Bottle question...

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GeorgiaTiger

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I know im bombarding the forum with quetions, but Im like a sponge and learn byy asking - My SIL works as a bartender and has access to ALL of the used and discarded bottles that she can carry out. Will these work for bottling? How would I go about cleaning them if so?
 
You want the "pry off" bottles, and not the screw top bottles. Sam Adams bottles are great, as are a few others. Brown bottles are preferred, unless you can keep them in the dark all of the time.

They are easy to clean- a soak overnight in oxyclean, and then remove the labels if you want. A bottle brush can work inside to get all of the residue off, and then a clean water rinse and that's it!
 
I also use a dobie to clean the sofened glue funk,etc off the outside. Although I soak'em in a PBW solution overnight to loosen gunk & labels.
 
If you are somewhat anal like I am then you can have them save all the same bottles of what they go through the most and as Yooper pointed out, brown and pry off only. I find that when all bottles are identical it makes bottling super easy, especially if you use a bench capper as you do not need to re-adjust the height of the capper.

+1 to soaking in OXY, using a bottle brush and easy removal of the labels.
 
A jet type bottle washer is real handy, this is the one I use,
41xkAJ%2BOo7L.jpg
 
I found that Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, and Fat Tire bottles are really nice. I soaked them in PBW mixture overnight, and the labels had come off on their own. I did did not have to do any scrubbing, just rubbed the minimal remaining residue off with my thumb as I rinsed the bottles.
 
And don't neglect the champagne/sparkling wine bottles either, most of cap with a standard bottle cap/capper, or with the 29mm eurocap and a replacement bell. You'll find those are invaluable if you get into brewing Belgian beers, and carbonated ciders. Or just putting your regular beer in them as gifts.
 
Be sure to sanitize on bottling day. Soak in Starsan/Idophor or run through the sanatize cycle on your dishwasher (no rinse aid like jetdry for head retention). Then bottle and cap and store for carbonation/conditioning. Then enjoy.
 
Revvy -- my wife drinks champagne so we have bottles around frequently. Will I be able to cap them with my handheld bottle capper or will I need a bench capper?
 
Revvy -- my wife drinks champagne so we have bottles around frequently. Will I be able to cap them with my handheld bottle capper or will I need a bench capper?


Standard handheld. Most domestic use the ones that take normal crown caps

If it's the bigger sized caps you need the larger bell, then you have to turn your plates over on the red barron/Emily capper and buying a 29mm capping bell.
champagne-adapter.jpg


And these caps from Norther Brewer.
 
I soak pry off bottles in a hot.soluition of oxyclean FREE for about 30 min. In the sink. Then the labels come right off and with a sponge or brush the glue comes off. Then I rinse well with freshwater then off to the dishwasher for the sanitizing cycle ( no detergent). After that I bottle directly from the dishwasher passing through a bucket of star San to cool them a little and sanitize them just before bottling. Also if you spill some All you have to do os close the dishwasher and run a rinse cycle. It's not Necessarily the right way, but it's my way. Have fun!

Also I have not had good luck with some Mexican beer bottles.

image.jpg
 

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