No room to bottle the beer, so I...

... <fill in the blank>!!!

for me, I went to Big Lots and bought 12 Dads Root beer cream sodas and 3 Dads Root Beer 1 liter brown bottles. I cleaned the shelf of the cream soda because I didnt want the strong rootbeer after taste.

http://www.google.com/search?q=dads...7A9gTt4IDwBg&ved=0CFIQsAQ&biw=533&bih=295#i=0

Then... I poured them all out in the grass... I did try some cream soda with the kids and it was quite tasty on ice.

After, I rinsed them in the tub and used Sun Oxy to clean each bottle. They are now filled with water and Oxy to soak. I will let them soak over night.

Tomorrow I will do a thorough rinse... and Sat I'll probably rinse again and use to bottle.

I am still on hold for my keg setup.

I'll be interested in hearing how it goes. Keep us updated!

kevokie said:

I'll be interested in hearing how it goes. Keep us updated!

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I think it will be fine. The 3 root beer bottles had a strong root beer odor, while the cream soda's vinilla was much more weak. I would have bought 15 instead of 12 if they had them. I have 4 empty liters already. The math works to about 18-19 liters per 5 gallon bucket. This will make bottling easir too.

Can't wait for brew weekend.

I am bottling my San Francisco Lager Common Carlsberg Rip Off. I am tempted to buy a 6 pack of Carlsberg to see just how different they will be... Yopper keeps telling me to stop calling it a Carlsberg. Well... the taste test is in 2 weeks Ms Yopper... be there, or be square

Anyway... next up will be some light pilsners with what I got left.

I would just wait to bottle until I had legit bottles....


To each their own though, hope it works out for ya.

This is so wierd.

At least buy some dos exuis that has beer in the bottles and makes good bottles.

I dont have a bottle capper or feel like dealing with the bottle cap trash and then ordering new ones.

I can re-use the pet bottles caps, they dont break and they are much easier to work with. Why bottle with 2+ cases of bottles when I only need 17 liter bottles? I pour my bear in mugs so it makes no diff if theyare glass or plastic.

This is a temp fix until the keg set up is done.

I need the fermenting buckets free to keep the pipeline going.

Anyway, originally I was looking for brown 2-liter bottles but couldnt find any. That would have cut bottling down to 8-9 bottles.

Check out LHBS if you have one and buy the empty bottles so you aren't wasting some type of drink. Or like cheesy said, buy some type of pop top beer you like and drink your bottles empty!

moscoeb said:

Check out LHBS if you have one and buy the empty bottles so you aren't wasting some type of drink. Or like cheesy said, buy some type of pop top beer you like and drink your bottles empty!

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No. I dont have my glass bottle collection established and dont plan to.

Kegs are next.

1 liter is nearly 3 12 oz glass bottles.

I'm good. Again I dont like waiting when waiting is a requirement for beer to become ready to drink. So if Im gonna wait, its gonna be with 10 gallons in the fermentors. Gotta keep the pipe line going and full.

Eventually, one day, after I get all set up and start turning out real gems... I will get a glass bottle capper with some bottles and bottle some for novelty purposes to give away as gifts.

But I'm not there yet.

I am still keeping my eye out for brown 2-liter bottles.

Check out root beer for 2lt brown bottles. Depends on if you have good luck getting the taste out of the little ones though.
Just a thought. How long till your keg system is ready?

I keg, but I still want enough bottles to bottle at LEAST 5 gallons.

You probably spent more on the root beer than a case of empty glass bottles from the LHBS.

Also, from my reading on here(not personal experience) it is not possible to remove rootbeer "residue" from bottles and it will likely flavor your beer.

3 of the 15 liters are root beer while the other 12 are cream soda.

I searched through this forum as well as others and as it turns out, you can get the taste and smell out if you use oxy clean and soak the bottles over night. Don use hot water instead use cold so not to set anything into the plastic.

I'll find out tonight if there is any residual odor left.

Tomorrow I will also see if its all gone.

At my walmart I couldnt find any 2-liters that were brown. All the root beer outfits have converted to clear bottles. I was gonna buy a deep green Ginger Ale bottle from Seagrams... but I like the versatility of 1 liters so I stuck with them.

Look, these bottles are mostly a temp solution until I get my keg set up going.

With the kegs, bare min from the kegconnection I will need 160 dollars... 70 fpr regulator set up, 40 and 50 for both the CO2 and C-keg.

Then I run into the problem of keeping the keg cold... I need a kegerator.

In the mean time, I will bottle until I get all that.

I agree with xpert I haven't personally dealt with root beer and soft plastics but there was a local bar who had a root beer on tap then replaced it with a stout without changing the line. The root beer flavor was reaaally prominent.

Maybe do an experiment and fill one up simply with water or even some uncarbonated beer, let it sit and see if you get any root beer flavor, before potentially losing an entire batch.

Also I don't actually know but couldn't you order the mr. Beer bottles from somewhere? Aren't those also 1L brown plastic? at least that's what they look like to me.

Edit: didn't see your reply prior to sending this lol.

I do have 8 Mr Beer liters... my LHBS doesnt sell 1-liter plastic bottles.

Just 24-500 ml plastic bottles for about 20 bucks with the caps.

I also get annoyed bottling and cleaning the little guys. I have 2 cases of them already... not interested in adding more.

I dont feel like waiting for online delivery when I can stop at the store on the way home. This was all done in a pinch... so I can bottle this weekend and ferment 10 more gallons. It's all about the pipeline. Id rather let a beer sit in the bottle and mature than have my raw ingredients sit on the shelf and go stale.

My next sub-goal might be to create a 2-liter bottle sleeve that will keep the light out.

Then I will be able to bottle 8 - 2 liter bottles and bottle the whole batch in no time.

not sure where you all live but i found dark brown grolsch style bottles with the same type of cap and everything at Cost Plus World Market for $6 each but i guess you can get these online too.

http://www.worldmarket.com/product/dark-glass-liquor-bottle.do?&from=Search

Shoulda just got some bottled water in big bottles for next to nothing, dumped 'em out and then wrapped tin foil around them if you're so concerned about light. You can still keep clear bottles in a dark place (like a fridge) and not worry about anything.

This whole cream soda/root beer soak business seems like overkill.

paulster2626 said:

Shoulda just got some bottled water in big bottles for next to nothing, dumped 'em out and then wrapped tin foil around them if you're so concerned about light. You can still keep clear bottles in a dark place (like a fridge) and not worry about anything.

This whole cream soda/root beer soak business seems like overkill.

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Thanks for the idea.

But what about carbing?

I wonder what tge biggest carbbed container is out there other than a keg.

Of course, anything much bigger than a 2-liter (remember 3-liters?) would be hard to pour... so one would need a keg and dispenser anyway.

ryno1ryno said:

Thanks for the idea.

But what about carbing?

I wonder what tge biggest carbbed container is out there other than a keg.

Of course, anything much bigger than a 2-liter (remember 3-liters?) would be hard to pour... so one would need a keg and dispenser anyway.

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Use priming sugar. Just put them somewhere dark and warm instead of dark and cold.

If you've got CO2 available, then Carb cap. When I keg/bottle I usually fill a 2L so I can try some right away. In the OP's case he could carb 2L in 1 minute with the cap, let it sit for a few minutes, then replace with the original cap and keep going like that. If he had 2 carb caps then it's just that much faster.

Using water bottles can cause bottle bombs because their caps are not rated. Can cause....

I already have a carb cap for 2-liters with a CO2 hand charger/cartridges.

Thats what I use for the 1-liters when I am done and have a half empty. And I saw some neat youtube videos with 2-liters be forced carb with the cap and the regulator/co2... thats where I got the 2-liter idea.

A 2-liter at Walmart is danm cheap.

As far as the sleeve, yeah it wouldnt be much different than the carboy self made covers only small enough for a 2-liter.

Covers should be made for carboys like covers are for smartphones.

ryno1ryno said:

Using water bottles can cause bottle bombs because their caps are not rated.

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"not rated"? What does this mean? What are my bottle caps rated?

People use water bottles all the time with priming sugar. Hell, some people make root beer and stop fermentation by sticking them in the fridge.

knew of a fella in kentucky who brewed 19-20 gallon extracts brews who used 2 L soda bottles and about anything to load it into.

worked for him!

GD

gizmodog51 said:

knew of a fella in kentucky who brewed 19-20 gallon extracts brews who used 2 L soda bottles and about anything to load it into.

worked for him!

GD

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Yeah... soda bottles should be fine.

Even water bottles can be okay as was mentioned above... but water bottles some types have smaller caps.