Plastic V Glass

[slowlearner]

HOW'RE YEZ.
Another newbie brewing wants to know opinions on plastic (pet) bottles v glass bottles.
I've done the research and been told that glass will hold carbonation better than plastic.
this may have something to do with my first batch being a wee bit flat. Or I could have bollicksed it up....
I've heard all the horror stories about bottle bombs; what is the go? Are bottle bombs a frequent occurance, or is it a case of over-zealousness when priming?
Some of these may be silly questions, but then again, a fish that says "wee wee wee" while riding a bicycle is probably just as silly.
spanx for any responses that may ultimately result in the further enjoyment of BEER. :chug:

 

[bonj]

There are a couple of possible causes of bottle bombs.
1. over priming when bottling (either on purpose or miscalculation)
2. bottling too early (if the beer hasn't finished fermenting yet, the priming sugar can provide too much additional fermentables)

PET bottles are perfectly fine for storage up to around 6 months. After that, the beer seems to deteriorate. For long term storage or aging, glass is the only way to go for bottling. If you're drinking your beer before 6 months, I wouldn't worry about it. The convenience of PET can't be beaten, and they do provide an added level of protection from bottle bombs. PET is lighter, impact resistant and more pressure tolerant than glass.

 

[peas_and_corn]

There are a few things that stop me from using plastic-

1- my local recycling place sells glass longnecks cheaper than my LHBS sells the plastic ones (umm... I think)
2- Drinking from plastic fells kinda wrong. Plastic on my lips makes my brain think "sweet drink to come now" and when beer comes out it confuddles me a little.
3- I just like glass in general- like those small bottles of bundaberg sarsparella you can get. It's aesthetic, but oh well...

 

[microbe]

~SNIP~...
I've heard all the horror stories about bottle bombs; what is the go? Are bottle bombs a frequent occurance, or is it a case of over-zealousness when priming?
~SNIP~

Hi slowlearner,

I'm sure for some people bottle bombs are more frequent than others. In my experience I've had one bottle go in about 50 batches over 7 years. That made me drink the remainder of that batch quickly but I put the issue down to a single bottle (maybe poorly cleaned/sterilised, maybe double primed or maybe just a bad bottle) despite the whole batch being slightly over-carbed.

Cheers,

microbe

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Hi slowlearner,

I'm sure for some people bottle bombs are more frequent than others. In my experience I've had one bottle go in about 50 batches over 7 years. That made me drink the remainder of that batch quickly but I put the issue down to a single bottle (maybe poorly cleaned/sterilised, maybe double primed or maybe just a bad bottle) despite the whole batch being slightly over-carbed.

Cheers,

microbe

Use both. It's good to have the same beer in glass or PET just in case you want to take the beer anywhere - easier to fit the PETs (the 600ml brownies not 1.25l soft drink bottles) in some eskies.

Haven't yet found any taste difference between plastic & glass.

I prefer glass bottles mainly cos the brown 60ml PETs have the four dimple base that falls over too easy when placed on the racks in my fridge !

 

[boingk]

I'll second Fatgodzilla's post and say use both. Personally I use plastic for the majority of beers, but sometimes put a small amount of a batch into glass bottles fitting to the style - I'm just careful when I wash them so the labels dont come off. For example, I've got some Heineken bottles I use for my Heine knock-off and some VB Original Recipe 375ml crown seals for easy-drinking ales.

It just brings a tad more class to your drinking, and is good for impressing mates if you get a recipe clone down-pat!

Cheers - boingk