Awesome - the cooking thread is getting boring. Start a new thread…
Stainless is for men, plastic is for women, glass is for fools.
Now that’s a great epigram.
Plastic for primary, stainless for ‘secondary’ - I can also carbonate and serve out of my secondary 
Really, why spend $30-35 on a carboy or better bottle when you can get a corny for that much and start your keg collection for an eventual upgrade to a kegging system!?
Couldja macrame me a carboy carrier? ;D
I used the buckets when I started and still do when everything else is full. I go stainless first. Have to. For what I paid for it, it needs to be full of beer all the time! When the conical is full I go to the glass and when the glass is full, I start filling buckets. Would like to get a couple better bottles and lose the glass. I like using the glass for the most part but the breakage and the horror stories I’ve heard make me want to get rid of them.
This is what a 6-gallon glass carboy of Irish Red Ale looks like after you drop it. I wasn’t carrying it by the handle, but was hugging it with one arm. I lost my balance on the steps and had one of two options: Stumble forward and try to save the carboy, or watch it shatter.
I’ve heard enough stories and know enough about this glass to watch it smash. I decided to order a plastic 6-gallon to replace it and start working with that material. I’ll give it a shot and see how I like it.
Full-size image:
http://www.bacon-n-beer.com/carboy.jpg
I have stainless, glass and plastic fermenters. i use the stainless most of the time, then when it’s full I use my plastic buckets. Only when I’m making a slow fermenting beverage like cider or mead will I use the glass carboy, and then only if I can fill it and drain it without ever having to move it. Right now I have one cider in a carboy and 5 gallons of cider vinegar, but they’ll be sitting until they’re ready late this year and won’t have to be moved.
As far as the quality of the results I don’t notice any real difference between the three materials. It’s the skill and techniques of the brewer that determines the quality of the beer, not the fermenter material.
If you use glass, just don’t carry it around, unless it’s empty.
Fill & rack, in your fermentation room…Problem solved.
Clear path, one hand on the neck and one on the bottom . . . carrying a full carboy around is no problem. But do what you like, as long as it works for you.
Glass carboys can be very dangerous as Tim has shown. I am very leary of moving them without a carboy harness these days. I broke one last year while cleaning and it scared the bejesus out of me…I didn’t get hurt but it was an eye opening experience for me.
I use 6.5 gallon glass carboys, the “brew haulers” are life savers. I don’t understand how anyone could not use them with 6.5 gallon carboys. Never have had an issue. Ever.
Glass is easy to clean, easy to sanitize, doesn’t scratch, you can see your beer as it ferments…I also use the shake method to aerate, which isn’t possible or very easy with buckets. Plus I can have a better blow off tube attached, if needed. Yeah, it’s a little heavier, but it ain’t that heavy.
Wins all around.
I keep my 6.5 gal glass fermenter in a palstic milk crate. This gives it some protection from other things banging into it and also makes it somewhat easier to move since it has handles. It’s a tight fit in the milk crate so the handles aren’t 100% accessible. Regardless, it alleviates hoisting a full carboy by the handle on the neck.
At some point, I’ll put my better bottles into crates as well, which should reduce the amount they deflect when lifted.
FWIW, I don’t have any problem cleaning the better bottles. A good soak does most of the work. A rag wrapped around a carboy brush does the rest and alleviates risk of scratching.
I also have rubber matting on the floor where I work with the carboys, which alleviates some risk of shattering. This is just cheap rubber matting from Menard’s.
Thanks for this post
This subject has actually been a concern of mine lately. I plan on using a newly modified chest freezer to ferment in this weekend and I’m a little nervous about picking two full 6.5gal carboys in and out of this thing. This post makes me wonder if I can just put the freezer on a platform w/casters, roll it over to the brew area and pump straight into the carboys inside the freezer?
I broke a 5 gal carboy cleaning it in a bathtub at my old house 6 or 7 yrs ago. Not a fun experience. I’ve been very lucky not to break one full of beer.
-J.K.L.
Man, your post sounds kinda like those medicine commercials on TV, haha…
I forgot the disclaimer. Excessive consumption may cause blurry vision, slurring, headaches, etc…
I experienced some of these side effects yesterday. ;D
-J.K.L.
Unfortunately for us, we brew outside in the garage and ferment in two separate locations in the house. In the summer we have to brew outside, fill the carboys, and then walk down a set of rickety stairs in a 100-year-old house to get to the basement. Not fun, but it’s the work we have to do for the beer. So carrying around full carboys is something we regularly do.
I’ve been brewing for 16 years and have 18 glass carboys. This is the first time I’ve ever broken one.
The most interesting part of dropping it was watching it break. Full carboys don’t break like empty ones (I saw that firsthand once). The liquid on the inside provides extra mass and it’s best to get a few feet away from it because the shards move quickly.
The only consolation to this is that the first carboy made it into the house safely. So our 10-gallon batch is now a 5-gallon batch.
Brewing is a dangerous sport. Be careful out there. ;D
I’m gradually making the move to better bottles. I’ve got two primaries and really like them. Cleaning is not an issue. A good soak in oxyclean has never failed. I secondary in glass, but a gift certificate to my LHBS will get me a couple of 5 gallon BB (thanks Mom & Dad!). While I never use a brush etc. on BB, I do all sour/funky beers in glass. The risk of bugs hiding out in my BB is too great to risk it. I move glass fermenters in milk crates like others have posted above. Cheers!
I rarely use carboys anymore, but if I had to move them great distances, when full, I’d definitely build a sling or some sort of carrier to get those things away from my chest and belly.