Glass V plastic fermenter

[molc]

Like all good beer everwhere, surrounded by tins of paint and bog roll:P

[Qs]

The paint fumes give it a special aroma.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Google is your friend!

Not always John, not always....

[molc]

Is that why the ipa you gave me held the hops so well? Mmm essense of paint, the secret indegrient.

[Jonnycheech]

Its 19 litres to the top of the sticker on the carboy there approx. I fill em up to the shoulder. Only big beers blow off big time. Any regular OG beers just bubble away nicely.

Nice fermentation fridge! Did you need to reinforce anything or did you just stick some hardboard in as shelving? I was planning on a new chest freezer but seeing this may have changed my mind, serious bit of space saving with the larder fridge.

[Qs]

Thats it Molc, it forms a lovely layer of lead on top of the beer that seals in the flavour.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

I've been mulling these over for the last while - pretty much settled on glass carboys but I just read that you can't use your heat belt with them? Feck, I have two that would be made redundant plus the cost of rigging together something to replace them. In the schpeel that comes with the belts it says they can be used for 2 glass demijohns though - what's the difference? 

Gah - I might just stick to my Youngs buckets...

[molc]

I picked up one of the plastic ones after hop bombs recommendation and they really are the business when setup with a blow off tube. Light, easy to clean and can see the beer fermenting to tell when to move to secondary. I have my heat belt on it and it's happily chugging away. Total convert.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

I picked up one of the plastic ones after hop bombs recommendation and they really are the business when setup with a blow off tube

Why the blow-off tube? Don't they give enough head room or something? I was considering one alright... I've changed my mind so many times I can't even remember why I passed on them at this stage...!

[molc]

Peace of mind. 23L is a little smaller than a standard fermenter, so it's more of a just in case. Didn't hit it yet though.

[HomeBrewWest]

Keep them (and carboys) away from sunlight and strip lighting though. Seems UV light reacts with hop oils to produce seriously bad flavors!

[Hop Bomb]

Really? I thought light was good for beer. Just like plants    The light bulb is on the bottom of the fridge there. Its the heat source. The upper part of the fridge where the carboys are is in darkness when the door is closed (only time door is open is to take gravity readings etc)

[molc]

Ditto.  Of course, I have a hard time resisting the urge to open the fridge every couple of days for a peak at the action

[Qs]

I picked up one of the plastic ones after hop bombs recommendation and they really are the business when setup with a blow off tube

Why the blow-off tube? Don't they give enough head room or something? I was considering one alright... I've changed my mind so many times I can't even remember why I passed on them at this stage...!

I don't usually use a blow off unless I'm expecting, or more likely encounter, really vigorous fermentation. I'd say that happens maybe 1 in 4 beers. A blow off is no hassle though.

[Kevin O'Roundwood]

Grand. I relented and got one of the Vintage PET carboys in the end. Looks the berries alright. I don't have any blow off tubes so gonna see how I go with just the bubbler.

Are there some types of beers/yeasts that produce a more lively fermentation?