Twist top bottles

I have a question about the useage of used twist-top bottles from commercial beer to use for home brewing. I read that it is not recommended to use these, that it is preferable to use the old returnable type bottles that require a bottle opener.

The reason I'm asking this is I have a bunch of old Leinie's bottles and the caps that I have been saving up for putting my beer in. I stopped by some liquor stores to buy off some returnable bottles, which I thought would be cheaper than getting new ones. They all told me that most brewers converted to the twist on variety and nobody bothers to bring back the returnables that still do exist.

My question is why they recommend against using the twist tops. Maybe it is a seal integrity issue. Wondering if any of you have any insight on this.

Thanks in advance.

It's hard to get a good seal on twist-off bottles.

I wish Goose Island didn't use twist-offs. I always seem to have a bunch of those empties around.

Yup , it's the seal. I know some people around here use them with no problems but I have never used them. Any bottles from Sam Adams, New Belgium, Pete's Wicked, Bridgeport, Deschutes, Redhook, Stone, Mendocino, Flying Dog and most other micros work fine.

Just buy some beer and consider that you have free bottles for homebrew.

Some on this board use the twist offs. They will work but you might get a few flat beers in a 5 gal batch from what I have gathered.

On a lot of twist off bottles the neck is weaker. This means that you may break some bottles during bottling and have to throw out the beer since you don't know if broken glass got in the beer.

I thought I could make it work by twisting the original caps back on the bottles, but that doesn't get a good seal.

I'm sorry, but you'll probably find that you just need to pitch those bottles and get some regular bottles.

i had to use 2 or 3 on my last batch and they carbed fine but they were harder to cap
my 2 cents

Are the pet bottles from coopers good to use? I have the originals that came with my kit but I also have lots of Sam Adams and Corona to use. Which is best?

I have used the regular "canadian" bottles which I understand to be a little heavier than the American bottles. I have no issue with them losing carbonation using the right caps. I no longer use very many as I keg and also have a large selection of corona bottles, but I'm drinking a stout ATM that just came out of one of my twist top bottles and it is perfect.
Like was mentioned though, you need to be careful bottling as they are prone to breakage around the neck when bottling. I have had 3 break when bottling in the 20 years I have been brewing and I have only used corona bottles and kegs for the past 2 years. All the previous brews were done using the twist-off type bottles.

In this month's BYO, Mr. Wizard addresses that and basically says it can be done but the key is to use a bench capper and not the common hand held kind that crimps around the neck. Also, he says carbonation level is a factor and not to use twist offs on high carbonation brews. This was the first time I had heard anyone say it was OK and I'm still not convinced I'm going to try it ....

i agree with boo boo
i think our canadian beer bottles are heavier
the only time i had a twist-off bottle break on capping it was a miller lite i weighed some bottles on my digital scale and found canadian, sleeman, blue bottles all weighed 9.2 ounces empty but miller lite bottles weighed 6.8 ounces which is 1/3 lighter - no wonder they break.
i have bottled probably 300 twist-offs in the last year(not a drunk??) with a wing type capper with no problems.

I have used them quite a bit with some success, but I am phasing them out. You'll get some that won't seal well and will be flat, and others will carb to a point but then they must leak off excess pressure. Overall they will work in a pinch, but try to replace them as you can.

I used twist-offs in the past before I got a large supply of guienuss (spelling) built up and then kegs.

Anyway, I brews either two or three batch with twist offs and a bench capper and usually had one or two from each batch that wouldn't seal....Majority were OK!!

So IMO ....Twist offs are ok.....Oh....and the bottles were Alexander Kieths, Moosehead and Alpine bottles.

IGOR

Anyone have a good plan for removing painted labels from Corona bottles?

dcarter said:

Anyone have a good plan for removing painted labels from Corona bottles?

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Bleach water soak for 12 hours. Scrub. Another soak/scrub session if needed. They are pretty difficult to get off and clear bottles are not optimal for beer, but more power to you.

chillHayze, not to call BS, but have you actually taken the labels off of a corona bottle? Around here, any bottle with a painted label (Corona and Red Stripe) is actually ground glass that's had pigment added, then fired onto the bottle, turning the label into part of the bottle.

eviltwinofjoni said:

chillHayze, not to call BS, but have you actually taken the labels off of a corona bottle? Around here, any bottle with a painted label (Corona and Red Stripe) is actually ground glass that's had pigment added, then fired onto the bottle, turning the label into part of the bottle.

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Yes, I don't think Corona is comming off. But, it is a nice bottle, and I work with a bunch of Mexican guys. I love giving them a "Corona" with a bit of color

Yeah, it seems corona is serious about claiming its bottles.

It will come off in a dust form as it is some sort of paint. I dont think there is any form of molecular bond had there. I have removed them to add to a fish tank, but never for brewing specifically. I had a bottle in the tank for about a month and the paint started to flake/dust off. I took it out and soaked it in bleach water and scrubbed the rest off. Beer bottles make cool fishtank decorations! It is much easier to just leave it on as is not the case with the other paper labels that can harbor bacteria.

chillHayze said:

It will come off in a dust form as it is some sort of paint. I dont think there is any form of molecular bond had there. I have removed them to add to a fish tank, but never for brewing specifically. I had a bottle in the tank for about a month and the paint started to flake/dust off. I took it out and soaked it in bleach water and scrubbed the rest off. Beer bottles make cool fishtank decorations! It is much easier to just leave it on as is not the case with the other paper labels that can harbor bacteria.

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Sorry for the hijack. I had a few bottles that I wanted in my aquariums but decided against it after a bit of research. What I found out is that bottles, with only one opening, cannot have the water circulate through them. Because of this the water inside the bottles will eventually become toxic. The only safe way to use bottles is to somehow remove the bottoms.

I don't know how much truth there is to that but it was enough to make me decide not to use bottles. Just givin' ya a fair warning to possibly protect the fishies.

fezzman said:

Sorry for the hijack. I had a few bottles that I wanted in my aquariums but decided against it after a bit of research. What I found out is that bottles, with only one opening, cannot have the water circulate through them. Because of this the water inside the bottles will eventually become toxic. The only safe way to use bottles is to somehow remove the bottoms.

I don't know how much truth there is to that but it was enough to make me decide not to use bottles. Just givin' ya a fair warning to possibly protect the fishies.

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still

Well all those fish died so that explains that! The bottle did look cool surrounded by those treasure chest things. Maybe it would work if you dumped out the water from the bottle once per week and replenished with new water. Or capped the full bottle.

You could just toss some full bottles of Corona in there. That's as good a use for Corona as any...

put an air stone in the bottle to circulate the water- my friend just drills a small
hole in the bottom to feed the air line in

the_bird said:

You could just toss some full bottles of Corona in there. That's as good a use for Corona as any...

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You can't do that! The aquarium light would surely skunk the beer. Oh yeah, it's likely skunked already.