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Author Topic: Glass or Plastic  (Read 10238 times)

Offline bluesman

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #30 on: April 11, 2011, 02:17:30 pm »
Glass carboys can be very dangerous as Tim has shown. I am very leary of moving them without a carboy harness these days. I broke one last year while cleaning and it scared the bejesus out of me...I didn't get hurt but it was an eye opening experience for me.
Ron Price

Offline beersk

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #31 on: April 11, 2011, 02:29:26 pm »
I use 6.5 gallon glass carboys, the "brew haulers" are life savers.  I don't understand how anyone could not use them with 6.5 gallon carboys.  Never have had an issue.  Ever.
Glass is easy to clean, easy to sanitize, doesn't scratch, you can see your beer as it ferments...I also use the shake method to aerate, which isn't possible or very easy with buckets.  Plus I can have a better blow off tube attached, if needed. Yeah, it's a little heavier, but it ain't that heavy.
Wins all around. 
Jesse

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #32 on: April 11, 2011, 02:32:08 pm »
I keep my 6.5 gal glass fermenter in a palstic milk crate.  This gives it some protection from other things banging into it and also makes it somewhat easier to move since it has handles.  It's a tight fit in the milk crate so the handles aren't 100% accessible.  Regardless, it alleviates hoisting a full carboy by the handle on the neck.

At some point, I'll put my better bottles into crates as well, which should reduce the amount they deflect when lifted.

FWIW, I don't have any problem cleaning the better bottles.  A good soak does most of the work.  A rag wrapped around a carboy brush does the rest and alleviates risk of scratching.

I also have rubber matting on the floor where I work with the carboys, which alleviates some risk of shattering.  This is just cheap rubber matting from Menard's.
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Offline JKL

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #33 on: April 11, 2011, 02:41:20 pm »
If you use glass, just don't carry it around, unless it's empty.
Fill & rack, in your fermentation room...Problem solved.

Thanks for this post

This subject has actually been a concern of mine lately.  I plan on using a newly modified chest freezer to ferment in this weekend and I'm a little nervous about picking two full 6.5gal carboys in and out of this thing.  This post makes me wonder if I can just put the freezer on a platform w/casters, roll it over to the brew area and pump straight into the carboys inside the freezer?

I broke a 5 gal carboy cleaning it in a bathtub at my old house 6 or 7 yrs ago.  Not a fun experience.  I've been very lucky not to break one full of beer. 

-J.K.L.


Offline beersk

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #34 on: April 11, 2011, 03:43:54 pm »
I keep my 6.5 gal glass fermenter in a palstic milk crate.  This gives it some protection from other things banging into it and also makes it somewhat easier to move since it has handles.  It's a tight fit in the milk crate so the handles aren't 100% accessible.  Regardless, it alleviates hoisting a full carboy by the handle on the neck.

At some point, I'll put my better bottles into crates as well, which should reduce the amount they deflect when lifted.

FWIW, I don't have any problem cleaning the better bottles.  A good soak does most of the work.  A rag wrapped around a carboy brush does the rest and alleviates risk of scratching.

I also have rubber matting on the floor where I work with the carboys, which alleviates some risk of shattering.  This is just cheap rubber matting from Menard's.
Man, your post sounds kinda like those medicine commercials on TV, haha...
Jesse

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #35 on: April 11, 2011, 03:50:54 pm »
I forgot the disclaimer.  Excessive consumption may cause blurry vision, slurring, headaches, etc...
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

Offline JKL

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #36 on: April 11, 2011, 03:58:29 pm »
I forgot the disclaimer.  Excessive consumption may cause blurry vision, slurring, headaches, etc...

I experienced some of these side effects yesterday.   ;D
-J.K.L.

Offline Tim McManus

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #37 on: April 11, 2011, 05:29:08 pm »
Unfortunately for us, we brew outside in the garage and ferment in two separate locations in the house.  In the summer we have to brew outside, fill the carboys, and then walk down a set of rickety stairs in a 100-year-old house to get to the basement.  Not fun, but it's the work we have to do for the beer.  So carrying around full carboys is something we regularly do.

I've been brewing for 16 years and have 18 glass carboys.  This is the first time I've ever broken one.

The most interesting part of dropping it was watching it break.  Full carboys don't break like empty ones (I saw that firsthand once).  The liquid on the inside provides extra mass and it's best to get a few feet away from it because the shards move quickly.

The only consolation to this is that the first carboy made it into the house safely.  So our 10-gallon batch is now a 5-gallon batch.

Brewing is a dangerous sport.  Be careful out there.   ;D
Tim McManus
Haskell, NJ

Offline CASK1

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #38 on: April 11, 2011, 07:35:20 pm »
I'm gradually making the move to better bottles. I've got two primaries and really like them. Cleaning is not an issue. A good soak in oxyclean has never failed. I secondary in glass, but a gift certificate to my LHBS will get me a couple of 5 gallon BB (thanks Mom & Dad!). While I never use a brush etc. on BB, I do all sour/funky beers in glass. The risk of bugs hiding out in my BB is too great to risk it. I move glass fermenters in milk crates like others have posted above. Cheers!

ccarlson

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #39 on: April 12, 2011, 06:26:16 am »
I rarely use carboys anymore, but if I had to move them great distances, when full, I'd definitely build a sling or some sort of carrier to get those things away from my chest and belly.

Offline Tristan

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #40 on: April 12, 2011, 08:29:38 am »
I've been using glass carboys for years.  Love the brew haulers and I've never had a problem.  I'm always thinking about ways to make it easier and would be open to trying plastic or stainless in the future.

Separate question about fermenting in corney's.  Every have problems with the yeast cake/trub clogging up the post?

I rarely use carboys anymore, but if I had to move them great distances, when full, I'd definitely build a sling or some sort of carrier to get those things away from my chest and belly.

A guy I know is in his 80s and brews exclusively down in his basement.  He designed a pulley/track system.  He puts the brew hauler on the carboy, lifts (cranks) the carboy with the pulley and pulls the carboy along the track to spot he ferments, then cranks it down.  No lifting, no problem.  I'm in the situation most brewers are in where most of my fermentations happen in a different location (basement down rickety stairs) then my brew day (garage).
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Offline erikn68

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #41 on: April 12, 2011, 10:29:40 am »
I have use the pet plastic better bottles for more than five years.  It is the ones that are NOT ported.  I had no problems and love them.  If I need to store a lager for an extended time, I will put it in my corny keg.

Erik
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Offline glitterbug

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #42 on: April 12, 2011, 10:45:43 pm »
Stainless is the best option for me. It can be thoroughly cleaned without fear of scratching, can handle boiling liquids, is hard to break\crack\shatter, and should last a very long time.
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Offline theoman

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #43 on: April 13, 2011, 06:58:29 am »

Offline dbeechum

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Re: Glass or Plastic
« Reply #44 on: April 13, 2011, 09:06:40 am »
Oh man, the way I've seen those things explode worries me.
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