Choice of Bottle

In a previous post I mentioned that for my first brew I would use 2Litre pop bottles to store my beer which seemed to get negetive feedback from a lot of people.

Has anyone done this and had problems? I will be drinking this beer usually with groups of friends and using a large bottle is convenient.

What would be other cost effective ways?

Thanks.

can you find an quart size beer bottles that can be capped? I am using Carta Blanca 32 oz bottles. You can buy plastic beer bottles so I don't see why your idea wouldn't work.

You can spring for growlers and larger flip tops. Darker, more air tight, your beer is safer. It wouldn't take too many growlers to bottle your beer, and you'd have them for quite a while.

Pop bottles are fine so long as you keep the light exposure very minimal.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Pop bottles are fine so long as you keep the light exposure very minimal.

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That and I've noticed that pop bottles tend to hold onto the aroma from the pop a lot better than you would think.

I don't see a problem with using pop bottles as long as they are kept out of the light. A growler is generally not for storing beer in. Great for carrying to a party, but not for conditioning (priming) or long term storage.

PanzerBanana said:

You can spring for growlers and larger flip tops. Darker, more air tight, your beer is safer. It wouldn't take too many growlers to bottle your beer, and you'd have them for quite a while.

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Homercidal alluded to this, but it's worth being up front about it: growlers can not contain as much pressure as regular bottles and may explode if you use them for bottling. Some people use them and don't have problems, but some have had bottle bombs when using growlers.

Also, when using two liter bottles, non-clear bottles may help guard against UV light. If it were me, I'd try to use as many colored bottles as possible, but still treat them as if they were clear.

I buy my son rootbeer in the brown PET bottles and save them. I have about two cases and for summertime brews I will divert from my primary a couple of gallons into a bottling bucket (with the correct amount of priming sugar) and bottle using the rootbeer bottles. Condition them as normal and enjoy after a month or so.

Makes it worry free taking them to the lake, park etc... and they didn't cost me anything really since I was going to be buying the rootbeer anyway. Another bonus is my last beer is as fresh and carbonated as my first. Not so with a growler or filling a two liter bottle.

from personal experience, I threw a huge chunk of dry ice into a 2 liter with some water and threw it outside, it sat for weeks, so bloated that it ripped its own label. One day I took it and smashed it cap-first on the pavement, the resulting explosion was so loud my neighbors probably thought I was shooting a cannon.

Moral: functional but lacking class, if you're fine with that then go for it, maybe try a sprite or mountain dew bottle for the green plastic.