Glass swing-top bottles or plastic PET bottles?

Zurd · 08-23-2007, 08:57 PM

Hi, I searched and read a lot for this topic but still have some questions left, so here it is, which is all about choosing the best bottles for bottling my beer.

For now, I'm using 22oz (710ml) Corona bottles which gives me 30 bottles for one batch of beer and I would like to move on to bigger bottles.

Should I go with the 1L swing-top bottles? They're quite expensive, but they sure can last a long time and the caps are cheap to replace and are made to last a long time.

Or should I go with the plastic PET bottle? They're cheap, lightweight, but the caps last about 4-6 uses and are about 4$ for 24 and how do we know when to replace the caps?
Or can I just go to the store and buy plastic PET bottle already filled? It's even cheaper that way, but will they work for bottling?

Asides from kegging, is there any other bottles I forgot?

Thanks

**TheJadedDog** · 08-23-2007, 09:05 PM

My personal preference would be for the swing tops regardless of which option is cheaper, but that's just me.

**Brewing Clamper** · 08-23-2007, 09:09 PM

Dude, Swing top all the way.

krispy d · 08-23-2007, 09:30 PM

I like me some swing tops!

in all reality I would say it depends on where you tend to consume. If it is at home I would say the flips are way nice easy to cap and last a long time. If you are talking park, beach, public etc. where glass might not be the best option then PET for sure.

**Mutilated1** · 08-23-2007, 09:36 PM

I really like those big 1 liter swingtops, for one thing the swing top is cool. And for another thing 1 liter is just about exactly the right size for me, enough but not too much you know.

One thing thats nice about the PET bottles is that I like to do some backpacking and camping and stuff on the weeked, so its easier for me to pack along a PET bottle and then I won't feel like I've got to pack the bottle home with me. I could never bring myself to throw a swingtop bottle in the trash.

Zurd · 08-23-2007, 10:01 PM

Thanks all for your answers, I think that settle the question, swing-top all the way!

Actually, I will bottle something like 16 1L swing-top, 2 1L PET plastic and 6 500ml swing-top, in case I want to drink outside my house I'll bring a PET and in case I just want to drink less that day I'll open a 500ml.

camiller · 08-23-2007, 11:14 PM

Just my personal experience but, I've found that my 1L swing tops have such a long neck that the first glass poured from it ends up at least half foam because of the glug, glug. After the first glass I have no problems, it's just the first glass, no matter how slow I pour it glugs. I prefer the 500ml swing tops.

On a side note, my LHBS has a couple two liter swing top bottles, not growlers but bottles, that are missing the tops. The tops would be larger than the ones used on 1L and 500ml but significantly smaller than growler swing tops. I could probably get a really good deal on them if I could find the over sized flip tops for them. Anyone see any thing like that anywhere?

sphericalcamel · 08-23-2007, 11:16 PM

I would go with both. When I bottle I use a mix of bombers, smaller swing tops and plastic bottles. I use the plastic ones for the beach or for mailing to friends (not going to break, and they weight less).