Use of wine bottles for beer

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mtwalsh922

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This may be an oft asked question, but I didn't come across any posts that completely answered my question.

I'm relatively new to brewing (only a couple batches) but thus far I've had good (tasty) results. To date I've bottle everything in 12oz bottles that I've bought or recycled. No problems with this.

Lately I've held aside several non-clear wine bottles with the thought of using them with a future brew. I know that some wine bottles will actually take a standard cap, but most of mine won't due to thinkness of the glass, etc.

That leads me to corking. I know that with a Belgian style bottle you can use what is essentially a champagne cork with a wire hood.

Can basic wine bottles be corked in some fashion for use with some types of beer? These bottles don't have a lip for a wire hood, and I wouldn't think a cork alone would be adequate factoring in the carbonation. I just wondered if I was overlooking another option, or if I should just forget about the wine bottles and drop them off at the recycling center?

Cheers....

Mike
 
This may be an oft asked question, but I didn't come across any posts that completely answered my question.

I'm relatively new to brewing (only a couple batches) but thus far I've had good (tasty) results. To date I've bottle everything in 12oz bottles that I've bought or recycled. No problems with this.

Lately I've held aside several non-clear wine bottles with the thought of using them with a future brew. I know that some wine bottles will actually take a standard cap, but most of mine won't due to thinkness of the glass, etc.

That leads me to corking. I know that with a Belgian style bottle you can use what is essentially a champagne cork with a wire hood.

Can basic wine bottles be corked in some fashion for use with some types of beer? These bottles don't have a lip for a wire hood, and I wouldn't think a cork alone would be adequate factoring in the carbonation. I just wondered if I was overlooking another option, or if I should just forget about the wine bottles and drop them off at the recycling center?

Cheers....

Mike

I'd forget about using wine bottles for beer. Not only will the cork not hold up, but the glass isn't rated for pressure so even if you can find a way to afix a wire cage, the bottles may blow up.
 
Thanks....to the recycling center they go. Save a little room in the garage too.

I'll have to start drinking more cheap champagne! LOL

Mike
 
I say +1 to yooper and Chshrecat. Make wine or apfelwein or you could start making mead! There are several uses for old wine bottles, you just have to use your imagination.
 
But if you Carbonate Apfelwein, this would not work.... right?

If you carbonate, you'll want to use beer or champagne bottles. I'd stick with beer bottles since champagne bottles require a special corker unless you get ones that will take a bottle cap.

I used 22oz bombers to carb some of my apfelwein in. They're almost like a wine bottle if you kinda squint. You can at least get a few glasses out of it instead of just one.
 
Way back when I bottled, I did put some batches into champagne bottles. They took a standard crown cap. You will need a bench capper.

Don't know about the thinner wine bottles...
 
This may be an oft asked question, but I didn't come across any posts that completely answered my question.

I'm relatively new to brewing (only a couple batches) but thus far I've had good (tasty) results. To date I've bottle everything in 12oz bottles that I've bought or recycled. No problems with this.

Lately I've held aside several non-clear wine bottles with the thought of using them with a future brew. I know that some wine bottles will actually take a standard cap, but most of mine won't due to thinkness of the glass, etc.

That leads me to corking. I know that with a Belgian style bottle you can use what is essentially a champagne cork with a wire hood.

Can basic wine bottles be corked in some fashion for use with some types of beer? These bottles don't have a lip for a wire hood, and I wouldn't think a cork alone would be adequate factoring in the carbonation. I just wondered if I was overlooking another option, or if I should just forget about the wine bottles and drop them off at the recycling center?

Cheers....

Mike
I have seen several references to the danger of bottling beer in wine bottles. However, There is a clip and clamp system that allows a grolsch type plug to be fitted to a wine bottle. This solves the problem of how to plug the wine bottle after filling it with beer

Are the claims that wine bottles will explode when subjected to carbonation pressures factual or are they speculation? Has anyone had a wine bottle actually explode?

I have weighed a 750 ml wine bottle and compared it to a 640 ml beer bottle and they weigh exactly the same ( 12 oz.). Therefore, it seems they have the same amount of glass. Is there any experimental PROOF that the wine bottle will explode or is this another myth that has taken root in our system?

Propagating unsubstatiated claims does not help the credibility of this fine forum.
 
I have weighed a 750 ml wine bottle and compared it to a 640 ml beer bottle and they weigh exactly the same ( 12 oz.). Therefore, it seems they have the same amount of glass. Is there any experimental PROOF that the wine bottle will explode or is this another myth that has taken root in our system?

This actually tells me that the walls on the larger bottle (the wine bottle) are thinner than the beer bottle - larger volume and same amount of glass means less glass per unit volume (shape comes into play I realize, I'm assuming the bottle shape between the two is roughly the same). The bottom line, wine bottles are not specifically made to handle pressure (why would they be?), beer bottles are. You can probably get away with bottling in wine bottles, 1, 10, maybe even 100 times, but they aren't pressure vessels. I'd stick with something specifically made to handle pressure.
 
It sure would be nice to use those wine bottles my GF races through. If the loss rate was 1 per 100 I would risk it. Heck, I would even skimp on a little priming sugar to use them. Bottles are my biggest overhead now. Plus, not all wine bottles are created equal. I know I've pitched some that were clearly heavier than others of equal size.
I think there should be another big government law making all glass bottles state there pressure tolerances. At least it would be something useful from the intrusive Uncle. (Joking about the gov't reg)
I'm sure it would be the ACME of foolishness to assume if the volume to weight ration were that of a beer bottle then it would be OK to use? (reflecting on StoneHand's shape reference)
 
This is my question too. The bottles I've been saving do have a lip for wiring the cork down, but, I have no idea if the glass can take the pressure. My bottles are "Magnum" sized, so I thought it would be a novelty to have several types of brew and mead in Champagne-style bottles. I think I'll try it in my shed in case they BLOW!
 
I have used champagne or crown corked bottles before.
I use a regular #8 or 9 cork with a wire.

I just put a standard crown cap in between the wire loop and the cork. It' works for me.

If you have a champagne corker, all the better.
 
I use champagne bottles all the time. I would not use wine bottles, it's not worth any risk when you think of the mess ,not to mention if it blew up while moving it around.

Go to a wine bar, they typically have lots of champagne bottles, and if you promise them some homebrew, they're usually very happy to share.
 
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