Has anyone ever used empty Martinelli bottles for bottling?

[rtogio]

Hey all!

I was wondering, does anyone here ever bottled there cider using used Martinelli's bottles?

And if you do, is it better to cap them or to cork them?

 

[KevinM]

All the time. Cheaper to get them than to buy empty bottles.

I think their neck fits a (beer bottle) cap. Can't recall the diameter.

I have a mix of champagne and sparkling bottles so some have caps, some have plastic corks and cork cages.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

Every chance I get, I can go to the redemption center and they'll sell them to me for a nickel ea. Bottle caps, regular ol' beer bottle caps; just be sure to switch your capper to the wine bottle size (If you have one of those red hand held's, the silver rings that grip the neck are set to "26" which is a beer bottle neck, pull them out with pliers and turn them around to "29" which is for a 750mL neck)

Carbonate like you would with a beer bottle too, they're not intended to hold the pressure of a champagne bottle.

 

[Yeastie]

Used them to bottle my wine, worked great. I used corks, never tried to cap them.

 

[rtogio]

When you corked them, did you use the standard #9 corks and a regular floor corker?

 

[rtogio]

Oh, also, did you have any trouble uncorking the bottles afterward? I ask because of the shape of the lip of Martinelli bottles.

Thanks for the post!

 

[KevinM]

I must be using other bottles for the caps then, and plastic mushroom/champagne corks in the Martenelli. I just hand pushed them in, which, generally speaking, isn't the greatest in case of slipping or bottle failure. Probably why I switched to 26" cappables. And with champinion cork shapes, its just twist and pull for me. Or if a person has trained, sabering.

 

[Yeastie]

When you corked them, did you use the standard #9 corks and a regular floor corker?

Got the corks and floorcorker from my LHBS don't know what cork size but they were the only corks they had. No problems uncorking.