IKEA swing top bottles

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wreckinball9

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About six months ago i picked up a few 32 oz clear swing top bottles at IKEA for $2 a piece! i would have picked up more but i wasnt sure they would be able to withstand carb pressure.

well the bottles have worked out tremendously. i went back to get a bunch more yesterday and i didnt see them anywhere! :mad:

has anyone else bought these at an IKEA recently? if you see them, buy them. they are a steal at $2 a whack.
 
The new IKEA around here ran out and haven't seemed to restock them. Those things have been on back order since forever and still see no signs of getting them in. I was told a month ago that it would be months before they would get more. However it seems like it's the case with everything they carry, there is a severe lack of merchandise that I used to get at the IKEA in Hong Kong (when I lived there) that I can't find here.
 
I've not been able to ever find them at the one closest to me in Cincinnati. They do have stocking issues though. We found a couch we really liked when the store first opened. Appearently everyone else in Cincy liked it to. It took months to finally get it. Then we went back a couple weeks ago and our couch had been marked up 200 dollars! Glad we got it when we did.
 
Another big thumbs up to the IKEA bottles. Bottle up some good beer and stick a label on them and they make great presents.
 
Are these bottle designed to hold pressure? If not then it would be a bad idea to use them to store a pressurized liquid.
 
I'm not sure if I'm thinking of the same type of bottles, as I don't have an IKEA very close, but I know that at a place called Jungle Jim's in Cincy, I've found a drink (French I think they say) that is sort of like a carbonated (sparkling) lemonade. I buy this stuff anytime I see it because it comes in a swing-top bottle and my two year old loves the juice. They are fantastic for gifts as someone pointed out!

Looks kind of like this link, but not nearly as expensive. Only a buck or two!

French Sparkling Lemonade
 
I have used the lemonade bottles, but can only find them for around $4 They work great
 
I have 15 of those and use them for Apfelwein. I have yet to use them for beer because I wasn't sure if they would hold pressure. If the OP says they've worked I may bottle some on my next bottling session. I picked some up in July in the one in Schaumburg, IL and they seem to have plenty. I'll stop in next time I'm there and will see if any are left.
 
I have used the lemonade bottles, but can only find them for around $4 They work great

I've got 6 of these 1liter sparkling lemonade bottles. They sell them at Target for about 4$.
fliptop.jpg
 
I'll have to send SWMBO in to check Ikea near me. I can't get within 200 feet of the place without going a little crazy.

I could not wait for ours (only a.5 hours away) to open. Now I dread the planned group trips there. Well, I used to have money! Only benefit is we usually go to Jungle Jims while down there. Mega Beer Score
 
I have 15 of those and use them for Apfelwein. I have yet to use them for beer because I wasn't sure if they would hold pressure. If the OP says they've worked I may bottle some on my next bottling session. I picked some up in July in the one in Schaumburg, IL and they seem to have plenty. I'll stop in next time I'm there and will see if any are left.

yes i have used both the IKEA bottles and the sparkling lemonade bottles to hold naturally carb'd beer without any issues.
 
I could not wait for ours (only a.5 hours away) to open. Now I dread the planned group trips there. Well, I used to have money! Only benefit is we usually go to Jungle Jims while down there. Mega Beer Score
I love Jungle Jims. Everytime I'm in Cinci to visit the family I end up spending hundreds of dollars in that place.

Have you ever been to "The Party Source" in Newport on the Levee? They have a fantastic selection of Beer/Wine/Spirits (far more beer than Jungle Jims and better prices to).

Does the clear glass have a negative effect on conditioning?
It would not be a problem as long as you store the bottles in the dark. The clear glass will provide zero protection.
 
For short periods of time, the fridge light should be okay (unless you have kids who stand there for hours at a time with the door open!). I've heard that sunlight is the worst, followed by florescent lights, then incandescent lights. I've been known to toss a cloth napkin over a clear bottle in our fridge... kinda a ghost beer.
 
UPDATE
i dont want to jinx it, but i just checked the IKEA website and my local IKEA now has the flip tops back in stock! :)

if they have them in your area i would grab them while you can ($2 a piece for clear 1 liter flip top)
 
I spotted these bottles yesterday at my local IKEA in Costa Mesa. I didn't know if they'd work, so I didn't buy 'em (d'oh!).

Is the conventional wisdom still that they'll hold up to pressure? After my first batch ended up all over the pantry, I wouldn't want the second batch becoming a room full of beer grenades.
 
I've got 6 of these 1liter sparkling lemonade bottles. They sell them at Target for about 4$.
fliptop.jpg

i have some like that from Sur la Table that i use for sparkling apfelwein and similar things. the ones i have are designed for sparkling mineral water so i assume one could use them for beer as well. but i have like 20 grolsch bottles that i use for beer and the rest goes in .5 liter german beer bottles :tank:
 
I saw these yesterday at IKEA and picked up a few to try out. They are 34 oz and the flip top lid looks pretty strong. I got a Fullers ESB in my primary, but I want to bottle some of it too and these looked pretty good.

Here is a link to the website, but it is only available in the store. If you got one close, it might be worth a trip for a 1 liter flip top for $2!!!

IKEA 34 oz flip top
 
I would recommend replacing the gaskets on these before putting beer in them. I got a stash of these from Ikea here in Austin and filled a few with some homebrew. After a few weeks, I popped one and it was great! Nice and carbed and conditioned. After a few more weeks, however, the remaining bottles had gone flat! I am guessing the pressure slowly leaked out of the cheap silicone gasket. I going to get some Grolsch replacement gaskets for them before I put anymore beer in them (if I ever do, they work great for still apfelwein).
 
As far as light is concerned, has anyone ever tried painting the bottles? I did a batch with black spray paint and it seemed to be the same as the brown bottles. But i did not do a comparison between clear glass and painted clear glass.

In the future i need to do 1 brown bottle, 1 green, 1 clear, 1 painted glass bottle. Then take those and store them in a window. That way i can do a direct comparison.
 
Oh and since there seems to be a lot of people in the Cincinnati area I feel i should mention that Listermann's (my LHBS here in Cincinnati) has 1 liter flip tops for $4. And those are brown. I do not see them on their website, but I live 2 blocks away so i am there all the time.

They run out of them quick so I would call them before leaving the house.

Listermann.Com - Home Page

**EDIT**
I also think they are cheaper if you buy 12. But i am not sure the price.

**EDIT 2**

I was at Listermann's last night and they have the 1 liter clear glass swing tops for $3. And if I saw it correctly the 12 pack of brown glass was $35.
 
I would recommend replacing the gaskets on these before putting beer in them. I got a stash of these from Ikea here in Austin and filled a few with some homebrew. After a few weeks, I popped one and it was great! Nice and carbed and conditioned. After a few more weeks, however, the remaining bottles had gone flat! I am guessing the pressure slowly leaked out of the cheap silicone gasket. I going to get some Grolsch replacement gaskets for them before I put anymore beer in them (if I ever do, they work great for still apfelwein).

I second this recommendation to replace the gaskets. I picked up a half-dozen of these bottles from the Ikea in Elizabeth, NJ just a few weeks ago, and used them to bottle some lager. Tonight, I cracked open my first one to find that it's gone flat because the silicone gasket started to tear from the inside of the ring. Now that I look, three out of the six show the some lacing around the top of the bottle. Thinking about it a little more critically, I can't imagine the silicone would stand up well over repeated sterilizations and carbonations, since it will probably get brittle. I'll be switching out the gasket on one of these bottles for my next batch, to see how it works out.

On the plus side, now I won't feel guilty trying some of this homebrew in this fantastic beer-braised brisket recipe I have.
 
I'm not sure if I'm thinking of the same type of bottles, as I don't have an IKEA very close, but I know that at a place called Jungle Jim's in Cincy, I've found a drink (French I think they say) that is sort of like a carbonated (sparkling) lemonade. I buy this stuff anytime I see it because it comes in a swing-top bottle and my two year old loves the juice. They are fantastic for gifts as someone pointed out!

Looks kind of like this link, but not nearly as expensive. Only a buck or two!

French Sparkling Lemonade

I get these at my local Goodwill for about a dollar or two,er the bottles anyways :)
 
I recently bought 16 of these bottles from IKEA. I too am a bit worried about the fact that they're not green or brown. Has anyone ever spray painted their bottles?
 
I helped a friend bottle his first Mr Beer batch in a couple of these.

They seemed to work well, and I I had him throw them in a couple of brown paper bags...kinda like the bums do it!
 
For any Terps out there, I saw these last weekend at the IKEA in College Park, MD. I looked at them and thought to myself: no way they'll hold pressure. Guess I was wrong! ;)
 
What's the longest anyone has stored beer in these bottles? I will be kegging most of my beer and was looking for an alternative to using a bottle capper for the few I want to put aside for a 4 or 5 months at most.
 
I have kept beer in these ikea bottles for many months with no problems for the most part. I had a couple that were flat because i didnt seat the top on just right when bottling. I have now replaced most of the gaskets with the grolsch replacements gaskets with great success.
 
So what's the consensus for worry-free light protection? I'm guess spray paint?

I wonder how much protection a full-bottle etching would do... a la the carboy etching threads on here. Just smear the glass etcher over the entire surface and haze the entire thing up... might divert a majority of the light?
 
where are people keeping their bottles that they are in direct sunlight all the time? i just keep my clear bottles in the basement or in a cabinet until im ready to put them in the fridge and drink. never had a problem in doing so.
 
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