FERMENTORS - GLASS VS PLASTIC

When it comes choosing fermentors for your homebrew or wine, you'll need to choose: glass or plastic. There are some things to take into consideration when making your decision. Northern Brewer explains the pros and cons of both styles.

[matbluvenger]

I've used plastic buckets with a spigot for 5 years now with zero problems. It only takes a week or two after the height of fermentation has completed (based on styled/yeast) for the trub to completely settle below the spigot. Then just attach a racking hose and booya.... no auto-siphon.

[AndySoukup]

i use glass all the way. they're trivial to clean if you use PBW + mark's keg washer. get a "brew hauler" and they're super easy to carry with minimal slosh.

my friend noted that better bottles "squish" if you pick them up by the sides. this can suck the water out of your bubbler if you aren't careful.

[easttennesseeexpat]

I've used both glass and Better Bottle for bulk aging and made an accidental discovery. Either is fine for sediment precipitation but actual wine aging occurs in the glass carboy, while wine stored in plastic remains in its 'just fermented' condition for a very long time. The reason might be that glass gives us a chemically active surface, while plastic is inert.

I've carried this experiment a step further. Two batches of Symphony started the same day, stored in plastic. On bottling day, one batch went into 750 mL clear wine bottle (low surface to volume ratio) and the other batch went into 12 oz beer bottles (high surface to volume ratio). Sure enough, wine in beer bottles reached peak age MUCH faster than wine in wine bottles.

[cfboxer]

I was waiting for him to throw the glass one

[CrazyGuyBlahBlah]

was apprehensive of doing the better bottle... now I'm absolutely SOLD on them. Add a little hot water, some cleaner, then just shake a spin the water around a few minutes and it's sparkling clean... love these things... just be sure to wash them out as soon as you rack them

[AleZealot]

A secondary is only really needed if your doing lagers or a really big beer like a barley wine or an imperial stout, something that will sit in the carboys for +2 months. For clarity a secondary doesnt make the yeast drop out any faster. What I do is 3 week fermentation at lets say 65F for an ale. Then I dial down the temp on my Chest freezer to 40F for 2 more weeks. Cold crashing will make for a really clear beer and you wont lose any like when you transfer to a secondary. Hope that helps

[PJWalmsley]

Glass is where it's at. I used 5 gallon buckets for years before I came upon a free glass carboy. My beer immediately got better.

Issue with plastic is it scratches... nobody wants to throw out an expensive carboy with a tiny scratch. Plastic is porous and leaches gas into the beer? I do miss how easy the buckets were to clean.

Main issue I have with glass is getting the beer out. There needs to be a better way to hold the dip tube. Also, I haven't found a good plug/cap to attach a blowoff tube.

[josaphe]

Sir, I'm from India. Can i use plastic jar for making grape wine. Is it dangerous ??

[Deeno]

Can someone please tell me what size s stopper to use for the 5 gallon plastic water jug.

[prccap]

all we use is the ported bottles and do all closed transfers with them. we love them and would never do it another way. only bad part is it does cost you close $100/fermentor

[drawdy]

They say the better bottles are unbreakable but a buddy of mine had a tiny pebble on his driveway go thru the bottom and ruin one while cleaning it... Called NB and they gave him a paltry 20% off a replacement. This was the first use of this bottle. The Better bottle company itself was also no help, they basically said tough luck...

[juismall]

I heard the pros and con about the class carboy verses the plastic car it’s.
The one thing I would really ask is during first fermentation to racking to carboy for next step,
are they really sanitary for racking?
I have heard for longer staging or letting the carboy sit a longer time .
After sterilizing are they still safe?
For sanitizing purposes are the safe?

Adrian

[SolarizeYourLife]

If you sell them, why did you not mention/show the different size rubber stops needed - #6 for glass and #10 for plastic?

[yuridanylko]

Btw, I know it is counter-intuitive, but it is called a "fermenter"

[ColtGColtG]

Would you use a ported better bottle for primary, secondary or bottling? I know with ported buckets they say to never use it for your fermentation's. If you could use it for the fermentation's i already see it making my life far easier by getting rid of the siphon.

[DickyBenfield]

What I would really like to see is some empirical evidence supporting when it makes sense to use a secondary.For flavor or clarity or both. I use a secondary even though most of my brews are only in fermentors for about a month. Am I really improving either? Or am I just kidding myself? at what point does it really matter? at 4 weeks, 6, 8? I wonder sometimes if I should quit racking to secondary and just use my carboy as a second primary so I can do 2 brews at once?

[libradafuertes]

How much is that carboys 20 liters capacity

[massmanute]

Will the plastic fermentor withstand a vaccum (at a full 14 psi)?

[trebuchetgunt]

Been homebrewing for 6 years, all glass. You don't put a brittle glass container on a driveway. I don't even put it down on concrete flooring. A bit of plywood or a carpet square. And dropping it? 5 gallons is 40lb. Maybe when I'm 60 I'll consider plastic.

[pzanello]

Hey, we wanted a scene with a carboy breaking!