Using Grolsch/Swing-Top Bottles

I was just given some Grolsch/Swing-Top Bottles. They range in age from a few weeks old to several years old. My questions are about how to clean them and use them:

• Remove the gaskets to clean the lids and gaskets separately, or leave them together when cleaning?
• Replace the gaskets every time or "as-needed"?
• If "as-needed," how do I tell if they need it?
• Soak/warm water/boil the gaskets, then install them onto the lids when bottling, or just leave them on the lids at room temperature when bottling?

Anything else I should know about using this style of bottle?

Thanks!

I strictly use ONLY Grolsch flip top bottles. Some of the ones I use are OLD!! I love cracking open one of those old nostalgic Grolsch bottles and drinking my homebrew from it. When I am done drinking the beer I immediately rinse it out with hot water and let it drain out. Then I remove the swing top and store them seperately. I do not remove the gaskets from the swing top and on bottling day I will throw all of the swing tops and gaskets in a pot and boil them for about 10 minutes. Leave them in the water and carefully grab the metal part only and be careful not to touch the gasket area when capping the bottles. Lastlt be sure there is nothing on the bottle where the gasket will seal. I have never had any issues with these bottles. I love the POP when you open it up.

Hope this helps!!

Keep them out of direct sunlight as they are clear green.

I use those and Fischer bottles all the time. All I do is rinse them with water after I've finished pouring the beer out of them and dry them upside down. I usually store them on my bottle tree upside down. On bottling day I use my bottle rinser filled with sanitizer, give it a couple of pumps, dip the swing top in the sanitizer, and place it back on the bottle tree to let some of the sanitizer drain out.

Have done this for a couple of years and haven't had a single bottle get infected or have had to replace anything.

fxdude said:

I use those and Fischer bottles all the time. All I do is rinse them with water after I've finished pouring the beer out of them and dry them upside down. I usually store them on my bottle tree upside down. On bottling day I use my bottle rinser filled with sanitizer, give it a couple of pumps, dip the swing top in the sanitizer, and place it back on the bottle tree to let some of the sanitizer drain out.

Have done this for a couple of years and haven't had a single bottle get infected or have had to replace anything.

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Pretty much what I've been doing too... I think boiling the tops is excessive... I put the bottles together when I get a new case, sanitize them before filling (I also spray my bottle tree with StarSan before I put bottles onto it. I usually have a towel soaked in StarSan right there to dab the tops with before I fill them (just to be 100% sure they get hit with enough StarSan). Fill, close, set aside, wipe any excess brew from them before putting them back into their box for carbonating...

For when to replace the gaskets on them... I think you'll be able to tell when they need to be changed. I've not filled mine enough times to get to that point. I believe it's recommended to change them after every 5-6 batches... Considering how cheap they are (about $.08 each when you get 100 at a time) it's almost funny. Far cheaper than caps when you factor in how many uses/batches you get out of the set... You're basically ahead of the game after just two batches in the bottles.

I would be careful with what color the glass is. The ones I've been buying are the brown/amber glass (not green, that's for certain)... Still, I store them in boxes and even do what I can to block the sun from shining onto the boxes. Not too difficult in my place, where I store them.

If you have more bottles than you can use, I'd be more than happy to take some off your hands.

If the gaskets are cracked, brittle, discolored, dry then you should replace them if they look fine, leave em be.

+1 for Grolsch bottles. Very convenient.

Also, realize that most newer flip tops that hold the gasket are plastic. If they're really old they might be ceramic. The ceramic ones are indestructible. I had a bunch of newer (plastic tops)bottles get mixed in with my old ones. Needless to say sanitizing your bottles in the oven at high temps left a very bad smell for weeks. I think in the end remove the metal and tops and treat them with care.

TheDudeLebowski said:

Also, realize that most newer flip tops that hold the gasket are plastic. If they're really old they might be ceramic. The ceramic ones are indestructible. I had a bunch of newer (plastic tops)bottles get mixed in with my old ones. Needless to say sanitizing your bottles in the oven at high temps left a very bad smell for weeks. I think in the end remove the metal and tops and treat them with care.

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Great reason to NOT boil the tops... StarSan will do a great job on sanitizing them... I make sure that the tops are in StarSan just as the bottles are (I use enough sanitizer in the bucket to cover the bottles as they rest for a moment in it)... Even a quick spray of sanitizer before you fill the bottle would work (after they had a dunk in the sanitizer pool)...

and its very difficult to tell which ones are ceramic and which ones aren't. So everyone in the pool!!! I'm a freak when I sanitize stuff which would make you laugh if you ever saw the inside of my car. I don't even think Starsan would put a dent in cleaning some of my older cars. Nothing like the pop of opening a flip top bottle.

Only trouble is having to drink the Grolsch

Fischer bottles are fun to take to parties if you just want to pour tasters for people. Might pick up a growler for the same purpose.

fxdude said:

Only trouble is having to drink the Grolsch

Fischer bottles are fun to take to parties if you just want to pour tasters for people. Might pick up a growler for the same purpose.

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Dude... http://www.midwestsupplies.com/case-of-12-16-oz-ez-cap-bottles-amber.html

No need to suffer through drinking brews you don't want to...

yeah, thought about just buying them especially since they wouldn't have Grolsch written on them but I figured there could be worse things than suffering through beer

plus it's usually easy for me to find a few friends to "help" me through my suffering

fxdude said:

Only trouble is having to drink the Grolsch

Fischer bottles are fun to take to parties if you just want to pour tasters for people. Might pick up a growler for the same purpose.

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I've never even tried Grolsch beer... I just like the style of bottles... I do like the other style of Grolsch bottles, with the more curvy neck... :rockin: Picked up a case from the LHBS to use for my hard lemonade... I'll probably be getting another couple of cases soon, so that I can bottle up some other batches... Or, I'll need to drink more of what's ready to free up bottles...

I have 40 litres worth of 1 litre swing top bottles from Howe Sound Brewing (a great little brewery in British Columbia - the beer is good and bottles are perfect). I'm pretty lazy with them: I have never removed the gasket or tops. I just soak them in bleach, rinse, then a quick dip in starsan at bottling and have never had a problem (and some of mine are at least 6 years old). I religiously store them upright so the beer never hits the lid so that might be a part of it.

I was given a few bottles that were a bit grungy so I soaked in PBW and then an extended soak in starsan. Now some of the seals are failing on the last batch (including an old reliable bottle that I also gave the same treatment). Has anyone else seen this? I have seen starsan destroy teflon tape and polish brass, will it eat swing top seals? PBW?

I just found Monchsof Schwarzbier at Total Wine in VA. It comes in brow flip-top bottles that appear to be .5L.

The beer is really good! A+ on BeerAdvocate, and then you get to keep the bottle.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/412/2409

They're about $4.50 each, meaning $54 for 12 of them. So they're more expensive than the homebrew supply stores by about $24 before shipping. Probably more like $14 after shipping. But you do get some good beer with them.

The nice part is that you can collect them over time so that SWMBO doesn't get suspicious of you spending money on brewing gadgets.

smyrnaquince said:

I was just given some Grolsch/Swing-Top Bottles. They range in age from a few weeks old to several years old. My questions are about how to clean them and use them:

• Remove the gaskets to clean the lids and gaskets separately, or leave them together when cleaning?
• Replace the gaskets every time or "as-needed"?
• If "as-needed," how do I tell if they need it?
• Soak/warm water/boil the gaskets, then install them onto the lids when bottling, or just leave them on the lids at room temperature when bottling?

Anything else I should know about using this style of bottle?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I tried brewing 20 years ago with these bottles. Didn't have much luck. The bottles kicked around between basements and finally came to rest in a box in an outdoor locker. They sat there for years. I decided to give brewing another shot. Pulled them out. Replaced the gaskets and washed them as usual. They worked just fine.

Do you guys reverse the gaskets from time to time?

beauvafr said:

Do you guys reverse the gaskets from time to time?

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Yup. I check the gasket before filling the bottle. If it looks like it's retaining the shape from the previous use, I flip it over. I like filling the swing-top bottles more from keg, rather than the regular long necks. These seem to seal better, at least for me.