I have the opportunity to score several Ozarka Spring water 5 gallon jugs extremely cheap and I was thinking about using them for sour beers. I was curious about the plastic being permeable to Oxygen for long-term aging. Anyone have any input on this?
Is it safe to drink from plastic bottles? Does your packaging contain BPA? The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and other international health organizations and regulatory agencies have approved plastic as a safe food packaging material. At Ozarka, we continually evaluate packaging materials for safety. We also abide by all FDA regulations. All currently available scientific evidence indicates that the packaging used for bottled water is safe when stored sensibly as any other food product would be stored — at moderate temperatures and away from strong-smelling cleansers and chemicals — and the product is consumed by its “Best By” date. All of our “single-serve” bottles from 8 ounces to 3–liter that are made from non-recycled PET #1 plastic, as well as our 1 gallon and 2.5 gallon bottles made from non-recycled HDPE #2 plastic, are completely BPA-free. All of our 5–gallon bottles are now made of PET #1 plastic, which is BPA-free. Our 3-gallon bottles are currently made from polycarbonate #7 plastic, a strong, clear and reusable type of plastic. In tests, water packaged in our polycarbonate bottles has been found to contain trace levels (less than 1 part per billion) of BPA. By popular demand, we are planning to transition our 3-gallon bottles to BPA-free plastic bottles in the future. That was right off of the website.
A couple of months in a better bottle/water jug shouldn't be a problem, but for a year or two, a keg, glass bottle or even a barrel is probably a much better idea, imho.
I believe the difference between the better bottles and the ozarka bottles is that the better bottles are supposed to be better at being less gas permeable. Reducing the chances of oxidation.
What @GreenKrusty101 said, use them for short term fermentations (4-6 weeks), I would not use them for a sour that was going to stay there for a year. There was a thread here a couple years ago where some people had info that seem to suggest that Better Bottles are definitely different from a "normal" water bottle from an oxygen permeability point of view.
I use plastic milk jugs often enough for long aging and I can tell you.... there is definitely some oxygen ingress over time and a negative impact. Glass is still better. This is not to say you shouldn't use the plastic. I do because sometimes I just don't care. But if you care a lot about the utmost quality, then plastic is not the best option. That's all I'm saying.
I don't know if there's a noticeable difference in oxygen permeability of a water jug vs. a plastic bucket, but I'm doing an extended secondary (2-3 months) in a plastic bucket at the moment. The other 5 gallons of the same batch is in a glass carboy, so it's my own little Xbeeriment. I really just ran out of glass fermenters, but it'll be interesting to compare the two when they're ready to bottle. I'll let you know how it goes, but I've heard of people producing complex sours/lambics in plastic buckets before. It can be done, as long as you don't open the lid every week. Since some oxidation is welcomed in the overall flavor of some styles, it could work to your benefit, depending on what style you're making.
I'll bet the two halves taste quite different. But you could get lucky. I definitely want to hear your results on this. I have tried the same thing and got totally different beers out of it, both good but one better than the other.
I'll keep you posted. I added brett to both fermenters (reason for extended secondary). I've heard some brett strains do well with some oxygen, while others do not.
