anyone every bottle in Red Stripe bottles?

Yakima 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

Tobyone

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Messages
61
Reaction score
1
Location
Pensacola, Fl
My wife has gone on a red stripe kick lately and seeing they are pop tops I figured what the hey, why not use them. I noticed they seem a bit small an after looking they are 11.5 oz...not that .5 oz. makes a difference I guess. I am curious to see how the 22 oz. bottles work out. anyone have any experiences with those?
 
my main issue with them is their label is more of a screen print on their bottles. im anal when it comes to that...
 
I wonder if a long PBW soak and a scrubby pad would get the screen print off? I wouldn't be surprised if it did, but I've never tried.
 
Tobyone said:
My wife has gone on a red stripe kick lately
Click to expand...

There's your first problem.

JK, when my wife and I decided to stop drinking BMC, Red Stripe was one of the first "craft" brews we tried. Couldnt really justify paying the increased price for a lager that wasnt much better than yuengling or bud, but I always thought the bottles were cool too. If I would have saved them, I definitely would have used some for homebrew. But since I don't intend on buying it ever again, I guess I'll never know!
 
^ I agree. great thing is in about 2 weeks (which will make 1 month) my first batch will be ready to consume and I will no longer have to by beer. my wife on the other hand will (she's not a big fan of home brew) and she will then be contributing to my on-going bottle collection. it's a win-win for me. hooray beer huh?
 
I had RS 12 bottles...6 of them were stored under my sink for about 4 years...and six more I got from my nextdoor neighbor...

Well six of them came clean in the regular strength concentration of starsan water after 2 weeks...

The other six are still just as solid after soaking in the double strength solution. I finally took a dremel tool and a sanding bit and sanded them off which was a pain.

I wish I had thought to mark which stripe bottles were which, to know if it was the older bottles that came clean or not...methinks maybe redstripe changed the chemistry of their paint at some point.

I wonder if different bottling plants have different paint, or what.

Some folks have had great luck with sandblasting, or even Muriatic Acid.
 
I've always liked the bottles, but can never justify buying that much Red Stripe just for bottles.

Printing is my profession, so I'd like to stress that it is ink, NOT paint! I've not worked in the screen printing segment of the industry so I can't comment specifically about the inks. I have noticed a change in Rogue, Stone and other screen printed bottles in the last few years. I just can't get it off no matter how hard I try. They have probably switched to a formulation that is more resistant to water. Lager breweries like Red Stripe and Corona don't want their label coming off or bleeding when you dunk their bottles in a cooler full of ice and water. Same goes for the adhesive or glue used on traditional labels.
 
seems to be too much work when you could essentially just peel a label off of a beer that is superior in quality.
 
I too love the neat little bottles and have a 6 pack's worth. But haven't bottled anything in quite some time. Haven't tried removing the "labels" yet.
 
Gotta love the stubby bottles, they look retro and you can fit twice as many of them in the fridge, stacked on top of each other. Honestly I don't know why the industry went to the long neck bottles.

Off topic: As far as I know Red Stripe is the only North American beer to come in a stubby, does anyone know of other makes?
 
Revvy said:
I may have to start drinking a couple of case worth. I'm really thinking I would like to have these for the barelywine.
Click to expand...

I like that idea: an awesome powerful Barleywine packaged in the little RS bomb bottle. Your unique brew in a unique bottle. The issue will be to get the stock of bottles... poor Revvy will have to drink all that beer. ;)
 
yeah, i can drink a red stripe with no problem. not my 1st choice but every now and they are nice. Talk about labels coming off nicely, we bought some Abita purple haze a week or so ago and man, you soak those bad boys for about 2 minutes and the label basically falls off in whatever you are soaking them in.
 
DeNomad said:
Gotta love the stubby bottles, they look retro and you can fit twice as many of them in the fridge, stacked on top of each other. Honestly I don't know why the industry went to the long neck bottles.

Off topic: As far as I know Red Stripe is the only North American beer to come in a stubby, does anyone know of other makes?
Click to expand...

They're the only rounded stubbies. Negra Modella, Sierra Nevada and IIRC Abita bottles are stubies. But they are not as cool.

johnnybrew, I think I'm going to put a message out of facebook to see if any of my local friends might have some. One of my brewpals works in a resteraunt, maybe their bartender will save them for me.

Then I will see about bead blasting them...This is one of the few beers I actually plan on labeling.
 
Years ago Labatts came inthe stubby bottles. I still have a case of Labatts Velvet Cream Porter bottles. I wish they never stopped making that.

PS If anyone would like to send me a full case of RS I would be more than happy to forward the empties to Revvy for his 50th B-day barleywine!
 
Revvy said:
johnnybrew, I think I'm going to put a message out of facebook to see if any of my local friends might have some. One of my brewpals works in a resteraunt, maybe their bartender will save them for me.
Click to expand...

I will save any I drink in the next 5 years for you. :mug: We travel to Traverse City every summer for our family vacation. Maybe we can find a place along that route for you to meet me for a hand-off? But, alas, after mapping Port Huron I see that it is on the other side of the state, so I doubt this would be 'convenient' for you. :(
 
RugenBrau said:
Years ago Labatts came inthe stubby bottles. I still have a case of Labatts Velvet Cream Porter bottles. I wish they never stopped making that.
Click to expand...

Oh these are cool!

stubby_beer_bottle_labatt_069.jpg
 
thatd be an awesome clone to make.

i remember when my father used to get those when i was younger and i always thought they looked sweet
 
I have tried removing ink off a couple of different times. The first two times I think were just star sans and hot water. The first time took a little bit of elbow grease - just with a regular abrasive sponge (whatever the deal is called with the rough side for dishes or whatever).
Second time I said screw it and didn't bother after a couple weeks of soaking it in the star sans/water.

Last time, I figured I'd try a real potent mixture of star sans and water to de-ink some corona bottles (needed some clear ones so I can watch my home brew age, 1 per batch or so). I left it in the solution for a whole weekend and figured I'd be able to scrub it off with no problem. I got frustrated when it didn't come right off after the 3-4 day wait so just set them out to put up for later. When I went to put them up with the rest of my bottles, I noticed they were flaking off. So I took the corona ones back in and the ink pretty much came right off.

So not sure if that makes a difference or not, but may be worth trying - soak them for a few days then let them dry and see if the ink comes right off....
Sounds like the CLR may be a better option but have to look into it.
 
I was thinking that maybe Goo Gone, turpentine or mineral spirits?

Or, I bet this works perfectly: get a non-toxic paint remover (a paste-based one), layer it on, let it sit, then rub it off with a putty knife or with some steel wool. I found this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001JP9IG2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
Last edited by a moderator:
johnnybrew said:
I was thinking that maybe Goo Gone, turpentine or mineral spirits?

Or, I bet this works perfectly: get a non-toxic paint remover (a paste-based one), layer it on, let it sit, then rub it off with a putty knife or with some steel wool. I found this on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001JP9IG2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Click to expand...

I'm going to need to figure this out in the next few months, I put the call out for bottles for the BW and am already getting people picking up sixers to drink for me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The ink used on the bottles will dissolve in mineral spirits generally after a few minutes. My father owns a screen printing business and I spent a few years printing labels on bottles for a vodka and an absinthe distillery so I know the inks on them. Mineral Spirits are what we use to clean the ink out of the screens and off our hands when printing.
I also find that taking a Dremel too with a 300 grit sandpaper wheel works just fine for getting both printed labels like RS and glued labels (along with the glue) off of any bottle in a minute or two.
 
Mineral spirits? So you mean Varsol would take that stuff off? I think Varsol is the brand name for mineral spirits.

I am curious if methyl hydrate would have any success. I use it to run my backpacking stove and I believe it is usually used for thinning/removing paint.
 
DeNomad said:
Mineral spirits? So you mean Varsol would take that stuff off? I think Varsol is the brand name for mineral spirits.

I am curious if methyl hydrate would have any success. I use it to run my backpacking stove and I believe it is usually used for thinning/removing paint.
Click to expand...

I think it is the same stuff.

I really think a paste non-toxic paint remover is the way to go. Easy to work with; water soluble; non-toxic (as the name states); virtually odorless (esp when compared to Goo Gone and Mineral Spirits); and, it has taken several layers of 50 year old paint off of trim in my home in one application! I would bet a home brew it gets painted beer labels off very easily. Any Home Depot, Ace, True Value or Lowe's will have it. Get a small container, you won't need much.
 

Similar threads

RileyOG
Newbie SG/Yeast/Bottle Bomb Question
Replies
24
Views
1K
Chalkyt
Chalkyt
M
Frozen Kolsch - need to repitch when bottle conditioning?
Replies
20
Views
1K
mhopperman
M
MaxStout
Root Beer Extract Throwdown: Cook's vs. Zatarain's
Replies
4
Views
2K
OakIslandBrewery
OakIslandBrewery
F
dry hop experiment in a PET bottle
Replies
4
Views
675
fluketamer
F
D
Years long infections
Replies
30
Views
1K
depecid
D
InkBird 300

Latest posts

Back
Top