Pure mountain spring beer...?

[fretlessman71]

Is it OK to use a standard 5 gal. plastic carboy like the ones that water gets delivered to the office complexes in? Are there airlocks that fit those? Is there an advantage or disadvantage in using a plastic carboy?

[Redbird Fan]

one disadvantage to using plastic: it can be easily scratched. It's slightly more difficult to properly clean the scratched surfaces, thus allowing bacterial to "hide" in the crevices. Needless to say, bacteria is bad.

side note on this, it is not terribly likely to occur with good cleaning technique.

[S.F.B.]

I've never known anyone to use those. Are they even considered food grade?

[fretlessman71]

They're at least considered water grade..... :)

[toneyc]

I used them for a while when I first started brewing until I could buy glass carboys. I would use them a couple of times for secondaries then go trade them in for new ones with water in them. I just took my last three back for the deposit last week after not using them for the last 6 months. The standard orange carboy tops fit them but I don't know if a bung would work very well, the ones I had were not very smooth and round where a bung would fit.

:) Toney.