Cobalt Blue Bottles - Good Or Bad?

I've recently returned to homebrewing, after a several year absence caused by moving from the United Kingdom to the United States. My local homebrew store has some cobalt blue bottles, which I find very visually appealing and am considering using.

Stephen Snyder, in The Brewmaster's Bible, states as follows on the subject of colored glass:

Green glass does not filter out the harmful high-energy (ultraviolet) rays that exist in sunlight and flourescent light. This leads to a chemical reaction with the hops resulting in a skunky taste and aroma - sometimes after only a few minutes of exposure. If at all possible, use brown bottles...

Cobalt blue bottles are not mentioned at all, and I've never come across them in the UK so I don't know what the word is on this one. Does anybody know whether they fall into the same camp as green glass (bad), brown glass (good), or somewhere else entirely?

For ease of reference, an example of the bottles I am considering can be seen at the following link: http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=128&idproduct=1556

Thanks for your time.

They look really cool, I would use them.

As long as you keep them stored in a dark place, it doesn't matter what color the glass is. The issue with green / clear glass is that it lets more light (UV) in so if they are sitting out, the beer can get skunked.

I have some of the cobalt blue swing tops and they are very nice looking.

IIRC blue is the best but usually too exspensive

Blue is just as bad as the green, but as was mentioned you're going to keep them out of the light anyway (right?!) so it doesn't actually matter. Even the brown/amber bottles only protect for a very short time in direct sunlight.

You'd definitely have to keep the bottles in the dark. The blue bottles I've seen are approximately as transparent as the green grolsch bottles.

Light Absorption by Various Beer Bottle Glass PDF

This PDF accompanied the April 10 episode of Basic Brewing radio.

camiller said:

Light Absorption by Various Beer Bottle Glass PDF

This PDF accompanied the April 10 episode of Basic Brewing radio.

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Those graphs and tables gave me a headache.

Long and short of it, keep your beer out of the light like you should and any bottle is just fine.

Blue bottles are just as bad as clear bottles. What skunks beer is actually wavelengths right around the blue end of the spectrum and the higher end of ultraviolet. Stay far, far away from blue glass.

adx said:

Stay far, far away from blue glass.

Click to expand...

...or accept that you'll need to store them in the dark.

Yuri_Rage said:

...or accept that you'll need to store them in the dark.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Does any self respecting home-brewer store their beer in the sunlight or in the open under a florescent light? Nope. Blue are fine along with any other color. Personally, I have two cases of the 500ml CObalt Blue EZ-Caps and love them. First bottles I ever bought...but of course I got into brewing from watching Alton Brown's infamous Amber Waves episode.....any guesses what he bottled in? :cross:

-Todd

I bought a case of those blue bottles. I use them for apfelwein. They work great, and sunlight doesnt affect apfelwein, so its all good!

I keep mine in the closet, back bathroom, or kegerator. Not worried about sunlight. It's not going to be a problem if you only expose them to light for a short time before serving. Next time I go to the party store to get bottles I'm looing for something cool!