Don't use caustic soda on Better Bottles

[Invalid Stout]

I am now an ex-owner of a Better Bottle. Mine had a stubborn deposit of gunge on the inside that soda crystals wouldn't shift. So I gave it another rinse and filled it with water and added some caustic soda. When I returned to it the next morning the caustic had eaten a crack in the bottom of the bottle and the bottle was empty.

[staplefordbill]

That's a great shame and I'm surprised caustic could do that. Maybe it reacted with other cleaning chemicals?

Did you use the BB as a primary fermenter? I use mine only for maturing beer, since that doesn't deposit trub on the sides. I did use it as a primary FV once but vowed never to do so again as it was a pig to clean. I soaked up to the top in warm bleach, left it a few hours, bent a bottle brush and used that to clean off the trub where the top of the beer had been. Trouble with that is it could have scratched the plastic and risked contamination in the future. Not that it makes much difference to you if you don't have one anymore...

[Wolfy]

A few people I know love fermenting in their Better Bottles, but when they can't even use boiling/hot water to clean them, it turned me off the idea of getting some since it would seem they are much more flimsy than would be nice.

[Invalid Stout]

Yeah I used it as a primary fermenter and was very happy with it. Just siphon beer in and out and cleaning it was never a problem before. I'll probably still get another one.

[196osh]

I use my better bottles as primaries all you have to do is soak them and shake them with a couple of litres of hot water most of the time.