Painting Green Bottles Black

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roddhelmer

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Hello,

I have recently received a a large amount of green Grolsch swing top bottles. I know that skunkiness is a concern with the green bottles vs brown. I have painted one just to see what it would look like. I have painted it black just up to the neck right under where the swing brace would sit once closed.

Is there any reason I should not paint these bottles vs just selling them off and buying brown ez-cap with the funds? Please help before I paint all of these bottles if its not really going to help.
 
If the paint sticks well, then I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Just spitballing- you could bring the bottles to a local painting class and have them use them as art projects(as long as they give them back). Could get some interesting designs.
 
Store them in a cardboard box. Painting won't HURT anything, but it's not really necessary. (yes, I get the green vs. brown light issue) Just don't leave them sitting out in the open for too long and you'll be fine.

Having said that, this could be a cool project for an artistic type... custom painted bottles could be really neat. When my daughter is old enough, I might have her help daddy with his beer by painting bottles. Very cool.
 
I use green and clear bottles all the time and haven't had any issues, I keep them stored in a cabinet or in my beer fridge. These days I actually prefer the clear bottles.

I like seeing my beer in the bottle I have more clear than brown, I also don't let them age or just sit around on a picnic table in the middle of a field to get blasted by sunlight...:drunk:

Green bottles rock, only my Belgians touch green, helps keep me organized.
 
Just keep them out of direct sunlight and they should be fine.

Yes, I agree. I have a ton of green grolsch bottles. I keep the beer in boxes, out of the light, and it works great for me.

If you can't store them in a dark place, or in a box, or in the fridge, then painting might work but I'd rather just put them in a box.
 
Will the paint stand up to multiple washings? Do you wash your bottles in a dishwasher ( which might be a rougher wash ... And not like eating paint chips.)
 
I do have a very dark closet for them to stay in and my beer mini fridge is light free. Thank the Flying Spaghetti monster I do not have to paint the bottles.:mug:

The paint I have is specifically made for glass... but its still glass.:smack:
To the person that spitballed: having an art club or something paint them, based on what I just learned, they would want to keep them once painted.

I will not paint the bottles and I will keep them in a dark place. Only every so often there is an incandescent bulb that I will turn on while wrangling my brew equipment. From what I understand incandescent bulbs give off very little UV. Since they will be in thier boxes I suspect there will be no UV then!

This was my first thread and I am very happy with the results. This is a great community here and its truly appreciated!

Rodd:mug:
 
Incandescent is Ok.
I just watched the new Brewing TV episode( and I won't talk in this thread about whether I liked it or not) but they said that "skunking can happen in SECONDS". Seconds? Really?
 
I've used about 150 Heineken bottles for over 10 years. Never 1 skunked beer in any of that time. I'm sure beer will skunk, but I have florecent lights in my dining room - where I ferment in clear glass carboys, and where I store my bottled beer - in green glass. Could happen I suppose, but it hasn't happened to me yet.

It's good to read and it's good to pay attention to what the folks on the message boards tell you, but don't paint your bottles man. Just keep your bottled beer away from direct sunlight.
 
Well most keep glass carboys in the dark.


That black chalk board paint would be cool. Then you could write on them and wash it off for the next brew.
 
If skunking occurred in seconds, clear glass carboys wouldn't exist.

Just saying.

Beer can skunk in seconds, provided there is enough UV light hitting it. This means that in direct high intensity sunshine out on a patio a beer in a glass can skunk. Most people store their fermenting beer in closets/basements/places out of direct sunlight and uv sources. Also, I asked in a previous thread about if sunlight plus hops = skunk, why doesnt wort skunk during the boil. I learned that specific amino acids, etc need to be present as well which aren't available until fermentation has started.

It is all about minimizing exposure. Do not store carboys in direct sunlight and use incandescent light when possible and you should be ok.
 
Keeping them out of the sun is the obvious answer...but you could have a lot of fun painting them too! There is spray paint intended for glass out there. There's even reflective/mirror finish spray.
 
I see a green bottle and I want to paint it black ... No skunking anymore I want to paint it black ...

Sorry - couldn't help myself.

While the whole thread seems to have resolve itself, I think a ceramic coating would be very cool, ala delirium tremens. Not sure what that would take, and it seems like a kiln is required.
 
I've drank a lot of beer from glasses on hot sunny days for a long time. I've never had one skunk on me before I finished it.

It's not going to skunk in seconds unless you are pumping it past an industrial strength UV disinfection lamp.

It's not going to skunk in seconds, or minutes for that matter, on a hot sunny day. Maybe hours, and more than just two.

If you want, I'll offer up one of my stouts or ambers in a clear bottle as an experiment this weekend. Let me know how long you want it to sit in the sun.

EDIT: The stout is 32 IBU. The amber is 35 IBU.
 
I've drank a lot of beer from glasses on hot sunny days for a long time. I've never had one skunk on me before I finished it.

It's not going to skunk in seconds unless you are pumping it past an industrial strength UV disinfection lamp.

It's not going to skunk in seconds, or minutes for that matter, on a hot sunny day. Maybe hours, and more than just two.

If you want, I'll offer up one of my stouts or ambers in a clear bottle as an experiment this weekend. Let me know how long you want it to sit in the sun.

I can smell hoppy beers start to skunk within minutes while sitting in the sun.
 
image-1698445511.jpg

I got bored one day & thought the same thing cause my cousin gave me some Grolsh bottles!! Did some searching and found paint for glass. Once you paint the bottles, you bake them for 30 mins, then then are dishwasher safe!! Can't remember where & how much the paint cost, but I remember that it is made by Martha Stewart. I ended up painting 18+ bottles and still have paint left over.
 
I got bored one day & thought the same thing cause my cousin gave me some Grolsh bottles!! Did some searching and found paint for glass. Once you paint the bottles, you bake them for 30 mins, then then are dishwasher safe!! Can't remember where & how much the paint cost, but I remember that it is made by Martha Stewart. I ended up painting 18+ bottles and still have paint left over.

That looks awesome. Nice paint job
 
My only concern would be how well the paint would hold up to a starsan soak. I seem to remember it likes to take the painted labels off of bottles. So with that I also wonder how it holds up.
 
DrunkleJon said:
My only concern would be how well the paint would hold up to a starsan soak. I seem to remember it likes to take the painted labels off of bottles. So with that I also wonder how it holds up.

I don't soak my bottles in Starsan, I bake all my bottles! I have all the bottles that I painted filled with an OAKED RIS, so after about 4-6 months, I'll be able to answer the question to if Starsan will eat the paint of the bottles!!!
 
smccarter said:
Don't paint your bottles man...

My god, have people gone this stupid?

I'm far from stupid with a college degree, just CRAZY WITH TIME ON MY HANDS!!! Lol!!!
 
Since I've had no takers on my challenge, I've made up my own rules.

Partly cloudy day, 1pm, 89F, southern exposure, UV Index = 10 (very high), & clear glass bottle. I'm going to let my 35 IBU Amber sit on my grill for an hour and test its skunkiness tonight.

image.jpg
 
I use green and clear bottles all the time and haven't had any issues, I keep them stored in a cabinet or in my beer fridge. These days I actually prefer the clear bottles.

I also use green and clear. I have lots of both. My daughter LOVES Mexican coke, and I use those bottles. They are great. Since most of my beer is dark, my daughter made the mistake of thinking it was Coke ONCE. Now she looks at the cap.
 
Just moved the beer into the fridge to chill. I'll probably drink it in 7 or 8 hours.

I also found this article of different colored beer bottles vs UV. http://www.edenfoods.com/articles/view.php?articles_id=181

The key info is in Table 2 at the bottom. Short wavelength UV is the most damaging. For natural sunlight, brown glass still passes about 3% of the short wavelength UV.
 
My wife poured two beers into four samplers. Two samples were from the beer that sat in the sun, outside, for an hour in a clear bottle. Two samples were from a beer in a brown bottle that went straight from the cellar to the fridge.

Sample sizes were 4oz.

Results:

In the blind taste test, I could not identify by taste or by smell which of the two samples had sat in the sun for an hour and which two samples were the control. My housemate also could not identify which samples where which. I attempted to identify which two samples I thought were the same beer. I was wrong.

After my wife revealed which samples were which, I went back and smelled each sample as deeply as I possibly could. I mean to the point that I literally got beer up my nose.

Even when knowing which was which, the only discernible difference I could detect is the hop aroma from the beer that sat in the sun for an hour was slightly muted. It did not seem quite as fresh, like it was older. But in no way was it skunked, even slightly skunked.

So much for the "skunking in seconds" theory. My 35 IBU Moteuka Amber was not skunked after 60 minutes outside on a partly cloudy day, 89F temperature, and a UV Index = 10 (extreme).

Btw: try holding a bottle of homebrew up to your nose and inhale deeply, like you are snorting its contents, and see the look your wife gives you. It's priceless.
 
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