Plastic (PET) Carboy vs. Glass Carboy | exBEERiment Results!

[Brulosopher]

Fermentor options are vast these days, forcing homebrewers to choose between different materials, shapes, and sizes. I'm personally partial to plastic/PET carboys for their ease of use and reduced risk of amputation, though some remain convinced this material is too oxygen permeable and prefer fermenting in glass carboys. Curious whether such claims held any water, we put this one to the test and the results are in!

http://brulosophy.com/2016/05/16/fe...stic-pet-vs-glass-carboy-exbeeriment-results/

 

[bobeer]

"Huh" is right. It's amazing how most could pick the PET one out the first time but then not really ever again. I've sort of always wondered the same thing since plastic is permeable and the beer sits in it for such a long time. Could it get oxidized and lead to off flavors? I'm with you and can't really use glass to ferment by beers due to tiny feet in the brewery at any random point in time.
As usual, great xbmnt. Thanks for all the interesting topics!

 

[Munster51]

I wonder if you did something that would age for a bit longer if the results would be any different. My father is a die hard glass guy, I use plastic. We brewed a batch and split it, he was unable to tell the difference between our batches. His excuse was mine sloshed the 50 miles in my backseat on the way to my house.

 

[kombat]

Interesting exbeeriment, and surprising results! It's funny how these tests seem to suggest that the things we think matter, don't, and the things we don't think matter, do.

Here's one thing that often comes up in these tests, that I always wonder about:

While 13 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identified the odd-beer-out at this sample size, 14 (p=0.016) were able to do so. [...] [A] majority of 10 tasters reported a preference for the beer fermented in glass, while 2 preferred the beer fermented in PET, 1 perceived no difference, and 1 reported no preference despite perceiving the samples as different.

I'm confused - there was one person who was able to tell the difference between the beers, but then when you asked them which they preferred, they could no longer tell the difference? It seems in every exbeeriment, this comes up, and it confuses me every time. Am I misunderstanding what's being stated here?

 

[Brulosopher]

I'm confused - there was one person who was able to tell the difference between the beers, but then when you asked them which they preferred, they could no longer tell the difference? It seems in every exbeeriment, this comes up, and it confuses me every time. Am I misunderstanding what's being stated here?

Some people just guess right on the triangle test. This is why in order to say the results were statistically significant, more than 1/3 of participants have to select the odd beer out.

 

[lolcats]

Glad to know I don't have to throw away my PET carboys

Thanks for your work!

 

[user 30639]

That was an interesting read, I was just having a discussion with a friend the other day about glass vs plastic. I'll keep on with the PET. I'm kinda clumsy, no need to risk with glass.

 

[myelo]

I'm kinda clumsy, no need to risk with glass.

That's me too. Yes, plastic is more permeable to oxygen than glass. But you know what's more permeable to oxygen than plastic?

Broken glass