What do you guys prefer for bottles?

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Righlander

Righlander

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Ok, First off thank god for this website for all the advice i've gotten already. now, does it make a difference if i use green bottles as opposed to brown? I've heard that the green bottles skunk it out a little. is this true? also i am currently using a bottle caper and bottle caps as opposed to the swivel tops or growlers or whatever they're called. what do you guys prefer and why? and finally, what size do you prefer?
 
My beers are mostly bottled in used Deschutes brewery bottles because... Well... I like Deschutes beer so I have ALOT of empty Deschutes bottles. I have some New Belgium bottles and some Sam Adams.... And some that I don't know what the heck they are... They're just bottles.

FWIW... I never recycled anything in my life until I started brewing beer, and now I only recylce re-cappable bottles.

I look at homebrewing as my way to save the planet.
 
brown cuts out more light and reduces skunking. just store green bottles in the dark and you will have no problem.

pryoff bottles (as opposed to twist tops) are better but having said that I use both (with a bench capper) with no problems.

Size depends on the beer. strong beer = smaller bottles. bigger bottles make the jobs quicker though.
 
Yes green bottles are more likely to let your beer get skunked because they don't block as many of the harmful light waves as brown bottles do. Having a capper lets you save any bottles you want I'd just stick with that.
 
I prefer the standard brown, 12 ounce bottles. I wouldn't go for the green or clear bottles because they do not protect against UV which can skunk the beer. I believe it skunks the beer because it reacts with the hop particles/sediment and causes off flavors to occur.

I use regular bottle caps as well and I haven't had any serious issues.
 
dibby33 said:
Size depends on the beer. strong beer = smaller bottles. bigger bottles make the jobs quicker though.
Click to expand...


Why does strong beer = smaller bottles?
 
IMO the best Bottles are Sam Adams, But I have a wide arrangement of Moosehead Bells and other pop offs. Plus I have 4 cases that I bought from the LHBS when I first started.
 
bru-er said:
Why does strong beer = smaller bottles?
Click to expand...

I would imagine its because if the beer is stronger, you don't have to drink as much to get the same alcohol effect. But that's just someone's preference and my opinion on why that might be why they use them.

I use everything but twistoffs. I would use them if I had the proper capper. I just have one of the cappers that looks like it has wings. Can't remember the name now but costs about 12 dollars. I especially like grolsch style bottles. They are just easy to use and easy to clean I think. Also, I've never heard anyone using this type of bottle, but I found some kind of French carbonated fruity-beverage (non-alcoholic) in really tall grolsch style bottles. They are clear but work perfectly if you keep them out of light. I love them.
 
bru-er said:
Why does strong beer = smaller bottles?
Click to expand...

That doesn't make sense at all to me. If you beer is ? ABV it will be the same in a 12 oz bottle as it would be in a 22 oz bottle assuming, of course, that you use the same proportional amount of priming solution for each size bottle. Even if you didn't, the difference would be so slight that you wouldn't notice. ABV is exactly that: Alcohol by volume. The size container you use wouldn't matter in the least.

It could be a psychological thing, I suppose. If you have a large bottle in hand you may think that you need to drink it slower thus limiting it's effect by giving you liver a longer period to process it...

:tank:
 
bru-er said:
Why does strong beer = smaller bottles?
Click to expand...

Just a general thing. Nothing to do with scaling the size of the bottle to the amount of liquid it takes to be pished. If I want to get pished I drink cheap lager (lawnmower beer I think you refer it to) as I am not drinking it for the taste but for the buzz.

Some of my beers are 9%, 10%, 12%, not really session beers, these I drink for the taste. Also being in smaller bottles it means I can sample more over a longer period of time.

My main brews are bottled in whatever I have to hand, this ranges from 340ml to 1500ml. I give not a jot.
 
devaspawn said:
That doesn't make sense at all to me. If you beer is ? ABV it will be the same in a 12 oz bottle as it would be in a 22 oz bottle assuming, of course, that you use the same proportional amount of priming solution for each size bottle. Even if you didn't, the difference would be so slight that you wouldn't notice. ABV is exactly that: Alcohol by volume. The size container you use wouldn't matter in the least.

It could be a psychological thing, I suppose. If you have a large bottle in hand you may think that you need to drink it slower thus limiting it's effect by giving you liver a longer period to process it...

:tank:
Click to expand...

WHAT!
Of course the size of the bottle doesn't have anything to do with the contents! I bulk prime so different size bottles is not an issue.

oh and a bigger bottle makes me drink faster 'cause there is more of it. :D
 
I have about 23 cases of brown German 1/2 liter bottles (20 to a case). About 6 cases are flippies.

I sold about 100 Grolsch bottles and gave the buyer 8 cases of 12 oz bottles free.

I have a couple extra 12 oz lying around that I'll probably get rid of after they are emptied.

I also have 23 cornies...;)
 
brown double-duece 22oz bottles, for me anyway, are the way to go. i also love the sierra nevada 24oz'ers. i can't even imagine washing & bottling into 12oz bottles - too much work for me.
 
I have 20 cases of 12 oz. bottles from several sources.

I started , back in '92 with 4 cases of returnable Bud bottles.
To these I added many from Becks, St.Pauli Girl, Dos Equis, Bass, Sam Adams,
Heinekins, Grolsch, Warsteiners, Rolling Rock, and anything else I garnered from friends.
They All work. I run them through a cycle in the dishwasher to sterilize them.
I have built wooden cases from 1/2 in. plywood, that hold 4 six-packs of bottles.
I have them numbered, to facilitate determinig what's in them.
And, I tag them besides.
It works for me.
 
I use crown caps on everything.
For my Mead making....... I use 7 cases of Champagne Bottles.
They use crown caps also.
It keeps things simple. Did I mention, "I'm a lazy Brewer"?
 
the green grolsch bottles work fine for me, they are bigger and I like the swing top. I do keep them covered till they go in the fridge. I do the same when I use brown bottles. Have not had the skunky effect yet. Hope I didn't jinks myself.
As a gift for someone I bottled and capped 2 champange bottles, between those and 16oz bottles it made for a quick bottling session.
 
I have a multiple collection of flip type bottles.

All gathered used from my local brew supply house and Craig's list. My favorite are some German ones that came with a plastic case with individual slots for each bottle. That sure makes storage easy.
 
Old John said:
I use crown caps on everything.
For my Mead making....... I use 7 cases of Champagne Bottles.
They use crown caps also.
It keeps things simple. Did I mention, "I'm a lazy Brewer"?
Click to expand...

There is no such thing as lazy... It is being energy efficient! :ban:
 
Jeffro said:
My beers are mostly bottled in used Deschutes brewery bottles because... Well... I like Deschutes beer so I have ALOT of empty Deschutes bottles. I have some New Belgium bottles and some Sam Adams.... And some that I don't know what the heck they are... They're just bottles.

FWIW... I never recycled anything in my life until I started brewing beer, and now I only recylce re-cappable bottles.

I look at homebrewing as my way to save the planet.
Click to expand...


Do you live in Oregon? Those are the same bottles I use. I'm a huge fan of both Mirror pond, and Buzz saw brown. As for New belgium 2 below is pretty good and I bought a sixer of 1554 black ale the other week. Actualy as far as Deschuettes is concerned I don't there is a beer they make that I don't like.

As far as what bottles I use I'm kind ofanal and like uniformity so I only use 120z brown bottles that look close to the same. It even kinda bothers me that new belgium,s bottles have a slightly different neck than deschuetes....
 
I love 32 oz. Tecate or Carte Blanca bottles. Ya wanna talk about fast bottling. You only need 20 of these for 5 gallons.

Tecate32oz.jpg
 
I'm a big fan of New Belgium bottles. The labels come off easily, and they cap very reliably. Of course, my favorite part is emptying the bottles.

The only downside is that it says "New Belgium" around the neck, so if you're entering competitions or just don't like having another brewery's name on your beer, it's no good.
 
Gentlemen,

Bottles,
green or brown.
12 oz, or 22 oz???

My bottles are 12 oz or 22 oz.
40 milk crates full, all over my house.
The 'former pantry' brewery, the bedroom,
in the bathroom, under the tables and a big double stack of them
by the wood stove...

The 12 oz'ers are green former baviarian bottles
{which used to be $8.99 a 12 pack}
The 22 oz'ers are 'very dark' brown
22 oz bottles.

Now when these bottles have ale in them,
they are kept in the former pantry brewery
which is between two doors, in the hall,
and has a door itself,
so that it is real dark in there.
I keep the doors closed.
All the time.

So I don't have a problem
with the green glass and the sunlight.
The green glass bottles are easier to fill
because you can see through them.
The brown bottles are easier to fill
because they are bigger, and fewer of them.
The brown bottles are a little faster to work with,
but I like both.


J. Winters VonKnife
 
James at BasicBrewing.com just did a podcast a week or two ago where he interviewed a scientist who did some research on the color of glass in relation to skunking.

Interesting show.

I think the order of the colors, from worst to best were:

colorless
blue
green
brown
 
I'm fairly new to homebrewing but I like the Sierra Nevada brown bottles. I have a few assorted Sam Adams and other 12 oz. brown bottles but I prefer the shorter-fatter Sierra Nevada type. I'm getting ready to try kegging soon though, having just picked up a used CO2/regulator/faucet set-up off of Craigslist. I will still bottle a few from each batch though just for convenience.
 
I prefer brown bottles that I can empty first :rockin: Sapporo (sp?) are nice so are the Petes Wicked bottles. Actually I use anything I can find (pry off) on bottling day.


SD
 
nice! i'd love to find some of these. will have to keep my eye out


EdWort said:
I love 32 oz. Tecate or Carte Blanca bottles. Ya wanna talk about fast bottling. You only need 20 of these for 5 gallons.

Tecate32oz.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I use 22oz brown bomber bottles and 12oz brown bottles mainly Bridgeport bottles, the neck shape is perfect for a smooth pour. I have also been collecting up bottles from some German weisse beers from the deli down the street - they are .5 liter flip tops and cost about the same as just buying the bottles.
 

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