Bottling in 1 gal jugs?

So, my friend and I just pitched our first five gallon batch of homebrew on Sunday, and I have a question about bottling.

We're going to do a secondary ferment in five different one gallon jugs to test out different styles of spicing (we're doing a pumpkin ale), and I was wondering if it would work to bottle them in said jugs using corks purchased from the hardware store. The obvious pros I'm considering is the considerable amount of money saved on bottles, but what are the cons?

A cork alone probably won't hold under the pressure generated within the jug. I imagine it would pop out sooner or later.

No, you can't bottle in plastic jugs using corks. You might be able to get away with using them to ferment completely but you are going to need an air lock for each one.

Bottling is a whole other thing that involves the build up of pressure and you are going to need some real bottles and caps for that.

BendBrewer said:

. . . plastic jugs. . .

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Sorry if I wasn't clear, but they're glass jugs

Cons are the bottles not being able to hold the pressure and blowing up. Another con is cork not being able to hold the pressure and blowing off the bottle. Finally, the cork may not seal properly resulting in flat and possibly containated beer.

Go to a bar or beer store and get some empties. Make sure they are not twist off. They should be free or really cheap.

Good luck

Oh, that is different.

Corks still won't work to bottle. Do they have threads to screw on a cap?

BendBrewer said:

Oh, that is different.

Corks still won't work to bottle. Do they have threads to screw on a cap?

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Yeah. My LHBS even had screw-on seals with holes for gas locks. Maybe cork + cap?

My bet is the plastic cap won't hold. You can take one for the team and try it. I would love to see it work.

Yeah I was going to suggest using those caps. The cheap metal ones are too inconsistent.

I think those caps with seals will work fine.

eljefe said:

My bet is the plastic cap won't hold. You can take one for the team and try it. I would love to see it work.

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I'm very cautious about the jugs turning into bottle bombs. I would prefer for my tiny studio apartment not to get splattered with beer and broken glass. Is there any reason they wouldn't be able to take the same pressure as a 12 oz bottle?

I wouldn't recommend it, those larger glass vessels aren't designed to hold pressure.

I heard from my LHBS, priming/conditioning under pressure in glass bottles over 1 liter is big no-no, I imagine it can explode