Glass vs plastic

[LakewoodBrew]

Stainless.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

I say stainless steel. Oh wait...that wasn't an option.

My advice it to use both and develop your own preference through experience.

Drop a carboy or two while washing with soapy hands and you will develop a preference pretty quick. My brew-buddy did that to two... (he still has fingers tho) I don't use glass anymore.

 

[Gwitz]

I wouldnt mind plastic if they didnt suck air when you pick them up. But I think revvy and a few others hit it on the head. Iv used plastic, glass and stainless, none of them made bad beer, so use what you can get your hands on, if you dont like it try something else. And you might eventually get to the point where you debate plastic verse stainless conical.

 

[Jackstraw79]

Suck air??

 

[rycov]

Suck air??

i think its a minor thing. since they are more flexible the bend a little when you pick them up. causing the space inside to be a little smaller and possibly sucking a little air in. if you have the S shaped airlock or have taken your airlock off then it shouldn't be an issue. also if you don't move your fermenter it shouldn't be an issue

 

[ThickHead]

Drop a carboy or two while washing with soapy hands and you will develop a preference pretty quick. My brew-buddy did that to two... (he still has fingers tho) I don't use glass anymore.

Yup...some people don't do well with glass. A certain respect must be paid. Glad to hear your buddy's fingers are intact.

 

[seabass07]

Except you can't ferment a proper batch of beer in a 5 gallon container...
Spend the extra $8 and get equipment that will fit your needs.

I have a bucket, a 6 gallon BB, and a 6.5 gallon Glass carboy.
The M#$%^@F&*($@& glass is heavy. The BB has a loose bottom, and the pail stinks.

It's no different than a 5 gallon BB, or glass carboy, or 5 gallon PE bucket. To each his own. You can't make a 5 gallon batch in one, but you can make a 4.5 gallon batch, which is easy enough to do the math and adjust ingredients.

 

[houndsbreath]

I'm retiring this bottling bucket/ fermenter. All the mold on the outside has me worried about contamination. i havent had any contaminated batces but this thing just looks nasty and wont get totally clean! For $15 i dont mind replacing after 10 batches. If i could only afford a conical! Anyone ever try the V-vessel for beer?

 

[kwksilver]

I know this is a topic that has been beaten to death, but I am surprised that the plastic nature of things is rarely visited in terms of heat.


It is true that one must be very specific and cannot just blanket hate plastic things, but if you want to be safe here is a very reliable rule of thumb. A plastic is a polymer it is a repeating chain of the same units. All plastics are made by mixing the basic unit with a radical that propagates radical formation and allows this to polymerize. There is not a single plastic on gods green earth whose chain ends are not ready to react!. It never was and never can be inert. The warmer the plastic the more reactive that last unit.
Our DNA just so happens to also be plastic that is not the reason free radicals damage it, but its one of those populistic things you can mention to raise the "worried factor". Now under cool and more or less ph neutral conditions most plastics don't interact much with food. However the amount of bisphenols that are leeched in for example tomatoe canned products are outright criminal and the body of scientific literature that supports it is pretty clear. That doesn't mean its illegal although very harmful to you. The main problem here is the acidity. "saran" wrap is vinyl based. it is a very soft plastic that is very reactive and should under no circumstance be incontact with hot food. Nor is it microwave safe. Of course every restaurant and cfeteria spans that right over their incredible hot food trays where it melts and sags right onto the food. I see it every day. Officially thats for your food safety. its carcinogenic and thats not a maybe or a hippie green freak statement. My point? examine your beer solution as a whole. check:

1.) tubing
2.) mashing tun
3.) fermentation vessels

Your carboy holds cool liquid only. That is your smallest problem. I wouldn't transfer my hot wort through vinyl tubing NSF stamped or not if you held a gun to my head. You could use thermoplastic tubing as that is a lot LESS reactive at such temperatures. But at that price point you have no reaosn not to use latex or silicone do you? Your CO2 line or beer line in your kegerator can be that vinyl stuff and I wouldn't care. In fact mine are.

The other very impressive thing to me are those rubbermaid mashing tuns. Yup they are cheap. Yup they don't harm your taste. THAT plastic sure as chicken stew is not food safe at those temperatures. I don't point that out to people who do this unless they ask me for their opinion. Its obnoxious to lecture others about their plastic safety. Unless a plastic item has been specifically designated as heat safe it NEVER is. If you don't know for sure and want to find out send the item you are questioning through the autoclave and see how it does.

I hope I didn't open pandoras box here

 

[passedpawn]

I hope I didn't open pandoras box here

No, you didn't. It's been opened for a long time. You just stirred the fear soup again. Thanks for all the thought-provoking info.

I agree with not heating in plastic (I have a SS mash tun), and also with moving hot liquids in silicone tubing. But I continue to prefer the plastic better bottles for fermentation.

 

[C-Rider]

Living here in Paradise, Hawai`i, in an un-airconditioned (ain't needed just open the windows and let the trades blow through) house my fermenter has to be in a swamp cooler or something like that. That said, it's out of sight cept when I replace the ice and remove the towel.

So for me a plastic bucket is all I need. Can't see thru the towel and into the dark muck bucket 1/2 filled w/water under the back deck in the shade.

 

[kwksilver]

And I would say that your approach is reasonable. There is no arguing with the convenience of plastics and I think it is not the question of whether they react with thigns, but rather a matter of degree and amounts.

 

[kwksilver]

I'm retiring this bottling bucket/ fermenter. All the mold on the outside has me worried about contamination. i havent had any contaminated batces but this thing just looks nasty and wont get totally clean! For $15 i dont mind replacing after 10 batches. If i could only afford a conical! Anyone ever try the V-vessel for beer?

How do you feel about fermenting in corneys?

I am not in any way affiliated with these guys, but I have 6 of these 'clearance" things. He actually guarantees they hold pressure. other sites only do that on their rebuilt ones. It really doesnt get much cheaper and all you do is unscrew the gas side and put your choice of blow off solution there. You cna transfer corney to corney without air exposure. it just doesn't get cheaper or better for fermenting imho.

I don't even bend the dip tubes. try this:

1.) do primary fermentation per your gusto, let some pressure build up.
2.) take 2nd corney connect gas to beer and flush with the natural CO2
3.) connect beer to beer and gas to gas after you bleed out some gas pressure from the empty corney.
3a.)tilt the primary fermenter corney AWAY from the dip tube. This way you transfer very little gunk and are left with a very agreeable amount of beer and yeast for culturing
4.) instant no hassle transfer

At less than $25 shipped per "fermenter" I really see no reason not to.

 

[viking73]

And you might eventually get to the point where you debate plastic verse stainless conical.

There's actually a debate over this?

 

[joety]

I go with Better Bottles and/or Buckets. I've never had a problem cleaning a better bottle, a good soak in hot PBW solution gets all the gunk out. Better Bottles don't seem to hold the odor that the buckets do and the fact that you can easily stick stuff in the bucket leads me to think that its easier to scratch the bucket. I've never stuck anything other than a thief in my better bottles. I have a pair of glass carboys that were given to me and knowing a guy that almost had his thumb cut off because of a glass carboy dropping incident, makes me very cautious of using them.

+1

One of the guys I work with quit home brewing over a similar incident. He has some ugly scars on his hand.

I have broken one myself. I was using a homemade carboy drainer. Needless to say I purchased a couple commercial ones since.

 

[ewibolo]

This will at least take away the "plastic is way cheaper" argument. In no way am I affiliated with the seller of these or amazon. I am not sure if this is ok to do here, but I saw these a little too late.....I bought them locally for 12.50 more each one! My LHBS probably bought them here also.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002VFXW5W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[danorocks17]

I have both and I like both. I use my glass for beer, and the BBs for apfelwein. never had a problem with either. I doubt this helps you much hahaha.

 

[bcryan]

i don't know anything about anything but i know that in canada they have banned certain types of plastics because they are know carcinogens. even plastics that were "food safe". i threw out all my plastic water bottles and tupperware. go glass. better for ya. so they say

 

[kwksilver]

+1

One of the guys I work with quit home brewing over a similar incident. He has some ugly scars on his hand.

I have broken one myself. I was using a homemade carboy drainer. Needless to say I purchased a couple commercial ones since.

There was some sort of incident in iraq where donated soda cans had become harmful because the plastic liner inside was unsafe at the temperatures that were reached. it had to do with a reaction between the aspartame and the plastic liner? I cannot recall the details. I wouldn't even wash with hot water if my carboy was plastic.

 

[joety]

There was some sort of incident in iraq where donated soda cans had become harmful because the plastic liner inside was unsafe at the temperatures that were reached. it had to do with a reaction between the aspartame and the plastic liner? I cannot recall the details. I wouldn't even wash with hot water if my carboy was plastic.

I think they are rated up to 120 degrees, so you do have to be a little careful.

 

[kwksilver]

I think they are rated up to 120 degrees, so you do have to be a little careful.

Good to know. I am sure they have a rating, I just did not know what it was.

 

[brewit2it]

Talk about timely. Morebeer has 6 gallon plastic carboys as their deal of the day today plus free shipping with orders over $39.00 right now.

A carboy and an ingredient kit for around 40 bucks shipped =

 

[Gwitz]

There's actually a debate over this?

Sorry, internal debate, price wise anyways. But iv decided im going to eventually get some hoppers from toledo spinning or find them locally and build some 30 ish gallon conical fermenters. At least thats my plan/dream right now.