Better Bottle!

As I mentioned in my last post, one of my Mr. Beer kegs sprung a leak. I need to transfer a batch to secondary this Friday, but I no longer have an extra vessel.

I went to HopTech over in Dublin, CA to pick up a 3-gallon Better Bottle. While I was there, I also got the "breathable bung". It costs more than a standard stopper and airlock combo, but you don't have to worry about the water being pulled into the vessel, krausen overflowing up into the airlock or the airlock falling off. It also has less moving parts, and is equally useful as an airlock and a stopper. Here it is at HopTech, and it is pretty similar to this, but not quite the same.

Anyway, for the moment I only have plans to use this as a secondary. Why not primary with it? I wasn't kidding when I said the Mr. Beer kegs are great. I can't put any carboy, not even a 3-gallon one, into an ice chest. That means I have zero temperature control. It's summer, and that means I might as well not even bother unless I want an estery beer dominated by fusel alcohol and god knows what else. Not to mention the ability to easily take a sample every day. No, I won't be giving up my Mr. Beer kegs for primary until I have room for a freezer + Johnson controller for temp control.

I went with the solid version, which has no spigot or hole for a spigot. The problem is twofold - their spigot is expensive (more expensive than the bottle itself) and strangely designed. Furthermore, I don't know how I would install my own spigot, since I can't very well get my hand into the bottle to tighten the nut. This means I have to rack with my easy siphon, but oh well. Since it will be holding secondary + gelatin, there will be relatively little trub + yeast to disturb.

As my Mr. Beer kegs die, I'll be replacing them with Better Bottles. If and when I switch to 5-gallon batches (for example, if I want to get fat or I have 5 times times as many beer-drinking friends >.<), I'll definitely be using 6-gallon Better Bottles. Heck, I even heard that JZ now ferments primarily in BBs, even for Heretic pilot batches. You can't get a better endorsement than that.

Now, if only they would design a Better Bottle with a larger opening, I'd be one happy camper!