Comments on: Plastic or Glass Homebrew Fermentor

By: Home Brewing Tools : Home-Brewing PET Fermentation Vessels | Home Wine Making Blog

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:31:16 +0000

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By: Fermenting in Corny Kegs | Brew Dudes

Fermenting in Corny Kegs | Brew Dudes — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:00:31 +0000

[...] Fermentor Vessels [...]

By: Dorian

Dorian — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:19:31 +0000

Better Bottles are NOT made of polycarbonate. They are made of PET and are perfectly safe. In face, ‘Better Bottle’ even manufactures a primary fermentation vessel with a spigot built in so that you do not have to siphon into secondary fermentation.

I recently purchased a ‘Better Bottle’ to use on my water crock. I used to use a polycarbonate bottle. I notice that the ‘Better Bottle’ water tastes much cleaner. The only downside is that these bottles, while still very strong, are not as rigid as polycarbonate. They tend to flex a lot. However, last night at the liquor barn I found the new ‘Better Bottle’ handles which are sort of like a carboy handle but made of thick plastic. I think that moving them around will be much easier with this handle.

By: John

John — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:57:05 +0000

Not sure, but if the plastic is food grade…it might work.

By: Glass Carboy | Brew Dudes

Glass Carboy | Brew Dudes — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:35:31 +0000

[...] We have discussed Plastic Vs. Glass on this site before. [...]

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:15:40 +0000

Would a 5 gallon water bottle made for a local water company, that doesn’t have a recycling label on it, be usable as a fermenter?

By: Eric Hostetler

Eric Hostetler — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:24:57 +0000

Recognizing the different plastic types are important, and to correct the previous post, Better Bottles are polyethylene tetraphthalate (not PVC) and are BPA-free (see the better bottle website). Also, the recycle code #7 is a waste-management code and while it often refers to polycarbonate, it is a catch-all category for plastics that don’t fall under the other recycling codes, including bioplastics which are BPA-free.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:35:53 +0000

There has been a lot of attention to the possible health effects of plastics recently. Long overdue. Glass is always good. But if you use plastic, be careful. Most food-grade plastic fermenting buckets are recycle code #2 (polyethylene) which is OK. Polyethylene has not been implicated in releasing hazardous chemicals. But watch out for #3 or #7!. PVC (recycle code #3) is recognized as the “poison plastic” because of its ability to leach vinyl compounds and pthalates into liquids contained in them; these chemicals are carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting. Polycarbonate (recycle code #7) has recently been found to leach bis-phenyl A (BPA) into liquids; this chemical is an endocrine disrupter. “Better Bottles: and the 5-gallon water bottles provided by water delivery services are polycarbonate, as are “Nalgene” and other sports bottles. The risk factor for room temperature solutions for a week or so is probably small, but who wants even a little bit of BPA in your IPA? Avoid #7 and #3 plastics. For more information on these and other plastics, and how to use them and recycle responsibly, see http://www.sustainableplastics.org/files/IATP_Plastics_Guide.pdf Happy brewing but be safe.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:23:03 +0000

I use plastic buckets and 5 gallon plastic water jugs as primaries. I have also used a new plastic trash can as a fermenter. For secondary, I do use glass to lessen the possibility of oxidation.

By: deafcone

deafcone — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:32:31 +0000

I always use glass carboys for all fermenting and secondary and bottling. I like to see what the beer is doing. I can determine by the beer activity and clearing when it’s time to go into secondary or take a reading for SG. I guess I’ve relied on visual occurances more than just taking gravity readings but it’s pretty accurate doing it that way. I also have taken close up videos of the beer fermenting and posted it on a web site for people to see. Though glass is heavy, it’s more sanitary. No problem with scratches, and it’s not hard to clean, not for me anyway. A good scrubb with the carboy brush and rinse and it’s usually clean enough. then just a quick soak in iodophor for good measure. I have 4 carboys. No plastic buckets. I tried plastic when I first started brewing but after trying glass once I was hooked on seeing what was going on.