What Bottles Not To Use?

[chasem]

Hey Guys,

I am new to brewing and have already developed a phobia of using glass bottles I was wondering what bottles not to use? I have a collection of Beez Kneez, Montieh and Carona Bottles. I was wondering what bottles are bad to use that are thinner and prone to cracking or exploding. I notice on the beez kneez bottle that they say not for reuse should I not use these?

Thanks for any help.

 

[matt white]

If you do it right you should have no problems with any bottles.

Do it wrong and any bottles are lethal.

 

[Jazzafish]

Don't use bottles covered in mould or ones you can't seal.

I also agree that if you make sure fermentation has ended, add the correct amount of priming sugar and sanitise them you are fine... no bombs.

 

[Feral Shane]

I agree with Jazzafish stay away from bottles covered in mould.

 

[manticle]

The only reason I would stay away from any bottle type (apart from mould or child/dog kak or any obvious and above mentioned thing) is because I couldn't be bothered cleaning and filling twice the number. Thus I stick with 800/750 longnecks, 650mL longnecks (from LHBS) and 500 mL stubbies. If you're bulk priming or certain of your sugar doses you should be fine (fermentation completed and all that).

That said I've never tried bottling in beez neez so you should know after the first couple.

 

[tcraig20]

That said I've never tried bottling in beez neez so you should know after the first couple.

Maltilda bay bottles are good and thick and heavy - I use them quite a bit when I run out of longnecks, and for ciders, gift beer, etc.

I know people that have happily bottled into the impossibly thin-walled VB bottles for years without a problem, so as long as the bottle originally contained something carbonated (i.e. can hold pressure) and isnt chipped/cracked you should be right.

 

[Pollux]

I bottle in a combination of stubbies/PET longnecks.

I use Monteiths, Squires, Cantina, Matilda Bay, Little Creatures and many other stubbies. Never had an issue regarding built quality and I used to use a hand capper.

 

[HoppingMad]

Stick with the Beez Neez and Montieths as they are good solid crown seal bottles in brown glass. Going through some monteiths now for just this reason, and have a bunch of matilda bay bottles that have been going strong for many years - never had one pop.

Corona bottles? Hmmm clear glass equals light struck funkified beer in my book. Brown is best, green if you can't find brown and clear as a last resort.

+1 on 750ml crown seal bottles like coopers & boags draft (noticed the Boags at the bottlo the other day with new crown seals on them but might be mistaken). Halve your bottling time with these.

Hopper

 

[jbirbeck]

Stella bottles - I can't remember if its the imported one or the BUL one but they are too thin and my capper doesn't like them.

My fav bottles are the Coopers long necks and Chang stubbies - Chang are The Sturdiest bottles I've come across.

 

[Pollux]

Corona bottles? Hmmm clear glass equals light struck funkified beer in my book. Brown is best, green if you can't find brown and clear as a last resort.

I always throw in 4 or 5 clear bottles when I bottle, it allows me to be able to see how the beer is looking over time. That said I store my bottles in a bookshelve on it's back under a table in the garage which is kept sealed.

 

[marlow_coates]

Any bottle that held a carbonated drink and can be resealed should be fine.
Just avoid cracks etc as this obviously weakens it.

I even have a carton of Bundagerg Ginger Beer bottles filled with beer :icon_cheers:

 

[DiscoStu]

Personally I'd stay away from the Bundaberg Ginger beer stubbies, I had a slightly over carbed dunkelweizen and a couple of these exploded but all my other bottles were ok with it.

 

[PostModern]

Stella bottles - I can't remember if its the imported one or the BUL one but they are too thin and my capper doesn't like them.

My fav bottles are the Coopers long necks and Chang stubbies - Chang are The Sturdiest bottles I've come across.

I like the European bottles like Baltika and Svyturys. Hard, heavy 500ml crown seals.
Gets a bit exy to drink enough for a batch, but the effort is worth it

 

[Bribie G]

I have about 50 green Bavaria tallies from Liquorland. Not a bad quaffing Eurolager, the full 5% and typical Dutch beer. They are 660 ml and genuine crown sealers, and work beautifully. Here's a photo I took a few months ago with three different bottles holding an identical amount of water, the Bavarias hold up well as a good all purpose bottle although at first sight you might think that 660 ml is an odd size.

 

[Nick JD]

I'm a brewing cretin and bottle into 2L coke PETs (stored in a dark cupboard). I decant from one 2L into another and fridge that sealed. When it's in a cold glass schooner, it doesn't matter to me what it sat in for secondary. It's flat in two days, but it's my excuse to have to drink the whole 2L. :icon_drunk:

Only 12 needed for a brew, so it's very easy. Never get bombs - and pressure can always be let off if they are "ballooning". I've reused some over twenty times with no problems. They probably aren't that great for storing beer for more than a few months - I drink it all before that anyway.

They cost nothing and I see little point in storing beer in glass bottles when I can't drink it straight from the bottle.

 

[manticle]

If you're that way inclined, why can't you?

 

[mika]

Toohey's new bottles are really thin as well. If the brew was bottled a little early, or gets a little excited in the warm weather you can pretty much bet they'll be the first to go. I've had them pop when the rest of the batch was fine and pretty good for carb too.
Think it might have been a carton of stella that it wasn't until I'd drank it that I realised every bottle had a hairline crack up the neck. They never leaked beer but I wasn't about to reuse them either.

Most microbrewery bottles seem to be OK and James Squire bottles are good as well.

 

[Nick JD]

If you're that way inclined, why can't you?

On a blind taste test I can't tell if it's been in PET or glass, and I've never met anyone who can.

I don't, however, like the taste of sediment and as such don't drink straight from the bottle. Sediment disrupts my tastebuds to the point where I can no longer satisfactorily sniff corks.

 

[manticle]

There's something I'm not getting. Why would glass or plastic make a difference to whether you can drink straight from the bottle? Sediment will surely remain in either type.

 

[manticle]

On a blind taste test I can't tell if it's been in PET or glass, and I've never met anyone who can.

I don't, however, like the taste of sediment and as such don't drink straight from the bottle. Sediment disrupts my tastebuds to the point where I can no longer satisfactorily sniff corks.

Despite the fact that PET doesn't sit right with me psychologically, I find it hard to believe that anyone could ferment happily in a plastic fermenter yet pretend they could find the difference in bottling pET/glass. In a blind taste test I'm not sure I could either but I'd be happy to have a go.