Coat a clear bottle with paint to protect beer?

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slingshotmike

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I live in Istanbul, and I'm working on my first (of many) batches of homebrew.

I worked hard to track down / import all of the ingredients, and basic supplies.

The one place I have had the worst luck is tracking down bottles. New beer bottles can't be found here, and if I go for used bottles, 95% are screw cap. This has led me looking down other paths.

Basically, I've found some great 1-liter swing tops made in Italy. The price isn't too bad, but they only come in one-color: clear glass bottles. My idea is to paint them, possibly black. To me it seems like this will keep light out. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I've tried researching on the internet but haven't come up with much yet. I hate to ruin my new bottles with ugly black paint, but if that's what it takes to not ruin my beer, I'm doing it.

Your thoughts?
 
Please don't paint your bottles! You're better off wrapping them up in a good amount of painter's tape and keeping them in a cool dark location. Just a box and cool dark area will do. Unless you are doing extended aging do not worry too much.
 
slingshotmike, I've been using brown and clear plastic (PET, 475 and 600 ml. ) soda bottles for years with no "skunking" issues. Glass is best for long term storage (6 months +) though. Save the paint. Welcome and good luck.
 
slingshotmike, I've been using brown and clear plastic (PET, 475 and 600 ml. ) soda bottles for years with no "skunking" issues. Glass is best for long term storage (6 months +) though. Save the paint. Welcome and good luck.

+1 I've used 1 liter brown plastic soda bottles to condition ale in before. Worked great!:)
 
Just out of curiosity how much would it be to order bottles online? Or to ship a case from the US to Turkey?
 
i bottle a lot in clear bottles. i find they are easier to keep clean and i can generally tell what beer is in them just by looking at the bottle. i don't have to remember what the heck FDWIO or some crap that i wrote on the cap means.

just don't store them in the windowsill and you'll be fine.
 
Wow great info everyone! I appreciate the feedback. From all the reading I've done, it has scared me into thinking 10 minutes of daylight will skunk any beer. I will store them in the dark, as suggested.

As far as ordered bottles from the US, shipping would make it not worth it. The cost of shopping that 50 bottles would probably be more than 500 dollars, due to weight and size. I've sent much lighter (and smaller) boxes that cost more than 200.
 
Wow great info everyone! I appreciate the feedback. From all the reading I've done, it has scared me into thinking 10 minutes of daylight will skunk any beer. I will store them in the dark, as suggested.

As far as ordered bottles from the US, shipping would make it not worth it. The cost of shopping that 50 bottles would probably be more than 500 dollars, due to weight and size. I've sent much lighter (and smaller) boxes that cost more than 200.
if the bottles are stored somewhere that would give you a suntan, then they'll get skunked pretty quick. but other than that, you'll be fine. keeping them in a box is a good idea.

i have heard of people reusing twist-offs with some success and also capping twist off bottles with a capper. feel free to give either a try. re purposing plastic bottles might be a better idea, though.
 
I would go out and find some beer that has the bottles you drink, and drink a bunch during a party you host. I've done that and now have over 80 1L swing top brown bottles, 60 swing top grolsche bottles, a case of 22oz bombers and about 60 of the 500 mL import pop tops. I've only ever bought a case of bottles once.

Drink until you can start bottling and drinking your own! Best of luck!
 
I only use clear bottles too as those are easiest to come by for me. I could do colored too, but I actually really dig the look of them too, looks nice when there is beer in there and it has something unique about them.

I just store the bottles in their crates unto which I put something like a blanket or thick paper I get from packaging of my brewing supplies. That protects them from light and all is good!
 
Please don't paint your bottles! You're better off wrapping them up in a good amount of painter's tape and keeping them in a cool dark location. Just a box and cool dark area will do. Unless you are doing extended aging do not worry too much.

Why not paint bottles? I have a ton of clear swing tops, and spray painted some with chalkboard paint. Keeps light out, plus I can write on it
 
Chalk paint is a cool idea. My one concern about painting was that it might make filing the bottles more challenging
 
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