Pet Bottles

[bum]

Ah. "Reason". I like reason. However, you've only presented preference and tried to pass it off as fact.

 

[Greg Lawrence]

PET bottles are great for grain storage, but any beer that I bottle goes in glass.

 

[sirotilc]

I use a mixture of PET and glass. Glass for big long-term beers, PET tends to be used more for the quaffers. Even for a big beer I like to put a few in PET so I can get an idea of carbonation levels.

Gregor, how much grain fits in a 2L PET bottle? Looks like a great way to store grain and not have to worry about things getting into it.

 

[roverfj1200]

I have over 200 glass and 200 pet. and I only use the pet now. So easy to handle chill fast and no cost after purchase. Reuse caps over and over and over..

BUT...

I rinse the bottle after I pour. Twice. ( Did this with glass as well) Next Morning I rinse again with hot tap water and hang out to dry..

It really is easy.. And I can not pick a taste difference between glass and pet. My palate must be shot... AHhh well Cheers

 

[Greg Lawrence]

I use a mixture of PET and glass. Glass for big long-term beers, PET tends to be used more for the quaffers. Even for a big beer I like to put a few in PET so I can get an idea of carbonation levels.

Gregor, how much grain fits in a 2L PET bottle? Looks like a great way to store grain and not have to worry about things getting into it.

I find that 1kg of grain = aprox 1.5L. Most of those are 1.5L pet bottles (homebrand sparkling mineral water - so dont even need washing). 1kg of grain fits in there with a bit of compating. This works well for me as I buy my specialty grains in 1kg lots.
The rodents can still go window shopping, but cant sample the produce.

 

[mje1980]

I have over 200 glass and 200 pet. and I only use the pet now. So easy to handle chill fast and no cost after purchase. Reuse caps over and over and over..

BUT...

I rinse the bottle after I pour. Twice. ( Did this with glass as well) Next Morning I rinse again with hot tap water and hang out to dry..

It really is easy.. And I can not pick a taste difference between glass and pet. My palate must be shot... AHhh well Cheers

I am totally a convert to PET. I keg, so i only bottle leftovers etc, and when i do, its PET. Just so convenient, safe, and i have never noticed a taste difference either. I also like having to finish the whole 1.25 litre bottle once opened hehe .

No harder to clean than glass in my experience.

 

[Bribie G]

I'm sure this is a long-standing debate somewhere on these Forums and bottom line is if it works for you, then it works for you..


I meant PET bottles are rubbish as the beer inside never tastes as good as beer bottled in glass imho. It definitely won't last either.
You're welcome to compare the same beer in a PET bottle and in glass and decide for yourself.


re: cleaning. Glass is easier to clean as you can put them in the dishwasher.

Good luck cleaning them.

I mostly keg nowadays but have a mixture of PET and glass. I normally keep my PET beers for 4 months max. All my competition beers get submitted in PET, as do most other peoples. I still have a few bottles of a mild ale in PET that won the Class in the State comp in July and they are still excellent and perfectly carbed, or even a bit over carbed. As for cleaning, my rule is not to sup the beer until the bottle has been vigorously rinsed three times and capped. Then before refilling it gets checked for 'spots' then no-rinse sanitized with Starsan solution and filled immediately.
As for a certain 'feel', I always tip the bottle, glass or PET, into a heavy chilled traditional Pub Jug for serving and end up with bright beer in the jug and any sediment left in the bottle. So from my point of view I don't care if the beer has come from glass, PET or from the keg (if there's a couple of people around I fill a jug from the font and pass it around).

As for the idea of putting detergent into bottles. Oh dear.....

 

[BjornJ]

Glass vs. PET is something I have been pondering a while myself, and yesterday I had a possible change of heart..

I started out with 30 Coopers PET bottles like I am sure most others here have. I then added a box now and then and started keeping my longnecks after buying a Toohey's Old now and then until I now have maybe 20 glass longnecks plus 50 new glass stubbies I bought off ebay, as well as over 100 PETs.

Every batch I bottle some in glass and the rest in PET. Mostly just for fun, to see if I can see a difference, but also because it feels more like a "real" beer from a glass bottle
I always decant into a jug as well, so doesn't really matter when it comes to drinking time but in my experience I seem to get better sedimentation in the glass bottles?
There seems to be more "stuff" floating around in the PET bottles even 4 more months later than what I get in the glass bottles, meaning less beer ends up in the glass jug.

The coopers web site says their bottles are nylon coated internally and are guaranteed to keep the CO2 in for at least 18 months http://www.coopers.com.au/homebrew/hbrew.php?pid=4

but yesterday something happened that I have not encountered before.
For the first time I had "softish" PET bottles in the fridge?
I had a porter I made in August and a something or other that was a bit older and both bottles were not really hard any more.
Both of these I have had at least a dozen bottles of already and they are all rock hard to touch. These two were both a little soft after being cooling in the fridge for a couple of days.

Is it just me, or do the bottles actually leak a little of gas after 4-5 months?
I didn't notice this when putting them in the fridge (and I think I would have) but after cooling them down I guess the liquid absorbs a bit more gas making the bottle feel softer unless it is highly carbonated?

I can't really say I want to go all glass as the PET bottles are so much easier to handle, but I started thinking a bit yesterday.. Maybe I have to try those beers again next weekend!


thanks
Bjorn

 

[nathanR]

I use all PET and when I finish a bottle or the next morning I give it a clean under the tap fill it 1/2 way give it a shake and get all the yeast out give it a 2nd rince out have a quick look inside to doubble check it is clean then straight on to the bottle tree to dry , when the tree has around 15 bottles on it they go back into the orignal box they came in ready for the next brew day

I leave the plastic tamper seal on all my bottles and on brew day just snip off with a pair of good (clean) side cutters , when you do 30 bottles at once it will take you about 2-5 mins to snip of all the seals

I use new caps every time because I write on the lids with a marker / paint pen so I know what is in the fridge and they only cost about 10c ea

 

[manticle]

I'm sure this is a long-standing debate somewhere on these Forums and bottom line is if it works for you, then it works for you..


I meant PET bottles are rubbish as the beer inside never tastes as good as beer bottled in glass imho. It definitely won't last either.
You're welcome to compare the same beer in a PET bottle and in glass and decide for yourself.


re: cleaning. Glass is easier to clean as you can put them in the dishwasher.

Good luck cleaning them.

I don't have a dishwasher.

I would agree that if you ungallantly neck the contents of your bottle without first decanting into a glass, that there is definitely a difference. However beer poured from a plastic bottle into a glass and beer poured from a glass bottle into a glass is unlikely to be majorly different, all other things being equal. Considering how many people ferment in plastic, it's unlikely to be an issue.

I use glass. I like glass. Glass is nice. However I don't want to cast aspersions on people who use something different. I don't believe plastic is meant to be suitable for long term storage/ageing but some may even disagree with that.

Anyway, even if you don't use them for beer, those PET bottles can be great for yeast storage and chilling/temp control if you're manual rather than automatic.