This last summer, my Dad showed my brother and I the process for making wine that he learned from his Dad. It was pretty simple and used a 5 or 6 gallon glass carboy. I've made a few batches of beer using a kit from Mr. Beer, which in. I was thinking of getting a carboy for making some wine and I was wondering if it could be used for both beer and wine?
5 Answers
I have made beer that was fermenting in glass carboy that was previously used for storing wine (for years). I did not notice any wine flavor in the beer. Just make sure you clean the carboy really good.
Yup. They're the same containers. Just remember that you have to be more meticulous with your cleaning and sanitation with beer than wine, since it's got a higher pH and lower alcohol content.
I use 2 5-gallon glass carboys that my dad used to use for wine. Each has made many batches of tasty beer, though now I mostly use them for aging of one sort or another. Better Bottles are much easier to handle, and they bounce when you drop them.
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2The bounce comment made me laugh. Thanks. I could so see myself doing that.– xecaps12Mar 30, 2011 at 15:27
I've made both beer, cider and wine with my good ol Mr Beer plastic keg. No transfer of flavor between the batches. Baka is right that sanitation is key. Love the Mr Beer bottles as they are large ;-) and ship well without the worry of breaking (just wrap them in a couple of huggies in case they leak :-)).
A good source for large capacity plastic carboys is to use certified drinking water bottles with the handles molded in (the 3 and 5 gallon blue things). They are certified not to transfer flavors to the contents and sanitize well (both concerns that folk have with the PET carboys that are sold in home brewing shops). They use a number 6 stopper, BTW.
The answer is yes. As long as the carboy is sterilized you will have no problems using it to make beer.
Yes you can use Glass Carboys. Like almost everyone else has stated. Priority is sanitation. I would recommend like with Beer use Dark bottles.