Best bottles for bottling beer

I keep hearing Sierra Nevada bottles work very well. Any other recommendations?

Ideas as to what bottles to stay away from would be appreciated as well.

You can use any commerical bottle that is not a screw-off bottle. The only real difference is the size of the bottle and the difficulty of removing a particular brewer's labels.

You can still use screw tops but you can't use a hand capper to do so. You'll need a bench capper. The reason is the lip where the hand capper grabs on will not be strong or thick enough to clamp to and will result in either the bottle breaking or more likely the capper not able to apply proper pressure.

With that said, go to your local pub and befriend the barkeep with a couple nights of healthy tipping, then ask him to set aside all the Sam Adams bottles he can muster. Pick them up daily so they don't pile up at the bar and after a couple weeks you'll be swimming in good cappable bottles where the labels peel right off.

I have found New Belgian Brewery 12oz bottles don't work well for me. I tend to crack them when I am bottling. They are the only ones I have had this issue with. Their 22oz bottles are fine.
When you pick up a NBB 12 oz bottle and compare it to other 12 oz bottles it feels like a stunt bottle it is so light.

I use Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams bottles. Never a problem with either. The Sams take up less shelf space but I prefer the 24 oz SNs.

Guiness big boppers if you can't get Fishers flip tops. Both are brown and reduce light strike. And their good to empty!

Would any of you recommend the grolsch bottles? I like the idea of not having to bottle it but is the seal durable enough to last? And is the green bottle really going to affect the quality of the beer?

Celebrator Doppelbach bottles are great. Thicker glass than most other bottles. Same with Duvel bottles. They're unique in shape too.

mb82 said:

I have found New Belgian Brewery 12oz bottles don't work well for me. I tend to crack them when I am bottling. They are the only ones I have had this issue with. Their 22oz bottles are fine.
When you pick up a NBB 12 oz bottle and compare it to other 12 oz bottles it feels like a stunt bottle it is so light.

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The 12 oz bottles don't work well with a hand capper or at least that's my experience...I believe the ridge around the neck ir too small for the hand capper to pull the cap down onto the lip.

Sam Adams seems to be the best bottles that are easiest to find.

Han_Solo said:

Would any of you recommend the grolsch bottles? I like the idea of not having to bottle it but is the seal durable enough to last? And is the green bottle really going to affect the quality of the beer?

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Grolsch bottles are fine and I believe the seals can be replaced...the green glass is only an issue if you store the bottles in place that can exposed to uv light. I used to use clear glass but I keep the bottles in beer boxes and a small fridge that didn't have a light.

Grolsch bottles work great. They don't leave my house. Stay away from Dos Equis Bottles, I CANNOT get those labels off!

medusa1066 said:

Grolsch bottles work great. They don't leave my house. Stay away from Dos Equis Bottles, I CANNOT get those labels off!

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+1, dos equis bottles suck for label removal.

I will add Amstel light bottles to the list of "suck to get the labels off".

I have started buying German beers with swing top bottles.

So is it safe to assume that if i used recycled swing top bottles they will be good for at least a few batches?

I've never had a problem doing so.

The best bottles are the free ones. Check at recycling centers, ask your friends to save theirs etc.

I have mostly Sam Adams, because that is what my friends gave me. 21 five gallon batches bottled so far - no problems.

I found that lagunitas bottles are my favorite. The labels sometimes just peel off when it's cold. Also the guiness draught bottles are nice. They're a little smaller than a 12 oz but the plastic label comes of clean. They're heat shrinked on so peeling of is easy.

Han_Solo said:

Would any of you recommend the grolsch bottles? I like the idea of not having to bottle it but is the seal durable enough to last? And is the green bottle really going to affect the quality of the beer?

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i've been using grolsch bottles for 15 years and haven't had any problems ( i still have many w ceramic caps)- you can change the gaskets when you need to and i haven't really noticed any skunking as a result. i know i have read that beer can skunk in seconds, but i like to drink in the sunshine, don't have brown stemware, and don't normally finish a beer that fast- so maybe i'm just used to skunked beer.

I've been using Sam Adams bottles and I also have a case of bottles from the LHBS. The mouth on Sam Adams seem to be ever so slightly smaller than the LHBS bottles. I have to be careful when capping the SA bottles to avoid leaving a dent in the top from the magnet and that's using both a hand capper and a bench capper. Doesn't seem to be as much a problem with the LHBS bottles.

jacobg83 said:

I found that lagunitas bottles are my favorite. The labels sometimes just peel off when it's cold. Also the guiness draught bottles are nice. They're a little smaller than a 12 oz but the plastic label comes of clean. They're heat shrinked on so peeling of is easy.

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The lagunitas bottles seem pretty similar to the Sierra nevada bottles as far as I can tell. The guinness seems pretty nice too but I just wish they were bigger. About one more bottle to fill per dozen

Both my Sam Adams and New Belgium bottles work wonderfully

There's a local microbrewery that must use superglue to put their labels on with. I just threw them out.

Han_Solo said:

The lagunitas bottles seem pretty similar to the Sierra nevada bottles as far as I can tell. The guinness seems pretty nice too but I just wish they were bigger. About one more bottle to fill per dozen

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The guiness bottles look cool once the wrapper is off. I don't mind bottling an extra here and there. Makes for more servings. I don't like drinking guiness that much though. Thats the only con.

In my admittedly short experience in bottling, Sam Adams, New Belgium, and Sierra Nevada bottles are incredibly easy to remove the labels on. DFH labels seem easy to remove as well. Since I've started soaking bottles overnight in oxy clean, however, all labels seem much, much easer to remove.

I like Stone IPA bottles because there is no label to remove. Their design is etched on the bottle. Also, I can get it for $9.99 a six-pack. At that price the only other IPA that can compete is Southern Tier 2xIPA, but only because it's 8.2%.

I use mostly 2 types of bottles.
500ml
560ml