Other Glass or plastic carboy?

[ehammonds]

What do most of you prefer? On third kit and have used glass only in my short career, but just had a crack happen at racking and almost lost 6 gallons of precious wine on the floor. Glad I had a spare to quickly rack again. Still lost about a bottle or so. Got me thinking I wish I had plastics.

 

[Jimyson]

Glass breaks pretty darn easy and I've seen some threads with homebrewers that also show how dangerous it is.

 

[cmason1957]

Wow, I have been making wine for a few years and haven't had an issue yet. Plastic doesn't break, is a true statement. But you are also precluding the use of a vacuum pump system with that decision.

I am always very careful to not clunk my carboys and store them in a piece of carpet when not in use.

 

[Brian55]

Glass, glass, or possibly glass...

 

[DoctorCAD]

Never broke a glass one but cracked a plastic one by forgetting to take the white cap off the orange cap while vacuum racking. I would bet that there havent been 10 glass carboys incidents in the past year or so, they are quite strong.

 

[ehammonds]

Thanks. I may have just experienced a rare event and should be thankful there was no injury or significant loss of wine. I was racking into the carboy on a tile floor. I've always been careful with them but may place a towel under them next time. Also, I'll forever put my carboy in a container of some sort while racking to catch the wine if I'm unlucky again.

 

[Jimyson]

I've accidentally broken 2.

 

[Jimyson]

Check this out.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/broken-glass-carboy-horror-stories-compendium-376523/

 

[ehammonds]

Pretty gnarly pictures.

 

[Jimyson]

To say the least. At a minimum with glass, having a carboy hauler that supports the bottom and does not in any way require the neck for use is recommended.

 

[Dhaynes]

I have 14 six gallon Better Bottles, 2 three gallon and 2 five gallon. I bought 1 six gallon glass just to see if I liked it but I didn't. The only time I use the glass one is if all the plastic ones are full. I don't vacuum rack. I either gravity rack or use a diaphragm pump. Aside from the risk of losing a whole batch of wine from breakage, glass is a lot heavier and harder to handle especially when wet. I do have 10 five gallon glass ones that I bought off of Craig's list for $10 each but I've only ever used 2 of them.


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[byathread]

What do most of you prefer? On third kit and have used glass only in my short career, but just had a crack happen at racking and almost lost 6 gallons of precious wine on the floor.

I've only ever used glass and never had any problems. And I had two dozen carboys of assorted sizes at one point. That said, I've only ever owned Italian made carboys (and a few Mexican, when they still manufactured them). They're a couple dollars more, but well worth it. I've heard lots of horror stories about the Chinese made carboys. I believe there's a detailed post on this forum somewhere detailing this.

Besides, once you get a vacuum pump you'll never look back.

 

[bkisel]

I use both but prefer my plastic Better Bottles and Bubblers. My two remaining glass carboys are used primarily for degassing using a Vacu Vin. I have broken one glass carboy while cleaning and did receive a minor cut. For me they are cumbersome to move around whether full or empty and I don't like that mine are more like 6.5 gallons which made topping off a pain.

To be sure both glass and plastic have their pluses and minuses so I would recommend trying both to see which one (or maybe both?) is best for you.

 

[jumby]

Personally I prefer and use plastic carboys. It comes down to what works best for you.

 

[ehammonds]

Thanks. I'm gonna try a better bottle for a bit, except when I use the vacuum to degass. The thought of losing $200 worth of premium juice all over my kitchen, as well as I suppose getting sliced by shards of glass, are enough to give it a shot.

 

[JohnT]

Glass!! I hate those plastic things!

 

[Boatboy24]

I have one 5 gallon better bottle and 1 six. The five is hardly ever used. The 6 is my 'pre-bottling' carboy for reds. All of my reds get some barrel time and my Vadai barrel is EXACTLY 6 gallons, as is the Better Bottle. The glass carboys have an extra liter or two. Using the BB let's me rack out of the barrel without having to top up.

As someone else said, it depends on your needs and tools. I have a vacuum pump and that can't be used with plastic.

 

[terroirdejeroir]

One of the points that often gets overlooked is that glass is essentially inert. I don't trust plastic, especially for long term storage. Just because a plastic carboy is food grade and BPA-free does not mean it is completely safe. There are a lot of articles about BPB and other compounds in BPA-free containers that could be just as dangerous or even more so.

I have eight glass six-gallon carboys and a single Better Bottle that I only use for transfers and short-term storage.

 

[bkisel]

My best investment was my variable volume stainless steel tank. No worries about glass or plastic or the volume of juice in get from the grapes--no need to top up carboys with other people's wine, etc.

More winemaking has a great one made by spiedel.

Just one? Are you able to have several batches of different wine going at one time or must you make several batches of the same wine?

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Glass!! I hate those plastic things!

What he said. I bought one. When I tried to clean it the same way I do my glass carboys -- with hot water -- this is what happened (in a matter of about 5 seconds):