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Sphense

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Hey, so I'm still fairly new to the 'brewing' industry. I'm 21 years old and so far am loving it! The idea making my own beer is great. I have only one problem. I want stubble sized bottles. Bottles I will drink out of. I don't really mind the sediment. I've never had a problem with it. It seems that most people use 750ml bottles - and I have so many 500ml bottles. But they aren't really 'carrying size'. Why are bigger bottles more common? Is it because they are quicker? (Less sanitising and cleaning)

I don't mind spending the time if I will enjoy it more. 330ml seems perfect. It's a shame that most of them are twist top.
If you have a whole heap of 330mls and live near Geelong, I would love to maybe swap some bottles for some beer. Or even just swap some 500ml bottles for 330ml if you like. Let me know anyway. Hope to start some conversation as my passion is kind of addictive (as most of you will know).
- Jack
 
The 330ml bottles must be among the most popular bottles around. Your neighbours' recycle bins probably have dozens a week you could scrounge for free. Or if that's a little embarrassing try the skips at the rear of restaurants etc.
Good Luck.
 
Drink James Squires and keep the bottles. Half decent beer and perfect bottles for brewing.
 
I mostly bottle in 330ml (or to be more European, 33cl). Although I did buy some 640ml bottles the other day for my porter. But yeah, 330ml all the way, generally. I just offloaded over 100 of them the other week.

The bottles that I dislike the most are the Stone & Wood bottles. Those labels do not want to come off. I've never managed to get one off without either leaving half the label there or having a load of glue on the side of the bottle that doesn't want to come off either. Salvaged a bunch of Steamrail Pilsner bottles from work last week, those labels come off great. The beer isn't terrible but it's not great either. It's almost worth buying a slab of Steamrail Pils, tossing the beer and keeping the bottles. Works out pretty cheap for 24 decent bottles.
 
I guess 750ml botles are more commonly used because they are generally thicker walled (coopers) and are "safer" to use repeatedly? I used to bottle into anything I could get my hands on, it started with Vic/Carlton stubbies & longnecks then Little Creatures/Corona etc bottles. I'd have a plastic garbage bin filled with water/cleaner and my mates would chuck they're empties in there instead of the recycle bin.
...Then the cracks began to show, literally. Aside from the fact that Carlton etc bottles have a twist top, they are too thin to use for capping (in my opinion). I found fine fractures in them when holding them up the light so I stopped using them imediately. I havent seen this in Little Creatures or Corona bottles that Ive used in the past. I just use coopers long necks now and don't seem to have any problems. Some places you might be able to source good stubbies from would be your local sports clubs, they probly won't have little creatures bottles but theyd have Corona bottles by the hundreds if you don't mind clear glass. Try the Lawn Bowls clubs, they love this sort of thing.
 
Sphense said:
Hey, so I'm still fairly new to the 'brewing' industry. I'm 21 years old and so far am loving it! The idea making my own beer is great. I have only one problem. I want stubble sized bottles. Bottles I will drink out of. I don't really mind the sediment. I've never had a problem with it. It seems that most people use 750ml bottles - and I have so many 500ml bottles. But they aren't really 'carrying size'. Why are bigger bottles more common? Is it because they are quicker? (Less sanitising and cleaning)

I don't mind spending the time if I will enjoy it more. 330ml seems perfect. It's a shame that most of them are twist top.
If you have a whole heap of 330mls and live near Geelong, I would love to maybe swap some bottles for some beer. Or even just swap some 500ml bottles for 330ml if you like. Let me know anyway. Hope to start some conversation as my passion is kind of addictive (as most of you will know).
- Jack
Not that it matters much but im 22 and started out with not really much of a stockpile in the way of bottles and don't drink enough to get more empties than I can fill so i decided to buy some brand new bottles from a place that sells them (theres a few depending on state) that normally prefer to sell quite a few at a time. I bought something like a slab worth or 330 mls and a slab worth of 750ml bottles for around 50c each. Saves you buying beer just to get the bottles from them, also they're good quality thick reusable ones.
 
Why do most homebrewing shops sell 640ml bottles?
 
Benn said:
I guess 750ml botles are more commonly used because they are generally thicker walled (coopers) and are "safer" to use repeatedly? I used to bottle into anything I could get my hands on, it started with Vic/Carlton stubbies & longnecks then Little Creatures/Corona etc bottles. I'd have a plastic garbage bin filled with water/cleaner and my mates would chuck they're empties in there instead of the recycle bin.
...Then the cracks began to show, literally. Aside from the fact that Carlton etc bottles have a twist top, they are too thin to use for capping (in my opinion). I found fine fractures in them when holding them up the light so I stopped using them imediately. I havent seen this in Little Creatures or Corona bottles that Ive used in the past. I just use coopers long necks now and don't seem to have any problems. Some places you might be able to source good stubbies from would be your local sports clubs, they probly won't have little creatures bottles but theyd have Corona bottles by the hundreds if you don't mind clear glass. Try the Lawn Bowls clubs, they love this sort of thing.
The reason being that most commercial beer bottles are not made for reuse.

Coopers bottles can be reused and you can definitely tell as they are built to a different spec.
 
Recap twist top stubbies ? Yes you can.
I have done it many,many times. They are after all capped during filling,but a cautionary tale is that the threads be checked for any damage and if damaged bin them.
 
I thought that most stubbie bottles were 375ml I am almost sure JS are. 330ml is for the fancy ponce craftbrews that rip off the consumer with a smaller bottle. :angry2:

You are correct most bottlers use 750ml bottles much less work involved.
 
Good idea about looking for a restaurant or bar
Maybe a pub that has a beer promotion like heaps of coronas or something.
Also at first choice liquor you get "clean skin beer" in really good strong crown seal bottles and its the cheapest beer out
 
Good idea about looking for a restaurant or bar
Maybe a pub that has a beer promotion like heaps of coronas or something.
Also at first choice liquor you get "clean skin beer" in really good strong crown seal bottles and its the cheapest beer out
 
Tropical_Brews said:
I thought that most stubbie bottles were 375ml I am almost sure JS are. 330ml is for the fancy ponce craftbrews that rip off the consumer with a smaller bottle. :angry2:
They just about all do it now.
 
The reason for me is I am lazy and 750 means half as much work as 330... every now and then I do 330 as is better for parties but 750 is sooooooo much easier
 
Wait, you are drinking craft beer from the bottle? Not a fan of aroma or flavour?
You have to get your nose in the glass to get the complete experience
 
I bottle in 330ml and 640ml bottles. I bought about 600 of each brandnew from Plasdene a few years back.

I hate filling the 330's but I find they're a much better size (even if I end up having two most of the time)

Pretty much any decent beer comes in 330ml bottles that are easily scrounged up to use. I have a lot of old white rabbit bottles in my collection too. I can't pick them from my brand new plasdene bottles except occasionally you get them that have the little creatures embossing on them.
 
There are a lot of different size bottles in the 300 ml range and when the lable removed its not on the bottle .
 
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