# Bottles



## megs80 (13/6/09)

Hey all,
Ive spent alot of time trying to get my bootle situation sorted. The biggest problem i had was trying to keep bottle types together. In the end i wanted to go to one bottle, Just to make life easier. I came across cospak on the web. There an aust. bottle manufacturer. I ended up buying their new 500ml bottle ( im a bit of a fan of 500ml) they sell by carton, but have better pricing on 10 cases (mine came to 59.4cents per bottle). The also sell 330ml and 640ml

Im not trying to do a sell. But trying to get a decent supply of bottles up and not wanting to pay brew store prices. I ended up finding myself buying unwashed vb bottles from ebay for around 50 cents per bottle. Which are only meant for single use and they can break. Which is shit.

Check em out new-brewers who want to streamline their bottle management. www.cospak.com.au


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## wabster (13/6/09)

Will they sell to the public here in Sydney? My memory is a bit foggy, but when I wanted some bottles a few years back I called them and got a distinctly indifferent response, at best. While my bottle problem is now solved, I was annoyed I couldn't just go and buy 5-10 dozen from Cospak here in Sydney. Keep us posted, Cheerz Wabster.


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## megs80 (13/6/09)

They sell to public from there head office at campbelltown. From as little as one case


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## RdeVjun (13/6/09)

My department uses them a bit to supply some of the plastic bottles used for water sampling and we haven't had cause to complain at all as the prices, delivery and the products have been quite ok, although on one occasion my enquiry was greeted with indifference when finalising the order and I had to prompt them to actually complete and dispatch the order.

They do have an enormous range of stock, reasonably prompt service and arrange their catalogue with selecting an appropriate container for your particular application in mind and then listing the compatible closures (i.e. correct lids), which is very helpful and saves a lot of mucking around. They also stock swingtops (they call them 'tappo meccanico'), and drums that could be suitable for use as fermenters, which is all just a bit distracting while I am supposed to be sourcing and ordering stuff for work... -_- 

Granted, the OP is largely a review, however this thread might be better off in the Retail forum though? Its 50/50, I guess...

Disclaimer: I have no connection with this firm other than being just another customer.


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## smollocks (13/6/09)

megs80 said:


> They sell to public from there head office at campbelltown. From as little as one case



Did you successfully buy the 500mL bottles? Do they feel solid and with thick glass? It's not quite clear from your original post. 

I also have old Tooheys twist-top stubbies from ebay. They've held up pretty well so far, but I don't have much confidence in them long term, and they don't cap as easily as crown seals. It's really annoying that all commercial crown seals these days are 330mL.


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## megs80 (13/6/09)

RdeVjun- This tread probably is in the wrong spot. Thats what can happen after a few beers  

Smollocks- I ended up buying 10 cases of the 500ml bottles which bought the price down by about 10c per bottle. The total cost for 360 bottles came to $215. I just rang them up placed the order and payed with eftpos when i picked them up. The bottles are pretty solid, Thick glass and they seemed to cap pretty easy.


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## brando (13/6/09)

My best bottles are the glass 750ml Coopers tallies that hold Coopers Pale Ale and Coopers Sparkling Ale. They are really solid and crown seal. Unfortunately the only way to get them new is full of beer from a liquor shop. Coopers sell empty PET bottles at Big W, etc, but if you want the good glass ones you gotta buy their beer.


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## Verbyla (13/6/09)

I'm down in Melbourne and wouldn't mind buy a bunch of crown seals in the 500ml bottles. 

I know that theres a chance that they wouldn't sell to the public but if i had an ABN number do you think they'd sell me them then?


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## flattop (13/6/09)

I buy the odd coopers sparkling to suppliment my bottle collection, i get to drink the contents then re-use the bottle, that's really a green thing to do 
Trouble is i seem to drop just as many as i buy and end up with around the same amount.....
I've dropped the odd PET as well but they just bounce...


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## megs80 (13/6/09)

Verbyla said:


> I'm down in Melbourne and wouldn't mind buy a bunch of crown seals in the 500ml bottles.
> 
> I know that theres a chance that they wouldn't sell to the public but if i had an ABN number do you think they'd sell me them then?




I cut n pasted this from there website. They seem to be in melbourne. I don't think you'd have a problem getting bottles from them

Cospak
Melbourne

121 Lewis Road
WANTIRNA SOUTH VIC 3152
Tel: 03 9814 4400
Fax: 03 9814 4411
Email: [email protected]


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## manticle (13/6/09)

smollocks said:


> . It's really annoying that all commercial crown seals these days are 330mL.



eh?

Coopers longnecks and a great deal of European 500 mL bottles are available which are crown. Not sure if I've missed something.



brando said:


> Unfortunately .......full of beer.........



No such thing.

Coopers is a drinkable drop. I have around 100 Coopers longnecks - whenever I go to the bottle shop I always buy at least one pale or stout to supplement/replace broken ones. You could do worse.


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## HoppingMad (13/6/09)

h34r: 
Er, don't want to throw a grenade in this thread or anything but... well ok I am.

Um, spending $215 on bottles sounds crazy. You could get 2 corny kegs ($60 each from Craftbrewer) and a reg setup with that money couldn't you? Maybe not the CO2 but you're on the way with that cash?

I know I can't really talk being on a thread earlier this week grabbing bottles from a fellow AHB'er (cheers homebrewer79 BTW), but if I had more than $200 to throw around I'd be saving myself the trouble of hunching over a bench capper and go straight into keggin'.

And no offence to cospack but my mate just picked up 100 crown seal bottles from ebay for $17. But I guess buying from these guys beats waiting to put a bid on?

Confused, 

Hopper.


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## megs80 (13/6/09)

HoppingMad said:


> h34r: .
> Er, don't want to throw a grenade in this thread or anything but... well ok I am.
> 
> Um, spending $215 on bottles sounds crazy. You could get 2 corny kegs ($60 each from Craftbrewer) and a reg setup with that money couldn't you? Maybe not the CO2 but you're on the way with that cash?
> ...




Ur right, Its alot of money to spend on bottles. I was just fed up with having around 5 different types of bottles. It just became a hassle to store each type until I had enough for a batch. 

Im a fan of bottle conditioning and my setup is in the garage. So going to a reg setup wasnt the best option for me. 

I was also after at least 250 bottles and had no luck on ebay.

Megs


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## manticle (13/6/09)

You could bulk prime and forget about bottle size difference.


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## Vitalstatistix (14/6/09)

brando said:


> My best bottles are the glass 750ml Coopers tallies that hold Coopers Pale Ale and Coopers Sparkling Ale. They are really solid and crown seal. Unfortunately the only way to get them new is full of beer from a liquor shop. Coopers sell empty PET bottles at Big W, etc, but if you want the good glass ones you gotta buy their beer.



I am a massive fan of the Coopers 750 too but have to admit I quite like having to empty the occasional bottle of their best extra stout into my belly!

Personally I am sorted for bottles but the thing Megs said about getting the cospak bottles cheaper in bulk, maybe if enough people where interested a mass purchase could be arranged?

my 2.
:beer:


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## HoppingMad (14/6/09)

megs80 said:


> Ur right, Its alot of money to spend on bottles. I was just fed up with having around 5 different types of bottles. It just became a hassle to store each type until I had enough for a batch.
> 
> Im a fan of bottle conditioning and my setup is in the garage. So going to a reg setup wasnt the best option for me.
> 
> ...



Fair enough, had to ask. Don't mind the bottle conditioning process either. I guess if it's good enough for the leading Belgian and German breweries to bottle condition (Westmalle, Chimay, Weihanstephaner, Shoefferhofer etc) plus our good ol' coopers which is conditioned in the bottle too there must be something in it!

Cheers,

Hopper.


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## Sammus (14/6/09)

I keg and bottle. I move around a lot, and tbh with how little I get to use my keg setup at home, I've been bottling more and more and wouldn't even bother getting a keg setup if I started again. Cospak are great to deal with, I've bought heaps of stuff from them and they seemed like they were very used to dealing with the public.


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## DJR (8/7/09)

Sammus said:


> I keg and bottle. I move around a lot, and tbh with how little I get to use my keg setup at home, I've been bottling more and more and wouldn't even bother getting a keg setup if I started again. Cospak are great to deal with, I've bought heaps of stuff from them and they seemed like they were very used to dealing with the public.



Cospak are telling me the minimum order is 2250 bottles - 1 pallet. So i'm going to find out from Plasdene. Funny, a couple of years ago they use to sell them in boxes of 52. I'll be stuffed if i need 2250 bottles.

Sounds like they're abandoning the public...


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## The Mad Hopper (8/7/09)

I've been using VB/Melbourne/Carlton longnecks and have yet to break one. Am I just lucky?


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## Renegade (8/7/09)

Just on the earlier statement of 'why not keg' when spending two hundred on bottles. With 300 bottles you can have up to 10 different beers available, depending on what you feel like drinking. For the same money, buying kegs you only have a choice of two beers. I for one like perpetrating the fairytale that Im living in a bottleshop. :blink: 

+1 for Coopers bottles, the habit now is 'one four pack for the tastebubs & one coopers longie for the bottle collection'. Eventually I'll have a full set (Im, also aiming for 300) but in the meantime I also pick up discarded CUB longies, which also do the job, at least for short term storage (under 6 months)


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## wambesi (8/7/09)

Renegade said:


> Just on the earlier statement of 'why not keg' when spending two hundred on bottles. With 300 bottles you can have up to 10 different beers available, depending on what you feel like drinking. For the same money, buying kegs you only have a choice of two beers. I for one like perpetrating the fairytale that Im living in a bottleshop. :blink:



This is why I still bottles as well as keg, I like having a variety around. I have the quaffer's on tap and everything else in bottles.


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