Plastic or Glass

[pascott6]

Carbys which one would you use ?

 

[gtmaus]

I use glass

 

[passedpawn]

It's about 50:50. See this recent poll.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/poll-what-type-fermenter-do-you-use-348676/

 

[November]

The scar on my wrist says I use plastic now.

 

[Shooter]

Yes

 

[ffaoe]

i only use glass

 

[Revvy]

The yeast don't care....It's all about what YOU prefer.

I use plastic.

 

[Nagorg]

I have never used glass and plastic works great. I dont have anything against glass though. After reading about breakage and seeing many scars from folks including people I know personally, I opted for plastic. It just seemed safer especially considering I have young children. And like what Revvy said, I really dont think the yeast or the beer really care's either way!

 

[amandabab]

I use glass

 

[pascott6]

The yeast don't care....It's all about what YOU prefer.

I use plastic.

What about wild yeast infection in a plastic bucket?

 

[TwoGunz]

I used glass for a few years, shattered one and got real nervous seeing the shards and always carrying them up and down my basement stairs so I switched to plastic carboys (not buckets) with brew hauler strap and I love em

 

[RmikeVT]

I broke my first Glass Carboy a month ago. I didn't drop it, I didn't hit it hard or anything. I had about a gallon of star-san in it and had it in a carboy hauler and set it down gingerly on my back patio, I guess at a bad angle and it broke and long sharp shards of glass were all over. Thankfully I didn't hurt myself.

Two weekends ago I was in Boston and was served a pint glass which had a crack in it. It broke in my hand and I got 14 stitches in my finger. If a pint glass did that to my finger, I couldn't imagine what a full carboy would do to me.

Im all plastic all the way now.

 

[Zamial]

I have 3 glass carboys, 5 stainless steel kegs and 3 buckets. I prefer stainless steel kegs.

 

[bovineblitz]

I use the search function, and a mix of better bottles, 5gal water coolers, and borosilicate glass carboys.

 

[beergolf]

95% plastic. 5%. glass...


Given the choice... Plastic.

 

[xdalisx]

I have 2 glass carboys, but will probably try a better bottle next time I purchase a fermentor. Or if one shatters on me.

 

[el_horno]

I use glass as I don't have far to travel with it. Should that change. Plastic.

 

[craigevo]

Extremely unpopular I gather, but I vote for Stainless steel stock pots. If your not bothered about an airlock they are great. cheap, almost indistructable, last a lifetime, boilable, scrubable, droppable -havent tried this so far but if one dents you can go back to the first point - cheap enough to replace if dropped. You can get any size imaginable, many aspect ratios to fit your fermenter area/fridge. they have welded on handles so you wont drop them anyway. you can whip off the lid and skim yeast or add dry hops really easy. You can drill a hole and add a spigot.

I added a spigot and now can use it for a temporary HLT store since my kettle doubles as a HLT and I need storage in another vessel whilst i'm pumping first runnings into the kettle. I have a quick connect on it the same as for my kettle and mash tun spigot, so when the boil has finished I can simply drain from kettle to fermenter via spigots and keep my fermenter lid on.

Only downside, no airlock - although you may be able to manufacture some kind of gasket for the lid and drill a hole in the lid for an airlock. I dont bother for primary.
You cant see the wort fermenting. I have seen it before in glass carboys and now its not as interesting to me. I can gauge activity by lifting the lid a bit.

Forgot to mention, very light weight if you get thin walled/base ones. slightly lighter than glass I would think.

 

[BassBeer]

Buckets and Better Bottles here!

 

[broadbill]

Extremely unpopular I gather, but I vote for Stainless steel stock pots. If your not bothered about an airlock they are great. cheap, almost indistructable, last a lifetime, boilable, scrubable, droppable -havent tried this so far but if one dents you can go back to the first point - cheap enough to replace if dropped. You can get any size imaginable, many aspect ratios to fit your fermenter area/fridge. they have welded on handles so you wont drop them anyway. you can whip off the lid and skim yeast or add dry hops really easy. You can drill a hole and add a spigot.

I added a spigot and now can use it for a temporary HLT store since my kettle doubles as a HLT and I need storage in another vessel whilst i'm pumping first runnings into the kettle. I have a quick connect on it the same as for my kettle and mash tun spigot, so when the boil has finished I can simply drain from kettle to fermenter via spigots and keep my fermenter lid on.

Only downside, no airlock - although you may be able to manufacture some kind of gasket for the lid and drill a hole in the lid for an airlock. I dont bother for primary.
You cant see the wort fermenting. I have seen it before in glass carboys and now its not as interesting to me. I can gauge activity by lifting the lid a bit.

Forgot to mention, very light weight if you get thin walled/base ones. slightly lighter than glass I would think.

I'm sorry....how do you figure they are cheap? They are way more expensive then plastic buckets are just as durable (for things like fermentation).

You still make some great points about SS....cheap they are not.

 

[craigevo]

Ok, 'cheap' is subjective. A 6.5 gallon stock pot costs me about US$40 at the current exchange rate which is about the same as I see a 6.5 gal glass carboy on more beer for.

Not as cheap as plastic then, but I didn't mean to imply that, just that 40 bucks for a fermenter that will probably last a lifetime is cheap in my reckoning.

 

[Brulosopher]

I use... wait, how did I answer this in the last post that asked... umm... plastic!

I've used both and much prefer the safety, light weight, and ease of cleaning plastic buckets. I've never noticed a difference in quality.

 

[zeg]

I prefer cheese.

 

[Shooter]

What about wild yeast infection in a plastic bucket?

Not really a big deal, as long as you aren’t scratching them up. I’ve been using them for four years and never developed any wild yeast infections.
I would love to ferment in stainless, but, for some reason, can’t find a lot of options that are narrow enough in width to fit in my fermentation fridge.

 

[MetalMatt]

I use both. As for my glass ones, they all have the brew haulers on them. I do like the glass for the ease of cleaning without worry of scratching the surface, but with careful handling, scratches are easy to avoid on plastic.

 

[jammin]

I use... wait, how did I answer this in the last post that asked... umm... plastic!

I've used both and much prefer the safety, light weight, and ease of cleaning plastic buckets. I've never noticed a difference in quality.

^this

holy smokes is a Better Bottle easier to clean than a glass carboy.

 

[Kraftwerk]

Plastic better bottles. Never had any kind of problem with them. Used glass for a while and did not see any reason to justify the inconvenience and danger. My one issue with better bottles early on was cleaning. Now I just shake up a gallon of warm PBW solution and soak inverted.

 

[Revvy]

What about wild yeast infection in a plastic bucket?

You can get one just as easily in a glass carboy. That's a sanitzation issue not a materials one. Why would you think plastic is any more prone to it?

 

[jonmohno]

Non sealed wide surface area? Co2 escape,hello air born-invasion. Err.. Possible in the wrong unideal enviornment. ?

 

[iambeer]

Glass is less porous than plastic, and it will not degrade like plastic does.

Glass will last forever if you care for it properly.

Glass carboys have a higher resell value.

I prefer stainless steel than glass. I use 3 gallon glass carboys. If I ever upgrade to 5+ gallon, I'll probably go plastic carboys (not buckets). It just makes more practical sense, even if I don't like it.