Hey yall....

I've been making my own wine for a couple of years...I just got my first batch of brew started...munton continental lager...Im in northwest louisiana close to shreveport, anybody know where the closest brewshop is around here...closest I can find is DFW...

Im going to be short on bottles...has anyone ever tried fruit jars...will they hold up to the pressure?

Welcome...

I've never tried jars, but I wouldn't attempt it. You are talking about Ball canning jars, no? Yeah, just wait on the bottling until you can buy or obtain more bottles.

Welcome aboard! If you DO have to make it all the way to DFW, homebrewhq has really got their act together.

Hey there. Welcome to HBT!
I've heard that the canning jars won't hold the pressure from carbonation. They are designed to hold a vacuum not positive pressure. I wouldn't use them. You might try to find some bars around your area that serve beer in "non twist off" bottles. If they have them they will probably give you what you need.

So when my primary is done if I dont have my bottles together just rack to a secondary and fit the air lock and leave it?

nodnarb said:

So when my primary is done if I dont have my bottles together just rack to a secondary and fit the air lock and leave it?

Click to expand...

exactly. Aging in secondary for at least a few weeks is a good idea anyway.

Were do you recommend ordering homebrew supplies on the web....got my muntons through kraus...

Welcome to the forum, there seems to be 3 main sites that do a pretty good web service:
morebeer.com
Austin homebrew Supply
Northernbrewer
I have heard good and bad about all of them.

Also check out these guys:
http://www.mkob.com/
There is a homebrew club in Shreveport Called:
Shreveport Urban Diastatic Spargers (SUDS)
This site has contact info for the SUDS guys:
http://www.homestead.com/beersouth/BrewClubs.html

Again welcome, i hope this helps you out.

Cheers

Hey thanks for the links and the advice guys.....I did already send an email to S.U.D.S. they havnt returned....

Welcome to the forum.

Midwest is a good company

www.midwestsupplies.com

As far as the Ball/Mason jars are concerned I can't say I've tried it but I'd be willing to bet none of the people advising against it have either.

Pressure is pressure and I don't see where holding a vacume or positive pressure makes all that much difference. The only difference would be that you'd have to screw the lid ring on tight, vs. on a vacume the vacume itself would hold the lid in place without the lid rings in place. But it seems to me that if simply crimping a bottle cap around the lip of a bottle will hold pressure then surely a screwed on lid ring will hold it just as well if not better.

Keep you beer out of the light and you should be OK.

Some other alternative bottles you can use are any size soda pop bottles from 12 oz. to 3 liters the caps are reusable. I have a buddy that even reuses twist on beer bottles and caps he simply twists the caps back on.

Good luck

Welcome to HBT.
If you are going to try the jars (which I don't suggest) Make sure to keep them in a trash bag or bath tub, just in case they turn into "bottle bombs".

I would leave the beer in the secondary and check local bars as suggested.

Good luck

Hey thanks.....I think when its bottling time Im gonna try a few and see if they hold to the pressure....Im still going to have enough real bottles on hand to do the job, but if the fruit jars will hold up to conditioning then that would be a good thing because there isnt a brew shop for a hundred miles from me...the fruit jars are easy to get quick...Im really leaning toward kegging, a little investment but sounds alot easier......

Are the kegs that coca cola comes in very easy to convert? And how cost efficient would it be to convert them...