water bottles

[rob]

This may have been discussed before, I was reading on Jack Kellers web site about using 5 gallon water bottles to age wine in. The water is $4.00 and the deposit on the jug is $6.00, he goes on to say that some believe that they might leak air over time, but he adds there is no prove of this. what are all your thoughts about a $10.00 carboy. If nothing else why not use it for a fast wine such as Skeeter

 

[Runningwolf]

Rob, there are many people using these jugs for carboys. For making a fun fast wine like Skeeter Pee on a budget I see no reason for not using them.

Personally for me I would not use them on any wine aging more than four months or so. With that said, I've talked to several people that use them all the time. I also talked to people making wine in plastic milk jugs. It just makes me wonder what else they are skimpimg on or how better there wine could be.

 

[Rocky]

I agree with everything that Dan stated. One good use for "water bottles" is for an interim container when racking. If you have wine in a glass carboy that you need to rack, go from the glass to the "water bottle," clean out the glass and go right back into the glass. It is a little more work, but saves from having two glass carboys or from using the fermenter in the racking process.

 

[wood1954]

I found out this weekend that you can't degas your wine with a vacuum pump if it's in a plastic bottle. It tends to cave in.

 

[RLWinemaker]

I've had no problem at all using plastic carboys/bottles; however, I too read Jack Keller's commentary and have found that they are no longer as cheap as they once were. They now cost over $13 per carboy... plus the bung... (at least where I'm shopping). Even though this isn't as expensive as a glass carboy, you may as well purchase an Ale Pail for the same or even a lower price, and then you don't have to worry about air leaking in.