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kennyv95 · 12-04-2006, 03:23 PM

Hi there,
I`ve been told that it`s possible to bottle your beer into 20 oz. coke bottles.
I wonder if that`s actually a good idea?

**Orfy** · 12-04-2006, 04:05 PM

Plastic or glass?
And to whether it's a good idea that depends on where and how long you want to keep it and whether you love your beer or not.

kennyv95 · 12-04-2006, 04:08 PM

Ì was told it was done with plastic bottles.
For how long will the beer stay good then?

**Orfy** · 12-04-2006, 04:13 PM

Don't know.

The bottles should be dark to stop the light skunking the beer.

I guess if you are thinking about putting them in the coke bottles then.

A. you are not looking to make the best beer possible
B. You are not looking to keep it a long time.
C. You'll be drinking it with mates and not entering it in shows.

If that's the case and you can afford/get/want proper bottles then go for it.
Just make sure they are sanitised properly and the lids seal well.

fezzman · 12-04-2006, 05:47 PM

I've put some beer from my past three batches into 20oz Coke and Mt. Dew bottles. I am bottling a 4th beer this weekend, some of which will also go into 20oz bottles.

I am camping during the last week of December and wanted to have plenty of HB to share with my friends. I didn't want to bring glass bottles because I don't want to worry about bringing them back home with me. We'll just throw the soda bottles away when we are finished. All-in-all I am bringing a dozen bottles of each flavor.

Skunking is not a problem so long as you are aware of how to store your beer. I condition in a closet. While camping, they will all be stored in a cooler. I have 22 oz plastic cups that we will drink out of so that we can leave the yeasties in the bottles.

Last night I drank two 20oz bottles

from my first camping batch as a test. They had been bottled for around 6 weeks and tasted great.

One thing I learned is that Pepsi and Coke have different threads. Make sure not to mix the lids up.

RoaringBrewer · 12-04-2006, 06:49 PM

If you are doing this for your own or friends consumption (like the camping trip above), You can surely bottle in plastic bottles as long as the bottle can handle carbonation (i.e. was for coke, pepsi, root beer, etc. and not juice), the lids have good threads and a rubber/plastic 'gasket' (for lack of being able to find a better word) in the cap, and you store any non-brown bottles out of the sun-light. As mention above you won't be entering these in "shows" (most homebrewers don't enter shows anyway), but this doesn't mean you don't "make the best possible beer" as stated above (glass IS probably better for it, but there should be no discernible difference if drank within 1-3 months and stored out of sunlight).

If you try to keep these for 6+ months and/or store them in a lit room, then you will probably run into a problem with ruining your beer.

fezzman · 12-04-2006, 06:56 PM

As Silkky stated, I wouldn't recommend storing in these bottles for any extended length of time, regardless of where they are stored. I would be worried that carbonation would slowly leech out of the bottles. I have no real proof of this other than the fact that the carbonation was different in each of the two bottles I tested (one Mt. Dew and one Sprite).

**Bobby_M** · 12-04-2006, 06:59 PM

I like the Coors Light Cooler box PET bottles. Double thick brown PET, less oxygen and light gets in. They are only 16oz, but it's closer to a real beer bottle. I'm sure you know a few people that would drink the contents. The 18pack costs about the same as a case of 24 12oz cans.

RoaringBrewer · 12-04-2006, 07:04 PM

Yeah, those plastic coors or miller lite bottles would be prime for paltic bottles; if I drank that stuff.

Might want to try to find a connection at a local bar and see if they'll save you a case or five.

**Bernie Brewer** · 12-04-2006, 08:13 PM

Back when I used to bottle my brew, I would always fill up five or six Coke bottles with Brown Ale or Bock. It was a great way to sneak a couple homebrews into ballgames