Lawrence Brewers Guild

Hey guys I'm new to brewing and I need a 5-7 gal carboy. I have a call into lindysprings to see if they have any for sale. I will go to Bacchus and Barlycorn if I must but I was hoping to get one used and they don't have any right now. Thanks!
Liz

Try The Merc in Lawrence. The sell filtered water and have some 5g glass and plastic carboys.

Last I knew, Ale n Vino in Topeka had both sizes. Hard to tell if they still do though. Here's the contact info.

http://www.ale-n-vino.com/

Ale n Vino doesn't have any 6 or 6.5 gallon _glass_ carboys.

I called the other day and he said that they stopped making them; which sounded kind of silly as I KNOW of at least 4 homebrew websites that sell them.

I wonder if there would be a way to find a discount on buying a pallet/case of them as a guild and then selling them to members (like we did for kegs a while back)?

Anyone know if that would be a possibility (bulk buy on 6.5 gallon carboys)?

This was all that I could find, but if the shipping isn't too much (or if we could use FedEx to ship) we might be able to get them for as low as $28-$30 each.

http://waterloocontainer.com/catalog/pr ... lon-other/

36 per pallet at $911 for the pallet. Not sure about shipping, but we can look into it if there is interest.

The only question that I had was if there is a big difference between fermenting in a 6 gallon vs a 6.5 gallon when making 5 gallons of beer? Is that enough head space or is it completely dependant on the style of beer, kind of yeast or amount of activity?

Here is another place that doesn't sell to individuals, but might sell to the guild. . . . not a lot of info on cost though. . .

http://crosby-baker.com/index.php/ferme ... glass.html

I think you would want 6.5 or bigger for head space, 6 could be cutting it close. Wish better bottles came in 6.5.!

I have a hard time wrapping my head (read: my tree-hugging head) around using any kind of plastic for fermenting (or anything brewing related if I can find an alternative).

I think that leaves my options as glass or sanke.

Good thought though.

rushrich wrote:I have a hard time wrapping my head (read: my tree-hugging head) around using any kind of plastic for fermenting (or anything brewing related if I can find an alternative).

I think that leaves my options as glass or sanke.

Good thought though.

As long as its HDPE plastic your good to go. Ive fermented for 6yrs + using 14g HDPE open head barrels. My 55g fermenter we use for big brews is also HDPE. Been going and going. Keep it clean and dont scratch it with a green scrubby and you will get many years out of a plastic fermenter.

+1 I've brewed with mine for 5+ years without any issue or off flavors. Plus the safety of not using glass..

Blktre wrote:

rushrich wrote:I have a hard time wrapping my head (read: my tree-hugging head) around using any kind of plastic for fermenting (or anything brewing related if I can find an alternative).

I think that leaves my options as glass or sanke.

Good thought though.

As long as its HDPE plastic your good to go. Ive fermented for 6yrs + using 14g HDPE open head barrels. My 55g fermenter we use for big brews is also HDPE. Been going and going. Keep it clean and dont scratch it with a green scrubby and you will get many years out of a plastic fermenter.

Glass is pretty optimal for long-term storage (read as 'secondary') of things like mead, wine and whatnot since glass is not oxygen-permeable. For fermenting, if you are worried about the crap that plastic is made from getting into your body and causing horrific cancers and possibly making you into a Tarantino zombie (read as Planet Terror), your only real choice is stainless steel.

Since I only brew 11 gallons at a time, and I currently do not have a way to do a controlled temperature fermentation, I use my 6.5 gallon glass carboys for fermentation and my 5.5 or 6 gallon carboys for secondary. When I have the ability to ferment in a fridge/freezer, I use a 14 gallon HDPE barrel. Like everyone else, I've never noticed any issues with it, but I guess I've never had chemical tests done on the finished product to see if it is killing me softly, with it's chemicals.

HDPE is food grade.

Try posting an wtb ad on craigslist for glass carboys. Might be surprised on what you find. I had 4 different people contact me when I did it in Topeka. One who had quite a few carboys that he sold to me for $10 each for 5 gallon ones and $15.00 for the 6 gallon ones.

I didn't read every post but, Lindyspring on Van Buren in Topeka sells 5 gallon glass carboys for $20 each. Give them a call.