My first better bottle complaint

[Bigsnake]

I can't complain much about this thing so far other than the massive opening. My blow-out tube doesn't work on it so I had to rig up another setup. Otherwise I love how light the thing is and it makes cleaning it out easy! When moving it around I'm not worried about shaking it and accidentally hitting the counter and having it blow up in my hands.

But, the main complaint is, these things float!!!

Due to my house being warm most of the time (74 ish at night and 78 ish during the day) I have to use the bucket and ice bottle route. I can fill it up to the beer level on the glass carboy and it stays firmly stuck to the bottom. This better bottle is floating!

So do I hate the Better bottle? Well, yesterday I just ordered another 6 gallon and a 5 gallon.

 

[Dagatris]

Seems to me that you need a few anchors strapped onto that bad boy.

 

[DavidF66]

Better Bottles have a domed bottom (punt?) that traps quite a bit of air when lowered into a water bath. I'll bet you could use a piece of tubing underneath the bottle to vent that air out and it would settle down. I haven't tried it but seems like it might work.

 

[Bigsnake]

Better Bottles have a domed bottom (punt?) that traps quite a bit of air when lowered into a water bath. I'll bet you could use a piece of tubing underneath the bottle to vent that air out and it would settle down. I haven't tried it but seems like it might work.

Good point, I didn't even think of that. I'll give that a shot to see if there is any air underneath it.

I was wondering how many stainless steel balls you'd have to buy to put in there to get it to settle down.

 

[Brew-Happy]

Instead of ball bearings, use a bungee cord. Secure one end to the side of the bucket. Stretch it and wrap around the neck of the bottle. Then secure the other end to the other side of the bucket. The tension would pull the bottle down. Plus you wouldn't need to sanitize the bungee.

 

[hexmonkey]

Instead of ball bearings, use a bungee cord. Secure one end to the side of the bucket. Stretch it and wrap around the neck of the bottle. Then secure the other end to the other side of the bucket. The tension would pull the bottle down. Plus you wouldn't need to sanitize the bungee.

Put the ball bearings in a few ziploc bags, duct-taped together into a shape with a hole in the center, hang them over the neck of the bottle to weigh it down. Or, if you know anyone who can sew, maybe they could sew together a donut-shaped bag instead...

 

[Beerthoven]

I would fill the tub only up to the point where the BB starts to float, then remove just enough water so it sits still on the bottom. Seems like the most natural solution to me.

I doubt that having a few inches of beer above the water line is going to make a measurable difference in temperature during fermentation. Especially considering the mixing that is going on inside.

 

[Whiskey]

Odd I have never had one float when it was full of beer! How full are you getting the bottle? I only fill the water up to about 3/4 though....

 

[patrck17]

Hey, I just bought a 6g and 5g better-bottle today. I got them mostly because of the spigots. I had never thought about them floating though. I use the same set up with a rubbermaid tub filled with water, though I use a temperature controlled cooling unit I salvaged from my old dorm mini-fridge to keep em cool. I keep the water around 62 degrees F, though I suspect inefficiently since I have no insulation on the setup.

Anyways I was wondering how much water you have in your tub? Correct me if I am wrong here but isn't wort more dense then water? That would be why your hydrometer floats higher in wort then in water. I would imagine if you filled the tub to the exact same level as the wort in the carboy it should sit on bottom the same way a glass carboy does. Even if it is floating I would still expect that the wort level would never surpass the water level. I guess the plastic itself could contribute to the buoyancy, I am just surprised it is that significant. Let me know if removing the air in the recess under the bottle helps.

Also, do the bottles have graduation marks for volume, or do you have to mark them yourself?

 

[stevea1210]

I don't use anywhere near that much water. I keep my primary in restaurant bus tubs, so I only use about 5-6 inches of water in the bus tub, plus two 2 liter frozen bottles. That has always been more than enough to control my fermentation temps. I've pitched around 80 before, and had it down to 66 in a few hours with this method. I do the wet tshirt trick with it also.

Have you tried less water? You may not need that much.

 

[Bigsnake]

I did the tube under it and it didn't help. I probably have too much water in the tub. It's just I've always filled the water up above the beer level and never had a problem before. The BBs float though. lol

 

[TeleTwanger]

+1 on less water...I put enough water in the tub with bottled ice to be just below the fermostrip which is about halfway. I can get it down to 58F this way...Totally submerged would ruin the fermostrip and I like to know where my temps (approximately) are.

As for blow off, this one here works better than any blowoff I had with a glass primary, which was just shoving a 1inch tube into the mouth.
http://www.heartshomebrew.com/home_....32763-08dH8&p_id=7107V&xm=on&ppinc=dave2full

 

[Bigsnake]

+1 on less water...I put enough water in the tub with bottled ice to be just below the fermostrip which is about halfway. I can get it down to 58F this way...Totally submerged would ruin the fermostrip and I like to know where my temps (approximately) are.

As for blow off, this one here works better than any blowoff I had with a glass primary, which was just shoving a 1inch tube into the mouth.
Product Listing -

Thanks! just ordered one of those. I'm using an airlock with a vinyl hose shoved over the center peg. Not liking it much because I can still see a good possibility of it getting plugged.

And as usual I also had to look around and buy some other stuff...