Max pressure for bottles

I was listening to Jamil's podcast about Belgian Golden Strong Ale, and he said the style should be carbonated to 4 volumes,but then he said regular bottles cannot hold that much pressure without breaking. While I know that thickness of bottles probably varies quite a bit, does anyone have guidelines for how much pressure standard bottles (e.g., from Sam Adams) can take?

p.s., I don't keg and would rather not go the champagne bottle route due to capping issues... unless there is an easier way to do that.

Greg

Well I think anything over 3 volumes is pushing it. While there is no guarantee, there is a sort-of correlation between bottle weight and it's ability to hold pressure. So your heavier bottles are the best bet.

If you really really really want bottles capable you have to buy those styles bottled and reuse or locate a source. Most of them are the large bottles that get corked but there are some like Orval that are so heavy, it's amazing . But I don't think most people will make their bottle stock from Orval bottles as it runs close to $100 a case.

Unfortunately companies are decreasing glass weight. Franziskaner half liter bottles used to be really thick, and I have about 6 cases of those. The newer ones are much lighter though .

The Unibroue bottles are twist offs but I have heard that is really a non issue. I was stocking them up but then I got lazy. Those are a bit on the heavy side as well.