Valvefan,

Glass carboy or plastic buckets both make good beer. Glass is heavy semi-hard to clean breaks easily and dangerously! Glass doesn't scratch and is impervious to air (oxygen). Buckets are light, cheap, easy to clean. Buckets may scratch and are not tight to oxygen. I only use carboys for mead or applejack. I use buckets for all other brewing. I still use my first bucket six years after purchase. Not a scratch in it I only wash it with my hands. I totally creep out on a club brew when people slide glass carboys across concrete! But like I said, both make good beer and when people use them correctly they make perfect beer.

Don't worry about what experienced brewers do! They are not perfect (except me). Just watch and learn from your friends here. 6.5 gallons is about right size for a normal 5 gallon 19 liter batch. 5 gallon will be a squeeze! I have never used plastic carboys but I would rather them than glass. All the advantages of glass without cutting a artery!

Consider this: The yeast do not care what kind of vessel they get to do their job in.


---Todd

VF,

Great advice from the above comments. I frement in plastic as Bob does. Ive never broken a 6 gal carboy, but I dread the thought of that! The only thing I would say about plastic is that if you think that its time to replace it, do it!