Bottling in 12oz.

I use to brew a couple years ago, and I can't wait to get back into it. The one thing that I want to do different is bottling in 12oz. bottles. Is there anything else bigger that I can bottle condition in? Just so I don't have to clean so many bottles!

Good question. Will a growler do?

You should be able to get stuff like PET bottles which can range from 700ml to 1 litre. Another nice thing about those is they have a screw on cap and are plastic so its also a good bottle to check carbonation progress

Yeah, a Keg. Bazinga!

22oz bottles?

Are plastic caps strong enough to withstand bottle conditioning?

If you are willing to spend a bit more get some EZ-Cap (swing top) bottles. They come in 12oz, 16oz and 32oz sizes. They are quite nice.

There are 22oz bottles available on Amazon and likely from your LHBS too.

I bottle almost exclusively in 22 and 24 oz bombers. Roughly half the work of 12ozers, but without the problems of trying to kill a growler all at once. I sometimes do use a growler if I plan to take the beer to a party or something; I use the plastic caps and have no problems with staying fresh and carbed.
I will also keep a couple 12oxers around to use for testers and if I have extra that isn't enough for a full bomber.

Plastic caps should be fine. A lot of kits come with the plastic PET bottles with plastic screw caps. The swing top bottles are a good idea too. No chance of losing your caps and looks cool too!

Can you condition in the 32oz growlers that have the grolsch style plug caps? I saved like 4 of those from my local brewery...

Also I'm keeping an eye out for those Tecate 32 oz bottles with the pop off standard caps - i think those would work too?

I have a bunch of glass quart pop bottles, love them. Half the capping work and we drink 2 or more beers at a time often enough that the extra volume is not a problem.

You can use 1L or 2L soda/seltzer bottles if you'd prefer. 22oz bottles too.

I hear you, and agree with the others that 22oz bombers are a great alternative. It will cut the number of bottles used almost in half.

I am building up my collection currently. The majority of the time, I consume more than 12oz in a setting, so this size is ideal.

If ya lucky you can find old 40oz pop tops. I have 6 I've gathered over the years. Wish I would known companies was gonna swap to twist to years ago.

If you use #1 PETE plastic soda bottles for beer, make certain you keep them out of the sunlight! There's a reason beer bottles are brown!

glenn514

Anything that will hold pressure and can be sanitized. Any re-capable bottle or screw on seal that allows pressure to build without escaping will do. Mason jars, soda bottles, heck even a gas can would work. Just up to you and your preferences. I personally prefer 5 gallon steel cylinders also known as kegs!!

I think champagne bottle work with regular caps too. I know the champagne-like bottles used for Martinelli's sparkling apple juice work just fine with a regular cap.

I contacted my local sushi place and arranged to collect their bottles every Friday and Saturday night. In 2 months I had over 200 20oz Sapporo bottles.

I'm not certain if you can get them anywhere Stateside, but here in China there are some folks selling DIY swingtops: they make them with steel C-rings and O-rings, with PP (polypropylene) or Ceramic caps. I've got a dozen of the O-ring variant, but need to get some new open-ended nuts (on the way) before they can be installed tightly enough to bottle-carb. At that point, the question is whether or not the necks of the bottles will hold up to the extra pressure of the O-ring pulling up on the neck. If nothing else, they'll be good for uncarbed stuff like rice wine and maybe oils and sauces in the kitchen.

I've heard that growlers are risky for bottle-carbing because the glass isn't necessarily thick enough to withstand the pressure. Use with caution. Maybe store them in a place where a bottle (growler) bomb will neither hurt anybody nor make a troublesome mess.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I appreciate it, and I'm really learning a lot on all these forums! I work for a place called Jim Beam. I never thought about using our bottles! Maybe I'll give them a try! I'll let you know if they are too thin. It's worth a try! Thanks again everyone!!

BCBrewing said:

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I appreciate it, and I'm really learning a lot on all these forums! I work for a place called Jim Beam. I never thought about using our bottles! Maybe I'll give them a try! I'll let you know if they are too thin. It's worth a try! Thanks again everyone!!

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Jim Beam bottles aren't designed for inner pressure and they are clear. I would feel much safer with dark bottles, designed to hold pressure (like Martinelli's cider). I have only had 2 bottles explode on me so far. Both were bigger bottles. It's not easy.

Your right! Most of our bottles are crap! We do have some brown bottles that I think might be thick enough! We have some bigger bottles that may work! I don't know! Your probably right! A bomb waiting to blow! Haha