Super Frugal... 50 cent bottles.

I have been getting the folks at work to save their empty soda bottles for me... PET bottles, designed for pressure, 20 oz, etc. It's cheap, I know, but I am frugal.

See, frugal is a better word for it, because it's nicer.

So anyway... one topic that comes up is The Incredible Shrink Ray and it's effects on the economy. You know, how you USED to be able to get a 1/2 gallon (2 quarts) of ice cream, then the manufacturers hit it w/ the shrink ray, and you paid the same about for 1.75 quarts. And now they have used the shrink ray again and it's the same price for 1.5 quarts of ice cream...

I noticed the other day that the "new" soda size seems to be 500 ml (16.9 oz), down from the 20 oz.

As I've been getting into cider, I've considered (gasp) PAYING for bottles at the LHBS, but we're talking about $20 for 24 bottles and then another $4.60 for 24 CAPS -- about $1 / bottle. Or, I could keep using the FREE 20 oz bottles from work...

Then, it hit me... the NEW soda size is 500 ml, and it's on sale (this week! Hurry!). So, for $11, I can get four 6-packs of Pecsi or Choke or whatever the flavor is, WITH the caps... sure, I'm back to seond use bottles, but hey, I would use the brown PET bottles from the LHBS over and over again, wouldn't I?

Net cost: about 46 cents / bottle.

Now if I can only figure out what to do with the nasty syrupy mess that they fill these danged things with... Maybe I can use it to dissolve nails?

snopes.com: Coca-Cola Acids

Dang it, as long as I'm on about it, what about the < $6 four gallon carboys? Better'n Better Bottle? They come WITH a handle.

Sam's Club - Member&#039;s Mark® Purified Drinking Water - 4gal

"This bottle is made of PET and therefore is completely recyclable and requires no deposit or bottle return. "

I haven't gotten out to see one of them yet... one of the guys from work will pick one up for me. They're supposed to fit the regular water dispenser, so I think it takes a #10 stopper...

Now to find a good substitute for the +$30 Better Bottle spigot/port... or I could just stick w/ syphoning...

You could ferment it in your cheap water bottles. It will taste like unsweetened @$$, but it's cheap.

It'
s not just HDPE you're concerned with. it's HDPE#2 I believe. Those water bottles you see at sams are most likely #7 aka Will let oxygen into your brew. But as long as you like wet cardboard you should be fine.

This is all theory from me though. I think a couple people use these with no ill effects reported. so give it a shot, but know "in theory" it is not recommended.

As far the reusing soda bottles, Just keep them out of the light! That clear plastic if not properly cared for will destroy your beer. For example, pick up a 6'er of RollingRock at your local grocery store and taste. No, a skunk did not die in your beer. That was the light.

Is capping glass bottles not an option for you? I was able to buy 650mL glass pop-top bottles that take crown caps for 20 cents each from the recycling depot for 20 cents per bottle. That's 20 cents Canadian ha ha ha. Crown caps are about 3 cents each if I buy them in 160 lots, they're 2 cents each if I buy more than 1000.

Amber glass bottles offer the best UV and oxygen protection for your beer.

In reverse order:

@SeamusMac, Capping could probably be done, but the glass I worry about. I haven't broken a plastic bottle (yet). ;-) 20c sounds really good.

@IrregularPulse, I haven't been able to verify, but my research SAYS that they are #1... I can get plenty of #7, and I haven't used them simply for the unmitigated fear that they strike in home brewers. As for clear vs dark plastic, I'm only up to cider... I'm not a beernut. The research on HBT indicates that light is not (as?) damaging to cider as it would be to beer.

@David_42, There is some confusion...
1. They're not my bottles, yet. I want to verify that they are the #1s as claimed elsewhere. I'm not using the CHEAP #7 water bottles, merely the in-expensive ones... if they do indeed turn out to be #1's.
2. The in-expensive is definitely a factor, with some amateurs, as are experimentation, variation, level of technology, and level of effort, etc. For me, as a nuubish-sort, I take things in fits and starts. My first batchs were in the same plastic like milk comes in. My next were in 1/2 gallon apple juice containers. I have two glass carboys -- they were apple juice containers. Everything I've done has to get me a small taste of the sport without requiring that I buy every piece of equipment out there. $30 for a better bottle? Maybe further down the line, but for now, for the raw experience, this is a good set up. A 4 gallon carboy for $5+ -- great deal if it's a #2.
3. I've work w/ folks from military service. I've heard stories of what they've done and some of the wild things that they have tasted or eaten. I can't remember any one of them who will admit to tasting @$$, sweetened or un-... I, also, have no experience in tasting @$$, sweetened or otherwise, so I'll have to depend upon you as my experts. Please: can you describe what it tastes lie? I am sure that other nubes would appreciate the insite also. And lastly, as hard as it is to ask in the current day and age, do you have any pictures? Just curious how one would approach the issue.

Then again, you might be a little confused... have you tried flipping the bottle over? If it's what I THINK it is, the other end should smell of fish.

Hope this helps.

Marc
You could ferment it in your cheap water bottles. It will taste like unsweetened @$$, but it's cheap.

Want free bottles? Hit up your local recycle center.

I didn't think that the recycle centers gave anything OUT.

What I'd LOVE to find are Grolsh bottles...

Well, the 4 6-packs for $11 looked good, but I didn't want to buy until I did some research. (That's THIS stuff). Went grocery shopping w/ wifey, and the other store had FIVE six-packs for $10. 33 cents per bottle! Now I just have to find someone to drink it for me.

I get suitable glass bottles for free from my commercial beer drinking freinds...

i buy own-brand coke bottles from the local lidl, 20p/2 litres. shines my kitchen sink up a treat too.

+1 on the recycling center bottle treasure trove. I have some recycling centers here in in Tulsa called the MET and they are all over town. They tend to hire "special" folk to work there so they can have jobs too. It is a nice thing to do for the community but it also makes it easy to get bottles, you just explain that you won't go and break them in the street and they will let you have anything. Several are in the Wal-Mart parking lot and I go there around dusk after the center has been closed for a while and people have piled recycling out around the big containers to be sorted the next morning. I have probably got like 12+ cases of Sam Adams bottles, 3 cases of nice cobalt blue wine bottles, one 8 pack of Grolsch bottles with caps(real luck since it isn't sold in this state), and several 1 gallon wine jugs too. It is immediate, no cost recycling, great for the environment, they don't even have to truck them and melt them down.

Woohoo... I'll have to hit a recycling center. In our neighborhood, we're supposed to put recyclables out by the curb every Monday at 0'dark:thirty... I haven't had success in spying useful resources there, but going to a center would make it much easier... I'll look for one.

Oh, and latest update... I was set to buy more of the 33 cent .5L bottles ($2 for 6 sodas). That sale is over, and the manuf is now pushing 12 ounce bottles... I don't know whether to be happy or not... 12 ounces would work fine for me, I guess, but the soda cost went up...
It was $2 for 6 plastic bottles that held .5L (16.9 oz). This is 96 ounces for $2.
The new product is $3.30 for 8 plastic bottles that hold 12 oz. This is still 96 ounces.

So, do I rejoice that I can get eight (8) 12-ounce bottles for 27.5 cents each, or lament that the soda that would be IN those costs 65% more than other package?

I just want to bottle some cider as well and as inexpensively as possible...

There comes a point where inexpensive has to take a bit of a back seat to quality of container. All my beer, mead, and cider goes into glass. Amber for beer and mead, green for ciders. I have stacked a large stockpile of each kind from friends and recycling center trips. I would not piss the used up cider or beer back into a plastic bottle, but that is just me. Eventually the plastic will pick up flavors and colors you will not want your hard earned beverages around. Most of the time it will already be in the plastic depending on what was in it before. My Dad has a big blue 50 gallon plastic drum that used to contain Pepsi syrup, he has had it for 12 years and stores yard tools in it and it still smells like Pepsi. Get your hands on some glass bottles and a bench capper so you can do any size up to champagne bottles. You might have to spend money on caps every couple of batches you bottle, but the quality and re-use of the glass will be worth it.