Bottling In Plastic Pet

[benny_bjc]

Hi,

When bottling beer into PET bottles, how long can you store the beer without it going flat/off?

Also once you open a bottle I presume you have to use it all up fairly quickly to prevent it going flat... how long can you leave a half filled bottle?

Thanks

 

[Stuster]

I've kept beer in a PET bottle for more than 6 months with no loss of carbonation and no discernible difference to glass bottles.

As far as leaving a half-filled bottle, strangely enough I have no experience at all in doing that. :chug:

 

[Doogiechap]

Hi,

When bottling beer into PET bottles, how long can you store the beer without it going flat/off?

Also once you open a bottle I presume you have to use it all up fairly quickly to prevent it going flat... how long can you leave a half filled bottle?

Thanks

G'day Beer,
PET will allow some oxygen transfer/ allow Co2 to escape so I would lean towards consumption <6 months. There are a few exceptions to this rule ie how much carbonation/ whether some oxidation is preferred for a particular style. I have never had the experience of leaving a half drunk bottle so someone else will have to answer that .
Cheers
Doug

 

[milpod]

Doogiechap,I think leaving half bottles might be a white wine thing?

Dont know.

But at my place we dont have bottles,so it's not a problem

I keep forgetting damn emoticons

 

[PostModern]

A mate of mine bottles half of his batches in 3 litre and 1.25 litre soft drink bottles. He only pulls the big ones out for sharing with company, but I can see if you bottled in reused bottles exclusively, you might want to reseal.

In answer to the OP, I have received one of these large bottles to sample at home and I must say they lost a bit in quality after opening and resealing. Best to open a bottle to be drunk in one session. If you're reusing soft drink bottles, try and gather some buddy sized bottles as well as the big ones.

 

[Ross]

G'day Beer,
PET will allow some oxygen transfer/ allow Co2 to escape so I would lean towards consumption <6 months. There are a few exceptions to this rule ie how much carbonation/ whether some oxidation is preferred for a particular style.
Cheers
Doug

Interested to why you'd recommend <6 months. i've opened bottles after a couple of years & can honestly say I've not noticed any difference in carbonation against glass. As to oxidisation, surely a bottle under positive pressure would be protected against oxygen ingression, or is this really a problem? I'm keen to know if this is a problem, as looking to do some longer term storage of big beers for comps & would rather use plastic for transport.

Cheers Ross

 

[kook]

I thought PET was actually pretty good when it came to oxygen permeability? I know other plastics (HDPE etc) aren't so good though. I know Better Bottle (PET) use the low permeability as one of their selling points.

 

[Doogiechap]

Interested to why you'd recommend <6 months. i've opened bottles after a couple of years & can honestly say I've not noticed any difference in carbonation against glass. As to oxidisation, surely a bottle under positive pressure would be protected against oxygen ingression, or is this really a problem? I'm keen to know if this is a problem, as looking to do some longer term storage of big beers for comps & would rather use plastic for transport.

Cheers Ross

To be honest Ross I have no personal experience.... My PET usage has been minimal (I guess that makes it a chinese whisper h34r: ).
The AHB wiki has some similar thoughts but yes that is created by brewers who rely on anecdotal evidence too .
I do have a strong recollection though on hearing Jamil giving a strong preference to glass bottles for his Barleywines and RIS etc.
Cheers
Doug de mug.

 

[Brewtus]

I have bottles over 6 months and no sign of loosing gas or oxidization. IMHO As to resealing, for halve a bottle, a few days in the fridge is fine. The less gassy or more empty the bottle, the shorter the time. If bottles are really gassed up, open them, take a glass and they will be fine for a while. If you leave them a few minute before sealing, the CO2 will fill the bottle and remove the oxygen.

 

[Rossco]

I have just finished a batch of Coopers Sparkling where the last few bottles (Coopers PET) were over a year old.

Although there was some carbonation loss (it was VERY minimal) what i found interesting is that there was a slight plastic taste to the beer. This definately wasnt present in the bottles under a year old. Im wondering if over the last couple of summer months the heat had go to them. I did try to store it in the coolest part of the house, but i know there were a few hot days in the room.

Lesson to myself....drink your beer :-D

 

[warra48]

I have a Mrzen lagering at present. It was a batch where I had some issues with fermentation, in spite of pitching a 3 litre starter of WLP830. Ended up pitching a couple of packets of dried yeast after 2 weeks to get it to take off again. I still have a lingering feeling the FG might be a few notches too high.
Although I prefer to bottle always in glass, I think I'll do this one in PET bottles, just in case I expose myself to bottle bombs.
I can't see it lasting longer than 6 months in any case.

 

[boingk]

I've had bottles up to six months with no problems at all - no oxidation and perfect carbonation. Havent't used glass on any significant scale [the odd six pack bottled into bottles fitting to the style], and don't particularly plan to any time soon due to my status of living in a dormitory for university.

Plus, I've got a high turn-over of beer so I never really get a batch aging for more than a month or two really

 

[mikelinz]

I bottled into recycled 1.5L PET bottles exclusively until I got a keg system

Each bottle was washed an reused several times. Evenually I had a batch that developed hairline cracks in the bases which allowed some of the beer to be forced out by the carbonation. Not sure if the batch had been over primed, under fermented or if the bottles were just passed it or damaged by the heat when washing them. Just drank what was left in the bottle (about 3/4's and binned them.

If your 1.5L goes flat (your probably not drinking fast enough leave it at room temp for a day and it will recarbonate then chill again.

I have never had bottles in storage for longer than 3 months, but those last few are always the best.

rgds mike

 

[newguy]

As to oxidisation, surely a bottle under positive pressure would be protected against oxygen ingression, or is this really a problem? I'm keen to know if this is a problem, as looking to do some longer term storage of big beers for comps & would rather use plastic for transport.

The mechanism that drives oxygen into the bottle is the simple fact that there isn't much oxygen in there in the first place. Whether the bottle is pressurised with CO2 to a pressure above ambient is immaterial. I know that it's counterintuitive, but it's the way it is.

I've had good luck with the special oxygen barrier/scavenging crown caps on glass bottles. But then again, big beers such as old ales, barleywines, Russian imperial stouts, wee heavies, etc benefit from a subtle aged/oxidative character. Why not try splitting the batch 50/50 into glass and PET bottles?

 

[chris.taylor.98]

For me the bottom line is that PET had to be treated with an oxygen barrier, where as the glass is a natural oxygen barrier.

Over time the PET oxygen barrier is getting better ( was initally designed to last only up to 9 months ).

I usually go for PET if it going to be consumed within 12months or glass for longer term storage.

I bottle at least 2 PET bottles for batch, as it also gives you a good way to gauge carbonation for the batch just by doing the squeeze test.

Also you have to be aware that not all PET bottles are created equal. Those that are not designed to carry liquid under pressure for long term will be less than ideal for beer storage.

 

[beerbeergloriousbeer]

I am not an expert on PET or glass but have alot of friends who are addicted to a well known 'COLA' brand.
They all seem to prefer it in glass than plastic. I hardly ever drink cola but when i do i notice a slight difference in bubble/flavour between the 2.
I guess this makes you question the differences.
I currently use glass but have just purchased 30 PET coopers bottles. My girlfriend is about to bottle her first home brew (Pilsner) in them.
I think the fact they are alot easier to handle without breakage will make me switch over to PET eventually.
A few friends that brew home brew use PET and the result always seems good.

 

[Adric Hunter]

Im faced with a rather serious moral decision when considering whether to use PET, is it RIGHT to put beer into plastic?

 

[Uncle Fester]

Im faced with a rather serious moral decision when considering whether to use PET, is it RIGHT to put beer into plastic?

All is forgiven as long as beer goes from plastic to gullet.

 

[EK]

Interested to why you'd recommend <6 months. i've opened bottles after a couple of years & can honestly say I've not noticed any difference in carbonation against glass.

Same here.

The only difference for me is that I usually bottle into glass stubbies, so the batch seems to last a bit longer as I will usually have 'just one'. When opening a PET 700ml I consume all of it so I go though a batch faster.

EK

 

[capretta]

i used plastic exclusively when first starting and i will agree with rossco that a plasticy taste appeared after long storage, no real loss of carbonation. it also varied with bottle manufacturer, coke bottles left less plasticy taste than cheap 99c soda water etc. the coopers bottles were the best though imo..