Glass Color

Does the color of glass I use matter when bottling?

I thought I noticed a slight taste difference, but then again it could just be me.

Ira..

Clear, green and blue bottles will all contribute to skunking of the beer if exposed to sunlight. The brown and amber bottles will help to prevent this, but even they will not protect for more than a couple of hours. The bottle colour does not matter if you are careful about your light control.

the blue ones taste too much like raspberry....might be okay if you're planning a wheat


seriously though, ditto on what brad said

Stick with brown bottles unless you can be certain that the beers won't be exposed to light. Unless you are bottling a Corona clone that is...

get some cardboard boxes. you can usually get them for free and the exact size to hold a case of beer bottles at the beer store.

Then it won't make any difference

I use green Grolsch bottles, and two-dozen fit PERFECTLY in those Plastic Rubbermaid containers. They seal up nicely, and prevent any light from getting in, plus they are easy to transport, stack up, etc.

As long as you store your bottles properly, the colour of the glass makes no difference. As was previously mentioned, brown bottles only give you an added level of protection -- they aren't impervious to the effects of light like some believe.

green bottles are the reason Heiniken often tastes skunky. green bottles especially don't block fluorescent lights in the liquor store where they sit for days/weeks before being purchased.

I have never had a skunked beer in my green bottles. Again, if you store your homebrew properly (and this is something you should do even with brown bottles), you will never have a problem.

Thanks for all the info. I wasn't perfectly careful with my first batch and I know some light hit the bottles on and off. That could be what I was tasting. Now I either have the bottles in a box as mentioned or I drape a towel over the bottles. Thanks again for the info.

Fly Guy, do you flyfish or do you fly?

Ira..

Irafly said:

Thanks for all the info. I wasn't perfectly careful with my first batch and I know some light hit the bottles on and off. That could be what I was tasting. Now I either have the bottles in a box as mentioned or I drape a towel over the bottles. Thanks again for the info.

Fly Guy, do you flyfish or do you fly?

Ira..

Click to expand...

Glad to hear you got the problem solved!

And yes, I fly fish.

If you ever make it to the Western Washington area in the states, send me PM I'll "Hook" you up.

Ira..