I'm switching to better bottles

[Mojzis]

Better yet, I'm switching to buckets.

I dropped it about 4 batches ago and didn't see any cracks. Since I no chill, I poured my hot DF 60 min wort into it and I heard a pop. Well....I had to do an emergency siphon into what I had left. The 1 gal sangria jars are what's left of the beer.

I have come to realized I am much too clumsy for glass carboy's.

 

[BigRob]

No Chilling and glass generally doesn't end well.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I thought you aren't supposed to put hot liquids in carboys as they aren't made from tempered glass... Regardless, glad no one was hurt!!! I'm making the transition away from glass in my brewery too.

 

[chemman14]

hot liquid + glass is a no no

 

[Mojzis]

It worked for a year lol I need to find a lid so I can just cover it and transfer when it cools.

 

[spkguitar]

Cooling really is the answer. Hot wort in anything but metal is going to be a bad idea.

Check out passedpawn's post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/boiling-water-ok-pet-carboy-374623/#post4688488

 

[cheezydemon3]

Save yourself another epiphany and start fermenting in kegs, or at least buckets.

 

[passedpawn]

Glad that sharp glass didn't bite you.

 

[Mojzis]

Would buckets handle the heat? I know better bottles wont.

 

[jiggs_casey]

Glass flexes with temperature. I'm kinda surprised you made it a year!

That being said, better bottles might be the better way to go. They're nearly half the cost of glass now anyway.

I've got 3 glass carboys that I would love to get rid of.

 

[AlCophile]

Mojzis: You MIGHT have gotten away with it if you had slooooowwwwllllyyyy....brought the carboy up to temp before adding wort. After all, aren't glass vessels made from molten glass? How is that possible? There ARE Pyrex carboys, but they prob'ly run a few hundred dollars each. Check out PET carboys at TheVintageShop.ca(canada).
They are available from ecKraus, in Mo. And, you'll hear that BBottles will 'catch yeast on the ribs in the sides'. Well, so do the ribless VS ones, so no diff. I'm slowly going to kegs-the nearest thing to a chemical reactor at a good price. C.o. chi.com in Ca. They have all sorts of stuff! Even 10gal kegs. C.o. craigslist...may have to wait, but damn good prices on BB, other PETs and kegs. Go to CL in Conn., one guy has hundreds of kegs, not too far from you. Good luck.

 

[Mojzis]

I went to Lowes this morning and just picked up an airtight lid and bucket (both food grade) and a grommet. 7$ total....much much cheaper than glass or better bottles. I can't imagine breaking one of these in my stupidity either.

 

[F250]

I went to Lowes this morning and just picked up an airtight lid and bucket (both food grade) and a grommet. 7$ total....much much cheaper than glass or better bottles. I can't imagine breaking one of these in my stupidity either.

Aren't those just 5 gal tho?

Rick

 

[Mojzis]

I got their 5 g for my 3 g batches. A friend gave me a 6.5 g bucket a while ago that's been in the closet. Idk what they cost at the LHBS.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Pouring hot wort into a fermenter or especially carboy I'm surprised you haven't had more oxidation because of Hotside Aeration.

 

[Mojzis]

I use a siphon so it gently fills the fermenter.

 

[BigRob]

Not sure I understand the point, why not get the Winpaks like all the folks down under use? They're about as cheap as buckets, and they have a nice hard seal on them, then when you've got a fermenter clean and ready, you just pop the top open and dump into your bucket/carboy/betterbottle/keg/conical/bathtub/etc.

 

[Intimnasc]

How come your not chillin g in tthe pot? I set my pot in an Ice chest with Ice and water until it gets to about 80 then I start transferring it to the carboy and getting it ready for final fermentation.

 

[Mojzis]

Not sure I understand the point, why not get the Winpaks like all the folks down under use? They're about as cheap as buckets, and they have a nice hard seal on them, then when you've got a fermenter clean and ready, you just pop the top open and dump into your bucket/carboy/betterbottle/keg/conical/bathtub/etc.

I can't find one for a reasonable price, the places where I get my stuff don't sell them. If I find one for a good price I might get it. But if the bucket can handle the heat I don't see a point. I'm not concerned about the air and contamination. I've no chilled a 2.5 g batch in that 6 g carboy many times without an issue.

How come your not chillin g in tthe pot? I set my pot in an Ice chest with Ice and water until it gets to about 80 then I start transferring it to the carboy and getting it ready for final fermentation.

A few reasons. I don't want to chill. I don't see good results from ice baths. I'd buy a chiller but I don't have the space for another piece of equipment. I also don't like carrying around a pot full of hot wort. And my kettle doesn't have a lid. If it did I imagine I'd ferment right in the kettle.

I don't mind at all letting it sit overnight. Its cheaper, uses less equipment and its effective. I have done half of my 30 batches this way with very good results. Its just apparent that using glass was a dumb idea.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Would buckets handle the heat? I know better bottles wont.

People boil in the damned buckets.

I sure as eff wouldn't, but they can evidently take it.

 

[dbsmith]

A few reasons. I don't want to chill. I don't see good results from ice baths. I'd buy a chiller but I don't have the space for another piece of equipment. I also don't like carrying around a pot full of hot wort. And my kettle doesn't have a lid. If it did I imagine I'd ferment right in the kettle.

I don't mind at all letting it sit overnight. Its cheaper, uses less equipment and its effective. I have done half of my 30 batches this way with very good results. Its just apparent that using glass was a dumb idea.

Chill your damned wort you heathen!

 

[zeg]

I brewed for almost a year without an immersion chiller. Ice baths or waiting were fine, I told myself. Then I got one as a gift and it has changed my life.

Well, not quite, but it has made a HUGE difference to my brew-day quality of life. It means no moving near-boiling pots of wort, using the handles that the packaging expressly warned not to use when the kettle was full. It means I can transfer into my better bottles in 20-30 minutes (if I remember to turn off the heat) instead of hours, even if I don't have cold top-up water already in place. For storage, I just keep it in one of my sanitizing buckets, so it doesn't really take up much space.

Glad you survived your carboy failure. Remember, the BB temp limit is 140°F (some say 150°F, but why push it?). I wouldn't put water hotter than that in any plastic vessel.

 

[wheel3er]

From my experience the greatest gains in my brewing came when I bought a plate chiller. It saved me over an hour on my brew day and I trully believe it made my beer that much better. I still ferment in buckets though. I have spigots on the bottom which make kegging day so much easier.

 

[kombat]

It worked for a year lol I need to find a lid so I can just cover it and transfer when it cools.

Why don't you just chill your wort as soon as you've finished boiling?

You'll get a better cold break, clearer beer, less risk of contamination/infection, and don't have to worry about moving hot liquids between vessels.

 

[kombat]

I use a siphon so it gently fills the fermenter.

Are those siphons rated to handle the hot temperatures you're subjecting them to? Are the buckets you just bought? Are they potentially leaching chemicals into your wort?

 

[kombat]

I don't want to chill.

And I don't want to clean my equipment. But it comes with making beer, so I do it.

I don't see good results from ice baths.

Agreed. Using ice baths for anything over 2 gallons seems too slow and impractical to me. So get an immersion chiller. It's $50 worth of copper and fittings, and an hour of your time.

I'd buy a chiller but I don't have the space for another piece of equipment.

Mine fits inside my (rectangular cooler) mash tun when not in use.

I also don't like carrying around a pot full of hot wort.

Totally understandable. So don't. My chiller goes into the kettle during the last 10 minutes of the boil. Then I turn off the flame and start the water. I don't move the hot wort anywhere. It just sits on the (extinguished) burner while it chills down to 65 F (about 15 minutes).

After it's chilled, I move it over to the table so I can use gravity to transfer it into the carboy, but I never move it while it's hot.

And my kettle doesn't have a lid.

You don't need a lid to chill. Mine has a lid, but I never use it.

Funny story: The first time I used my boil kettle, I actually did put the lid on after I finished chilling it, to keep contaminants from falling into the wort while I transferred it into the fermenter. I connected the tube to the ball valve, and with the lid on the kettle, opened up the valve and started the flow. In just a few seconds, the lid started to buckle inward and made that bending metal noise. I quickly realized the wort flowing out of the (effectively airtight) kettle was creating a vacuum that was sucking the lid down. I quickly closed the valve and pried the lid off, breaking the seal before it could seriously damage the lid.

If it did I imagine I'd ferment right in the kettle.

Nah, then I could only ever have one batch of beer going at a time. As it is, I have 4 batches in various stages of fermenting, and if the weather is nice, I'll likely brew again next weekend. I can't commit my kettle to 4-6 weeks of fermenting/cold crashing/clarifying every time I brew.

I don't mind at all letting it sit overnight. Its cheaper,

Except when your carboy explodes.

uses less equipment and its effective.

You need the carboy anyway, so the only extra piece of equipment is really the chiller itself ($50). And I don't believe "it's effective" is accurate, as you're missing out on achieving a good cold break, which is important for obtaining crystal-clear beer.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Sounds like Kombat needs to read up on the prevalence/benefits of no-chill brewing.

I use a CFC myself, but no-chill is a valid (and WIDELY practiced) alternative.

 

[kombat]

Sounds like Kombat needs to read up on the prevalence/benefits of no-chill brewing.

Cliff's Notes?

How do you stave off contamination? How is the clarity of the resulting beer in the absence of a good cold break?

 

[zeg]

I've done no-chill (or nearly so) brews without any clarity problems. May not have been commercial filtered/centrifuged beer clarity, I don't recall, but I got plenty of break. The one I remember wasn't exactly no chill, but it was only ineffectual chilling (sticking a kettle in a snow bank doesn't work very well-- it melts the snow right around it, and then it's very well insulated...)

As long as you keep the wort covered, it's very unlikely to pick up any contamination. I've done a few next-morning (or, with my lagers, next evening) pitches and never had any infections. In most of those cases, I used an IC, so the wort was a very hospitable growth medium. As long as you're reasonably sanitary, you're unlikely to get an infection that takes hold faster than yeast pitched 12-24 hours later can overpower.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Cliff's Notes?

How do you stave off contamination? How is the clarity of the resulting beer in the absence of a good cold break?

Do your research!

The question of how do you stave off contamination in no chill brewing is a silly one. How do you stave off contamination in your boil kettle? Boiling temperatures, of course. If you dump boiling hot wort into a sanitized vessel and let it cool to room temperature for 48 hours (or even a couple of months) before pitching the yeast, you have a more sanitary set of conditions than someone who uses a chiller.

As far as cold break, not everyone cares about crystal clear beer, and to those who do I offer one word of advice: gelatin.