How much luck have people had with acquiring bottles?

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1fastdoc

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When I started this little hobby last year I just drank myself enough empties to bottle the homebrew.

Per SWMBO, this is no longer and option. Besides, I finally dragged my butt back to the gym to get rid of the last year's worth of experimentation and I don't want to undo that.

Since my consumption has diminished I need to find another source for bottles, preferably free.

Anybody have luck combing the local bars? How about recycling plants?
 
Well the biggest hurdle with scrounging up bottles is finding non-twistoff longnecks. Sadly to say I'll bet a good 90% of bottles from bars are BMC type beers with twist off caps that cant be used in homebrewing. I would look on craigslist or ebay for beer bottles as people selling on there most likely are ex-brewers just trying to clean out their garage.
 
Usually you can share your homebrew and get at least 2 or 3 empyties back for each beer you give away. I have a couple friends who are big beer drinkers and if I can usually count on them for a couple 6 packs a week if I run low. Now that Sierra Nevada has gone back to non-twist offs it's even easier. You can also check your neighbors' recycling bins on trash days.
 
Well, I scored huge right when I was starting to brew. We were invited to a party where they were serving large quantities of bottles Sam Adams. Much to my wife's chagrin I spoke to the caterer and they agreed to bag up the Sam Adams bottles rather than throw them out; I went home with something like 150 bottles (luckily my wife agreed to come home too - man was she pissed).

I also spoke to a local restaurant that serves a lot of micros and he agreed to sell me the empties; I think I paid him $2 a case.
 
Recycling centers work, even liquor stores that take returnables can be good sources. Luckily my neighbor buys a case of Pabst bar bottles every week, they're the good old heavy duty bottles and they come in the heavy duty reusable cases. So my bottle stockpile increases by usually a case per week. I recently started kegging, ssoooo much easier than bottling!
 
Check with a local micro.

a)A lot of times, if the brewery is of any size, they will have a number of bottles that dont cap properly, label goes on upside down, dont fill all the way etc. And rather than go through the hassle of redoing them, they recycle them. You could probably convince them to sell them to you at cost.

b)if they are really cool, like my micro was, they will just sell you unused bottles at cost. Quite a ways back I bought 24-22oz bottles and 24-12oz bottles for 11 bucks.

Contact a microbrewery in your area, see if they will cut you a deal.
 
I scored about 400 Grolsch swing-top bottles for $60 at my local recycling depot a few years ago. Apparently, they can't deal with the swing tops so they were going to just chuck them.
 
Yea, getting bottles sucks. If BMC used pop tops it would be so easy just scavenge around any bar or ask your friends, but because they don't its a pain to get bottles. Buying them from a homebrew shop is a last resort for most of us because they are almost as expensive as the beer we are putting in them, and in some cases more so depending on the style and efficiency and everyting. Too bad everyone else doesn't like they beer that the people on this forum like or it would be easy to get bottles also.

One way to get bottles that wasn't mentioned on the previous responses is to throw a kegger style party, but instead of getting a keg get any beer that you can get in pop top bottles. You have to be sure it is something most anyone will drink though. Like CN Budz mentioned you could get the Pabst that comes in the bar bottles. Another option is make friends with a local bar owner or bartender in a place that sells alot of micros and imports or even if they only sell a few if you acquire a few a day thats better than nothing.
 
I've gone to a local bottler/distributor and just paid the deposit for old bottles. plus side is they come with those sturdy cardboard cases.
 
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