Best And Worst Bottles

[The Mad Hopper]

Sorry to drag up an old topic, but I had a question sort of on topic to this.

Has anyone had a problem with CUB twist top longnecks (Melbourne Bitter, Carlton Draught ...)? My preference is to use Coopers longnecks but they're a PITA to get a hold of, while the CUB type are fairly easy to get.

What I'm looking at doing is brewing an old ale and a barleywine at some point. I've been a bit worried about how well these will hold carbonation if I'm cellaring them for 1-2 years (or more, if I have th patience!). Through my personal experience, I've had beer in these for about a year now, and personally I can't notice a drop in carbonation. I was just wondering about others experience with these. I'm not too worried about the fact that the CUB ones are thinner (I use a bench capper so I'm not likely to cut myself if one cracks and I've reused my current bottles several times without breaking a single bottle).

Also, does the strength of the seal affect hop character degradation? I had an APA in one of these bottles for a bit over a year and the cascade aroma character has almost completely disappeared from the beer. It makes it almost undrinkable as it tastes like coloured carbonated water. Does the seal affect this or is it just the time conditioning (oh, and I realise that an APA is probably not a style that benefits from really long conditioning, I just kind of forgot it was at the back of the shed!).

 

[Rod]

Have about 600 grolsh

been using them for 10 years

light strike with them is an urban myth

I add that I have both brown and green

and after doing many taste comparisons with many brews
and cannot pick up any difference

 

[braufrau]

If the APA wasn't flat after a year, it was sealed properly, I would think.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Likewise use the CUB longnecks and never had a breakage or problem. I have a few old ones with the crown seal and just as many thinner twist top long necks. The colour thing becomes an issue when storing where sunlight gets in, if you seal it up in a box and put it under the house/garage I dont think colour of the bottle would matter.

All up I use stubbies and longnecks both twist top and crown seal and I think they are just as good if you handle them well. I can see why the thicker crown seal are always in the good books because of their strength and no doubt they would last longer but I guess its how they are handled.

I have over 800 bottles and for some reason my fav ones are VB stubbies, Craft bottles (brown 330-350 crown seal), the longnecks and crown lager bottles. Hope that helps :beerbang:

 

[barls]

avoid the new crown lager bottles way too thin. i broke 3 before giving up on them

 

[clifftiger]

I haven't ever busted a Schofferhofer bottle with a bench capper. Reused some of those suckers a dozen times.

I know the Schofferhofer bottles are thin, but I've bottled a few hundered of these and never busted one

 

[sirotilc]

avoid the new crown lager bottles way too thin. i broke 3 before giving up on them

That's probably something to do with immense strength you built up in your arm while away last year.

I keep any belgian bottle, and champagne bottles for those massively carbed belgian ales. I still don't know what to do with the corked belgian bottles that are different from standard champagne bottles. I also ended up with a shitload of those 640ml bottles they sell at homebrew stores - these look promising, much thicker than a coopers longneck.

 

[The Mad Hopper]

Thanks guys. Wasn't too worried, but wanted to gauge people's experiences with these. I think I would actually shed tears if I had a 15 month fermenting + conditioning time only to find out there was a problem with the bottles!

 

[barls]

That's probably something to do with immense strength you built up in your arm while away last year.

I keep any belgian bottle, and champagne bottles for those massively carbed belgian ales. I still don't know what to do with the corked belgian bottles that are different from standard champagne bottles. I also ended up with a shitload of those 640ml bottles they sell at homebrew stores - these look promising, much thicker than a coopers longneck.

if they broke while capping id agree but they were during carbonation of the contents. blew the bottom clean off almost a perfectly clean break.
as for the corked belgian bottles ill take them off your hands as i recork them.

 

[Count Vorlauf]

Has anyone had a problem with CUB twist top longnecks (Melbourne Bitter, Carlton Draught ...)? My preference is to use Coopers longnecks but they're a PITA to get a hold of, while the CUB type are fairly easy to get.

Coopers Longnecks are hard to get? Maybe I'm missing something, but with Coopers' big push I've found their Pale Ale longnecks everywhere I look and often on sale. Only problem is that you have to empty the beer from them first...

 

[The Mad Hopper]

Coopers Longnecks are hard to get? Maybe I'm missing something, but with Coopers' big push I've found their Pale Ale longnecks everywhere I look and often on sale. Only problem is that you have to empty the beer from them first...

True! I have probably 5 bottle shops within 500m that have them.

The only problem was I was looking for the cheaper versions!

 

[warra48]

Also, does the strength of the seal affect hop character degradation? I had an APA in one of these bottles for a bit over a year and the cascade aroma character has almost completely disappeared from the beer. It makes it almost undrinkable as it tastes like coloured carbonated water. Does the seal affect this or is it just the time conditioning (oh, and I realise that an APA is probably not a style that benefits from really long conditioning, I just kind of forgot it was at the back of the shed!).

As braufrau noted, if the APA wasn't flat, the seal must have been OK.

If you lost Cascade aroma and flavour, it's probable you just didn't use enough hops!
I'm drinking a tallie as I type from a batch of my Twisted Gut APA brewed over 6 months ago, and the Cascade aroma and flavour just jumps out of the glass now, especially as the malt has mellowed over time.

 

[mark_m]

I have approx 3 doz older style heavy crown seals that need a new home, pickup from Ivanhoe vic, let me know if you'd like them.
Cheers
Mark

 

[The Mad Hopper]

Just had a Schofferhofer bottle blow. Carbonated at 5g/L, which I thought was very light.

Mark, I might take you up on that, I'll PM you later regarding a pick up.

 

[Sammus]

I've got a fetish for the LCPA pint bottles. Theyre not as dark as some of the super old picaxe or cub bottles, and I worried that they could be too thin. But over the past couple of years I've collected about 120 of them, and bottled and rebottled and rebottled and haven't had one crack or explode or anything yet - under high carb or under capping pressure.

 

[MaltyHops]

Hi Guys,

Bundaberg ginger beer bottles.
Has anyone tried using these? In particular, the short, squat stubby type
(like me ) that have smooth crown rims - I think some of the old
Queensland FourX beers used to come in. Anyway, they seem quite solid
and being quite fond of this ginger beer, I had been collecting some of
these bottles - collecting more wouldn't be too much of a chore.

Does old glass ever get brittle?
Has anyone ever reused bottles so many times that they become brittle and
become more prone to exploding?

Cheers,
Tom.

 

[Pete2501]

I used the bundy bottles once or twice for a ginger beer with no troubles.

 

[[email protected]]

If you can get your hands on 'em, Knappstein stubbies make Mr. T look soft. Orval are excellent too. I work in a pub so empties are easy to come by!

 

[Greg Lawrence]

Has anyone used "Lucky" bottles.



They do look a bit thin.

Edit: added pic

 

[Midnight Brew]

Has anyone used "Lucky" bottles.

View attachment 35151

They do look a bit thin.

Edit: added pic

hey hey

I've used the lucky bottles before, they were pretty thick from what I remember with the only troubles having to try to fit them into some sort of 6 pack holder and annoying when your trying to put into boxes because of the odd shape. But to answer your question they were pretty thick from what I remember. Cheers

dickman