I just began brewing and i dont want to spend a lot of money on the bottles. Could i use a plastic bottle that previously had sparkling water in it to bottle my beer in? If thats not a good idea, what are some cheap alternatives to buying glass bottles and capping them?
Bottling on the cheap side
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wcarter1227
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That will work, when you get bottles that have pry off tops start saving them, you can reuse them just buy new lids
bosox
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure if plastic bottles work. I've never seen a plastic bottle that was a pop top? Not to mention, the light will make your beer taste funny while it's fermenting, that's the reason why most beer bottles are dark, with the exception of skunky beers who desire that taste.
Buying bottles is definitely a sucky procedure, but they last forever, and you can re-use them as long as they don't break and you sanitize them before and after each use.
You can also use any commercial beer bottle as long as it's not a screw top. So no Coors Lite bottles, but Sam Adams would work :rockin:
Buying bottles is definitely a sucky procedure, but they last forever, and you can re-use them as long as they don't break and you sanitize them before and after each use.
You can also use any commercial beer bottle as long as it's not a screw top. So no Coors Lite bottles, but Sam Adams would work :rockin:
nebben
Well-Known Member
If you have more [pressure capable] plastic bottles with screw on lids than glass ones, then yes- they will work. Granted, you'll want to make sure you get your priming sugar amounts figured out, and like others have said, put them in a box in your basement or closet while priming, but they will definitely work. My first batch of beer was bottled in plastic PET bottles. It was horrible beer, but all they had to do was hold carbonation 
OMG do you guys know how many great german wheat bottles hit the trash every day? Find a local craft brew bar and make friends. I hear st. louis is a beer town.
I have a billion bottles, none that I paid for.
I have a billion bottles, none that I paid for.
djt17
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Having to empty bottles of various craft beers is half the fun. Also; trying enough different styles gives you a good idea as to what you like or dislike.
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible
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I use plastic bottles as a preference. I bought a lot of the brown 1 litre Mr Beer bottles. Saves a ton of time at bottling. Apart from their brown colour, they are no different to using any other PET bottle that was used for fizzy soda. You just gotta keep them in the dark. I use pop bottles for emergency back up. I have not used glass bottles at all for about a year now. They are a PITA, I would only use them now for presentation if I were out to impress.
As LGI notes, PET bottles have a lot of advantages. Lightweight and unbreakable makes them great for shipping. You can feel them firm up as they carbonate. They take quite a bit of pressure. They can take a carbonater cap. You can bring them to parks that don't allow glass.
Most brown PET bottles are sold with root beer inside. Don't reuse those caps because the aroma sticks around. One liter bottles of seltzer are less than a buck each, will give no off-flavors if you keep them dark, and are a decent compromise between serving size and bottling tedium.
Most brown PET bottles are sold with root beer inside. Don't reuse those caps because the aroma sticks around. One liter bottles of seltzer are less than a buck each, will give no off-flavors if you keep them dark, and are a decent compromise between serving size and bottling tedium.
MetallHed
Well-Known Member
bottling on the cheap side?
talk to the bar owner next time you stop in for a drink and ask 'em to save the pop-offs for you and pick 'em up once a week.
Free is pretty cheap.
talk to the bar owner next time you stop in for a drink and ask 'em to save the pop-offs for you and pick 'em up once a week.
Free is pretty cheap.
Special Hops
Well-Known Member
Soda bottles work great in a pinch. Just keep them out of the light. Also - start drinking beers and save the bottles. Have your friends save bottles. I never went out to buy bottles.
rcreveli
Well-Known Member
Check Craigslist regularly, I saw 10 cases for $40.00 or $5.00 per case the other day.
deflagratio
Well-Known Member
Just remember. Budweiser American Ale comes in pop top glasses. Also +1 for hitting up the local bars. If you have one that is known for serving craft brew you should be overflowing with bottles within two weeks.
Recycling centers are great too. I've gotten cases of bottles from there and just made certain to go overboard on the cleaning.
1) Oxyclean Soak until the labels come off
2) Dishwasher clean
3) Oven Sterilization (250+ for 2hrs+)
4) Foil covers until you use the bottles
1) Oxyclean Soak until the labels come off
2) Dishwasher clean
3) Oven Sterilization (250+ for 2hrs+)
4) Foil covers until you use the bottles
I have successfully bottled and bottle-carbonated EdWort's Apfelwein in both 2 liter soda bottles, as well as the clear plastic bottles the apple juice came in originally. I used the same amount of priming sugar in the apfelwein as I use in my beers. The only issue that happened was the "hand-holds" which are pressed into the juice bottles popped out! Otherwise, NO bottle-bombs, good carbing and all in #1 PETE! I say GO FOR IT!
glenn514
glenn514
JetSmooth
Well-Known Member
+1 on collecting from bars or parties. I have a friend who threw a few World Cup parties. I set a box next to the trash with a few empties in it. People got the picture and I came away with about 25 bottles each party. I just rinsed them out really well when I got home and put them back in the box to dry. This weekend (wife out of town), I filled the bathtub with hot water and a little oxyclean and put 100 bottles in to soak. Over the next three days, I scraped and used a brush to remove all the labels about ten bottles at a time until they were all labeless.
I have a stable of about 150 bottles total. Should probably be good for a long time. Jus tmake sure you get them back from people when you "loan" them the bottles with your beer in them.
Better yet, keg that beer! That's my next step.
I have a stable of about 150 bottles total. Should probably be good for a long time. Jus tmake sure you get them back from people when you "loan" them the bottles with your beer in them.
Better yet, keg that beer! That's my next step.
Just to note, I always hear Root beer bottles are no good. The Root Beer is extremely difficult to clean from their bottles. I've never bottled in soda bottles, so I can't give you first hand experience.
HH60gunner
Well-Known Member
I just give away free beer to friends and other people I meet. After mentioning that you really need the bottle back when done and that you collect pop top bottles, they all just seem to start flowing in. Just in the past two days one person from work has given me about 14 grolsh top bottle for free that he had lying around.
brewser09
Well-Known Member
+1 on Recycling centers, i would regularly pull out 2-3 casses everytime i went, including a whole case of 20 oz bottles :rockin:
KevinW
Well-Known Member
Networking!! One of the best ways to score free pop-tops.
After finding out that I homebrew, a co-worker of mine brought me three cases of 22oz bottles, she said her hubby went to kegging and didn't need the bottles anymore(score).
After finding out that I homebrew, a co-worker of mine brought me three cases of 22oz bottles, she said her hubby went to kegging and didn't need the bottles anymore(score).
Gtrfrk182
Well-Known Member
as most people are getting at, it is more fun to buy different beer to try and save the bottles, but the cheapest way, if you cant find any for free, is to just buy a case from your lhbs.
a case of 24 goes for like 12$
a case of 24 goes for like 12$
rico567
Well-Known Member
Virtually all my bottling is done in commercial 12 oz. longneck no-return pry-off bottles. They were free (except for buying the beer inside), and their uniformity makes them preferred for my storage facilities. I have enough swingtop pint bottles to do about a 5 gal. batch, but don't have any real inclination to acquire more of these. One of our kids and his wife are teetotalers, so for celebrations they use a 750ml sparkling cider bottle that's cappable. I've used that for apfelwein (it's green) and I think I'm going to bottle barleywine in these, since they'll be sitting in the dark in the basement anyway.
triethylborane
Well-Known Member
More of a consumption/drinking town. Lots of good beer is brewed there, Schlafly, Morgan Street Brewery on the landing . . . . .
As far as sourcing bottles, I just went into restaurants and asked. Picked up a few champagne bottles from some of the trendy places in downtown denver, lots of generic brown 12oz.
Bubba_Mustafa
Well-Known Member
I dunno. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I seem to have a lot of beer bottles laying around. Yes I buy them, but they come filled with beer I like to start with.
A home brewer starting out that doesn't have bottles around? Is there such a thing? You have about a month to drink enough bottles
A home brewer starting out that doesn't have bottles around? Is there such a thing? You have about a month to drink enough bottles
I think competitions should accept PET bottles so we didn't have to ship glass. Less breakage and less shipping weight seems like a good deal to me.
That's a very good point. Do LBHS carry them? They should, just for this reason. It does take away a bit from the beer experience if you're screwing off the top, though.
Aw heck, unscrewing a cap makes me remember skipping school, getting some quarts of Miller, fishing with found lines and hooks, and cooking fresh rock bass over an open fire.
Err.. I mean.. I read that in a book once.. yeah thats what it was.
Err.. I mean.. I read that in a book once.. yeah thats what it was.
Would using old hard liquor bottles work? I have a couple 1L and 750 bottles of captain Morgan, Absolute and other stuff. I was just wondering if the caps on those are air tight? I don't know if oxygen is a problem for hard liquor, I imagine it is but just wondering if those could be usable.
djt17
Well-Known Member
I read that book!
pernox
Well-Known Member
An expert will be along shortly, but I would imagine that these couldn't handle the pressure of bottle conditioning.
RCCOLA
Well-Known Member
Safe rule of thumb is: If it didn't have carbonated liquid in it then don't use it.
The bottles may not be safe for carbonated pressures.
dotnetdotcom
Well-Known Member
Plastic soda bottles can be used, but not recommended for long storage. They are gas permeable. According to this article [ http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=351 ] they have a 10% carbonation loss in less than 50 days. This data doesn't make sense to me because soda seems to not have carbonation loss problems.
Plastic beer bottles have special coatings on them to reduce gas permeability.
Plastic beer bottles have special coatings on them to reduce gas permeability.
The "hand-holds" molded into the sides of the bottles will probably pop out. The cap, however, will work out just fine.
A mechanical engineer mentioned to me that pressure vessels are cylinders because they hold the pressure so much better than other shapes. Therefore, when I use #1 PETE plastic bottles for bottling and bottle-carbonation, I select those bottles that are as round as possible. I had some juice bottles I had thought I'd use, but they were rectangular in section, and would not have worked as well.
And, by the by...it is probably a good idea to use plastic bottles for bottling and bottle-carbing only once.
glenn514
midfielder5
Well-Known Member
check the classifieds on here. people are posting free bottle giveways in one thread
smata67
Well-Known Member
Drive around on recycling day.
Bithead
Well-Known Member
I've been using tonic & seltzer bottles while I'm building my bottle collection. Work fine for me.
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