Are "Better Bottles" Better?

Interesting.... I like the racking version with the valve on the bottom.

Being a newbie myself, I have a question regarding this. Is it a problem to use plastic throughout the 'carboy' life of the wine? I know the ad proclaims no carry over of flavors, no odor transfer and that it is a stable material, but I'd love to know if this is really true before I decided to purchase this.

I'm all about using easy stuff.

Thanks!

Tony

Gary,

I've recently (about 2 months ago) purchased a few of these carboys, and so far I've very happy with their utility. I had 20 gallons of finished red wine to transport from NJ to VA, and I felt uncomfortable with the idea of making the trip with glass carboys belted into the rear seats of the car. I've seen broken carboys...

So I bought 2 of the 6 gallon Better Bottles, one with the racking port and one without, and brought my corker and a few cases of splits up with me as well. The filled splits traveled in the trunk, and the Better Bottles were belted into the rear seats, and there was no leakage at all through the racking port.

I've since emptied the Better Bottles, and they show no staining, and no clouding from rinsing with water and One Step (oxygen based cleanser). There is some slight staining of the racking port components.

The single negative with these carboys would be their flexibility. I used a carboy cap to seal them in transit, but if an airlock is attached great care must be taken to avoid flexing the sides of the carboy, as this will cause the contents to push up into the airlock, and perhaps to spurt out of the airlock. The vendor sells an attachment they call a 'dry tap', claiming it to be an airlock that requires no fluid, but I put that down as the darkest voodoo and used a standard carboy cap (they also sell a single use carboy cap, but the ones I own are reusable and airtight) to prevent this sort of behavior.

The single greatest advantage of these carboys would be weight. The Better Bottle is feather light by itself, as opposed to the weight of a glass carboy. I can lift a filled 6 gallon Better Bottle carboy with greater ease than lifting a filled glass 5 gallon carboy, and with no worries about breakage.

Time will be the best judge, but I've already purchased 2 additional 5 gallon Better Bottle carboys sans racking port (the vendor is quite proud of the racking port, the addition of a small hole nearly doubles the cost of the Bottle...) and have them filled with aging mead. I expect they will age just as a mead in a glass carboy would, given the gas impermeability of PET. Or at least, I sincerely hope so!

I have considered these because of the weight. My back is not as strong as it was 30 years ago. May get one to try. You commented on the flexibility being a problem. Is this a problem when simply lifting an moving them?

Ray

Ken,

Thanks for the helpful input. I have purchased two of the Better Bottles (both without racking ports) and am testing them to see the effect of long-term (9-12 months) storage of wine. They particularly appeal to me because of their extremely light weight compared to glass. Thankfully I've been using glass for 15 years now with no breakages, but that day might come unexpectedly. Aside from the breakage concern, I'm not as young as I used to be, and want to make wine (Lord willing) to a ripe old age. So, that is my primary motivation. They are definitely sensitive to external pressure, so you have to be very careful when it has an airlock attached. I keep my filled ones on a stand with wheels so moving the filled carboy around my "winery" does not flex the plastic, and have a carboy handle attached as well. I guess time will tell, but thus far the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Gary

flexibility

Ray,

Great care must be used when lifting and moving the PET carboys, if a standard airlock is attached and if headspace is as minimal as is typical for bulk aging. The volume of flex is greater than the volume of ullage, and the wine can push into (or straight through) the airlock simply from the flexing caused by the pressure of grasping the sides of the Better Bottle. If lifted from the neck and supported from the bottom, they can be moved without too much flexing, but this isn't always possible for me since I bulk age in a shelf unit two carboys deep.

As a counterpoint, this flexibility also gives me the confidence to age finished wine or mead in a tightly capped Better Bottle, as the flex caused by barometric pressure can not shatter these as may happen with a glass carboy.

I should caution that these are pretty embrionic observations, as I've owned my Better Bottles for only a short period of time. I'm testing them for suitability as bulk storage containers, but I won't know for certain for over a year, and possibly longer. One thing I feel they are very well suited for, and which was my driving motivation in purchasing them, is safe transportation by automobile. Shatterproof PET in my backseat gave me no worries while driving. :)

Thanks for the excellent observations. I had not thought of the benefit of the flex with pressure changes. That is a plus!

But you negate the benefit I was interested in them for. That is their light weight so they could be moved easily. If they can not be moved easily because they flex then that advantage is lost or at least diminished.

Ray

Ray wrote: : Thanks for the excellent observations. I had not thought of the benefit of : the flex with pressure changes. That is a plus!

: But you negate the benefit I was interested in them for. That is their : light weight so they could be moved easily. If they can not be moved easily : because they flex then that advantage is lost or at least diminished.

: Ray

All my carboys (glass only) are in large plastic milk crates, mostly to ease handling, but for safety as well. I'd think you'd have less flexing if you used crates rather than a carboy handle in any case.