Just picked up 7 5 gallon Deer Park water Jugs

[carlb]

I was driving by a yard sale the other day and I decided to stop and take a look. I saw 2 clean 5 gallon Deer Park water bottles sitting on the ground and asked how much they were. The woman replied $1.00 each, then a her husband came over and said I have some more of them if you are interested, so i asked how many more and the man said 5. I asked him how much he wanted for all 7 and he said $5.00. Well, being that I used to negotiate chemical prices with suppliers all the time before i retired, i offered him $3.50 and he accepted. When I was leaving the man said "do you mind me asking what you are going to use them for" and I replied I am going to use them to make wine, he asked if he could have a bottle from the first batch.

 

[saramc]

Are these glass or plastic? I have only seen this brand in the individual sized bottle.

 

[jamesngalveston]

i doubt there glass, they would be really hard to pick up full of water.

 

[cimbaliw]

(assuming they don't have the dreaded recycle #7) 25g of capacity at 14 cents a gallon, Right on! I have to think for quick turn wines, like Skeeter Pee or Dragon's Blood, these would work very well. I might even try a head to head - glass v. plastic apfelwein test over a 6-12 month period.

 

[cpfan]

Based on their web-site, these would be plastic.

carlb: Although some people use these water jugs for wine, many others will not. It's your decision, but I just thought that I should mention that. Which type of plastic are they (look on the bottom)?

Steve

 

[Reilly]

Not necessarily. I have a 5 gal Deer Park glass carboy that is currently full of Pinot Noir. If these were in a sale I would bet they were old and glass.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I would not try to degas with a vacuum pump.....the could cave in pretty quickly....just saying....happened to me.

 

[BernardSmith]

If these carboys are plastic I am not sure how wise it is to use them for either the secondary fermentation or for aging wine. Not all plastic is equally inert. Using plastic designed to store water is one thing but that same plastic may leach chemicals over time if the contents being stored are alcohol or is acidic as wine is . Better Bottle claims their plastic is inert for the purposes of making or storing wine and I believe them but Deer Park is unlikely to make or buy bottles suitable for wine storage if they were intended by Deer Park only for storing water.

 

[carlb]

I forgot to check before i bought them and they are the #7 plastic. All is not lost though, I can return them to my local supermarket and buy water for 4 dollars for a 5 gallon bottle in the #1 type with a return. They normally charge a 6 dollar core fee if you don't have a return.

thanks guys and girls

Carl

 

[Rocky]

Carlb, you might consider keeping one or two of them. I would not recommend keeping wine in them for an extended length of time, but you may find them handy for racking in that you can rack the wine from a glass carboy (using an Auto Siphon) into your plastic jugs, clean out the glass carboy and rack the wine back into the glass carboy. I have two Better Bottles, a 5 and a 6 gallon, and that is the only way I use them.

Note: all of the same sanitizing cautions and procedures still apply.