In this article, we will debate about the debate of plastic
and glass carboys. What are their benefits and drawbacks of both and help you
in deciding which home brewery is the best for you.
Plastic carboys are one of the fermentation vessel options
available to home brewers. These are most affordable than glass carboys. This
can be a great deciding factor for a homebrewer budget. Most of home brew
suppliers run 25-30% lesser rates. Besides this
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| Plastic Carboys |
Plastic carboys are one of the options available to
homebrewers as fermentation vessels. Plastic carboys are more affordable than
their glass counterparts. For a homebrewer on a budget, this can be a major
deciding factor. Through most home brew suppliers they run 25-30% cheaper in
fact. On top of that, shipping will be more affordable when buying online.
Plastic is far and away lighter than glass. This may not
seem like a big deal at first, but what happens when you fill it with 50-60
pounds of beer? That weight adds up pretty quick. Carrying a more manageable
weight decreases the risk of dropping said items. Glass carboys can be
dangerous when dropped, due to the positive pressure and fragmentation of glass
when it breaks.
If you were to drop a plastic carboy, it may break from the
drop, no different than glass. The difference here is that it won’t leave
shards of sharp glass all over your floor.
Oxygen permeation becomes a factor with plastic. While
minimal (you add more oxygen to your beer by removing the bung once than the
amount of time your beer is in the carboy), oxygen does leach through the walls
of the carboy.
To remove oxygen in the headspace, especially for wines,
some brewers will use a vacuum pump over the mouth of the carboy. Plastic isn’t
strong enough for that kind of reverse pressure and may implode. Traditional
glass carboys can handle this pressure.
Plastic is well known to be softer than glass. When cleaning
a traditional carboy, you’ll find that krausen and hop gunk gets stuck to the
roof of the carboy. A carboy brush cannot be used on plastic carboys as it will
scratch the plastic. PBW or a similar product must be used to clean them. While
these products work well they are even more effective with a brush.
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| Glass Carboys |
Glass Carboy will not permeate oxygen through its walls. This can
add peace of mind to a brewer aging sours or other long term beers. It is also
more resistant to heat, although you shouldn’t add hot liquids to either glass
or plastic containers.
Glass Carboy will not scratch after heavy use, making it easier to
clean and maintain. When glass has an unseen molding defect, it will usually be
smooth and won’t harbor bacteria. Glass is also a safer option to sanitize and
use for regular beer after brewing sour ones (however it’s easier to just have
separate fermenters for sour fermentations).
Glass Carboy is completely inert which guarantees that no chemicals
will ever leach into your product. While plastics graded for food production
should also be free of any harmful leaching as well, can you ever be too safe?
Glass carboys come in 1 gallon sizes which are ideal for
smaller batches of beer or mead.
So we’ve gone over plastic and glass. Now let’s look at some
overall good tips for carboy management.
There are now wide mouth carboys available in both glass and
plastic that make it easier to clean.
Sliding carboys across the floor or even placing them
directly on hard floors will increase wear and may eventually cause breakage.
Place something like an anti-slip mat where you will be putting carboys.
A full carboy is heavy. Don’t lift them by the neck as the
necks may break off. If you have a carboy handle that attaches to the neck,
lift from the bottom and the handle. Alternatively, you can place carboys in
milk crates which make them a bit more mobile.
Now you have the knowledge to make a solid decision when it
comes to carboy selection. Just remember that you don’t have to go just one way
or the other. A different carboy might be suited to different brewing needs, so
don’t be afraid to mix it up.
