tinleymike
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- Jan 5, 2013
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Is there any advantage to using glass carboys over plastic? Plastic is obviously less expensive and therefore would allow for more money to be spent on beer.
The real answer is proof.
Go buy the best plastic cup in the market. Drink beer out of it. Wash it, and repeat. After a month, are you still enjoying beer from that plastic cup as intended?
Funny, we never argue about drinking beer from a glass cup, just because we don't give a **** if it breaks.
How dare you bring up such a sensitive subject on the forum......
That's because the most you'll probably lose is a pint. Unless you use one of the bigger glasses (22-23oz).
mikescooling said:Common man what are you doing to us!! Next thing I'm going to see is pictures of human bodys cut open, then I'm going to puking my guts out.
Glass is a pain in the butt, but its not flexible and cleans well, and it comes in the 6.5gal size that I like. plastic works well but if you flex it, it can suck back the air lock.
Spilt ale is truly an unacceptable loss bordering on cardinal sin.
Not so great ale? Standard.
Why not spend $40 on a pinlock keg, remove all hardware and attach dual blowoffs. Won't break like glass and won't scratch like plastic. Also come with convenient handles. Unless you have really thick arms then cleaning them is also a breeze!
Why not spend $40 on a pinlock keg, remove all hardware and attach dual blowoffs.
um,,, what?Uh.. if the keg doesn't break why are the handles so convenient? Tell me this!
um,,, what?
well, if we're talking about proof... Here's mine.
For how many years has this debate raged on?
Either is fine. Q.e.d.
Seriously, if one or the other created actual significant problems, this debate would have been sorted out a long time ago. The reality is that great beers can be made in either glass or plastic (or steel or wood or probably a dozen other materials). On the list of things you need to worry about that will screw up your beer, this one shouldn't even register.
The choice of fermentation vessel is not about which material will give you better beer, it's about which fits your process and brewery situation better. There are advantages and disadvantages to either choice (which are well and repeatedly tabulated throughout the dozens of threads on this topic, so i won't bother repeating them).
For me, the choice was easy. With kids around the house, the relative fragility of glass is a risk i am not comfortable taking, so i use plastic better bottles. Is this the unique rational choice? No, of course not. The actual risk of a carboy breaking is small, and probably on par with plenty of other hazards i have in the house, but it's something that would worry me every time i moved a fermentor.
I'm just starting out and I want to experiment with bottle carbonating, so I'm sticking with plastic (2L soda bottles) to try to avoid bottle bombs until I get it down.
According to statistics, we are one hundred thousand times more likely to brew bad beer than to die in an airplane crash or to break a carboy. Even though that is true, I actually just made that up. I can't wait to buy stainless steel fermenting vessels so that I can join in this debate more loftily.
This is what I would do:
Use plastic for primary fermentations. Also use plastic for secondaries that are used for a month or under.
Use Glass if you are going to age a beer for more than two months.
Why not spend $40 on a pinlock keg, remove all hardware and attach dual blowoffs. Won't break like glass and won't scratch like plastic. Also come with convenient handles. Unless you have really thick arms then cleaning them is also a breeze!
Uhhh. How's that 2L bottle thing working out for you? I imagine that has to be a PITA. Any pour after the first one is going to get progressively more and more flat. Unless you drink it in one sitting...
Also, re-capping glass is no more difficult that re-capping PET. FFS, my wife caps my bottles. That's got to be saying something!
If you're worried about bottle bombs, why not just put them in a cooler or ice chest?
Well in all honesty, I've never capped any glass bottles nor do I own a capper:smack:
So I guess I'm not standing on proper grounds to compare the two. (I'm a beginner and haven't yet invested in any bottling equipment) Just a noobie trying to toss my $0.02 for what it's worth (if at all)
But you do raise a good point sir. Maybe I should've specified that I'm making cider not beer, and that I'm not too worried because still cider is still yummy Still beer, not so much?
Would it carb well in a cooler? Or would this cold crash it?
Use what ever floats your boat. I just want you to make sure you have health insurance "if" your glass breaks and cuts up your hands or legs. Don't care what you use, just don't want to pay for your accident if it happens.
I dropped each of my better bottles twice today while trying to clean them.... So for me, the choice is clear...
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