What way do you bottle?

[Smeato]

I'm currently at a cross roads. My current batch has spent two weeks in primary, with a stable gravity since about day 6. I don't intend to put in secondary and think I'll bottle this in the next few days.

I intended to do it this morning but to my shock found I had no bottles on hand. So now I'm in the position where I need to purchase some and I'm struggling money wise.

So what is it you do? Do you Keg? And if so what benefits does it have for you? If you bottle, what bottles do you use?

I fancy using some swing-top bottles for this batch but the idea of buying 40+ swing top bottles at £1.50 a pop is making me pretty depressed.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Hit up some local bars, I've found about 1/6 will sell me their empties for deposit price. Also, there's one near me that gives me a bunch every week for free, since there's no deposit on those they just throw them out.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I bottle & keg. most the bottles I use had commercial beer in them first.

 

[Malticulous]

I couldn't bring myself to buy empty bottles. I'd use plastic soda bottles first. I've used empty 2L bottles as growlers.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I couldn't bring myself to buy empty bottles. I'd use plastic soda bottles first. I've used empty 2L bottles as growlers.

if I found the 6oz green punted bottles again, I'd try to buy whoever was selling them out of stock.

 

[flars]

You can leave the beer in the primary for a couple, or three or, more weeks to hit up bars, friends, recycling centers for bottles.

 

[Hamaki]

I bottle & keg. most the bottles I use had commercial beer in them first.

I do the same but all the bottles I use had commercial beer in them. Some brands I don't like to save the bottle because I don't like the style or they're too thin, IMHO. I have something like 800 - 1000 "good" empties in my basement at the moment. Too bad we're so far apart!

 

[CJ-3]

You can also check Craigslist for free bottles. I got a bit over 200 from a guy and all it cost me was the time to pick them up.

 

[dkevinb]

I started with used PET soda bottles. They work fine if you keep them out of the light, and it's hard to beat the price. Now I use amber PET beer bottles. I found a good deal on the 1/2 liter Mr. Beer bottles for 1/2 price so I bought 6 cases. That doesn't help you any at the moment, though. I'd second the recommendation of asking at the pubs or amongst your friends to see if they might not have some empties they'd sell you cheap. Kegging has advantages but there is a not-insignificant up-front investment.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I've been hoarding bottles since my first batch (one gallon). I had plenty of washed and delabeled bottles before my first five gallon batch was done fermenting, but was so lazy that I bought a kegging setup.
Haven't stopped the bottle hoarding. I may even pay you to take them.

 

[ol-hazza]

Move to New Zealand and there will be a couple of empty Swappa crates in your shed.
However moving to NZ is even more expensive than kegging

 

[normonster]

I also keg and bottle.

I get my bottles by saving commercial beer bottles, delabeling them and sanitizing them.

For a while I filled those bottles with beer precarbed in a keg with a blichmann beer gun, but as of late have been just using my party tap to fill and having equal results.

Today I filled a bunch of bottles with uncarbed beer and used morebeers carbonation drops (http://morebeer.com/products/carbonation-drops.html).

We'll see how that works out.

Sounds like you just need to start saving your microbrew bottles, soaking them in hot water and delabeling for future reuse.

 

[Hello]

Kegging is as easy as racking to a secondary vessel. I bottle and keg. I bottle in bombers mostly. If I have a free keg though, I'll keg. If it's a big beer I want to age and not occupy a keg, I'll bottle. It just all depends.

 

[MaxStout]

Hit up a few of your local pubs. Ask the bartender when the best time is to stop in and pick them up. You might end up with a big trash barrel full of bottles of every size and shape, and you may have to cull out and recycle a bunch. But you'll get some good, free bottles.

Don't forget to return the favor and order a couple pints while you're there.

 

[danthebugman]

I bottle exclusively and maintain about a dozen cases at any one time. I saved most of my bottles from commercial beers I've drank. I'm not sure about how things work in Scotland, but if I were to need bottles quickly I'd just go down to the local recycling center and take all that I needed. That's precisely how a friend got a bunch of his when he started out. Next on the list would be to hit up the local bars (as has been suggested), but here in the states most of the empties would be twist off. I wouldn't worry about bottling quickly, I routinely leave beer in the primary 2-3 weeks without an issue. Spend the week gathering up and cleaning empties then bottle once you have everything ready.

 

[JohnSand]

Also try a beer distributor. I get mine there for the 5c deposit. Or post a craigslist ad asking for empties. Do not pay retail for empty bottles. If you must, buy and drink two cases of beer.

 

[ChelisHubby]

I would leave the beer on the yeast until I got the needed bottles. Do the guys where you work drink beer? I would bet you could get some empties that way also. The beer can stay on the yeast for two more weeks and not have problems.

 

[kh54s10]

Too bad you are so far away. I have started kegging for the convenience and have a lot of extra bottles now. I could spare a couple hundred bottles.

The best bottles are the free ones. Ask your friend to save empties.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I keep 1 sixpack of 12oz bottles just in case I need a small bottle. Otherwise, everything I bottle is 22oz+. I usually need 25-30 bottles per batch. I have never bottled exclusively in 12oz bottles. That seems like too much work.

 

[phug]

The last time that happened to me I went and sat in front if the beer store waiting for someone to come by returning a case of empty pry offs. I had asked if I could buy back from the store, no go. So ten minutes of waiting and the cost of the deposit meant I could go home and scrub scrub scrub those filthy bottles.


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[Disintegr8or]

When I bottle, I only use 22oz, a lot faster than 12's.