How to get big bottles

I am trying to get my friends to bring me some big beer bottles.
Is there a list of beers that i could recommend to my friends to buy so i could get the bottles.
I have some old 40 oz bottles (I think they were Black Label) which i really like
A cheap 24 oz beer that came in a reusable bottle would be nice

Any help given would be great


Boar

I don't know of any cheap 22 ouncers, but I like the Stone bottles and Rogue bottles. The only problem with them, is they are permanently etched like Corona bottles.

Get a bench capper and you can recap any bottle easily. I have recapped many a twist off bottle with a wing capper. Just give then a shake to see if they seal.

The Amazing, new 'speed bottling technique' !


Gentlemen, beer and ale must be either bottled or kegged.
Think of all the different size beer bottles you have seen in your life.
One day I will be set up to keg a whole batch, 5 gallons.
Like in one big bottle.
On the other hand however
12 oz bottles while optimum from the user standpoint,
are way slow to bottle!
'50 bottles' can be reduced by half by using 22 oz bottles
as I proved the other night bottling up my first batch
of the cool, weather brewing season.
22-24 bottles are half as easy to wash, sanitize, rinse, fill, cap, and retire to the brewery, as 50!

To take this truth further,
I drink beer and ale.
There's no denying it.
I mean a gallon a day is a bit much but 9-10 beers is not unusual.
I mean I am the boss!
In other words what I need is bigger bottles.
Is there a 33 oz 44 oz 55 oz bottle?
A half gallon jug with 'a hole' the size of a beer bottle?
A quarter gallon?

Boys, this is what we need!
If one doesn't exist, lets make one!
A bottle which would last me for my entire 'before dinner drunk'.
Or a 'watch a movie drunk'.
A little one for the 'after coffee drunk', a 22 oz'er is perfect here.
An after dinner drunk!
The 'great bigg-un', half a gallon'er, at 65 oz's !
See?

I think, I am really onto something here !
Big bottles would reduce bottling time,
by, however big the bottles are.
5 gallons...
12 oz'ers 46 bottles !!!
22 oz'ers 22-24.
44 oz'ers 11-12!
88 oz'ers 5-6 bottles to fill!
Hell! That would be done in...
well, see, I'm already done!
Faster and cheaper than bottling or kegging!

Is that cool or what?

J. Winters Von Knife
jacksknifeshop

Carta Blanca, tecate, etc, come in recappable quarts. Also, American champagne bottles are very robust and cappable.

+1 on Tecate (32 or 40 oz - I can't remember).

22 oz bombers from Rogue, Stone (like Yooper said) plus Blue Moon (if you're into their beer - I'm not), Kirin Ichiban, or a variety of microbrews come in 22's.

Find any event with "Champagne" that's too cheap to use imported champagne - nice 750mL (25 oz) bottles that will take a good deal of pressure, and you can usually get the cases to go with them. The non-imported (USA view) uses the standard sized crown cap. I guess you can get bigger crown caps and a matching bell to use on french bottles. Or you can go expensive and use the mushroom corks, but you don't need to, and the corker is a major expense.

Guiness Extra Stout

I use Red Stripe bottles (pain in the ass to strip the paint, use starsan, and soak for a couple weeks), and german Heffeweizen bottles for larger bottles that are brown. The Corona bottles, and Sol bottles are good for 24 to 32 oz bottles that are clear, easy cleanup, a week or 2 in star san to remove paint. I use brown bottles for beer, and clear for apfelwein, and plan on using for small wine/mead instead of corking/buying setup for 750ml wine bottles.

I get 22's of Pyramid Heffeweizen for $1.50 or $2. Not the best beer, but good enough for the price to drink to collect the bottles.

I drink alot of less desirable, usually for the bottles, sometimes out of low cash flow. I drink cheap wine for the 1/2, 3/4, and 1 gallon jugs. Drink alot of sol and corona for bottles. All of the 40's around here are twist top with large metal caps, so I dont think they are capable.

Not cheap, but great beer for a great price with 24oz bottles is Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale. A very good wet hop ale and those bottles rock. Probably cost you $40 though, but well worth it.

The holidays are coming. Martineli's Sparkling Cider comes in 750 mL bottles and the stuff is way cheaper than beer or champagne.

The labels on the Stone Bottles can be easily removed(thanks Edwort). I haven't had as much with the Rogue bottles.

NikolausXX said:

and german Heffeweizen bottles for larger bottles that are brown.

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The .5L German bottles are perfect for my uses. I struggled to find a cheap/effective way to store and move them (plastic racks are $$$ and rare stateside).

I found that if you cut the flaps off a case of beer, load it with .5L bottles and invert a beer flat over the top you get a free/workable/stackable solution for moving and storing these bottles:

I'm considering creating some "business cards" that I can drop into the cases of re-cappable bottles in the liquor retail outlets. To make them more noticeable (keeping them from getting lost in the bottom of the case) there might be a way to either stick the cards onto the bottle necks with tape or glue, or to hang them onto the necks with a string threaded thru a hole punched in the corner of the card. Cards are often found hanging on wine bottle necks.

The card would ask the user to save their empty bottles and to call me to recycle them (my message would emphasize eco-friendly recycling of brown / green glass).

Has anyone tried this bottle collection / recycling angle?

Dan
Newbie brewer

I brewed my first beer batch last night (Hefeweisen). I can't wait to try it!

talleymonster said:

The labels on the Stone Bottles can be easily removed(thanks Edwort). I haven't had as much with the Rogue bottles.

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Another option is Muritic (sp) acid. I bought some at the local Hardware store, mixed 1/3-2/3 acid/water and soaked some corrona bottles for my apfelwein..... 15 min to completely remove the paint. Just scrub with a scotch brite spunge and it will wipe right off. Works good on rogue bottles too, usually a hair longer to get the paint all the way off 20 min or so.

I fill my bottles to the top with clean water before setting in the bucket, gives them weight, as well as trying to keep any unwanted stuff out of the inside of the bottle. Then just fill up till it covers the painted part and wait 15-20 min and wipe off the paint.

Thank you all for your recommendations. this web site is great

Ecnerwal
So these cheap champagne bottles use the same cap as i use on my Sam Adams bottles.
This is a great
I'm on it
Thanks

Ecnerwal said:

Find any event with "Champagne" that's too cheap to use imported champagne - nice 750mL (25 oz) bottles that will take a good deal of pressure, and you can usually get the cases to go with them. The non-imported (USA view) uses the standard sized crown cap. I guess you can get bigger crown caps and a matching bell to use on french bottles. Or you can go expensive and use the mushroom corks, but you don't need to, and the corker is a major expense.

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its too bad 90 shilling doesn't come in 40 ozers

I like 20 oz. bottles of BrouCzech and Rebel.

10 64oz Growlers with the flip top.

BuffaloSabresBrewer said:

Get a bench capper and you can recap any bottle easily. I have recapped many a twist off bottle with a wing capper. Just give then a shake to see if they seal.

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Don't you have to worry about the twist off bottles exploding if you bottle condition?

Brutus Brewer said:

Don't you have to worry about the twist off bottles exploding if you bottle condition?

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My short answer is "no".

My longer answer is "no, but I don't treat any of my bottles (twistoff or otherwise) roughly, I weigh my sugar and prime to style, and do not have any problems with uneven carbonation to start with. I do not think that twistoffs are especially susceptible to bombing."

zachatola said:

Another option is Muritic (sp) acid. I bought some at the local Hardware store, mixed 1/3-2/3 acid/water and soaked some corrona bottles for my apfelwein..... 15 min to completely remove the paint. Just scrub with a scotch brite spunge and it will wipe right off. Works good on rogue bottles too, usually a hair longer to get the paint all the way off 20 min or so.

I fill my bottles to the top with clean water before setting in the bucket, gives them weight, as well as trying to keep any unwanted stuff out of the inside of the bottle. Then just fill up till it covers the painted part and wait 15-20 min and wipe off the paint.

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I may have to try that. Some of the painted bottles I could not get the paint off with the Star San, like the Rogue Bottles and The Double Bastard bottles. All of the other Stone bottles came clean...weird.

Well if your 'friends' are supplying the bottles.... See if they can stomach the 22oz Bud Ale bottles. I tried one a couple of weeks ago just to give it fair review and to my surprise it had a non-twist lid....

Is there a reason that you would cork a bottle instead of capping it? I have some 750ml belgian bottles that I was thinking about getting a corker for but if I dont need to spend that money then I wont.

fratermus said:

Carta Blanca, tecate, etc, come in recappable quarts. .

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+200

They work great!

dataz722 said:

Is there a reason that you would cork a bottle instead of capping it? I have some 750ml belgian bottles that I was thinking about getting a corker for but if I dont need to spend that money then I wont.

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Some of the Belgian 750ml bottles are not capable while others are. The ones that come in champagne bottles can be capped with a larger sized cap and bell for the capper. The others that have a more rounded lip only take corks.

American sparkling wine and sparkling juice bottles use a standard cap but wing cappers have a problem with the thicker neck.

Recently watching a show on Champagne I found out why Champagne bottles take caps. It turns out Champagne makers cap the bottles initially then age them with the caps allowing them to bottle carbonate. They store them neck down so the yeast settles into the neck. Once they finish conditioning they freeze the necks to create a solid plug from the yeast. Then pop the top and all the pressure to force the plug from the bottle. Then they cork the bottles and label for sale.

Craig

I know a lot of champagne bottles can be capped as long as you buy the 29mm replacement housing for you wing capper which is only a couple of bucks. Then you could have 1.5L bottles of your brew.

The holidays are coming and so is Anchor Christmas Beer in Magnums (1.5L). My local HEB is getting some of these and will set aside a couple of bottles for me.



I do believe you can recap this puppy.

I saw this at whole foods yesterday. Looks awesome!

There was another thread the other day about Lorrina (sp?) sparkling lemonade swing-top bottles... Grabbed one at Target for $4 since SWMBO and her offspring both like lemonade and I will keep the bottles... Also have a few friends that are 'good beer' lovers that are hording their substantial bottle collection for me instead of the recycler...

Brichards700 said:

I know a lot of champagne bottles can be capped as long as you buy the 29mm replacement housing for you wing capper which is only a couple of bucks.

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+1 on the cheap bigger bell.

American champagne* tends to take normal caps, and eurochampagne the 29mm caps.





fm
* hey, America wasn't a signatory to that agreement because of prohibition, so if Americans want to call theirs champagne I have no problem with that.

FWIW, you can get Fat Tire in a deuce for around $3.00 in Colorado.

Hey BK, Fat Tire Finally made it east of the Mississippi river, I saw it in TN a few weeks ago..

Martinelli's Sparkling Cider comes in 750 ml bottles - they're green but they work good for beer. Just store them in a box out of the light.