Is it safe to reuse Guiness Draught bottles?

I'm just a little concerned about the "Rocket Widget" still in them.

Just take it out. I've reused them many times. May need a pair of needlenose, but they come out easy.

What a novel idea Sometimes it's the simplest solutions... Thanks!

On a somewhat related note:

I think the Guiness Draught bottles are like 11.5 oz. Well, definitely slightly less than 12oz. I was curious if the bottles were truely 12oz but the widget was taking up some space? Or are the bottles truely less than 12oz?

I know its being picky but I its something I was wondering back when I was buying Smithwicks Ale rather than Guiness when I was buying beer mostly for the bottles. I mean when you have 5+ gallons of beer to bottle you'd need an extra bottle or two if the bottle truely were ~11.5oz rather than 12oz.

Great question! I went and grabbed a draught and a Smithwicks bottle. (I work from home) I took out the widget. I filled the Smithwicks bottle to the bottom of the neck label then, using a funnel, I pored it into the Guiness bottle. It filled the Guiness bottle to the same level as the Smithwicks.
BTW the Guiness is 11.2 OZ so my guess is the same as yours - must be the widget.

I was curious about the same thing a while back and filled a Guiness bottle with water using my bottling bucket and bottle filler. I filled it until the water reached the brim then removed the cane from the bottle and poured the water from the bottle into a measuring cup. It measured 12oz on the money.

If you don't believe me, try it and see.

My suggestion as a non-kegger, get the bigger bottles. And a bigger beer glass! They take up less space and less time to fill than 53 smaller bottles. I don't even bother trying to remove the Guinness logos. I find myself purposely buying bigger bottles just so I don't have to fill so many up to enjoy some good brew. I do mix it up though so I can take some with me to bbq's and what not but usually a couple sixer's will suffice.

Kilted Brewer said:

Just take it out. I've reused them many times. May need a pair of needlenose, but they come out easy.

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They come out easy IF you wait till they are dry.

I nearly had a coronary trying to grab that dang thing with pliers while it was wet and slippery with oxyclean

Just thought it needed a little clarification to save someone the headache.

Neomich said:

My suggestion as a non-kegger, get the bigger bottles. And a bigger beer glass! They take up less space and less time to fill than 53 smaller bottles. I don't even bother trying to remove the Guinness logos. I find myself purposely buying bigger bottles just so I don't have to fill so many up to enjoy some good brew. I do mix it up though so I can take some with me to bbq's and what not but usually a couple sixer's will suffice.

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I'm with you. I use 22's, with a couple 12's for testers. Bottling sucks so I figure the less bottles I have to fill the better.

If you use 12oz bottles you have more. So if you give one or two away, or try one early, it's not as big of a loss. Although, the bottling is annoying with smaller bottles. But I saw some of those budweiser brew masters lager or whatever they're called in the store. They were on sale for 4.99$ for the 32oz swivel top bottles. How awesome would it be to have a bunch of 32oz swing tops, or swivel tops, (grolsch style) or whatever they're called?! Never tried the beer though.

Not only do the Guinness Draught bottles look+feel awesome, the shrinkwrap coating pulls off in a matter of seconds

And to think I was about to start scraping all my Sam Adams bottles..