f-ing twist offs!

bought a Winter Sampler from Pyramid because I generally like Pyramid's brews and I needed a few extra bottles for my homebrew batch... TWIST-OFFS! I heard the Sierra Nevade are now twistys as well!

I like Sam Adams bottles the best- nice and heavy- the Mexican ones are the worst- thin and wimpy- I don't do the bomber/22 oz. bottles- I like to know how may beers I actually have and drink rather than doing the math- besides- sharing a six pack of 12 oz. homebrew is nice- Decshutes makes nice bottles- Redhook does not! Since they went to the short bottles it is a pain to have to adjust your capper when a Redhook bottle comes up- I like their beer but have stopped buying it because of the their stupid little bottles... any bottle thoughts?

Years ago Sierra Nevada was twist. They are no longer. I use those for bottling and they work great.

My red baron capper doesn't care how tall the bottle is.

I don't bottle too much anymore, so I am not ever actively seeking out bottles that are good for homebrew anymore. However, almost all the smaller craft beers that I buy that aren't in cans are in good bottles that will take a regular ol' crown cap. When I'm actually collecting bottles, the thing I care about more is that the bottle in question doesn't have any raised lettering or designs on it, so it's OK to use for entering competitions. For that purpose, I like the generic bottles you get from Costco brand craft beers.

You"heard" Sierra Nevada are twist off as well? I think you heard wrong.

Sierra Nevada is my "house" beer (when I don't have home brew). They are definitely not twist off.

I cleaned 24 of them in the last few days...I would have noticed.

That happened to me with Peak Organic's Winter Session. I was so upset I complained on their Facebook page. I also got annoyed this week because I knew Angry Orchard cider was Sam Adams so I bought a 6 pack to get more bottles and I got those home and they were twist.

damn... gotta go check out my Sierra Nevadas in the garage... my bad- now I have an excuse to buy some more Torpedo!

SN switched away from twist offs in 2007 for QC reasons. I seriously doubt they would ever switch back.

roymullins said:

damn... gotta go check out my Sierra Nevadas in the garage... my bad- now I have an excuse to buy some more Torpedo!

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And the results are.....

(I love Torpedo...that and Lagunitas IPA)

wwf4jericho said:

That happened to me with Peak Organic's Winter Session. I was so upset I complained on their Facebook page. I also got annoyed this week because I knew Angry Orchard cider was Sam Adams so I bought a 6 pack to get more bottles and I got those home and they were twist.

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That is why I drink Woodchuck cider. No twist offs and their bottles are exactly like SN bottles.

aubiecat said:

That is why I drink Woodchuck cider. No twist offs and their bottles are exactly like SN bottles.

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May have to check these guys out.

Moose Drool, Lagunitas, Widmer, Alaskan, Woodchuck Cider, Costco Kirkland, Gordon Biersch, Bass, Deschutes and yes... Sierra Nevada- bottles currently holding my homebrew/cider in the fridge...

roymullins said:

Moose Drool, Lagunitas, Widmer, Alaskan, Woodchuck Cider, Costco Kirkland, Gordon Biersch, Bass, Deschutes and yes... Sierra Nevada- bottles currently holding my homebrew/cider in the fridge...

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I believe that Costco is Gordon Biersch...at least I know that it is in California.

The bench capper should work to cap the twisties. I've been doing it for quite a while. They just go on a bit tougher. It's a heck of a lot easier collecting bottles when you don't have to watch for the twist vs crown.

damn... I wouldn't take the a chance with trying to jam on a cap to a twisty... does it really work? I'll try it on an empty bottle but I am not sure I'd take that chance on some hndcrafted, lovely homebrew... maybe it is an Canadian thing eh?

Haha yeah could be! With the bench capper and twistie bottle, give her a good firm effort. Tip a bottle every once in a while to spot check.

The upside is most of them twist off when you are ready to serve (though some are on too tight to twist off)

This does not work with a wing capper - I've broken a few bottles trying.

It's nice to be able to just throw bottles away sometimes!

If you want the best high quality bottle with easy to remove labels...my vote goes to Founders. Soak in hot water for 15 min and they come right off. They are also very durable.

Haven't tried any Founders bottles but I came across some Duvel bottles. They seem to be built like the proverbial brick $hithouse and the labels come off with practically zero time and effort. It's like get the label wet and about 30 seconds later it just slides right off.

whoaru99 said:

Haven't tried any Founders bottles but I came across some Duvel bottles. They seem to be built like the proverbial brick $hithouse and the labels come off with practically zero time and effort. It's like get the label wet and about 30 seconds later it just slides right off.

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I was eyeing some of the Belgian bottles, but the crowns appeared to be a different size. Have you noticed any problems capping them?

twalte said:

I was eyeing some of the Belgian bottles, but the crowns appeared to be a different size. Have you noticed any problems capping them?

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Alot of or most of the belgian bottles (ones with the different lip)you cant cap. In my experience,dont use any twist offs,Ive used them before (unknowingly at first) and have worked but I came across bottleing them later on and endup up breaking a few of the bottle necks. Since I stopped using twistys when I started out I havent had a single issue botteling short or tall bottles.

I've been reusing yuengling bottles for years and they're all twist. Haven't had a problem yet. And i've had some overcarbed beers in them too and no explosions or leaking.

I've bottled thousands of bottles with twist-offs...never had a problem using my bench capper. Up here our bottles are pretty heavy though and are re-used numerous times by commercial breweries.

The majority of my 12oz bottles that I didn't buy empty came from Sam Adams, Costco (the variety case pack is cheap and makes for a great selection at a party) and Sierra Nevada. Most of my bombers used to be Stone bottles (a soak in Star San and a quick scrub with a dish sponge takes the silk screen right off).

twalte said:

I was eyeing some of the Belgian bottles, but the crowns appeared to be a different size. Have you noticed any problems capping them?

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Haven't put any beer in them yet, but the crowns look the same/similar to me. I capped one with a wing capper and it seemed no different than capping any other. Put the capped, empty bottle in the sink full of hot water for several minutes and no bubbles came out of the cap area. The crowns on Duvel bottles seem OK to me.

wwf4jericho said:

That happened to me with Peak Organic's Winter Session. I was so upset I complained on their Facebook page. I also got annoyed this week because I knew Angry Orchard cider was Sam Adams so I bought a 6 pack to get more bottles and I got those home and they were twist.

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You complained on their Facebook page because they're not making business decisions based solely on enabling your homebrewing?

Founders and SNPA bottles are the same... Just in case anybody was wondering or had not figured that out yet... On the flip side of that Founders case cardboard is sized for the smaller bottles so I always try to grab some when I go to the beer store

Then I have tried Founders bottles if they're same as SN bottles.

Gixxer said:

Founders and SNPA bottles are the same... Just in case anybody was wondering or had not figured that out yet... On the flip side of that Founders case cardboard is sized for the smaller bottles so I always try to grab some when I go to the beer store

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I toss my Founders bottles. They have an extra lip on them that SN doesn't have. They aren't the same bottles, atleast the ones I've gotten aren't.

I can cap the SN bottles, and the Founders won't work with my Red Wing Capper. Might work for a bench or something, but..

I never worried. I drink enough commercial craft beer I had plenty of bottles back when I bottled.

I'd personally move to bombers if I had to bottle myself.

As long as they are not twist offs, I don't care if the bottles are short or tall. The only gripe is the labels. Some are easier to take off than others. Yazoo and Red Brick are the worst for de-labeling, so I don't use them anymore (I'll still drink them though).

I like the bombers, but the bottle rack I made, the holes are too small for them. I made it thinking I would never use the bigger bottles. I may just make another one specifically for them as the 22 ouncers are just too good to pass up. I don't use as many caps and most of the time, I'm drinking two beers minimum anyway.

ktblunden said:

The majority of my 12oz bottles that I didn't buy empty came from Sam Adams, Costco (the variety case pack is cheap and makes for a great selection at a party) and Sierra Nevada. Most of my bombers used to be Stone bottles (a soak in Star San and a quick scrub with a dish sponge takes the silk screen right off).

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Can you do that with the rogue bottles?

Sam Adams and New Belgium are the bulk of my bottle collection, but Westmalle 12 oz bottles are weaponized thickness, can definitely tell when you pick one up. Never used twisty bottles, thought the necks were too thin.

Capped 325 bottles today. Nice workout for the capper!

osagedr said:

Capped 325 bottles today. Nice workout for the capper!

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Whoa - that's a workout for you too!

325? Isn't that 30+ gal?

i use summit and sierra bottles. I like the sierra ones better. they are easier to delable. The summit ones you need some really hot water. There glue they use gets harder with the lower the temp. The best bottle i have run across are the one that New Glarus use. Those are supper easy to delable and a nice bottle too.

I used to remove the labels... soak a sh- load of bottle in the tub and scrape and peel... F- that! I just leave 'em on now... I rinse and sanitize and run 'em through the dishwasher while I am getting everything ready to bottle- eventually the labels come off on their own- I kind of like refilling a bottle of Sam Adams with a half-peeling-off label with some great homebrew... bottling is a pain in the ass as it is- it became much easier when I decided to not bother to remove labels anymore

stevo4361 said:

325? Isn't that 30+ gal?

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8 kegs; some were full and some were partly full. I usually have a buddy help me by running the capper while I run the beer gun but had to do both this time. Took quite awhile!

roymullins said:

I used to remove the labels... soak a sh- load of bottle in the tub and scrape and peel...

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Bought 62 dozen bottles last night; will clean and delabel in the coming days...freshly used so at least I won't be dealing with mould, etc.

I use Yuengling bottles from the old school style cardboard cases, and recently been getting Straub beer in 16 oz cases with the old school brown heavy duty cases. I like to age stouts and Belgians, for year, but other then that I keg for my bar.