clear bottles ok? or guinness with plastic covers?

[termite760]

I'm a couple of weeks away from bottling and I think I have enough brown bottles for the first batch but I was wondering about using clear bottles. I understand about storing in sunlight but I have a lot of space where sunlight never hits. Can I use them? Also, I have a bunch of the Guinnes bottles with the plastic covers. would I have to remove the plastic? or use them as is?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

i'd remove the plastic for sanitation reasons. i have a couple batches worth of guinness bottles i use from time to time. they look sharp unlabeled and capped.
i'd avoid clear, just cuz of the risk you stated.

 

[rycov]

the issue with clear glass is, as you note, light. (i would becarful with all light, not just sun.) as for the plastic on the outside, thats not hurting anyone, but its not to hard to take off either. (the widgit is another deal)

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

the issue with clear glass is, as you note, light. (i would becarful with all light, not just sun.) as for the plastic on the outside, thats not hurting anyone, but its not to hard to take off either. (the widgit is another deal)

no more widgets in guinness bottles, they stopped that several months ago.

 

[Rowdy]

i use the guinness bottles for the majority of my homebrew. plastic comes off clean and easy with use of a blade, widget comes out with a good flick of the wrist. i would remove the shrink wrap it just leaves a place for nastys to hide when cleaning the bottles. as for clear i dont use em but others do just keep em out of the light. soon enough you will have too many bottles to know what to do with... check with your local pub and have em save you a case or two of empties..

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Removing the plastic for sanitation is moot since the beer will not be kept on the outside of the bottle.

All forms of light emit varied levels of UVA/UVB radiation. Incandescent being the least offensive, flourescent being the moderate offender, and direct sunlight being the kiss of death.

 

[rycov]

damn. i'm out of the loop. they've switched to that fabric stuff? i read an article on that, but i still haven't seen it (i'm kind of ashamed because guinness was my ****). does that come out? or can you sanitize that?

 

[rico567]

Guinness bottle is one of the easiest ever. Strip off the outside plastic with one stroke of the knife, then use a needlenose pliers to grab the widget (evidently the newer ones don't even have this!) and pull it out. No soaking, no scrubbing, sharp looking bottle.

 

[MZRIS]

i have seen beer sold in clear bottles and sold on the shelf with no light protection, i think you can use them with out to many ill effects. Hell my carboys are clear and used to sit through primary and 2ndary infront of a bay window and it was great beer.

someone on here uses a clear bottle with every batch he brews so he can observe what is going on, in the bottes. and he bottles a few green ones to use as carbonation testers to be opened before the brown bottles. neat use of the bottle varietys i thought.

 

[rycov]

if you feel good about leaving the clear bottles exposed to light, then do it. it's not going to hurt you, its just going to skunk your beer.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

damn. i'm out of the loop. they've switched to that fabric stuff? i read an article on that, but i still haven't seen it (i'm kind of ashamed because guinness was my ****). does that come out? or can you sanitize that?

nothin in there now... and the product inside is none the better for it... in fact, them stopping the widget is the reason i only get guinness in nitro cans. IMO, it's just a better stout on no2.

 

[rycov]

so it just doesn't have the nitro at all in the bottles? that sucks.