Aluminum Bottles?

So I ran a quick search, but having the word bottles in the search kinda makes it hard to find what I was looking for lol.

These Bud pop top aluminum 16 oz bottles, is there any reason why they couldn't be used? They seem pretty stout.

I've had the same question. Anybody???

I would just be worried about crushing them during capping. If there's no dents or dings in them, I say go for it.

I guess they may have a coating inside that could be easily scratched of damaged. If they don't then they should be okay if not damaged.

I heard people still drink beer out of aluminum cans

I haven't seen these type of "bottles" yet so I would be interested to see them first hand before I open my mouth and comment on them, but if they are just a glorified can that is shaped like a bottle, then IMO they are disposable and probably not worth it.

They're pretty heavy duty. The one problems I foresee (appart from the inside coating getting damaged) would be over flows during filling, I have that problem with opaque bottles, lots of spilling. And it7ll be impossible to visually inspect your bottles cleanliness.

btw how many freakin pirates are there?!

I saw them for the first time this last weekend and was wondering the same thing......

One thing to keep in mind. Metals (especially Al) conduct heat very well. This is the primary reason they are using it. You can shove those 'Buds' in the ice and have them tasteless in no time. Problem is, if you get your precious homebrew in a warm place you are risking deterioration. The glass allows at least some form of a thermal buffer in the sense that changes in temperature will not nearly be as immediate, so that is something to keep in mind if you use them.

Yuck!
I would not want my HB in a Bud bottle. I don't want to advertise for them. Aluminum and coating aside.

LOL.... but would you use sam adams bottles for your HB? They make excellent keepers!!

shipping HB in the bud bottles might be a good Ideal....Nothing to break

Catfish said:

...btw how many freakin pirates are there?!

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there are 99 of us real pirates w/ the local 2744 (argh!) and many more apprenticed pirates ( or what we like to call them "wannabe pirates")

some pirates are really ninjias in disguise so try not to be fooled.

sirsloop said:

LOL.... but would you use sam adams bottles for your HB? They make excellent keepers!!

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Yes I would, but I like Sam Adams!

I capped and epmty bottle last night, (bench capper) and I think they will holdup. I also cleaned quickly with oxyclean and rinced with a bottle washer so nothing has a chance to stick to the inside! I am going to try them for a few in my next batch! I think it will be a good option for shipping!

Ive tried to use the AL bottles that IRon City Beer used to come in. It didnt work with my hand held capper. It may work with a bench capper though. THe bottles didnt have the "collar" that most bottles have, which the capper needs to get a grip on the bottle.

- magno

abracadabra said:

Yes I would, but I like Sam Adams!

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What if they were cherry wheat bottles

sirsloop said:

What if they were cherry wheat bottles

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The wife would like that

I have been wondering if these bottles would be a way to enjoy homebrew on the river (glass is prohibited). Big Sky brewery here in town uses them for Moose Drool so I may give it a try soon.

Fire_travels said:

I capped and epmty bottle last night, (bench capper) and I think they will holdup. I also cleaned quickly with oxyclean and rinced with a bottle washer so nothing has a chance to stick to the inside! I am going to try them for a few in my next batch! I think it will be a good option for shipping!

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Awesome idea, I was wanting a way to send my dad some, when i get done.

magno said:

Ive tried to use the AL bottles that IRon City Beer used to come in. It didnt work with my hand held capper. It may work with a bench capper though. THe bottles didnt have the "collar" that most bottles have, which the capper needs to get a grip on the bottle.

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That does appear to be the case:

i Picked up a 6 pack tonight of Budweiser thinking "I havent had it in a while I might enjoy a VERy LIGHT beer" I almost spit out the first drink! lol I almost got the Iron City but I am not sure if that would have been much better!

oo well I just needed some more bottles and it reminded me one of the resions why I started homebrewing!

I will be bottleing here soon...but if anyone elts dose post a update so we know if this is going to work out..i will do the same!

oo yeah I thought it was funny that Bud had to put "pry off " on these bottle caps lol

They could easily be painted. A light sanding with a curved block would be good.

I might have to find a br locally that serves theese. I've handled a couple empties before and they are rather stout for a mega brew bottle. I'd say 5 to 10x stronger than their glass counter parts.

D*Bo said:

They could easily be painted. A light sanding with a curved block would be good.

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Or a cork (to protect the inner coating) and some light bead blasting. You could even anodize them if you had a few chemicals lying about.

ok

I bottled my Dead Guy Cone tonight, and all went well!! I really love my bucket I got From AHS for doing PM but it also works great for bottling! Anyways here is what I came through with I did 6 bud - 16 oz. alum. and one bud that I sanded the paint off!

A light sanding with a curved block would be good

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D*BO

Not fun!!! If you are shipping these.... your not going to get them back anyways!

Other than that Capping went fine (used a bench capper)!! and i am sure my brothers will be happy to see these in a box!

sory forgot to post this!

Sam's Club has 15 packs of Bud Light aluminum cans for about $13. I picked up 30 yesterday.

Using a dremel or other drill with a sanding bit/brush bit might be a quicker way to get the paint off.

I bead blasted and powder coated one today. Surprisingly, it wasn't a whole lot of work, and the heat didn't damage the coating on the inside. Bottles given that treatment probably won't make it very far outside of my sight, but they are pretty cool!



EDIT:
This link is pretty cool - describes how to anodize at home:
http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/anodize.shtml

I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to chime in with my $.02. I bottled several from my first extract batch with the AB bottles in October. I used the two handed capper. You can do it like this, you just have to be carefull not to pinch the neck. I have been slowly killing this batch starting with the regular bottles. Recently, I started into the Alum. The problem I had is that to remove the caps, you have to be very carefull not to grab the "lip" with the opener. The first bottle I opened up, almost got torn in half. But they do hold the carbonation in very well.

I just wanted everyone to have the "after conditioning & carbing" info. Hope this helps.

-Drew

Anybody have any feedback on taste comparison?
Specifically, has anyone bottled from the same batch in glass and aluminum, aged for a while and tasted both? Notice any difference?

btw, I thought the plain sanded bottle looks pretty cool. It does seem like a lot of work though to get the "label" off.

kinison_fan said:

Anybody have any feedback on taste comparison?
Specifically, has anyone bottled from the same batch in glass and aluminum, aged for a while and tasted both? Notice any difference?

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No impact...and not surprised at that. Think about it...if they impacted the flavor of Bud Light even the slightest bit, AB wouldn't be able to get away with using them.

Nearly a case of homebrew these sweet bottles:

pirate504 said:

there are 99 of us real pirates w/ the local 2744 (argh!) and many more apprenticed pirates ( or what we like to call them "wannabe pirates")

some pirates are really ninjias in disguise so try not to be fooled.

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Not to de-rail here, but has any one read the book by Robert Hamburger? Great read for all you ninjas in disquise

Mountain Dew is bottling in these in Colorado now....I don't want to keep their labels...I have seen some sort of metal cleaner at the parts store that had a Dr. Pepper can that they had removed 1/2 of the paint from the can...So I'm stopping by on my way home tonight to see what they have.

McSwiggin' said:

Not to de-rail here, but has any one read the book by Robert Hamburger? Great read for all you ninjas in disquise

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Real ultimate power!

Try lye. It will remove anodized coatings from aluminum. I bet it works almost as well at removing the label ink/etch from these.

Yuri_Rage said:

Try lye. It will remove anodized coatings from aluminum. I bet it works almost as well at removing the label ink/etch from these.

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has anyone tried to starsan the ink off of these yet? i use a double starsan solution to remove the ink off of corona bottles and it works wonders. could it work on these or would the starsan mess up the aluminum or the coating on the inside?

Anybody found something that will clean the ink off the outside yet? I would be tempted to have a party and have all the guests decorate one and sign it and then keep it of course. Something like these in OKC.

sflcowboy78 said:

has anyone tried to starsan the ink off of these yet? i use a double starsan solution to remove the ink off of corona bottles and it works wonders. could it work on these or would the starsan mess up the aluminum or the coating on the inside?

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Not somuch interested in using the aluminum bottles myself, but if I follow what you're saying here, that a double strength solution of starsan will remove the screen-print from glass bottles?

I have a bunch of Arrogant Bastard bombers I would consider using for bottling sometime (I rarely bottle now that I keg, but thats another story), but I prefer a blank brown bottle.

Might need to give this a try... Anyone ever tried this on the Stone bottles?