Great Lakes Brewing Bottles ???

[baseballstar4]

I have heard that Great Lake Brewing Co bottles are not designed to be used again and again. I did a little overlook of the bottles and sure enough there is "no refill" printed on the bottom of these bottles. One of my buddies that I brew with said that their bottles are designed to be environment friendly and made to be recycled after 1 use. Has anyone else heard of this?

 

[SkewedBrewing]

I've never heard that before, but it sounds like it makes sense.

I use their bottles and have reused them at least twice. The labels are PITA, though...

 

[contagent93]

yea they are a bit lighter thinner then other bottles but i see no reason why they wouldn't work if you prime properly it shouldn't be a problem if your filling off of a keg then there should deff not be any problems

 

[CBBaron]

I have reused plenty Great Lakes bottles without a problem. I havn't noticed that they were any different than the bottles purchased from the HBS. Most of the bottles used by breweries in the US are not designed for reuse. The bottles are only intended to transport the beverage to the consumer then be recycled. This is different than most European imports where reuse seems to be much more common.

And I have not had any problem with their labels. In fact i have found them to be one of the easiest to remove. A short soak in hot water and the labels slip right off. Or a longer soak in PBW. Now if you allow the labels to cool and dry before slipping them off they will restick.

Craig

 

[LakeErieBrew]

I've not had any trouble with reusing Great Lakes bottles. I've used and re-used them many, many times over with no issues.

I agree that a hot water soak is usually all that's needed to get the labels off.

Actually, if I buy commercial beer it's usually Great Lakes because the labels come off so easily. Other than that, I've been stocking up on 22 ouncers that don't have a paper label at all, like Rogue or Stone. Having several big bottles makes a big difference on bottling day.

 

[Whiskey]

Odd. I have used several cases worth of Great Lakes bottles and do not recall seeing "do not refill" on them. Maybe it is a recent thing?