Plastic carboys?

With glass carboys so easy to fine, and given how well they work, I wouldn't risk plastic carboys until other more adventurous souls (like you) have proven that they work just as well.

I have about 25 glass carboys and recently added a couple of the Better Bottles. Here are a few comments:

Quality of plastic: It is a common worry that O2 will pass through plastic. Supposedly the better bottles are a plastic that is impervious to O2. Also, there is a worry that plastic bottles designed for water may release some chemicals in an acidic-alcohol solution over long exposure. Supposedly Better Bottles are made from plastic designed to not have these problems. If you believe their hype, and I have no reason not to, these problems have been taken care off.

Now to my observations: Weight: They are MUCH lighter than glass. It really does make a difference. I am getting older and that is important to me. Stability: This is a problem. The plastic is relatively thin and when you move them they deform. This causes air to rush in and out of the airlock. This of course is not good for wine and is a real concern. The best thing is to just not move them or build some sort of crate to hold them. But then you loose the advantage of the lower weight!

Oh, well, these are just my observations. I have not decided if I really like them yet.

Ray

Ray, what would your opinions be of using these for secondary fermentation and bulk aging? I had expressed concerns about the acidity of beer/wine affecting the carboy's integrity. Have you kept some acidic wine in one of these for awhile?

I'm getting older than old and I only use plastic carboys - 5 gal. Culligan water bottle, 3 gal. Absopure. I haven't had any problems with beer, wine, mead, and like you said, I don't move them around unless I have to rack or bottle.

Well this just makes the plot thicker. Do you use different carboys for the different beverages you make? I would get the impression I wouldn't want to make white in a carboy I had been aging a red in. Here's I'm presuming you're not talking about these Better Bottle carboys since you specifically mentioned a Culligan water bottle.

Heck, maybe those water bottles are the same material as the Better Bucket stuff. I know the stuff that comes out of the water cooler at work doesn't taste like plastic . . .

A late comment. I have been using plastic ( polyethelene) 25 litre fermenters ( ie 5 gals imp + headroom) for about 15 years. I use them mainly for secondary fermentation but I also use them for primary fermentation as well.

I nearly always bulk age in 23 litre glass carboys ( I have 8 of these and about 40 x 1 gal imp glass carboys) but I have, very occasionally, used the "plastic" fermenters for bulk aging some white wines up to about 6 months with no detrimental effects.

These are obviously not "Better bottle" containers but the 10 plastic fermenters I use regularly are various ones I have bought over the years -- specifically designed for home brewing.

The only problem I have had when using them for limited bulk aging is that they have no "narrowing shoulder" being flat topped and so the headspace can be quite considerable -- which means often a topping up of perhaps 4 bottles or so. There is also quite a large surface area of my wine in contact with the limited air in the container . However I do not degas my wines forcefully but let time and patience do that for me, which increases the proctection of my maturing wine.

I must say that handl>> I'm getting older than old and I only use plastic carboys - 5 gal. >> Culligan

Adam, I have used these for secondary and I have used them for bulk storage up to 6 months. They are supposedly made from a plastic that is rated to withstand wine. I have not had a problem and after rinsing and cleaning they seem to be as odor free as my glass carboys.

Ray

Sorry I'm late. Two comments

Last year I had exactly the same results as Ray, with a similar bulk storage time. I got them for a move, as they'd be lighter and more break-resistant than glass. Just bottled everything that was moved in them, and found them to have left no plasticy tastes, not unusual oxidation, etc. Very happy with the results. I did take the precaution of following up every move of them with removing the airlock and filling the headspace with inert gas, trying to minimize the expansion/contraction problem.

Second, I found that milk crates or plastic file crates (at office stores) work very well as carboy handlers! They take the weight, they'll take bangs and hits from other objects without breaking, and they give you the option of either picking up by the handles or hand-trucking the carboys wherever you need. Now the only time my carboys are out of the crates is while I'm cleaning them.

Rob