glass vs plastic

[jcaezza1]

My uncle makes wine in a plastic drum then after it stops working and he kills the yeast he transfers the wine to 6 gal glass carboys with airlocks and has it age and cure in the carboys. As he needs wine to drink after its ready he fills bottles from the carboys. He said never to use plastic carboys. I want to start making his wine and plastic 6 gal carboys are cheaper. Is glass better or is plastic just as good for this.

 

[Gduck]

If you're going to be aging it for awhile then glass is better. The reason why is oxygen will pass through the plastic over time and during the aging you can end up oxidizing the wine. Glass doesn't allow oxygen to pass through.

 

[sweetcell]

there are dozens, if not hundreds, of plastic vs glass threads that point out the pluses and minuses of each type of fermenter. use the search function to look them up. suggestion: use the google search instead of the default search by clicking the "down arrow" beside the word search at the top of the page.

people are tired of this debate so you probably won't get many replies here... it's all been said before.

 

[amandabab]

plastic must bucket because leaving the lid loose makes the beginning stages easy.

then glass or stainless because its in it for a long time.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

When using a plastic carboy as a secondary or for storage it should ONLY be the type that are marked PETE (or PET) ... this is to avoid chemicals leaching into the wine from the plastic.
This designation is found on the bottom of the carboy or jug with the word PETE or PET under a little triangle made of arrows with the number "1" in the triangle. (example on this page ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code )
These PETE carboys can include various ones from brewers/vinters stores, Absopure and elsewhere.

When it comes to storing wine etc, the closure (the airlock or stopper) is particularly important. The closure is much more likely to allow unwanted oxygen than the carboy itself.

Here's some info on a specialty closure system .. the Better Bottles system which includes the carboy and closure. This is a particularly good system for longer term storage.
Info at ...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/better-bottle-vs-water-cooler-350383/index2.html#post4374720

Better Bottles has an informative website as well.

 

[Honda88]

you can use plastic if you want, I use glass but as long as you are just using your carboy for clearing purposes then it doesnt really matter.

 

[MarkKF]

New vs. new plastic is cheaper than glass but there are a lot of used glass carboys out there cheaper than anything new and as long as its not chipped or cracked glass can be cleaned like new.