Best 12oz bottle for bottling?

[GreenwoodRover]

I really new to the Home brew arena and being fairly OCD, I thought that before I bottled my first batch I would run some experiments on capping various bottle types I was thinking about using for my brew. A wing capper came with my kit, but after reading what a PITA it can be I bought a bench capper (Super Agata).
I recently polished off some goose island and Spaten so those were the test samples. The goose bottles were twist off (which surprised me b/c I bought a whole case of mixed varieties specifically because I remembered them being not the twist off type), but since I've heard that you can cap twist offs with the bench capper I tried them anyway. I filled each of the two kinds of bottles up with water and capped them with brewers best standard gold caps (came with my Brown Ale kit). I shook the hell out of the bottles, held them upside down, etc. and no water came out of either of them. I realize water is different that gas (carbonation) so it's not fool proof, however both bottles have me concerned.
I only tested the goose Island bottles with the bench capper. When I first opened the goose island bottles to drink the goose island beer, i would have never guessed they were twistoffs, becuase I couldn't tiwst the cap off without using a dish towel and excessive force, but when I re-capped them they were so easy to twist off I bet my 3yr old could do it.
Both the wing and bench capped Spaten Bottles were secure, but if I applied enough force I could twist the cap slightly (maybe 1/12 of a full turn) on each. I've read that you should not be able to twist the caps at all.

So after all the rambling above I ask are these just 2 poor examples, or is there a better or prefered bottle to re-use for home brewing bottling and capping?

And yes I know I should move to kegging, but I promised myself I would exercise some restraint and not even price the equipment until I have at least 8-10 batches under my belt.

 

[Big10Seaner]

I have found that Sam Adams bottles work very well for bottling. Actually, just about any non twist-off bottle should work pretty good. I tried capping the screw off Goose Island bottles as well, and it seemed like it didn't form a good enough seal. You're going to be safer using standard bottles. Oh, by the way, I'll be stopping by Goose Island Wrigleyville tomorrow before I go to the Cubs game! They usually have some sort of Cubs specialty beer at that location only. It sucks you can't take growlers home on game days!

 

[RegionalChaos]

I just stick to non-twist off bottles and have had no problem with them.

 

[Chello]

i second the Sam Adams bottles, i also find their labels come off the easiest.

 

[EamusCatuli]

Sam adams are the best, Red Stripe, Sierra Nevada, and if you dont mind clear bottles - Newcastle, corona.

Pilsner Urqeull bottles are hard to cap, as well as Dos Equis

 

[k1v1116]

as a general purpose homebrew bottle ive found presidente cerveza to be good (easy to remove the labels, caps and seals well and handles hi carbonation, the only draw back is they're green tinted not brown so a little more UV sensitive). the only bottles ive had any problems with were heineken they cap well with bench cappers not wing type and they have rather thin walls, I had a few hand grenades in a batch of dunkelweissen that was highly carbed, all 3 bottles that blew were heineken.

 

[BigKahuna]

I have one of these, and I now get my bottles from the local bar. They give me 2 cases a day (8 or 10 on the weekend) just to haul them out the door. I keep about 80% of them, and have no problem capping twist off bottles. In fact, I like them, because not everyone has a fancy home brew bottle opener on the wall. This may have been the best $50 I've spent on brewing equipment.

 

[RegionalChaos]

Big K, what is that exactly? Is it a capper for twist offs?

 

[malkore]

some wing cappers don't do well with New Belgium bottles.

Also stella artois bottles are as hard to cap as pilsner urquell.

 

[earlytimes]

I just bottled tonight using a variety of non-twist-off bottles. I was using a wing capper with brewers best caps, and found that some bottles I could pop the top off with my thumb! After closer inspection, I noticed that those bottles had a shorter distance from the top of the bottle to the bump on the neck where the capper grabs on to push the cap on. So the capper wasn't able to bend the sides of the cap all the way around the lip of the bottle. I believe they were Heineken bottles. So if you're using a wing capper, stay away from those or any other bottles like that. With a bench capper you should be ok with any non-twist off bottle though.

Interestingly, I had some other caps from my LHBS that actually made a good seal with the same capper and same bottle. I don't know what the difference was in the caps, but I'm crossing my fingers hoping they'll work.

I stay away from NR (twist-off) bottles. I read somewhere that they use thinner glass or something and are more likely to turn into bottle bombs. I don't know if that's true, but It's not worth the risk to me.

 

[BigKahuna]

some wing cappers don't do well with New Belgium bottles.

I actually BROKE THE CAPPER on New B. Bottles. That's what inspired me to get the Colona Style Bench Capper/Corker...Super Universal. It's italian, It's all plastic, but it'll cap damn near anything. It corks wine, caps either pry off or twists, and it has 2 larger dies for bottles and caps I've never seen.
Its for sale here: http://store.thebrewhut.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=103
which is as close to a LHBS as I have.

 

[BigKahuna]

Talk one of your BMC buddies into a Budwiser (NOT LIGHT) bottle. Try and cap it with whatever you've got. They have the thick ring at the neck that your wing capper needs to hold onto.
You'll laugh your butt off when you press a cap onto a bottle and it twists back off.

 

[fratermus]

I bought a bench capper over the weekend because I have some troublesome bottles (Dos Equis, Amstel). Both of them have the ring below the crown, but the cross section of the ring looks angular like this: <

instead of more square like this [

so the wing capper doesn't grab on right; it rides up over the angular ring.

Since the bench capper presses down on the bottle instead of pulling up on the ring (what's that part called, anyhow?) they work fine on the bench.

To see how the bench capped twistoffs, I opened a Shiner, capped with the bench. Put on a leather glove and attempted to twist the cap on further; didn't budge but I heard they can. Set the Shiner back in the fridge for a couple of days and the carbonation held.

Two observations:

1. I will not plan to bottle in screwtops, but if I get in an unexpected bind I will use them.

2. to make bench use easier, I fill the bottles and set the uncapped tops on them for outgassing. I set same types of bottles together so the bench capper is height-reset a minimum amount of times. Grab all these kind, set height, cap. Grab the next pile, set height, cap.

 

[deltabrewster]

I have one of these, and I now get my bottles from the local bar. They give me 2 cases a day (8 or 10 on the weekend) just to haul them out the door. I keep about 80% of them, and have no problem capping twist off bottles. In fact, I like them, because not everyone has a fancy home brew bottle opener on the wall. This may have been the best $50 I've spent on brewing equipment.

What brand capper is this?

 

[deltabrewster]

What brand capper is this?

Opps. Me bad. Not read 2nd page.

 

[NWernBrewer]

I drink a lot of Bridgeport IPA and found that I like their bottles best. The neck is a smooth taper which helps prevent turbulent pouring and Bridgeport is bottle-conditioned so they are a little heavier than some other bottles. I've broken the tops off of Redhook bottles and LHBS 22oz bombers with my wing-capper but have never had a problem with these.

Plus the beer is very tasty, too.

 

[wedge421]

I use Sam Adams all the time. I think you may be overanalyzing this haha. With the Sam Adams you get a decent case of beer and a case of perfectly cappable bottles.

 

[cclloyd]

some wing cappers don't do well with New Belgium bottles.

Also stella artois bottles are as hard to cap as pilsner urquell.

There is a definite variation in the flange on the necks of Euro bottles vs. US bottles. I have had a hell of a time with Warsteiner, Stella, Grolsch etc bottles.
I use a wing type hand held capper and use most american pop top bottles without issue - they cap tight and easy. The imports have a different neck flange and the capper doesn't grip them properly when you are crimping the cap into place. The only failed caps I've ever had were Warsteiner bottles. I always give each bottle a wipe down and a hard twist on the cap when bottling, and the fail rate on the import bottles is such that I've stopped using all of them except the Grolsch flip-tops. In fact the flip-tops are the only green bottles I still use.

 

[MediaMikes]

My ultimate favorite are the Sierra Nevada bottles. They cap really well and after about a 5 minute soak in some hot water the labels come right off. That and they are shorter than the others and fit in my conditioning closet shelves really well.

 

[Got Trub?]

I've used NB bottles for years. Had to drink all that d*%n Fat Tire ale to get them though

GT

 

[Hell Brew]

+1 on the Sierra Nevada bottle. Plus their beer is always good.

 

[GreenwoodRover]

I bought a case of Sam Adams mixed (Honey porter, brown ale, boston ale, and the Home brew sixer) an have been enjoying emptyin them since wednesday. I'll probalbly make my won mixed case of Sierra Nevada next weekend and enjoy that for a week. by then I shoud be ready to bottle, and when its time to sample I can see which were better. I guess thats a fun way to pass the time until bottling SWMBO isn't very fond of it though.

 

[BigKahuna]

I guess thats a fun way to pass the time until bottling SWMBO isn't very fond of it though.

Sometimes a $20.00 Brewing (Or Drinking) Budget is better spent as a $10.00 with Ten Bucks spent to keep SWMBO ...Warning....It takes a he!! of a lot of 1/2 of a $20 or $30 budgets to make up enough to buy a diamond. But Ron White was right...Diamonds...That'll shut her up!.

 

[GreenwoodRover]

I hear that. One of her best frineds is getting married in mid May so I'm flying her from Chicago to NYC in a month to get her hair cut by some dude a TLC show she really likes. She always wanted that so I figure I can get a mothers day, birthday, and get off my back about brewing present all in one shot.

 

[RadicalEd]

BigK, you mind posting a shot of that capper in action? I for the life of me can't figure out how it works from the pic on the HBS, and the curiosity is killing me. I've been looking for a combo capper/corker for a while now, and if it does the job well.....

Personally, the best bottles I've worked with have been Bells. Labels fall off under oxyclean in 15 minutes with no residue. Sam Adams bottles are really nice in many respects, but they always have a super tough glue residue, and stamping their name on the bottle is a fault in my book as well (generally, you can't send them into a competition).

EDIT: upon further investigation there are a few more pics out there. Apparently "colonna" gets more google results . Here's one I found:

 

[fratermus]

Sam Adams bottles are really nice in many respects, but they always have a super tough glue residue, and stamping their name on the bottle is a fault in my book as well (generally, you can't send them into a competition).

The SA glue comes off with a quick scrub from a stiff plastic brush. I brush all my bottles because for whatever none of the solvents I've used so far (bleach, ammonia, oxyclean) get it all off. Maybe it's my water.

For now I am doing a topless 2L coke bottle with ammonia water in it (saw a picture posted here on HBT). Since I drink one beer a night works well enough for me.

I am years away (in talent, skill, and and interest) from competitions so the stamped bottles don't bother me.

I wonder if micros ever consider the homebrew aftermarket when designing their bottles. All other things being equal, you'd get a built-in market of people who like good beer and need empties.

 

[jdoyle83]

I am not a huge fan of having "sam adams" in raised letters on all of my bottles of homebrew, why not go for a plain, unmarked bottle? Sierra nevada are good, i bellieve harpoon dominates my bottle collection, though. some magic hat, some long trail, maybe some ipswich... definitely not sam adams, though. I can't justify drinking that much of the stuff. It seems that the best beers come in the best bottles, in my [occasionally] humble opinion.
edit: I dominate spelling bees, fyi.