Bottle Weights (g/mL) and carbonation levels - graph

[Adr_0]

Hi guys,

I weighed a bunch of bottles a little while ago to see if I could get a rough correlation with carbonation levels (carbonation potential) for each brand of bottles - see if I've had any broken bottles in the past and use it to guide the bottles I use for each style.

Here is the graph:


I have actually had Burleigh and San Pellegrino bottles break with higher carbonation beers. I knew it was risky but I was desperate for bottles. Funnily enough they are right at the bottom of the scale, though interestingly Sierra Nevada is too. Champagne is of course right up the top, but Weihenstephaner and Paulaner feature pretty high as well. I have a heap of Weihenstephaner bottles and I'm sure there are a lot of fans out there.

I'm sure there are lots of contributing factors to whether a bottle is suitable for a particular carbonation level but maybe this graph can be used to gauge if a bottle is 'too light' for wheat beer/pilsener and you should stick to English bitters.

 

[Black n Tan]

Generally heavier bottles handle higher carbonation volumes, but I think normalising the weight by dividing by the volume without regard to the overall volume of the bottle may be a bridge too far. The reason being that smaller bottles can handle more pressure than larger volumes of a similar weight to volume ratio (g/mL). So may be it would be best categorising your bottles as small (less than 400mL), medium (400-600mL) and large greater than 700mL and then creating your graph for each bottle type. Obviously you will need more data points, but others may be able to chip in with their experience. A large 750mL coopers bottle is 0.7g/mL and a bulk buy 500mL from plasdene (think it has a rather low CO2 volume rating) is 0.6g/mL. To be honest I was surprised and would have though the coopers bottle would be denser given it is meant to be a higher quality bottle and due to the larger volume. I have some others that I could weight and add tomorrow, but generally I don't bottle and have never had a failure so can't help from that perspective.
.

 

[biggles266]

German beer bottles are directly recycled so they're pretty good. We were at the Weihenstephaner brewery a few years back and went down to the bottling area and saw a bunch of other brand old beer bottles in crates and asked what they were there for. Turns out they get checked by a machine and if they're OK they get cleaned and used again directly. We saw the machine. Typically German and very high-tech!

Look at your next batch of German beer in 500mL bottles and you'll see a ring around some bottles - those ones have had a few beers through them and could probably tell a few tales. It's almost sad that here they'll get melted down and may never hold another beer again. Amazing technology.

As soon as we returned home we checked a few bottles at the Brisbane German Club and found a few different brands with the same tell-tale ring. I just tried googling a link to more information about this but can't find anything... If anyone else can find some good info about it please link us!

Here in Australia, we've always used Coopers tallies and have never had an issue.

 

[mje1980]

Champagne bottles and you've got no worries. I read about home brewed champagne and they use something like 15g per champagne bottle. Doubtful I'd ever put anywhere near that for a beer, even saison.

I only ever bottle funky beers in them as well, cause we all know how much brett eats, ******* everything

 

[Yob]

I'm not sure the graph can account for age/stress/unseen damage, regardless of the weight of the bottle it's likely some will eventually give way.

Coopers longnecks or kegs, and even those can fail.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

German beer bottles are directly recycled so they're pretty good. We were at the Weihenstephaner brewery a few years back and went down to the bottling area and saw a bunch of other brand old beer bottles in crates and asked what they were there for. Turns out they get checked by a machine and if they're OK they get cleaned and used again directly. We saw the machine. Typically German and very high-tech!

This technology is as simple as a photograph machine that scans the bottle for surface defects and imperfections that will likely cause failure. Most slabs you buy are in plastic milk crate type crates that you just put empties in and leave out the front door. It's not just Germany but in fact a lot of mainland Europe. Even saw Budvar and Pilsner Urquell doing it.

We are so behind because your average mega swill drinker in Australia doesn't give a shit about recycling and doesn't believe in resource efficiency, so will resist against being told his precious $2 stubbie might now come in a bottle his neighbour licked a month before.

I think that bottle recycling "trial" in SA where you get 10cents to return is as far as we've gone, but they still melt the glass down AFAIK. I've seen the comingled recycling trucks going to our transfer stations where a simple plastic bag or food scrap that shouldn't be in there results in the entire truckload being diverted to landfill, sad. I wish Australia cared more. End rant sorry.

 

[RdeVjun]

Interesting analysis, must have quite an assortment of empties, what might also be helpful is correlation with the recorded breakages.
One confounding factor is that there seems to be several different types of Coopers or XXXX longnecks while similarly some of the continental & pommie bottles vary, eg. TTL comes to mind, with at least two variants of different thickness.

OT rant: Hear hear DJ, in this country the attitudes toward waste are simply abysmal as evidenced by our public spaces littered with spent food & drink containers, spoiling our magnificent landscape and threatening the environment, while attempts to reintroduce container reuse schemes seem undermined by commercial self- interest. Some leadership on the topic would be grand but highly unlikely with the present worthless crop of dishonest, narrow- minded and dysfunctional drop kicks.

 

[mckenry]

I think that bottle recycling "trial" in SA where you get 10cents to return is as far as we've gone, but they still melt the glass down AFAIK. I've seen the comingled recycling trucks going to our transfer stations where a simple plastic bag or food scrap that shouldn't be in there results in the entire truckload being diverted to landfill, sad. I wish Australia cared more. End rant sorry.

OT rant: Hear hear DJ, in this country the attitudes toward waste are simply abysmal as evidenced by our public spaces littered with spent food & drink containers, spoiling our magnificent landscape and threatening the environment, while attempts to reintroduce container reuse schemes seem undermined by commercial self- interest. Some leadership on the topic would be grand but highly unlikely with the present worthless crop of dishonest, narrow- minded and dysfunctional drop kicks.

:icon_offtopic: Don't want to derail the thread, but do want to chip in regarding recycling.Way back NZ used to have the perfect glass bottle returns system. I cant remember the numbers exactly, but when you bought your first carton of beer, you paid (lets just use todays money) $100. When you finished the carton, you brought back 24 empties in the crate and your next carton was $50. That ensured the bottle returns. There wasnt a discarded bottle anywhere. Last time I was in NZ, 2012 I think, there didnt seem to be any of it happening anymore. I guess the rest of the process became too costly?

 

[JDW81]

Some leadership on the topic would be grand but highly unlikely with the present worthless crop of dishonest, narrow- minded and dysfunctional drop kicks.

Surely our fearless minister for women is up to the task.