Has anyone bottled with soda bottles with success?

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postman

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Just was wondering if any brewer has had success or failure bottling with soda bottles? I understand plastic bottles have light sensitivity issues and oxygen permeability issues as well. Some have commented this on another post and I've learned a lot about the bottles thanks to responses on this site. But still, with all the issues plastic raises, I was just wondering if you made a good or a bad brew?
 
I've never personally done it unless you count Mr. Beer. But I know for a fact it's been done and it's being done by people here (couldn't find any links though.)

It's also referenced in a couple of homebrewing books.

Cap it well, keep it out of the light and it will work.
 
I use the carbinator cap so I can try my brews the night after I bottle just to see what they will taste like. Pretty cool and fits on any soda bottle.
 
I often put some brew in them to give away. This has never presented a problem, and most of the time the carbonation is great. I found that if you overtighten the caps you will have a leak. I hope this helps. Oh btw some of my samples have been in there for more than a week with no problems.
 
I'm not sure that this is what you are referring to, but I have tried bottling force carbed soda into glass bottles. It did not work well.

I made a rootbeer with sugar, water and a flavor kit, then force carbed it in a keg to about 50 psi. To serve it, I had to take the pressure down to about 8 PSI and I used about 10' of 3/16" beverage tubing. The rootbeer tasted fine, but always seemed to foam too much when serving and came out flat.

I tried bottling it in glass beer bottles using a Mr. Beer gun. I had to take the pressure down to about 2 PSI or else I got all foam. Even with 2 PSI, I got a lot of foam and the bottles only ended up about 3/4 full when the foam settled. After capping and waiting a week I had rootbeer syrup in a bottle with not much carbonation at all. A true counter-pressure filler might work better for soda than a Mr. Beer gun, but I haven't tried.
 
If you are talking about priming and adding to plastic bottles - yes, I do it all the time. I really never had a beer last more than 8 months....I did detect a slight loss
of pressure after about 7-8 months, but no big deal.


Cheers.
 
Thanks for the post so far. Just for clarification, I am referring to conditioning my beer in soda bottles. I ran out of bottles recently and grabbed some canada dry bottles to finish it off. When I started to consider it, it could save me some time. I don't plan on many bottles of it, but it perked my curiosity.
 
postman said:
Thanks for the post so far. Just for clarification, I am referring to conditioning my beer in soda bottles. I ran out of bottles recently and grabbed some canada dry bottles to finish it off. When I started to consider it, it could save me some time. I don't plan on many bottles of it, but it perked my curiosity.

Go for it - no problem at all using these. I even reuse the caps.
I have been doing this off and on for over 15 yrs. without a problem.


Cheers.
 
Been using 2 liter soft drink bottles for over a year and a half now, no problems. I have some pumpkin beer from last year sitting in some 2 liter bottles, plan on cracking them in October. I'll add that they are kept in a controlled enviroment from conditioning to storage.
 
Works good. I bottle about 1/3 in 20 oz. soda bottles, and the rest in 12oz. If you stagger the plastic bottles, you can get 6-8 in most case boxes without crowding the rest of the bottles. Fewer bottles to fill, less space. I start seeing slight pressure loss after about 3-4 months, but no significant problems for 6-9 months, depending on style. Just make sure you keep them in a closed box so you don't skunk.
 
postman said:
Thanks for the post so far. Just for clarification, I am referring to conditioning my beer in soda bottles. I ran out of bottles recently and grabbed some canada dry bottles to finish it off. When I started to consider it, it could save me some time. I don't plan on many bottles of it, but it perked my curiosity.

Ahh, I got it now. In that case, ignore my last post. FWIW, I have bottle carbed beer in plastic bottles once (my first batch). Seemed to work fine, and the nice part is you know exactly when it is all carbed up because the bottles get rock hard. This is important for the first batch when your dying to open them them. It's also easier to see just how much sediment has settled.
 
Well I'm presently enjoying a home brew from a 1 L wide mouth Ginger Ale bottle. Tastes great! I kept it in a closet to prevent skunking. Thanks for all the input.
 
postman said:
Well I'm presently enjoying a home brew from a 1 L wide mouth Ginger Ale bottle. Tastes great! I kept it in a closet to prevent skunking. Thanks for all the input.

Glad to hear you tried plastic, kind of feel it is underrated. It may not offer uv protection but that can be dealt with. The oxidation aspect I still toss around.

It has been over ten years when I was in England but noticed they offered hard cider in plastic 2 liters. The lack of hops eliminated the uv issue but not oxidation. Sometime ago Miller Lite was offered in plastic bottles for a limited time. This makes me think that plastic is more of a cosmetic stigma than being pratical. Might have to do a glass verses plastic comparison test.
 
I have used 1 liter bottles and 3 liter bottles with tap-a-draft taps (you waste a little CO2). 1 liter is kind of nice, because thats about what I like to drink on a thursday night. A really nice buzz, but no hangover...
 
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