Canning the Homebrew (Experiment)

My brew partner (the other half of deadyeti) was working late the other day and stopped by walgreen's to get something to drink. He picked up a Jolt Energy Drink. We got to talking about brewing and he mentioned the can and how neat it would be to be able to use them. The can itself is fairly tall, around 20-22oz, aluminum, but the neatest part about the can is the cap. On the cap are 4 'tabs' the fit in line with the can, then you twist and tighten it down, then with one last twist it 'snaps' into place and forms a fairly good seal.

After thinking it over we decided "what the hell, let's experiment". We did a baking soda and vinegar test on it and it held pressure (no evident hissing while the cap was on), and decided we'd use it. Well it's been 7 days Wednesday, the can is obviously pressurized. I personally think it would be neat to be able to use these cans/ aluminum bottles to bottle in. Unfortunately the drink is about 2 dollars.

here's a link
http://www.joltenergy.com/Fridge/tabid/80/Default.aspx

When we test it i'll update.

Hmmm...I wonder if StarSan will take the paint off those?

Bike N Brew said:

Hmmm...I wonder if StarSan will take the paint off those?

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Not sure, but after a while i'm sure the paint will fall off.... if not i can scrape it off... but the can's are really neat, the opening even seems ideal for pouring.

At $2 a pop you are better off getting the 16oz aluminium Bud bottles.. But then again these would hold 24oz compared to the Buds 16oz. But the Bud bottles can be recapped.

Hmmm

HarvInSTL said:

At $2 a pop you are better off getting the 16oz aluminium Bud bottles.. But then again these would hold 24oz compared to the Buds 16oz. But the Bud bottles can be recapped.

Hmmm

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Unfortunately you have to drink the bud, from what he said the Jolt is actually really good.

DeadYetiBrew said:

Unfortunately you have to drink the bud, from what he said the Jolt is actually really good.

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True, but there would be so many ways around that. Most of my friends still drink BMC, so all I would have to do is tell them that for every 15 aluminium bottles they give me I give them $5.

15packs of Bud/Bud Light/Bud Select in aluminium bottles are on sale at quite a few places here for $15-16 a 15pack. I know any of my BMC drinking friends would be happy paying $10 for a 15 16oz bottles of beer.

I'm going to head to walgreens after work today and see if I can pick a few up and see what they are like.

Also I have heard that a few people have been able to go to recycling center and get glass bottles on the cheap. No reason why you couldn't do the same for aluminum bottles, whether they be Jolt or BMC.

HarvInSTL said:

At $2 a pop you are better off getting the 16oz aluminium Bud bottles..

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That's not true. He could dump it. Or cook with it. Or wash his hair in it. Or throw a party for BMC people.

kornkob said:

That's not true. He could dump it. Or cook with it. Or wash his hair in it. Or throw a party for BMC people.

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Only reasons i wouldn't use the Bud bottles:
1. It's Bud, they don't need more money
2. The purpose of these cans is that the caps are reusable, bud would have to be capped
3. The cans are neater, how many homebrewers can say they can their own beer.


I could swim in it too, it's cheap, and it's damn close to water...

Like having sex in a canoe.....

DeadYetiBrew said:

Only reasons i wouldn't use the Bud bottles:
1. It's Bud, they don't need more money
2. The purpose of these cans is that the caps are reusable, bud would have to be capped
3. The cans are neater, how many homebrewers can say they can their own beer.


I could swim in it too, it's cheap, and it's damn close to water...

Like having sex in a canoe.....

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I went and bought one at Walgreens and here are my opinons of them.

1.) They are flimsy, as flimsy as a regular soda/beer can. While I agree it would be cool to use these, having to deal with them all dented up I think after a few brews in them they would look ugly.

2.) The cost, my walgreens close to me had them as a new item and they were $2.99 plus tax. It would be cheaper to order them direct from Jolt and pay the $17 shipping they wanted then it would be to buy 12 of them from Walgreens. Even if they were $2.50 it would cheaper to buy 30 aluminum Bud bottles with beer than it would be to buy 12 of these.

3.) While they may be reusable, the plastic liner in the top of the lid doesn't seem like it would last multiple uses. I wouldn't be concerned if it can hold pressure for a few months, I'd be concerned that it couldn't pressure after a couple uses and cleaning in PBW, Star San etc. I'd be one made mofo to find out that after a few uses all my beer lost a seal, went flat and became oxidised. (Yes I konw I can't speel!)

4.) While I agree that it would be cool to say you can your own beer, I can't think of many "cans" that have lids. The cost of caps IMHO is a moot point. $4 for 144 caps works out to less than 3 cents a cap.

I'm going to soak mine in some PBW or Star San and see if I can remove some of the label.

And now for some pictures:

And one more