Grolsch Bottles

Are Grolsch bottles worth the price of them? I have the opportunity to buy then for $1 each but don't know if its worth the cost.

thanks
John

Are they 1/2 liter or 33 cl?

Remember that you will have to keep your beer in the dark to keep it from skunking like Grolsch.

If you do not like to spend money on caps and capping, then the price is alright. But it's too expensive for us down here in the US. With the exchange rate, we'd be paying over 5 bucks a bottle.

I would say so.
The flip top bottles are really nice because they're much much simpler to seal than the crown top bottles. The only drawback to the widely available Grolsch bottles is the green glass. If you're sure to keep them out of the sunlight it shouldn't be a problem, but I went throug the effort to track down brown swing tops (I'm paying ~$2/ea).

So the Green Bottle thing can really be an issue?
I've been saving up and getting ready to put them to use. I was planning on storing them in the dark however if there is a chance of skunking in the bottles perhaps I'll start hunting down BROWN swingtop bottles.

cz

EdWort said:

Are they 1/2 liter or 33 cl?

Remember that you will have to keep your beer in the dark to keep it from skunking like Grolsch.

If you do not like to spend money on caps and capping, then the price is alright. But it's too expensive for us down here in the US. With the exchange rate, we'd be paying over 5 bucks a bottle.

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LOL 5 bucks a bottle. You should have been in my shoes when the the CAD dollar was $0.64 US it was painful when I gave $20 and got $12 back

Keeping them in the dark shouldn't be a problem , But the thought of capping 144 bottles is giving me chest pains.

They are the swing top bottles I believe he said 450 ml bottles.

Thanks
John

GearBeer said:

I would say so.
The flip top bottles are really nice because they're much much simpler to seal than the crown top bottles. The only drawback to the widely available Grolsch bottles is the green glass. If you're sure to keep them out of the sunlight it shouldn't be a problem, but I went throug the effort to track down brown swing tops (I'm paying ~$2/ea).

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Thanks I'm new to this and have no idea what I should be paying for things and I hate to over pay for anything.

John

You can usually find them for about $1.50 - but full of beer. If you're going to buy them you may as well get them that way and then do what you will with the beer that comes inside. Then just store them in the dark.

I suggest finding a local liquor store with a good selection of beer (for me it's Red Wagon Shoppe in Troy, MI) and perusing their offerings until you find brown swing top bottles. I got 4 24 oz brown swing tops for $2.89 + tax each. Getting the beer along with the bottle is nice.

My sister is a manager of a restaurant that sells it but they have a contract that requires ALL empty bottles to be returned. Stupid Ontario government!. I can buy 24 X 473 ml bottles for $67.40 (2.81 ea) the problem is I have 48L of beer to bottle this weekend. I'm going to need 102 bottles I don't see drinking that much in three days and being alive to tell the story

John

near boston ive been picking up the grolsch 16oz 4 packs for $8. still cheaper than buying flip-top bottles alone most places. Wish i could find them in a case but all the cases come with the new capped bottles. not sure why anyone would want grolsch in a caped bottle but thats another story.

as for the light if your worried keep them in a closet or cabinet. could even get a red photo bulb for the closet if you want to get fancy.

I buy my swing-top bottles with beer in them. There are quite a few import brands that still use swing-tops.

A number of years ago, I picked up over 400 empty Grolsch bottles for $65. Before I was kegging, I used them exclusively. At the time, I loved them, but I eventually got tired of cleaning the tops and seals.

I still bottle the odd batch, and always bottle a bit from every batch that I think will do well in competition. But I never use the Grolsch bottles anymore (gave them away to a guy in my homebrew club). The plain old brown bottles with crown caps are now my preference. They are simple and elegant and easier to clean and sanitize. But that is entirely personal preference.

Any idea of these bottles have any value? Green ones I am thinking the bottles have the standard plastic flip top.

gabeweisz said:

You can usually find them for about $1.50 - but full of beer. If you're going to buy them you may as well get them that way and then do what you will with the beer that comes inside. Then just store them in the dark.

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amen

The Grolsch bottles are awesome. I can tell you from experience that bottling 5 gallons into 16 oz Grolsch swing-tops takes WAY, WAY less time than bottling 5 gallons into 12 oz Sam Adams bottles.

That said, I'd rather just buy the bottles at the store with beer in them. The price difference is so much you can almost consider the contents "free beer". Sure, it's crappy beer, but then I can still choke down a Busch Lite when one is offered to me, so what the hell....

Definitely store them in the dark, though. Forget that they're green, pretend that they're completely clear like Corona bottles.

When bottling with these 500ml bottles, do you have to use more/less priming sugar than you would with a standard 12oz bottle? How much air do you leave in the bottle to get adequate carbonation without over carbonating?

Pontiac_Guy said:

When bottling with these 500ml bottles, do you have to use more/less priming sugar than you would with a standard 12oz bottle? How much air do you leave in the bottle to get adequate carbonation without over carbonating?

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I mix the standard amount of sugar in the bottling bucket...it will automatically have the same ratio of sugar to beer as any other bottle that way.

I think the price of Grolsch must vary signiicantly from state to state. I pay $5.99 for a 4-pack of 15.2 ounce bottles. I have found no other swing tops that come anywhere close to that cost, so it's a good deal where I live. Of course, I think beer in California is generally less expensive than most of the country (one of the only things that is cheaper in California)

Pontiac_Guy said:

How much air do you leave in the bottle to get adequate carbonation without over carbonating?

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Here is how high mine were filled. I use the bottling wand with the spring, so it limits how much beer you can put in to insure adequate head space.

This was a Belgian White...so intended to be a little cloudy. Settled nicely after 3 weeks of bottle conditioning and carbonation was great. I love the sound of that "pop" when I open the swingtops!

Awesome, thank you!

Waiting to fill these half liters. Those jerks at the brauhaus put beer in my bottles! It's going to be a long couple of days before I get to bottling my own

I got ten cases of green and brown bottles with ceramic tops from the local redemption center for .05 cents each! I love that guy.

I just picked up 18 of these for 10 bucks. I think i did pretty good.