If you start with a brew kit for home brewing, then it will likely include a couple 6.6 gallon food-grade plastic buckets to use for fermentation. One is used for the fermentation, the other to be used as a bottling bucket. These are perfectly fine for fermentation, but you may find that one of the first upgrades you choose is a glass carboy.
The buckets come with plastic lids that will have holes in them so that you can place an airlock (included with most kits) or a blow off tube that will allow natural gasses to escape during the fermentation stage.
Some brewers are perfectly content to continue to use the plastic bucket for fermentation. If you choose to upgrade your home brewing set up at some point, the plastic buckets can still be valuable tools to use as sanitizing buckets or as additional fermenters (for brewing multiple batches).
Carboys look like large glass jugs, usually with a small opening at the top. A rubber bung is placed into the opening to create an airlock, and the bung will often have a hole in the middle for an airlock or blow off tube.
Glass carboys make excellent primary and secondary fermenters for home brewing. The blow off tube is a must if it is used as a primary ferementer. One thing brewers like about glass carboys is the fact that you can watch your beer ferment without having to open a plastic lid, as you would with the buckets, thus exposing your beer to oxygen and contaminants like bacteria and microorganisms.
It can make determining when fermentation is complete easier by simply being able to see the beer, and again, not being required to open the container and risk exposing the beer. (Although it is important to note that determining this involves more than the simple eye test).
The negatives to glass carboys are that they can be difficult to clean, but they do not scratch easily which makes them sanitary. Although the glass allows you to be able to see your beer, it also allows light in, which can “skunk” your beer. It is important to store glass carboys away from light (in a closet, basement, etc.) to avoid this.
Glass Carboys are also heavy, which can make moving a carboy full of beer difficult. (on the flip side, you can get a good workout—who knew, home brewing beer is good for you!)
Keep in mind that you can purchase carrying straps for glass carboys that are designed by brewers for the very purpose to make transferring a glass carboy much easier.
Better Bottles are similar to carboys, and are similar to a combination of buckets and carboys. They are made of PET (polyethylene) plastic, which is important because this type of plastic has very low oxygen permeability. Better Bottles are also lighter than glass carboys, and are unbreakable.
Better Bottles can have a spigot installed, whereas Glass Carboys cannot. A spigot will allow for easier transfer into a secondary fermenter or for bottling.
However, like glass carboys, they are transparent, so care must be taken to keep the beer protected from light.
Better Bottles can be a little more difficult to fit with a blow off tube. Extra care must be used in cleaning a Better Bottle, and scrubbing the inside should be avoided or kept to a minimum, as that could lead to scratches in the plastic. Scratches trap substances, including past batch flavors, microorganisms, and possibly infections.
Plastic Water Carboys are inexpensive options, and are most commonly used as office water coolers. However, you must be careful in selecting one to ensure that it meets certain standards for home brewing. First, you want to be sure that it is large enough—many of these are 5 gallons or less, making them inadequate for home brewing purposes. Fermenters need to be at least 6 gallons in size for a typical 5 gallon batch of beer to allow for sufficient headspace for the krausen, as well as the CO2 that the brew will put off.
It is also important for the carboy to be made of the right type of plastic. You will want made of PET plastic, and by simply looking at the recycling code on the bottom will tell you**. #1 plastic is PET plastic, and all others should be avoided for brewing.
A conical fermenter is the preferred method by professional brewers, and many home brewers eventually choose these as well. They are made of stainless steel, making them rustproof and durable. The bottoms of these are sloped severely, like a cone, which allows for sediment and the trub to settle to the bottom. A conical has a racking port on the side, which allows for transfer of beer with very little of the trub being picked up.
There are also fermentation cabinets, and walk in coolers, but these options are much more advanced and will not be utilized by the beginner to home brewing. Therefore, I won’t go into detail about these options.
**What is PET plastic, and why is it important? PET plastic is least permeable plastic and why it is best for home brewing purposes. Other plastics may be too porous, which can lead to stains and harboring of odors as well as infections—all bad for beer!
