5 gallon Poland spring?

[Papa Giorgio]

Anyone ever sanitize and use a 5 gallon Poland spring or water container to put wine in? Good idea or not such a good idea?????

 

[winemaker81]

Probably bad idea. Wine is acidic and many materials not designed to work with it are a problem. IIRC, very few plastics are ok with wine. It's typically some thing like mylar.

A lot of us use Rubbermaid Brutes as fermenters, which is food grade material, but it's short term, e.g., 4 to 10 days. Anything for long term storage needs to be designed for use with wine.

 

[ratflinger]

If it's PET then it should be okay. All my Better Bottles are PET. Now, these are only good for 3 - 4 months as PET will show oxygen infiltration after that time. Bottles are usually labeled on the bottom for plastic type, although you may need to look up the code.

 

[franc1969]

I've used water PET bottles for fermentation or a month or two storage. Disposable 4-gallon water come in these, I get them at Wegmans. They are pretty flexible, same as a 2 liter soda bottle. My friend uses the much thicker 5-gallon from Poland Spring, etc. He ferments and stores in those, not all are new PET bottles. I don't know what acids and alcohol does to that older type of plastic. Of course, he treats fresh juice like a kit- ferment, DualFine and bottled in 30 or 45 days. You might be ok, but not recommended.
I do know you could buy PET bottles as Better Bottle (wine/beer supply) or water jugs (somewhere else). DrinkMoreWater uses PET that is the same as a Better Bottle but with a handle. I also have those, less flex than thinner types, but still do not store as long as I do in glass. I just don't like that my airlock sucks in sanitizer when they are moved.

 

[Papa Giorgio]

Ok good to know. I get them to the house so it’s pretty convenient but perhaps not worth the risk long term.

 

[franc1969]

I checked yesterday at homedepot - the Primo water bottles they sell/exchange are mixed. The older bottles are #7 other, newer bottles are #1 PET/PETE. The newer ones also had handles that were attached, so I think sediment wouldn't get caught and be as hard to clean.

 

[RonNH]

Northern Brewer sells a six gallon food safe #1PET/PETE that is rated for winemaking. It has a 5" opening so it's super easy to add oak chips, etc. I have two of these, I ferment in one (it's nice to see through the bottle to see what's going on and I do the first rack into second plastic carboy. The plastic carboys are easy to move around and they won't break. The third rack goes into a five gallon glass carboy because by that time, you have close to a gallon of sediment/lees. The good thing about the glass carboy is I never have to top off the level as it usually fills it to the top.