A Sad Day

[Doogiechap]

G'day Chaps,
It looks like the main source of our crown seal stubbies is going to dry up
Despite the pain of cleaning twice the amount of bottles it has meant that I have managed to keep the battle of the bulge in check and still enjoy brewing by effectively halving my intake most nights.
I was set to collect a few of these this evening from a work function but alas

 

[colinw]

I find Corona bottles highly effective. Just keep them out of the light. Other good alternatives are LCPA/Rogers/Bright Ale, James Squire.*, Matilda Bay.* (Redback bottles are lovely), Grand Ridge or any of the other great Victorian micros.

 

[Whistlingjack]

And?

What can you offer instead?

 

[Kai]

That's ok, i stopped liking crown bottles when they moved to the thinner ones stamped with the crown logo. The ones before that were pure gold.

I have too many bottles now anyway. Now where did I put those kegs?

 

[Doogiechap]

I was waiting for the Keg comment
My brain says YES but my gut says NO

 

[colinw]

And?

What can you offer instead?

Eh? Don't follow you.

 

[sluggerdog]

And?

What can you offer instead?

Eh? Don't follow you.

Ditto.. :huh:


I find James Squire Bottles are great, love the look of them too

 

[colinw]

I used to use a lot of Crown bottles back when I was first brewing.

Gave up on them after I found I was getting a much higher failure rate than with more robust bottles.

After a couple of re-use cycles, I started getting bottles which cracked when you capped them. Sometimes imperceptibly, so you would get a flat beer or part of the neck would shear off when you went to open them.

Corona, Little Creatures,Matilda Bay and James Squire bottles are much more robust.

 

[warrenlw63]

Don't forget the Kozel bottles too. Very robust. Nice size at 500ml and for under $3 you get a good beer to boot. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[Doogiechap]

I've capped about 1200 crownies with my 'special' capper and had one failure thus far so I'm pretty happy with them

 

[colinw]

I should add that I had similar failures with the cheaper & lighter German bottles which Schfferhofer, Hansa Pils,etc. come in. The decent bottles (Erdinger, Schneider) are fine.

But absolutely the worst 500ml bottle was Zywiec from Poland. 3 out of 4 failed on first re-use.

 

[barls]

ive had my first broken bottle in years and guess what it was
a crownie bottle that the base just parted on

 

[colinw]

I've capped about 1200 crownies with my 'special' capper and had one failure thus far so I'm pretty happy with them
View attachment 10100

I was using the butterfly wing capper which used to come with the Coopers starter setup. I suspect it is somewhat hard on the necks of bottles.

Since getting a bench capper I've had far fewer bottle failures, but had already given up on Crown and the cheap German bottles I mentioned above by then.

 

[warrenlw63]

I was using the butterfly wing capper which used to come with the Coopers starter setup. I suspect it is somewhat hard on the necks of bottles.

Ha! Same one I got when I started making my own 9 years ago. <_< Busted the necks on about 4 bottles doing my first batch (twist top stubbies). Was told by the proprietor of a local HB/winemaking store that the Coopers wing cappers are too "extreme" on bottle necks (ever checked the steel jaws? ) Capper still sits up in the cupboard after all these years gathering dust having only capped my first batch.

Bought a Superautomatica for my second batch and beyond and never looked back. (At least until I started kegging 2 years later :lol: ).

Warren -

 

[jayse]

Nothing to mention on the crown seal front. I just had to post to comment because I noticed doggiechap's avatar and he's got one damn awesome scullet happening. :super: thats totally horns in the air metal man :super:.



Boozed, broozed and broken boned.
Jayse

 

[Murray]

Unfortunately that avatar is simply Mannie from Black Books.

 

[chillamacgilla73]

And?

What can you offer instead?

Eh? Don't follow you.

Ditto.. :huh:

Ditto ditto :huh:

When I bottled my chrissy case I had both crown seal and twist top Coopers long necks - aren't Coopers still crown seals?

Doogie - We drink Redback or Rogers at work and I have been collecting stubbies and will eventually have a surplus....might be a couple of months but I will set the calender on outlook and pm you down the track. It's good to have a boss that has/had a half decent taste in beer.......even better when he is off the grog to go and use your your company credit card to choose whatever beer you like for 'Friday refreshments'.

 

[Kai]

Are you up on your black books, jayse?

The coopers butterfly capper is an abomination. I'd like to take a mallet and a bell capper to it, leave it in no fit state for capping ever again.

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

I made my own bench capper from wood and a hand capper Link
Have never had a single bottle break.

Have been reusing the same 300 or so bottles for ages. All sorts.

BTW Bill Baily (Manny Bianco) is a pisser and so is Dylan Moran (Bertrand Black). Dylan was out here for the comedy festival. I would have loved to have caught his show. BlackBooks - Great show. Puts most TV comedy to shame.

 

[Aaron]

Unfortunately that avatar is simply Mannie from Black Books.

Actually his name is Bill Bailey and he has done more than just Black Books.


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