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carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 2:39 pm
by BasilD
Hey guys,

I was standing around the physical and metaphorical water cooler the other day at work when an Idea appeared in my head. I notice that the bottles were labeled 5 gallons and have a very similar spout on them. Has anyone considered using one has a Carboy? They seem to be a much harder grade of plastic then the buckets.....

Pretty much just sitting around in the snow storm today, so I figured I throw this out there :banana:

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 2:42 pm
by Keith
Can you get an air lock on them?

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:21 pm
by BasilD
I had something like this in mind.

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&sa=N& ... x=86&ty=65" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


perhaps with a blow off tube, I've heard these pop off quite easily.

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:22 pm
by GillettBreweryCnslt
You can get a rubber bung to add an airlock easy enough. However the concern is that the volume is 19 litres, if you are brewing a 19 litre batch and using it for a fermenter there's no head space for the Krausen and you'd have to adjust your batch to allow for a couple of litres of space. If you are using them for a secondary you'd still have an issue with head space, although less so. They are also much harder to clean. Aside from that, I don't see much of an issue.

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:24 pm
by mr x
This.

I believe it's worth the money for better options. Like the new widemouth carboys.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:16 pm
by BasilD
mr x wrote:This.

I believe it's worth the money for better options. Like the new widemouth carboys.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
Oh i definitely agree!

Has anyone else contemplated an unusual carboy design? ( things you think of while stuck at work in a now storm :yawn:

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:43 pm
by LiverDance
BasilD wrote:
Has anyone else contemplated an unusual carboy design? ( things you think of while stuck at work in a now storm :yawn:
I've always wanted to use a fish tank to do an English style open ferment

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:45 pm
by AllanMar
The wide-mouth fermenters basically have it cornered for me (short of SS conicals).
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=5519" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (in case you haven't seen already)

Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:54 pm
by mr x
I have considered a cool ship kind of setup. Will do it someday. Olands used to have big open fermenters.

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Re: carboy alternatives

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:29 pm
by CorneliusAlphonse
I think glass carboys were originally used in water coolers like that