11/17/2009 -- I have been looking at a lot of different home brewery kits on the internet. What is the difference in the performance between plastic and glass (carboy) fermenters?

Response From Homebrew Heaven: The selection of fermenters is entirely a personal choice. Some like to make larger batches, some smaller. Usually a home brewer or winemaker ends up owning several carboys, fermenters etc in order to properly age his brew.

Plastic has the advantage of being rugged and light weight. It CAN become scratched, however, and doesn't seem to accumulate as much sediment as glass does.

Glass is great for watching the action (it's FUN!) and the surface cleans easily.

Cost and shipping weight of glass fermenters (carboys) is typically higher as well.

Of all the materials, I'd have rate stainless steel the highest. Rugged, easy to clean, etc etc. The price however, is high.

7/17/2009 -- Is a 5 gallon carboy big enough to secondary ferment a 5 gallon batch of beer?

Response From Homebrew Heaven: As a secondary fermenter, yes. This assume that the bubbling has slowed down considerably by the time you transfer into the carboy.

I would not use it as a PRIMARY fermenter, however if you hope to yield 5 gallons.

1/26/2008 -- I live about an hour (if traffic is good) from the address on your website. Do you have an actual store or is everything here based solely online?

Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, we have an actual brick-and-mortar store in Everett, WA. People actually walk in and buy stuff!

Our address is:

Homebrew Heaven
9109 Evergreen Way
Everett, WA 98204

Here is a video of our shop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1a5fKvv8XI

Heck, you can actually call us on the phone, too! It's 425-355-8865. A person will actually answer as long as it's business hours!

5/16/2005 -- i am new to this, and i have seen and heard of people using plastic buckets for final fermentation, their purpose for doing this is so they can attach a spigot to the bucket for bottling, is this ok to do or is glass the better choice? thanx again and i find that you question and answer part of the site to be very helpful

Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, that can be done, but we prefer to use the plastic "bucket" type fermenter for the primary fermenter, and using glass for the secondary. We like the bucket for ease of cleaning, and besides, your beer is only in there for a few days to a week or so. We find glass to be better for clarifing your beer, however. This is not to say you CAN'T do it (plastic bucket secondary), just that in our experience glass is better.

Having a spigot on your bucket is overrated in my opinion. We can certainly add one to your kit if you wish, but you will find that there is a fair amount of crud (called trub) that accumulates on the bottom of your fermenters during clarification, and opening a spigot down there just causes it to transfer over. We like siphoning from the top, and throwing away that crud. That's why we supply siphoning hose, racking cane, bottle filler etc in the kits.

If you would like to add a spigot to your kit, just tell us in the "Comments" section at checkout, and we'll make it happen.

3/13/2005 -- I'm just getting started brewing and I had a question. As a primary fermenter which is better, plastic bucket, plastic carboy or glass carboy. Then for secondary fermentation, plastic carboy or glass carboy?

Response From Homebrew Heaven: You will find that brewers have different preferences. Personally, I like the plastic bucket for a primary. It's inexpensive, and easy to clean. For the secondary, I like glass carboys. Glass seems to cause the beer/wine to clear better. If I had a lot of money, I'd probably get a stainless steel Fermenator.

12/19/2003 -- I am having trouble keeping the temp in the room I am making wine between 70 and 75 degrees as specified in the wine kit I have. I live in Colorado and often the temp at night dips way down, and in the day it can get quite warm. I am not around at all times to adjust the thermastat. Could I solve this problem by wrapping the carboy with an electric blanket or something of the sort? Any suggestions?

Response From Homebrew Heaven: Sure. We have a Brew Heat Pad that works very nicely. It's basically a hard plastic heating pad for carboys. If it's too warm during the day, just get a cheap lamp timer, and have it turn on only at night.

Here is a link:
http://www.nexternal.com/hombre/?Target=products.asp&ProductID=1129

10/23/2003 -- I noticed most of the malt extract brew kits are 5 gallon batches. Will a 5 gallon carboy be sufficient for fermentation, or will I need a 6 gallon carboy to allow for foaming? Thanks, I'm new to this.

Response From Homebrew Heaven: We recommend going larger for the primary. That's why we put 6.5 gallon plastic fermenters in our equipment kits. You can use a larger carboy of course, but the 6.5 gallon "bucket" type fermenter allows for the foaming, doesn't break, cleans up easier, and is less weight for shipping. Hey...we were all new to this at one time. No shame in that!

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