes to cleaning. PET is not. It also seems to rinse better. Trub and foam blow-off seems to stick much less the bottle.

PET is safer when it comes to handling, but I'm pretty carefull with the glass carboy whenever I handle it, not so much with the PET. They are easily replaced w/o much cost.

You can also get glass carboys cheap from a local water distributor like Culligan, not to mention you get some good brewing H2O.

I would definately choose to use the glass carboy with longer storage batches.

I'm pretty happy with Lowe-Brand Aquapure PET Carboy. Most of my bottling is with PET quarts. Less work easy cleaning.