Ported Better Bottle or not?

[Opus_X]

Which is better and why?

Ported Better Bottle with racking adapter and Simple Flo valve or non-ported with an easy siphon cane.

This is for a new primary since my 6 gallon glass carboy has a crack.

Thanks.

 

[rawlus]

for a primary, un-ported is better IMHO... ported is just another thing to clean/santize

 

[pericles]

+1. Ported primaries add an additional element to worry about for sanitation, oxygen permeability, etc. Not worth the headache.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

I wouldn't say one is necessarily better than the other, but I can say that I really like having my better bottle with the racking adapter. Makes filling kegs, or racking secondaries a lot easier. It is quite expensive to get that option, though. If it's worth the extra buck$$ for the convenience, then go for it.

TB

 

[Tiber_Brew]

for a primary, un-ported is better IMHO... ported is just another thing to clean/santize

+1. Ported primaries add an additional element to worry about for sanitation, oxygen permeability, etc. Not worth the headache.

I must respectively disagree. You have to sanitize your autosiphone or racking cane anyway, so it's not like it's any extra work to wet the racking adapter with a little sanitizer. I've never had any sanitation issues with mine. It just takes careful sanitation, like all other equipment in the brewer's arsenal.

TB

 

[Opus_X]

Thanks, guys.

 

[smokinghole]

I love my ported better bottles. You just need to take extra care sanitizing and maybe take it apart between brews. It's no more work than sanitizing say an autosiphon plus they're ultra handy and easy to deal with. I primary in a 10g keg and then to free it up I will transfer to better bottles for a little conditioning time.

 

[joeunc]

i have 2 BB's 6.5 gallon and both are ported and have the adapters. So easy to transfer to kegs or to take hydro readings. And you can also do closed loop O2 free transfers between two of them.

 

[maida7]

i have 2 BB's 6.5 gallon

Where did you get those? !!! mine are only 6 gallon and I'd kill for an extra .5 gallon of space.

 

[RobotWerewolfLabs]

The lack of a 6.5g (or 7g, while we are dreaming) is the only thing that prevents me from going with the BB.

We don't have to many rules in my house, but one of those rules is that we don't waste beer.

Even for a blow-off tube.

 

[rawlus]

i have not had any 5 gal batches blow out of a regular bubble airlock in a 6gal BB ever. fermcap in the boil perhaps helps with that. keeping ferment temps on the low side also prob helps. but even very vigorous ferments never come close to exploding out the 6gal size.

 

[maida7]

i have not had any 5 gal batches blow out of a regular bubble airlock in a 6gal BB ever. fermcap in the boil perhaps helps with that. keeping ferment temps on the low side also prob helps. but even very vigorous ferments never come close to exploding out the 6gal size.

WOW! I'm the total opposite! I get heavy blow off on each and every batch in a 6 gal BB. Usually it's just krausen that comes out the blow off tube. But some times when it's going nuts I will loose some beer out the tube and that is painful.

FWIW I also use fermcap in the boil. Perhaps I should use it for the ferment as well. I also control my temps with a dedicated fermenting fridge and controller. I would not say that I have it set extra low but It's certainly not warm either.

Maybe it's that I'm pitching big starters of yeast and using lotsa O2 in my wort. hmmm!

 

[rawlus]

strange. i'm usually just double-pitching activator smack packs with yeast fuel added with 15 left in the boil - oxygenated with drill-mounted whip. ferment takes off in 4 or 5 hours, vigorous for a few days, usually 90% done after a week or sometimes a little less. temps kept around 60-62* through entire primary. transferred to secondary when krausen has fallen and no visible signs of ferment exist (though airlock may still bubble ocassionally, 1-3 times per hour)... even with vigorous ferments, no blowoff. ive had the double-bend airlock bubbling like a machine gun at times, but krausen never gets more than a few inches high, well below the neck of the BB. this is in a 6 gal BB making a 5gal+ batch. little more than 5gal, 5.25 max.

 

[RobotWerewolfLabs]

I get heavy blow off on each and every batch in a 9 gal BB.

9 Gallons! Where did you get this?

 

[maida7]

9 Gallons! Where did you get this?

whoops... dyslexia

 

[joeunc]

my bad, they are 6 but hold 5.5 gallons fine. I always use blowoff tube with them until it slows down, then I put the BB airlock on, never had anything blowoff.

Where did you get those? !!! mine are only 6 gallon and I'd kill for an extra .5 gallon of space.

 

[smokinghole]

I have serious blow off sometimes depending on yeast. Some yeast goes nuts and some are tame. I love them for conditioning with the racking adapter. I actually just ordered two more a 6g and a 5g. Ever since I started fermenting in a 10g keg and then transferring to BBs I'm a really happy camper.