Green Bottles. Pros and cons

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Fuzzywumpers

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Just wondering why it doesn't seem like anybody uses green bottles. A lot of my favorite imports come in green bottles and I have tons of them. I know the UV thing, but if I'm going from storage cabinet->fridge->belly, this shouldn't be a problem right?
 
I use Grolsch bottles for all my session beers. A case (12) of 16 oz. swing tops at the LBHS or online costs about 30 bucks. I can get 12 15.2 oz swing top Grolsch bottles for about 27, plus they come filled with a serviceable premium lager. Plus, the silicone gaskets on the Grolsch bottles last WAY longer than rubber gaskets if cleaned and maintained.
 
Daparish said:
I use Grolsch bottles for all my session beers. A case (12) of 16 oz. swing tops at the LBHS or online costs about 30 bucks. I can get 12 15.2 oz swing top Grolsch bottles for about 27, plus they come filled with a serviceable premium lager. Plus, the silicone gaskets on the Grolsch bottles last WAY longer than rubber gaskets if cleaned and maintained.
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Yeah the price on beer bottles is ridiculous. I've been going this route as well lately.
 
I have plenty of empty green bottles, mostly regular capped ones. Just wondering if anyone has had any issues with using green glass?
 
i have never had a homebrew get skunked and i love the grolsch swingtops. they're pretty much always in rotation, hence, in a cool dark place. keep em out of the sun and i highly doubt that you'll have a problem using green glass.
 
I think the brown bottles are a little more worry free and a bit better, all because of the UV thing, but I don't have anything against the greens. Just personal taste and minimizing risks.
 
I think the only real 'pro' you're going to find for green bottles is the fact that you have them. However, if you don't store your beer in a room with windows that let in sunlight or under constant UV light, there's no real 'con' either. I would guess that the main reason most people don't use green bottles is because they have enough brown bottles that they don't have to. I personally only have two green bottles and only use them if I don't have anything else left, but when I have to use them I don't hesitate to do so.
 
Con: dark beer in green bottles looks (IMO) ridiculous.

I have a large number of Grolsch bottles in rotation, but endeavour to only keep light coloured beer in them.
 
As far as I know it's just the UV issue. But stay away from twist off bottles.
 
osagedr said:
Con: dark beer in green bottles looks (IMO) ridiculous.

I have a large number of Grolsch bottles in rotation, but endeavour to only keep light coloured beer in them.
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I completely agree. I wouldn't do that. I'll use them mostly for lighter ales and Lagers.
 
I've found one con for the Grolsch bottles: They are 16oz. So are my pub glasses. Sounds great, right? Well, if you're pouring a frothy beer, you can't fit the whole 16oz into the glass without downing the head while pouring (can't stop pouring and set the bottle down, because you'll resuspend the trub into that last 4oz)! You look like a fool... :D

Otherwise, I love using them. Beer stays in my basement where the temps don't fluctuate, which is best for storing beer (50F would be nice, too, but I don't have a cellar), no sunlight. When green bottles get skunky in the store, they've been exposed to light for a week or more, so don't worry that the bottle you just set on the kitchen counter near a window is going to skunk up in a couple of hours...
 
torque2k said:
Otherwise, I love using them. Beer stays in my basement where the temps don't fluctuate, which is best for storing beer (50F would be nice, too, but I don't have a cellar), no sunlight. When green bottles get skunky in the store, they've been exposed to light for a week or more, so don't worry that the bottle you just set on the kitchen counter near a window is going to skunk up in a couple of hours...
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Actually, you might want to be careful if there's direct sunlight coming through the window onto that bottle. One of those homebrew legends (I believe it's Papazian) says that beer can become lightstruck in under a minute in direct sunlight. Granted, this assumes clear bottles and I think green ones give a little extra protection, but not much. The store is a different issue, because IIRC, fluorescent lights take eight hours to produce as much UV as one minute of sunlight.

That being said, I have seen long forum discussions on this and some people left their beer in a clear glass in direct sunlight and noticed no skunkiness, while others had experience with skunked beer after mere minutes in the sun, however, for my beer I'd rather err on the side of caution.
 
slowbie said:
One of those homebrew legends (I believe it's Papazian) says that beer can become lightstruck in under a minute in direct sunlight. Granted, this assumes clear bottles and I think green ones give a little extra protection, but not much.
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It is not a legend. It is science. Clear and green glass can both allow a beer to be light struck in a minute. Green provides almost no protection from light.
 
carnevoodoo said:
It is not a legend. It is science. Clear and green glass can both allow a beer to be light struck in a minute. Green provides almost no protection from light.
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My bad, I said that in an easy to misunderstand way. I meant that Papazian is a legend and that what he said is fact.
 
Damn, better start using opaque glasses...

You will be fine using the green glass. Unless you drinking a bomb shelter, the sun is going to hit your beer and have minimal effect.

Light skunking is real, with our packaging and care, it will never affect my homebrew.
 
torque2k said:
I've found one con for the Grolsch bottles: They are 16oz. So are my pub glasses. Sounds great, right? Well, if you're pouring a frothy beer, you can't fit the whole 16oz into the glass without downing the head while pouring (can't stop pouring and set the bottle down, because you'll resuspend the trub into that last 4oz)! You look like a fool... :D

i have the opposite problem. My beer mug (a substantial 24 oz glass beast):rockin: from the dollar store looks a little ridiculous with just 12 oz of beer.
Click to expand...
 
I've had bad beers in green bottles because the store/shipper exposed them to too much UV light. I keep green and clear bottles as backup bottles, or for ciders or storing things like home-made extracts. If I do use clear or green glasses, I store them in boxes covered with towels same as my amber bottles. They come out tasting fine because they're not exposed to UV.
 
What the hell does it matter what a beer looks like in a bottle? I bottle in half brown cappers and half in a flip top case. That way I can give the brown cappers away and resupply easily. The grolsch bottles aren't as cheap and while it's good beer for $40 a case I'd rather buy something else. Though I essentially get the bottles for $8 considering the difference between the non fliptop bottles and buying a case of empties at the LHBS. I lucked upon three cases worth of brown grolsch bottles with ceramic tops from a fellow nearby brewer.
 
Daparish said:
I use Grolsch bottles for all my session beers. A case (12) of 16 oz. swing tops at the LBHS or online costs about 30 bucks. I can get 12 15.2 oz swing top Grolsch bottles for about 27, plus they come filled with a serviceable premium lager. Plus, the silicone gaskets on the Grolsch bottles last WAY longer than rubber gaskets if cleaned and maintained.
Click to expand...

I am glad to see this thread because I have wondered the same thing. I have four Grolsch bottles but the place I go had a four pack for ten bucks and that was a bit high. I buy them for the bottles (as well as the beer). The same store where I bought the four pack also sells single bottles, which adds up when I stop in for a bottle or two after work. There is also a beer from Alsace that has a Grolsch-style bottle but it is brown. It is called "Fischers". The beer is nothing special but it is better than a lot of other stuff I have had, like Bud Light. :p
 
Fuzzywumpers said:
Just wondering why it doesn't seem like anybody uses green bottles. A lot of my favorite imports come in green bottles and I have tons of them. I know the UV thing, but if I'm going from storage cabinet->fridge->belly, this shouldn't be a problem right?
Click to expand...

Grolsch are fantastic HB bottles. If anyone has any they don't want in Victoria, Australia... I'd love to buy them.
 
It's all personal perception as to what is right and what looks "good". While I agree on the UV issue, how many of us store our beer out in the open and direct sunlight? Put the bottles in the case box.
I bottle a lot of porters and stouts and have no problem putting a darker beer in them. It all taste the same in the end.
While I wanted to enter a local competition awhile back, I had green bottles and was turned away. I was told it would be a negative for judging. So it is perception.
Do I really care? Not really.
 

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