Better Bottles

[bcmaui]

With a lack of glass carboys and the ability to purchase some 6 gallon better bottles, I was thinking of giving them a try, especially after hearing JZ was in the middle of a trial with them as well.

Other than the tip where he mentioned they dry out faster on thier side rather than inverted, are there any other tips/tricks you have come up with these? I like the idea of starting to pressure transfer to kegs and want to start doing that too.

[Oktober]

Don't try to pick them up or move them when the airlock is in. Because the walls have some flex to them (where as glass carboys are completely solid), trying to move one around with an airlock will cause back pressure that will suck liquid/air back through the airlock into your beer. It takes some getting used to, but you'll inevitably do it once or twice. Make sure the airlock is full of starsan or vodka just in case.

Also, you have to be a bit more careful cleaning them, as they are more prone to scratching than glass.

Hope this helps.

-Okt

[Blowmax10]

another tip - don't rock them on the corners when they are full

Over time, the plastic will get week and they will break

[DiscoFetus]

another tip - don't rock them on the corners when they are full

Over time, the plastic will get week and they will break

That's good to know. I've been using them for about a year now. I have some glass too. I like both equally. The airlock and suction thing is my biggest issue with them. Cleaning is pretty easy, they say to fill with hot water and shove in like an old dusting cloth and just swirl it around. Still others say that just adding PBW and letting it sit for a few hours works just as well. I would agree.

[captain carrot]

I like my better bottles. I used to have a lot of floor space covered with glass carboys. Now I can stack the BB's in thier boxes without worry of breakage. I've found that PBW works better than oxiclean for soaking. The swirling washcloth/PBW solution works good too. The triple bubble air lock won't let the liqiud suck back into the BB if you keep the level on the low side. I fill my airlocks with cheap vodka which won't hurt the beer if it does get sucked in. Big fan of Better Bottles!

[aquariumdrinker]

anyone using the dry tap style airlock?
http://www.better-bottle.com/products_m ... right.html

[TheDarkSide]

I love them. They have a bump on the bottom that I rest the autosiphon on so I don't pick up any trub when transfering. I use the orange carboy caps and attach a 1/2" ID vinyl tubing for a blowoff tube and have not had any trouble. To address the moving issue, I put them in a milk crate to so I can move them around without sucking anything back.

Since I do all my brewing in the basement with a concrete floor ( propane outside ), glass scares me too much.

[Hopscott]

Also a good practice, when pouring PBW or sanitation solutions out of a better bottle, is to put a racking cane in it to allow air to get to the back of the bottle to prevent the 'glug-glug' action and keep from imploding on itself.