Lawrence Brewers Guild

Has anyone tried using bulk bottled water jugs for brewing? The kind that Culligan, Hinckley Springs, and others come in? Some have a built in handle that would probably be problematic, but others seem to be pretty much similiar to Better Bottles.

Yes I have. They worked OK. The only advise is to put them in a milk create. When you try to move them, they will compress and "suck" in air and your solution in the air lock (hence why I use StarSan in my airlocks). Did an Oktoberfest in 5 gallon plastic jugs which sat in secondary for 3 months and it turned out just fine.

There was a guy in KC on Craig's list that had 50 of them for sale of $5 each a couple of months ago.

Jason

I know there is a substantial difference in the chemical makeup of Better Bottles and plastic water bottles. As a result, the O2 permeability is higher on the water bottles.

Let me see if I can find something to back this up.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/better- ... tle-99933/

PVC vs PET. Some people seem to have good success with them. The PVC bottles (plastic water bottle) are rougher texture and pass more oxygen. PET (better bottles) is ticker, smoother, and pass less o2.

That should get you started.

Jdl973 wrote:Yes I have. They worked OK. The only advise is to put them in a milk create. When you try to move them, they will compress and "suck" in air and your solution in the air lock (hence why I use StarSan in my airlocks). Did an Oktoberfest in 5 gallon plastic jugs which sat in secondary for 3 months and it turned out just fine.

There was a guy in KC on Craig's list that had 50 of them for sale of $5 each a couple of months ago.

Jason

Yeah, Better Bottles do this as well, which is why I call them Barely Better Bottles. I own a 5 & a 6 only because I've broken 3 glass carboys now.

Rob...2 words...MILK CREATES



Have not broken a carboy since i started using them

Jason

Nice visual Jason! SaFe!

you know us guys...always about the visuals...

Rob Martin wrote:

Jdl973 wrote:Yes I have. They worked OK. The only advise is to put them in a milk create. When you try to move them, they will compress and "suck" in air and your solution in the air lock (hence why I use StarSan in my airlocks). Did an Oktoberfest in 5 gallon plastic jugs which sat in secondary for 3 months and it turned out just fine.

There was a guy in KC on Craig's list that had 50 of them for sale of $5 each a couple of months ago.

Jason

Yeah, Better Bottles do this as well, which is why I call them Barely Better Bottles. I own a 5 & a 6 only because I've broken 3 glass carboys now.

I just broke my FOURTH glass carboy today. I guess one every 5 years isn't bad, but this is the 3rd in the last 4 years.

I'm going to replace it with a Barely Better Bottle unless anyone knows where I can get a milk crate from. Looking for a decently strong one like Jason's above, not the thinner plastic kind.