Battle of the Bottles

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hd5man

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Being new, I'm probably asking a question that gets asked on a regular basis, but didn't see it anywhere, so here goes...

What bottles do you all use? My wife got me a Coopers kit for Christmas a couple years ago and I like it fine, except I've had a couple of bottles fail to pressurize/carbonate/whatever because they failed to seal. I'm trying to migrate to glass bottles and was wondering if anyone had any advice to give. Thanks!
 
Sam Adams bottles, lots of people drink them, so they are easy to find. Also Bud Ale is a good beer to drink and also good bottles for home brew. I was very suprised about the quality of Bud Ale.
 
Any thicker bottle, preferably a brown or green one. You are also better off with bottles that were not twist off although I think some of the cappers will work on twist off bottles now.
Probably some of the best bottles are the ones from returnable beer. They make those a little thicker usually as they are designed for multiple uses.
 
I'm lazy and have a keg system for my home. But I still keep a collection of the brown EZ cap bottles I collected when I did just bottle: I keep quite a bit around for being able to bottle a portion of my beer for traveling. I have yet to run into a problem with the gaskets, and I went one further by collecting 1L bottles. If you want regular 12oz bottles....then yes, if there's a particular commercial beer you like to drink....have at it!
 
I use two types of bottles.

The flip tops are very good for short term storage I usually bottle up a gallon in these (4 - 1 liters, or 8 pints).

I also use the returnable glass bottles. Some Sam Adam, some New Belgium, not too many Sierra Nevada (thay is offly lils), also the bells bottles are great.

I try to by a pint or bomber of something fancy from time to time to keep my pallet active so I also have a collection of those.
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I stick with American micro-brew bottles (which are all brown, in my experience). They have a standard size bottle mouth that is compatible with most cappers and caps. Bottles made to European standards have a slightly different mouth, so rather than worry about whether I will get a good seal, I don't use them.
 
Pretty much any type of brown pop top beer bottle is fine. I have used Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, Shock Top, and others. Dos Equis bottles work too, but the labels are a ***** to get off, so I'd stick with the others.
 
If you find someone who drinks Grolsch in 16 oz flip tops, make friends immediately. :)

Most any pop top brown bottles work great, though you can use other colors if you make sure to keep the light out. Can obtain yourself by drinking the contents. Also can salvage them from bars or restaurants. A friend of mine hits up a place that recycles glass and in a short time will have more bottles than he can cart home. A good bottle brush and soaking is needed on those, if you drink your own try to rinse them out before they dry out.
 
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