2 questions about bottling

1) Can I use twist offs? I have heard diffrent things, and Its gonna be real hard to find 5 dozen pry off's that arent clear.

2) After I sanitize (I use diversol) is it okay to rinse with tapwater? I have heard mixed anwsers, some say it is, and others say it will lead to infection unless I boil and cool the water first (sounds like a HUGE hassle)

2B) Okay twist off's suck, but which is better. Clear pry off's, or brown twist offs?

1) some say you can, some say you can't. If you do, most recommend a bench capper to make life easier. If you do use them there is a chance for oxidation and/or no carbonation. As far as the pry offs are concerned, check your recycling center, ask bars, etc. Shouldn't be too hard. Or you can buy a case of your favorite beer and get a case of bottles that way, with beer already inside!

2) with a quick look at some info on diversol, it looks like you HAVE to rinse. I would suggest getting a no rinse sanitizer. Diversol appears to be made partially with sodium hypochlorite which is the main ingredient in household bleach.

I have used twist offs and it sucks. Some of the necks crack some dont seal. The majority are fine but that few bottles that dont work out are a very depressing waste of beer. GET PRY OFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!

(1) I have mistakenly bottled a few twist-offs with a hand capper and did not have any problems with them. Still, when I find one I purge it from the bottle collection as I've heard others have had problems.

If I were you, I'd spend some time trying to find (or buy) pry-offs instead of doing a whole batch with twist-offs.

(2) Rinsing with tap water is fine. But in future you should consider a no-rinse sanitizer like Star San or Iodophore. They are cheap and easy.

Sounds like you need to start getting into drinking more craft brew. I'd say a good 90% of commercial craft brew out there comes in a non-twistoff bottle and about 95% of those are brown.




p.s. These are homemade intarweb statistics and they are infallible.

Regarding rinsing with tap water, I top off all the time with unboiled tap water and have never had a problem. I would anticipate that rinsing with the tap water would be fine as well. Like the others said though, get some no-rinse sanitizer.