Ikea Flip Top Bottles

So I was strolling through Ikea last weekend with my lady when I strolled by a huge pallet of flip top bottles that were probably meant to be used for decoration, but me being the rebel and innovator I am went ahead and purchased two for bottling. I was wondering if anybody has ever used these Ikea flip tops for bottling? Do they hold up? Do their tops pop off under the pressure?

Secondly, I bottled a partial mash IPA the other day which let me tell you, tastes great un carbonated! But I went down to check on my bottles, and they're bubbling a good amount! I've never seen this with any of my other bottles, and am hoping I don't have some bottle bombs here shortly. Anyways, any reassurances, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

GioGomez2010 said:

So I was strolling through Ikea last weekend with my lady when I strolled by a huge pallet of flip top bottles that were probably meant to be used for decoration, but me being the rebel and innovator I am went ahead and purchased two for bottling. I was wondering if anybody has ever used these Ikea flip tops for bottling? Do they hold up? Do their tops pop off under the pressure?

Click to expand...

I would be extremely skeptical of any bottles that were not specifically made to withstand the pressures of carbonation. This only double to decorative bottles from IKEA.

GioGomez2010 said:

Secondly, I bottled a partial mash IPA the other day which let me tell you, tastes great un carbonated! But I went down to check on my bottles, and they're bubbling a good amount! I've never seen this with any of my other bottles, and am hoping I don't have some bottle bombs here shortly. Anyways, any reassurances, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

If you're pretty sure the beer finished, and you added an appropriate amount of bottling sugar, you're probably fine. Not much to do but wait and see.

KISS Brew said:

I would be extremely skeptical of any bottles that were not specifically made to withstand the pressures of carbonation. This only double to decorative bottles from IKEA.



If you're pretty sure the beer finished, and you added an appropriate amount of bottling sugar, you're probably fine. Not much to do but wait and see.

Click to expand...

I only bought two because I am skeptical as well, so we'll see with those Haha. And I was pretty sure I was just being too worrisome about the carbonation. It did finish, it stayed at the same FG for 2 weeks, but I kind of surprised me. Thanks for the help sir!

Bought one of those Slom Ikea swing tops. Bottle conditioned 2 cider batches in it. Worked great! No explosions. I'll be picking more up soon.

jordanchampine said:

Bought one of those Slom Ikea swing tops. Bottle conditioned 2 cider batches in it. Worked great! No explosions. I'll be picking more up soon.

Click to expand...

Nice! If these work good for me too I might be heading up again to pick up some more.

if they actualy say EZ Cap in a fancy font on the bottom and weigh a pound for a 1 liter, they are the same homebrewing bottles.

Most are thin and just decorative but I did get 24 clear 1-liters for $35 at Ikea.

I have never seen any flip top bottles in IKEA that I would trust to be strong enough to handle carbination preassuers when bottling, but YMMV. I have also never seen any dark colored flip top bottles in IKEA. The only ones that I have ever looked at were clear.

Assuming they are clear, if your bottles don't explode, make sure to keep them in the dark as your beer may skunk quickly.

I own several of those IKEA flip-top bottles. They're great, but I would not trust the glass to be sturdy enough to hold carbonation. I use them more for homemade extracts, liquor infusions, sour mix and other assorted cooking/mixology ****. That being said, though, I've never tried. You could always just fill one of them at bottling, put it somewhere safe and see if it explodes. I mean, they're only like $.99 or whatever.

PangaeaBeerFood said:

You could always just fill one of them at bottling, put it somewhere safe and see if it explodes. I mean, they're only like $.99 or whatever.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but homebrew is priceless.

How did you guys go with these bottles. Any bombs?

I bought 6 of these bottles, 3 different batches of beer with no problems. The first 2 bottles held a LME IPA, that I filled, put in the closet with a towel over them and waited to hear a muffled explosion. All went well, held pressure and no bang, so I will buy more. Just like having a few big bottles to fill the Das Boot. As previously stated, they are clear, so dark storage is a must. At $3.00 a piece, they are decent deal.

Maybe paint then so they block light? Don't know what kind of paint to use thought. I'm gonna try some next time I go. Would be nice to use them as cheap "growlers" for transport.

I've used these. They're decent, but they're only good for about one or two batches before the rubber gaskets don't hold the pressure for bottle conditioning. At that point, I would either tape the bottles shut or spring for more gaskets.

They also make blue ones. Either way I just keep them in a dark basement while conditioning so light isn't as big an issue.

if you're talking about the 1-liter bottles, i've got a couple. i've used them for fermenting a cider before, but that's not much pressure.

my brew partner, on the other hand, has used them for the last few batches without any problem. in fact, they usually carb up faster than the other bottles. which i'm sure has more to do with the size than anything else. he had success with even transporting them from norway to germany so now i've got a couple i'm gonna try to transport to the US. for being ikea, the flip-top contraption is surprisingly pretty good quality. and the bottles have held up to pressure so far after, i believe, 4 batches.