# A&W Glass half gallon jug (dark glass Carboy)



## wilkey43 (Jul 13, 2009)

A&W is selling a glass 1/2 gallon for $7.99 these would make a great small test batch or overflow carboy 

these are sold empty and sterile 

personaly I would like to see them come back with the gallon jug there was a time when you werent using them for wine making you would take the gallon jug back and they would re-fill it for you exspecially on drive in movie night


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## Tom (Jul 13, 2009)

1/2 gallon bottle is not enough to do anything.


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## Wade E (Jul 13, 2009)

It good for overage and also would work ok as a sanitizer jug as sometimes 1 gallon is more then I need.


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## wilkey43 (Jul 13, 2009)

Tom said:


> 1/2 gallon bottle is not enough to do anything.



Tom I take it you have not been making wine for very long 

There was once a time a 1/2 gallon jug was used to share starters when there was very little choice for yeast or the ability to get a good yeast 

It use to be that if you had a yeast that worked good with a peach wine and you had a friend that was going to start a peach wine you would pull a 1/4 gallon of Juice and a 1/4 gallon of sugar water and it went over to your friend for his wine 

this went on to a couple of friends and would eventually get back to you for your next batch of wine


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## Wade E (Jul 13, 2009)

Tom has been making wine for quite some time. Thats something we dont do that much anyomer with wine but do do that quite often with beer making. Wine yeast is pretty cheap and does a good job but beer yeast is pretty expensive if you want the good stuff, about $8.00 so a yeast cake is a good way to save money.


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## Tom (Jul 13, 2009)

wilkey43 said:


> Tom I take it you have not been making wine for very long
> 
> There was once a time a 1/2 gallon jug was used to share starters when there was very little choice for yeast or the ability to get a good yeast
> 
> ...



 
Wilkey,
I have been making wine for a very long time. I make lets say 200 gallons (wink wink) a year for "many years" (12+ ). I make wine from fresh juice from CA, Italy and Chile I make all sorts of fresh fruit, I also make kits. The only thing I don't make is "Welches" frozen concentrate.
Yes I also make all grain beer. Making beer it is common to "wash" the yeast and reuse. In winemaking it isn't. Wine yeast is as low as .60 a packet so trying to reuse just dont make sence. Wine starters do not need 1/2 gallon starters. Starters are at most 16oz. 
I also run a very large wine club in my area. So yes I have experience in winemaking.


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## wilkey43 (Jul 14, 2009)

Tom when I say we use to have to do something I am talking more then 25 years ago my first batch of wine was 30 years ago. I walked into a brew shop the other day and was amazed at everything that the store had and I thnk of all the things we use to make to get what is in the store now.

The reason I even said something about the A&W bottle is that its has an opening the same size as a 1 gallon and is made of glass. 

I dont know about you, but I find it very hard anymore to find something that is made of glass that I can use for wine making and I don't care what size it is I will find a use for it and to have an opening that is the same as a gallon so I only have to keep 2 sizes of corks is a plus for me 

there was once a goal of wine making to find everything you needed and modify it to make a wine now people just go into a brew shop 


and now just like in the old days you can buy almost everything you need to make wine at Sherwin-Williams and A&W

that would be 2 gallon bucket and lid with nylon mesh bag $6. 45......4-1/2 gallon glass bottles $32 a few corks and airlocks and you are ready to go 

for me I would make a batch in the 2 gallon primary and then put it into the 4 jugs and adjust each one to find out what will be the best way to make a full batch the next time


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## smurfe (Jul 14, 2009)

I have quite a few of the jugs you talk about. They are for beer though. We call them Growlers or Bombers and many brew pubs offer them to take home beer in. I actually use these jugs quite a bit in wine making. If I have extra must I will put the remaining in the small jug and ferment as normal and when I rack add this to the main carboy to top off. I also use them for blow off when brewing beer if I feel a blow off tube is needed. I found that if you make a lot of scratch wines it is nice to have a wide variety of container sizes to ferment and store in. I use this size mostly for Beer on the Go though.


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## wilkey43 (Jul 14, 2009)

http://storesense1.carrierzone.com/HS8072/Detail.bok?no=752 here is the bottle I am talking about


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## smurfe (Jul 14, 2009)

I have a couple like you show but they are clear. Most of them I have are like the one shown in the link. I have never ordered on empty but have bought quite a few at beer bars. Most of the time I pay about the same as shown here. Not as thick glass but pretty heavy non the less. 

http://homebrewheaven.com/glass-beer-growler---64-oz-screw-top.htm


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## onetoomany (Dec 7, 2010)

any wine i have left over i dont toss out..1/2 gallon,750ml,350ml ,even mason jars i use them all..i only feel bad when i spill a drop


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## kirbyclk (Dec 7, 2010)

Tom said:


> The only thing I don't make is "Welches" frozen concentrate.



Just curious as to why you don't ever use Welch's?


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## bluerdg (Dec 9, 2010)

Tom said:


> 1/2 gallon bottle is not enough to do anything.



Have to agree - I picked up 2 gallon carboys to "play" with and now that I've got 2 gal. of Blackberry almost ready to bottle, I'm kicking myself for not just picking up another 6 gal. carboy. I would agree however that having a few gallon or 3 gallon carboys around would be handy for those instances when I've got some fruit available but not enough of it for a 6 gal. batch.


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