water cooler carboy.

[jonbomb]

I am at work and seen a water cooler jug empty on the floor that was just emptied. I was curious I know I can use it for second but where can I get a cap for one ??

 

[JJL]

You just need a drilled rubber stopper. You can get them in almost any size from a homebrew store.

 

[jonbomb]

ok thanks i'll get one today!

 

[steinsato]

You can also get the orange caps that have holes for blowoff tubes as well. Your LHBS will have them too.

 

[JJL]

By the way, it's probably somewhere between a #6 and #7 stopper, but it would be best to bring the bottle to the store with you and fit it.

 

[captaingoat]

Now I may be wrong but from what I've heard it's bad to use water jugs because they leech chemicals cause they're crappy plastic, but I'm a noob so I could be wrong.

 

[mattd2]

Now I may be wrong but from what I've heard it's bad to use water jugs because they leech chemicals cause they're crappy plastic, but I'm a noob so I could be wrong.

I thought I heard it was the oxygen permeability of the plastic and the consensus was that they should be useable for primaries but probably avoided for secondaries. I would think they wouldn't leach chemicals as they should be food grade because they are used for drinking water.
Though I don't know why better bottles are better than water cooler bottles, thicker plastic maybe?

 

[captaingoat]

And the water bottles, at least the Culligan ones that are in my kitchen are plastic grade 7 and as far as I know, it's only good to take plastics 1 and 2 and the higher up the worse it is. I have a Better Bottle that I use for secondary and it's a number 1 PETE. I guess that's the difference but some people have used water cooler jugs and say it works fine, I just didn't want to take the risk of spoiling a beer.

 

[demonrichie]

i dont think its the 1s and 2s cause im using a #5 and it seems to be doing the job(left water in beforehand to test for leaching flavours) also some of the fermenter buckets at my lhbs that are #5. i think if its 5 with pp underneath its polypropelyne or sumtin like that which i guess is alright from what ive heard. #7 is apparently no good though

 

[jonbomb]

Now what if I just did it in secondary. Some people you carboys as primaries correct? what if I justy used it as secondary?

 

[mattd2]

Check the link for plastic type numbers (I know it's wikipedia but it looks legit) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code, the number is just an identification of the plastic not if it is bad to store food products in it.
Looks like #7 plastic can be anything other than the other 6 so I would not trust anything made of #7 based on the fact that you don't know what it is.

 

[aerod1]

As a newby, I used an Ozarka bottle for a secondary fermenter and so far it has worked just fine. Of course, I just finished my first batch of beer but it definately did the job well. I'm still in the learning stages.