Why so many twist offs....

So a friend of mine who is a bar tender told me she would save me an entire trash can of bottles last night. I got a very large garbage bag full of them. I was thinking "Well there has got to be at least 10 bottles that have a pry off cap on them"...Well I culled through them this morning and to my surprise I only found one!. It was a green Stella bottle. How well do these green bottles work? I think I am just gonna run down to the brew store and get some bottles and be done with it.

Stella bottles work, lever cappers sometimes have trouble with the small "gripping lip" though, same with Corona bottles. Bench cappers work just fine though. Personally I would ( and did) buy bottles with beer in them to fill the bottle collection and try new styles. Or ask around if anyone has any laying around, got quite a few that way too. St Paddys day is a good day to scrounge bottles too when everyone is drinking Guiness.

Don't use the green or clear bottles! Your beer will skunk in them. Too much light gets through and your beer will skunk. Brown bottles are the way to go.

Before you pay $1+ per bottle, look into your local bottle shop. Mine charges me $0.05 per bottle which is the deposit they get on recycling.

I've also had trouble using a lever capper on anything other than brown bottles. Anything green seems to not get a good grip, but it will eventually seal the cap if you work for it. If you are going to use clear or green ones, use your thighs or have a helping hand hold the bottle firm while you try and seat the cap. Keep them out of light like stevo says...every time I drink a Stella or Henniken from a six pack of bottles it is skunky from light spoilage!

I buy my bottles by the 12pack and they come with free beer . On sale it might even be cheaper than those empty ones some people buy... and that just doesn't make sense to me.

PistolaPete said:

<snip> If you are going to use clear or green ones, use your thighs or have a helping hand hold the bottle firm while you try and seat the cap. <snip>

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You must have never screwed up and broke a bottle while capping. I wouldn't ever suggest capping between legs.

I usually buy some Beer I like in brown bottles; drink and rinse! Free Bottles, and good beer too!

have also gone to World of Beer, told my Server what I wanted, drank some beers, and the collected bottles for me. Tipped well!

I buy bottles for $27.00 a case. They come filled with New Glarus' Spotted Cow. All the bottles are the same height and come in a nice carrying case. I'm getting tired of resetting the bench capper for all the odd bottles of different heights I had scrounged.

I can get 24 pack cases of empty brown bottles in town for 13.99 each. I was just doing some reading online about how corona would taste different if it wasn't bottled in clear glass. I think I may try to get one of those clone beer kits for corona and see what it tastes like when its not all skunky...maybe put it in Guniness bottles.

grem135 said:

I buy my bottles by the 12pack and they come with free beer . On sale it might even be cheaper than those empty ones some people buy... and that just doesn't make sense to me.

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I've never understood why people buy bottles either. We're brewers, undoubtedly we drink beer.

I tend to drink my way to my supply of bottles. Not a single twist-off, green, or clear bottle in the batch. Imagine that!

FWIW, I've heard more than once that a good bend capper will cap twist offs just fine.

Well I have been doing that slowly. I have been buying fat tire and long board and saving the bottles. I am just thinking that I won't have enough saved by the time I start. I am going to visit family in Fernandina Beach next week so it may be a good time to get a few case of fat tire for the bottles.

Just drink more.

DocScott said:

Don't use the green or clear bottles! Your beer will skunk in them. Too much light gets through and your beer will skunk. Brown bottles are the way to go.

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Brown is best.

But skunking depends upon handling. I have some blue, green, and clear bottles that I use. However, my beer goes into my cellar after its bottled and isn't exposed to any light until its moved to my fridge.

I haven't had one skunk yet.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

I've never understood why people buy bottles either. We're brewers, undoubtedly we drink beer.

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Seconded! One time I ran a few short on bottles during bottling so I drove down to the beer store, bought a 6 pack, and pounded it. Crisis averted!

I cap some screw cap bottles with two old bench cappers with no problems.

Ryan, I live out in West Ashley and can give you some extra bottles I have. I'll be back from vacation this weekend and will likely be brewing on Sunday if you want to stop by. PM me if you are interested and we can exchange contact info.

Check out craigslist for bottles....

I tell my buddies and co-workers to save their pop cap bottles and just bring them to me when they get 12-24 of them. There is an older guy that I work with that drinks a lot of good beer and he is always bringing me bottles. I probably average 6-12 a week from him.

On one of my recent brews, I attempted to cap a screw-top beer bottle. Nope, no go. At least I gave it a try. ALL...I repeat...ALL of my bottles originally came filled with beer. I have never bought an empty bottle...and I've got a supply of about fifteen 24-bottle cases of bottles. And more than half of them are filled with delicious beer!

glenn514

My brew buddies and I have used twist offs with no problems. We don't use them any more because most twist off bottles tend to be made of thinner glass, and we don't need any more bottles exploding under the bench capper.

I've tried twist offs only a few times. My capper doesn't like them so well and I have to put more pressure than I am comfortable with just to get the capper off. I think the cap lip and the bottle lip are farther apart on a screw off bottle than on a pop off.

I avoid twist-offs. Possibly ruining a batch of good beer just to save a few bucks on bottles is not worth the risk.

A couple ways to amass a nice bottle collection:
1. Ask at a bar that serves lots of micros--you'll get a higher ratio of pry-offs. Few bartenders will take the time to pre-sort for you. You just have to take the bad with the good. Toss the others in your recycling bin.
2. Craigslist.
3. Buy cases of new bottles at your LHBS for $12 or more. Advantage: they do come in nice boxes with dividers.
4. The best way, IMO: Buy bottles with beer in 'em. If they don't come in a cardboard case with dividers (few do anymore), just collect 6-pack carriers and get some case boxes from your liquor store. Just ask them, they usually just crush them anyway.

glenn514 said:

ALL...I repeat...ALL of my bottles originally came filled with beer. I have never bought an empty bottle...and I've got a supply of about fifteen 24-bottle cases of bottles. And more than half of them are filled with delicious beer!

glenn514

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NICE!

I can't claim the same although I'm damn close. My introductory brew kit I bought from Midwest Supply came with a 12 pack of emptys. Outside of that, I too have about fifteen-twenty 24-bottle cases of bottles and I have about 3/4's of them filled with really good beer!

You shouldn't have to buy bottles. I bet if you ask around to friends, family, or coworkers, you'll have more bottles than you can shake a stick at.

I started saving all my Sam Adams and New Belgium bottles, and got a 100 or so pretty fast.

I envy all you people who can get cases of beer with pry-tops. I've been buying the local craft brews here a lot lately, and while I don't plan on stopping to get them (they're generally delicious), they all use twist-tops here. I have another brand or two to try still, but from a quick look at their bottles they appeared to be twist-tops as well.

The only pry-tops from local breweries that I've found are 500ml bottles (which is fine), but at $4+ per beer, it's gonna take me awhile before I have a good supply of them.

I'd love to get my hands on a couple cases of Belgian stubbies. Those things are built like tanks and are compact. I have a few laying around, will have a few more as I just picked up a 4-pack of Piraat. At $4 to $5 a bottle, I won't be accumulating crates of those anytime soon, but I'll sure have fun working on it.

I'm currently working on a collection of Sam Smith bottles, the ones that are a heavy pint. I also collect 22oz'ers and have enough saved up that I don't ask for them back. I keg all my beer and just fill bottles for my buds.

pb --- I don't brew enough to just give out kegs! And I'd have to have those back!

Sam Adams are my favorite bottles. Luckily it is my favorite beer too! It does take a while for me at least to get enough bottles but they have been slowly adding up. Have a few cases worth now.

BonzoAPD said:

Sam Adams are my favorite bottles. Luckily it is my favorite beer too! It does take a while for me at least to get enough bottles but they have been slowly adding up. Have a few cases worth now.

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I'm about to get the first case completed.

It does take time!

pb

NordeastBrewer77 said:

I've never understood why people buy bottles either. We're brewers, undoubtedly we drink beer.

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I understand it perfectly. I hate cleaning bottles. The time I'd spend cleaning them is worth more to me than the price of buying clean bottles.

biestie said:

I understand it perfectly. I hate cleaning bottles. The time I'd spend cleaning them is worth more to me than the price of buying clean bottles.

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Rinsing them out after drinking them is that hard?

If I trusted that just rinsing them got them clean it'd be a different story.

I have friends who drink microbrews the more exp brews. They generously give mee all of them . In return I give them some finished product. Collected 18 six packs and 9 four packs.

biestie said:

If I trusted that just rinsing them got them clean it'd be a different story.

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Just run warm water in them a couple times after you pour to rinse out the bottle then put it in your case box. When ready to bottle a quick rinse with yourhandy dandy faucet mounted bottle washer (i hope you rinse those new bottles) set them back in case, give each a squirt of starsan and drain just before inserting the bottling wand. Easy! I would not be brewing beer if i had to buy new bottles for each batch.

grem135 said:

Just run warm water in them a couple times after you pour to rinse out the bottle then put it in your case box. When ready to bottle a quick rinse with yourhandy dandy faucet mounted bottle washer (i hope you rinse those new bottles) set them back in case, give each a squirt of starsan and drain just before inserting the bottling wand. Easy! I would not be brewing beer if i had to buy new bottles for each batch.

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This.

I get into the habit of rinsing bottles soon after I empty them, before gunk starts to dry in the bottoms. Two rinses and a shake, set them upside-down for a day and they are clean and dry. Probably cleaner than those store-bought bottles that have been sitting on a shelf for months.

On bottling day, I just give each one a couple shots of StarSan with the Vinator, set them on a bottle tree and I'm ready to fill.

For those party's or lazy days you can also have a bucket with a mild oxyclean mix to drop those bottles in. I have a bucket always ready for delabling. Just drop em in and the lanes fall off after a few hours.

biestie said:

If I trusted that just rinsing them got them clean it'd be a different story.

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So you only use bottles once? That would get very expensive!

grem135 said:

Just run warm water in them a couple times after you pour to rinse out the bottle then put it in your case box. When ready to bottle a quick rinse with yourhandy dandy faucet mounted bottle washer (i hope you rinse those new bottles) set them back in case, give each a squirt of starsan and drain just before inserting the bottling wand. Easy! I would not be brewing beer if i had to buy new bottles for each batch.

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I rinse my bottles after drinking from them and then store them in plastic milk crates which hold about 24 bottles perfectly. I also put labels on my bottles so when I'm ready to bottle I soak them in a bucket of hot water for about an hour and then peel the labels off. My dishwasher has a sanitize cycle on it so after the labels are peeled, I put the bottles in the dishwasher to sanitize. Then I just place my bottling bucket on the counter above my dishwasher and bottle straight from the dishwasher. The door for the dishwasher then catches any drippings from my bottling wand...

DocScott said:

Don't use the green or clear bottles! Your beer will skunk in them. Too much light gets through and your beer will skunk. Brown bottles are the way to go.

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Apfelwein tastes great in green bottles, just saying.