Better Bottle vs. Glass Carboy

[A2 Wine]

Just finished making my first kit. Learned a few things in theprocess. My brother-in-law gave me one of a Better Bottle carboy. He uses them in his beer making. I also have two glass carboys.


Here are the pro's and con's from my Better Bottle experience:


Better Bottle pro's:
- light weight
- not so slippery when wet.


Better Bottle Con's
- the liquid in the airlock was drawn into the when I moved the Better Bottle due to flexibility of the container walls.


I will use the Better Bottle again.


I would like to attempted using vacuum removal of the CO2 for my next batch. I assume the plastic does not have a breakage concern like glass. Has anyone used aBetter Bottle during vacuum removal of CO2?

 

[grapeman]

The Better Bottles collapse with barely any vacuum on them. I have had them dimple at less than 1 inch of vacuum as a trial! DO NOT USE FOR VAUUM DEGASSING - they will fail.

 

[ArdenS]

I have not used vacuum apart from a vacuvin, but I would surprised if a glass carboy collapsed, unless you're really cranking up the vacuum to really high levels or if there is a pre-existing crack.

 

[Wade E]

You should not exceed around 28" of vacuum on a glass carboy.This is what Ive been told on another forum a few years back. I believe that it was an empty carboy and that someone put it under this vacuum as a test and they were behind a Plexiglas protector.

 

[grapeman]

Glass carboys are the preferred vessel for using to vaccum degas. A2wine was saying that the plastic should be a better choice because of no breakage concern. I am saying the glass is the better choice because the Better Bottles are guaranteed to fail when under vacuum- just try it, I dare you

 

[Wade E]

Appleman is absolutely correct! The only thing you can do as far as using vacuum and a better bottle is to rack from the better bottle to a glass carboy but not the other way around and thats only because there is no vacuum being put on the "giving" vessel. If you ever plan on using a Vacuum pump there really is no need to use Better Bottles as the only time youll ever really have to move one is when its empty.

 

[A2 Wine]

Thanks for the feedback from all of you. Bottom line - use a glass carboy for vacuum degassing.


Sorry, but I need to ask a question regarding vacuum degassing.
1) How much of a vacuum (inches water, millibar, psi, ..) is needed and for how long?
2) Also, how do you handle the "foam" which I expect would be created?
3) Should I degas in two glass carboys (each half filled) or is that a recipe for disaster (breakage)?
4) Are there any good online resources for explaining the whole process?


For my first batch I did the stiring thing. It worked, butI am feeling the needto add more power tools to thishobby.


Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[Wade E]

Here is a link to some discussion on this subject.
http://forum.finevinewines.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7430&KW=vacuum+pump

 

[Wade E]

Its much better to do degassing with an almost full carboy rather then1/2 full as it puts much less stress on the glass and more on the wine. As far as foam goes, just start off with a low vacuum like 5" and when the foaming stays in control just slowly adjust the knob till the foam starts to get close to the bung and keep doing that. I use a different method then most and actually shut my pump off while holding a vacuum to see what it will hold while others just run it for an extended time and call it quits.

 

[uavwmn]

A2,I would NOT recommend using a vacu system on a Better Bottle. The Plastic most likely will collapse!!

 

[uavwmn]

OMG Appleman!!!! Don't dare a guy to try that!!! You know how you "guys" are with dares!!!!

 

[xanxer82]

Better bottles are awesome to use when racking from the primary. The mouth is large enough to easily add stabilizers and the such. You can also fit the drill mounted mix stir in it really easy.
I've kind of been doing things this way.
-Primary Bucket for Fermenting
-Better Bottle for Stabilizing and some clearing
-Rack to Glass for clearing and aging.

I need more glass carboys