twist top bottles

is it possible to reuse twist top bottles, with the original twist caps?

has anyone ever done this?

I wouldnt suggest re-using caps. I have heard that its too difficult to use a wing capper with twist top bottles, but that bench cappers can handle them.

LambChop4Prez said:

I wouldnt suggest re-using caps. I have heard that its too difficult to use a wing capper with twist top bottles, but that bench cappers can handle them.

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i think the wing capper problem is that its too much pressure for the neck of the bottle

+1 on the bench cappers supposedly being able to handle twist bottles, but I don't think you can reuse the caps themselves. I would just go get some old pop top bottles from a local bar and recycle them for yourself. The caps are super cheap...especially if you can get some printed over runs from your LHBS

im having trouble finding pop top bottles, im gonna have to start going to the bars and stores to see if they will sell me some.

i just took 2 twist top bottles, and i put some pepsi in one, and in the other i just opened it and put some priming suger, and put the twist tops back on, and twisted them tight. i wanna see what happens, i dont think i will do that for my beer but i just wanted to see.

so a bench capper works fine?? that would be great cuz i can get alot of twist top quart bottle for next to nothing, so it would be great if that would work.

Twist bottles have thinner glass in the neck, which makes them more likely to break when you try to cap them or pop a cap off of them.

I wouldn't try to reuse twist caps. I don't see how you would get a good lock on it to prevent bottle conditioning from loosening the cap and giving you flat beer.

I don't know if they are all that reliable, so you might look like you are sealing the cap when in reality you aren't and your beer goes bad. Any local bar should just give you all you can take from the recycle bin. Heck, just go in for a few drinks and ask the waitress to bring you all of the empty bottles while you are there and give her a nice tip. You should be able to walk out with 2 cases worth no problem. Just make sure to soak 'em a long time in star san...

How about this.........

Drink some good beer while your waiting for your fermenting beer to finish and use them.

Idea #2.... Buy 24 bombers and be done with it.

Bull

You can always tell your friends that you are looking for bottles. I usually tell them that if they rinse out their bottles for me that I will refill them and give them some beer, plenty of people would jump on that opportunity.

sorefingers23 said:

im having trouble finding pop top bottles, im gonna have to start going to the bars and stores to see if they will sell me some..

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i have the same problem here. not only does noone have any but there are few brands here that have pop tops. even dads root beer is twist top now

I see you all are from Canada. Does Moosehead and Molson come twist these days? I haven't had one of those in a long time but they used to be pop top. Worse case scenario you might have to pick up some swing tops if they have those?

molson has been twist top for years now and i think moosehead is too. i havent seen swingtops here either. its like 16 bucks for a doz pop tops at the lhbs

Wow! Brewmasters Warehouse has a pack of 144 caps for $2.99.

Even dieu du ciel uses twist tops IIRC. Canada is a crimp cap wasteland.

mostly everything is twist top here except for the european beers, i think moosehead is still pop top.

we di have swing tops here, but a i saw 12 for 27 bucks, that hardly worth it, id rather just buy some grolsh and drink them, id rather drink that stuff, than pay 2.25 for a bottle of air

sorefingers23 said:

mostly everything is twist top here except for the european beers, i think moosehead is still pop top.

we di have swing tops here, but a i saw 12 for 27 bucks, that hardly worth it, id rather just buy some grolsh and drink them, id rather drink that stuff, than pay 2.25 for a bottle of air

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you got grolsh there? we dont even have that here. i dunno if its an ontario thing or just here in kingston. ill have to look into moosehead bottles

LambChop4Prez said:

You can always tell your friends that you are looking for bottles. I usually tell them that if they rinse out their bottles for me that I will refill them and give them some beer, plenty of people would jump on that opportunity.

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I'm new to the forum. And I'm new to home brewing. I've been reading everything I can and watching every YouTube video out there. I told a buddy I was getting into home brewing and needed bottles. Now everytime I see him he gives me a six pack of empties. I'll have a couple of cases in a week or so

demonrichie said:

you got grolsh there? we dont even have that here. i dunno if its an ontario thing or just here in kingston. ill have to look into moosehead bottles

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im pretty sure you can get grolsh in kingston, i was in toronto a few months ago, and saw some at the beer store, and the lcbo, regular bottles, and swingtop bottles

yea maybe its just the lcbo and beer store near me(theres about 4 of each here)

To the OP, whether you go with twist bottles or pry tops just make sure that the bottles are made from brown glass to prevent UV light from skunking your ale. You probably already know this but I thought it would be worth mentioning. Several of my friends started saving me bottles and brought over 4 cases only to see that they were clear and green glass. My fault for not be specific.

I've heard of a few folks re-using PET plastic bottles, you can buy new caps for them online. You can also buy 24 .5 liter bottle from Midwest Supplies for $17, but you still need the caps. If you can get your hands on gently used PET bottles you can but 24 caps from them for $5. They recommend soaking their bottle in Straight A sanitizer prior to re-using, not sure if that is gentler on the plastic than something like StarSan. Some folks like the PET bottles for taking their beer out to the beach or such as they don't have to worry about broken glass with them. Plastic bottles for beer seems a bit like sacrilege to me, but maybe worth looking into.

I know for a fact that you can use Miller Lite twist offs again with a wing capper and new bottle caps.

n00b question here!!! Can you still use regular caps or do you have to buy special caps?