Problems with PET Bottles

[Boatin]

New to this home brewing and on about my 10th brew since stating in January. In that time I have had probably 10 or so PET bottles fail. Only last night I came home to find a bottle dumped its entire contents on the shed floor. It had developed a major crack in the base..The brew had been 14 days in the fermenter and about 14 days in the bottle. I have had these failures after only 2 days in some cases. Some bottles I bought from Big W (made in China) some from my son which may be the NZ ones (white caps) and some ex Korean Beer PET type bottles. Had no failures from the Korean bottles and I don't think any from the white cap bottles.

Anyone out there having similar problems ?

 

[droid]

never with plastic but when i had a bottle go it was a grolsch and it blew the base clean off, the rest of the bottles didn't so, not sure it's bottle related, have you opened another bottle to see if you have fizzy beer? it might be that the ferment stalled and once you added some sugar to the bottle it got going again, they don't all blow, maybe it got a double dose of sugar?

 

[Seaquebrew]

The Big W PET bottles are rubbish, thin walled an poorly made

Mangrove Jack make a decent one

Cheers

 

[Tropico]

The Big W PET bottles are rubbish, thin walled an poorly made

Totally agree. I think they used to sell the Coopers' PET bottles but changed to the cheap rubbish some years ago.

 

[Boatin]

Thanks guys, that was about what my thinking was coming 'round to. I can tell the difference in the bottles now so I will scrap the ROC ones.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Never had PET bottles fail on me. The BigW type or Coopers etc. I,ve had some aged for months and the cap is bulged and the bottle is hard with pressure of high carbonation but no seal failures or burst bottles. (Touch wood).

 

[supertonio]

Funnily enough I was just going to post something similar to this.

As a uk brewer I started off bottling using coopers 500ml bottles and whilst they were great for the first few brews I noticed later on that they were more prone to slight infections/over carbonation issues. I found they were a bit of a pain in the arse to keep 'really' clean.

I have since moved onto glass bottles and the difference is amazing. They clean really well, don't carry anything over from the last brew and when pouring I lose very little to the sediment that I have to leave behind.

Your mileage may vary but having used PET and glass I am now an advocate of glass bottles as personally I have seen the benefits they can bring

Slightly OT but a bit pissed and wanted to give my opinion.

 

[Boatin]

I have been thinking about the glass bottles with the wire and stopper also. They are about $2 AUD each at my local brew shop.

 

[Boatin]

Here we go again, got home last night and the shed smelt like a brewery. Beer every where ! Must have gone off like a Saturn Rocket. Knocked over half a dozen bottles next to it.

This brew was bottled about mid March and the bottle that let go I thought was the better NZ made one rather than the Chinese.

 

[supertonio]

Out of all the bottles that you have are some of them more carbonated than others?

Normally the last ones from the bottling bucket may be slightly tighter feeling than the rest and slightly full of more crap.

When I used plastic after a couple of weeks I would always check all the bottles and there was usually a few that were tight as a drum and had to be chucked or opened carefully.

The fact that it's happening with your 'good' bottles sounds like a slight infection in those bottles and causing overcarbing. Open a tight feeling bottle and a normal bottle and taste it because it might give you an idea if something is wrong.

 

[Bribie G]

Funnily enough I was just going to post something similar to this.

As a uk brewer I started off bottling using coopers 500ml bottles and whilst they were great for the first few brews I noticed later on that they were more prone to slight infections/over carbonation issues. I found they were a bit of a pain in the arse to keep 'really' clean.

I have since moved onto glass bottles and the difference is amazing. They clean really well, don't carry anything over from the last brew and when pouring I lose very little to the sediment that I have to leave behind.

Your mileage may vary but having used PET and glass I am now an advocate of glass bottles as personally I have seen the benefits they can bring

Slightly OT but a bit pissed and wanted to give my opinion.

Scotsman, pissed?

Nooooooooo!!!!!

I'd agree about the glass bottles, problem in Aus is that we don't have pints like you have in the UK, in order to buy glass bottles we need to spend a lot of money on the original contents, the best deal being heavy duty Coopers commercial 750ml glass bottles - that's our standard for large "tallie" bottles that derive from the old colonial 26 fluid ounce "declared quart" that's obviously different to a UK quart.

So basically you are paying about twelve Quid for four bottles. Drinking the original contents is great, of course, but I'd love to see a company really attack the home brew market here with a robust but affordable 750ml brown glass bottle maybe in 12 packs.

 

[danestead]

Sounds to me like a combination of crap quality bottles, infection, over carbing or bottling prior to final gravity or a combination of those things. Check your sanitation processes and make sure you are using an accurate measure when priming the bottles with sugar. Also, ensure you are using your hydrometer to determine the state your fermentation is at.

 

[peekaboo_jones]

Interesting... Only time I had trouble with exploding bottles (pet or glass) was when I lived in Perth. Main contributing factor would have been negligence and lack of knowledge

 

[Mikeyr]

Before swapping to kegs, was mainly using pet. Coopers, big w and others, never had a failure?

Perc carb cleaning nails infections as does starsan and a bottle tree to drain. The little $2 sugar scoop from the hbs sure helped standardise carbing.

 

[Boatin]

Well for one I haven't been testing the SG, but leave brew at least two weeks in fermenter. Room temperature was 26-27 a few weeks back but now is around 22.
After use bottles are rinsed then prior to refilling washed and then sterilised. Two sugar drops per bottle then left for another two weeks.

 

[danestead]

Well for one I haven't been testing the SG, but leave brew at least two weeks in fermenter. Room temperature was 26-27 a few weeks back but now is around 22.
After use bottles are rinsed then prior to refilling washed and then sterilised. Two sugar drops per bottle then left for another two weeks.

Without knowing your gravities, you are having a (dangerous) stab in the dark. Please read the beginner threads on this forum as using a hydrometer is 1 of the basics and a required pieceof equipment. I suggest your problem lies in bottling prior to final gravity.

 

[Sainter1775]

Further to danestead comments FG check is needed, as I have had a RIS in Big W pert bottles with two carb drops since early Jan in a cupboard inside in the heat of Brisbane weather and not a blow at yet.