Bottles to avoid. Proffered bottles?

[Jackjama]

I am collecting bottles for my first two batches of homebrew. Are all bottles the same? Do some cap better than others? If so what brand if any should I avoid? Which ones are best?

Thanks

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Avoid screw tops. Sam Adams bottled are nice and thick. Generally, avoid thinner bottles, although in truth, if you prime your bottles correctly, there should be no issue with any bottles.

As for bombers, be aware that a few seem to use a slightly oversized cap. But in general just seek out the heaviest seeming bottles you can find.

 

[day_trippr]

When I was building up my bottle collection I made 12 ounce long necks my standard and cashed back anything else (MA has a deposit law). Through diligent effort I eventually amassed a cache of 24 cases of 'em, mostly SA, Wachusetts, DFH, Mayflower, and the rest of the local micros.

They stood in good stead for years until I switched to kegging. Gave half of them away, but for some reason I still have a dozen cases of cleaned and bagged long necks sitting in my furnace room. Tried to give some away a couple of weeks ago but the intended recipient was too far away.

The only advise I would give is to standardize on one form factor if only to make bottling and handling easier. That's why I stuck with the long necks. Otherwise, avoid twist tops like the plague...

Cheers!

 

[kh54s10]

Any craft brew bottle with a pry off cap should be OK. There are a lot of threads about which are easier to get the labels off.

No screw on caps, although some have been able to use them.

Brown bottles or you have to take extra care to keep them out of light.

Free bottles are the best. Recycling center, local bar, or ask friends to save their empties.

 

[Jackjama]

I have a number of Sam Adams. They have a nice thick top. These bottles are similar to many craft brews. I also have a number of carta blanca from local resteraunt. These are brown but the necks are thin compared to Sam Adams. Do you see any problems? How about red stripe? I can get a bunch of these also.

 

[Wynne-R]

Some time ago, I took some homebrew to my brother’s house an hour away.

I held a bottle up to the light, and pointed to it, I don’t remember why. When I touched the cap with my fingernail it flew off. Hilarious.

You guessed it, twist off. I don’t know why it didn’t blow up in my car.

I agree with daytrippr, collect bottles of the same height. That implies you have a bench capper, well worth it. Best of luck.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

When I used to bottle I would only use bombers and Sierra Nevada bottles.

 

[BrewerBear]

Red Stripe can be a little akward if you use a wing capper, they can be capped though. No problems with them in a bench capper.

 

[Weeezle007]

Fullers London Pride and ESB (11.2 ounces) are REALLY dark and thick glass. Although at $12 a six they are pricey. I really like them though..and it gives me an excuse to buy more ESB!

As far as ones to avoid..IMO avoid the Belgium styles (require corking) of course if you want to cork..then get those. I also made the mistake of buying Hobgoblin..they have a rounded portion under the cap that made it impossible for me to cap them!! Mental note.. try one to make sure you can cap them before bottling day!!

 

[geosteve]

I've had bad luck with New Belgium bottles - they'll hold up OK, but the necks sometimes break when I open them. Like they break off in a neat complete ring, cap still on. Only happens to 1 in 20, but still. What a waste!

I keg now, so not such a problem anymore. I've eliminated the New Belgium bottles and started moving over to all bombers for what I do bottle.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

Avoid Anchor Steam bottles. They are cool looking short bottles and pry off but the neck ring is higher I can't get a cap on with my bench capper.

 

[KISS Brew]

I held a bottle up to the light, and pointed to it, I don’t remember why. When I touched the cap with my fingernail it flew off.

Sounds like a neat party trick.

You don't necessarily need to avoid clear and green bottles, but they need to be kept away from the light to prevent skunking beer within them.

 

[Jackjama]

Sorry for my ignorance. What is a bomber bottle?

I have a family Mexican restaurant I visit quite regularly. The only non screw tops they sell are corona, dos Equis, and carta Blanca. The plan is to get as many of theses as I need until I build up my inventory of Sam Adams type.

My hope is my wife will get so tired of me bottling in her kitchen that she lets me buy kegging equipment.

 

[mlyday]

Smithwicks are great. Nice and thick and really dark.

 

[geosteve]

Sorry for my ignorance. What is a bomber bottle?

I have a family Mexican restaurant I visit quite regularly. The only non screw tops they sell are corona...

Bombers are 22oz bottles, and are nice because they mean less bottles to fill. They do take a bit longer to carbonate in my experience, and you are in for 22oz of beer when you crack one open...

I've had good luck with corona bottles, actually. You just have to keep them dark so they don't get skunky. In a closed cardboard box would probably be ok!

 

[Bithead]

I use a lot of Dos Equis Amber bottles. They are a bit finicky sometimes but the work fine.

 

[medusa1066]

I stay away from Dos Equis bottles. I CANNOT get the labels off using the tried and true Oxiclean soak. Bithead, do you have a method to easily remove labels for these?

 

[Bithead]

Yea, they are a PITA to get off. I soak in Oxy for 24 hours, peel off whatever I can get off, put bottle back in the oxy for another hour or so then scrub the paper and glue with a green scrubbie. Takes some dedication but they are cheap and not too bad for a commercial brew.

 

[Subsailor]

I use only the 22oz bottles, I figure I'm going to drink more than 1 8oz to 12oz glass at a time anyway.
I like to use the Oxyclean soak and then remove what I can after 24hrs. soak again for a little while and use an old battery powered multi-directional toothbrush to finish the scrub and clean.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I use Sam Adams and New Belgium. I've only had 1 bottle break (out of 100 bottled) and that was a Sam Adams!

 

[Curtis2010]

Don't do much bottling anymore, but 1 liter flip top bottles sure make it a lot easier. Fewer bottles to sanitize, fewer bottles to fill, no capping! And, if you suspect a bottle bomb you can give a little burp.

 

[Gixxer]

Yea those Fuller's London pride bottles are very nice for reloading. Sam Adams and sierra Nevada bottles are in my rotation too

 

[Jackjama]

Thanks for all the replies. I have never bought any beers in bomber bottles. Do they sell beer in bomber bottles?

 

[kaboom133]

Green flash bottles are the thickest and sturdiest that I have been able to find. That said, I use whatever I can get my hands on and have never had a broken bottle or problem of any kind with any pop top bottle, and I've used just about everything.

 

[geosteve]

Do they sell beer in bomber bottles?

You bet. You'll have to head to a proper liquor store though, depending on where you live. Just look for beer in bigger bottles! Around here some of the liquor stores have some good deals on some good beers packaged in 22oz bottles...

 

[Sideways]

I like the stubby Red Hook bottles. Sierra Nevada as well.

 

[aphid_rancher]

Look at the bottle. There are two rings in the glass. One at the top that the cap is crimped over, and one below it that a wing capper uses to pull the bell down onto cap to crimp it. I found out the hard way that the top ring on ***** Modelo bottles are too fat. I had some good looking bottles from imports that had the lower ring too close to the top and the wing capper could not pull the bell down far enough. If you ever brew for a competition plain brown bottles are usually required.

 

[Wulfman]

Avoid Anchor Steam bottles. They are cool looking short bottles and pry off but the neck ring is higher I can't get a cap on with my bench capper.

I bottled quite a few with Anchor steam bottles.. but they are thin glass I guess.. because I crushed a few bottles with my metal red capper.. I do not save these bottles anymore

 

[fergusmj]

I started taking any bottles I could get my hands on. Now that I've found the local recyling center bins, I'm becoming more picky. I use milk crates that perfectly hold 25 bottles / crate with the normal long necks. I stick with the long necks for this reason. I just gave away a case of the sierra nevada bottles and the woodchuck cider bottles since they are the stubbies. I have a lot of sam adams and new belgiam bottles and have not had any issues with those. We have a local brewery that has nice bottles too that I like to use. I will eventually filter out my bottles even more to have the same style of long necks even....maybe I'm a little weird.

 

[BrewerBear]

nothing wrong with consistency

 

[cknittle]

I use Pacifico bottles. I get them for free from a local dive bar. Just have to go in at like 3 in the morning before they take the trash out. Every once in a while I like to get my hands on some Sierra nevada bottles or red hook bottles. And those I use for gifts normally.

 

[mredge73]

Thanks for all the replies. I have never bought any beers in bomber bottles. Do they sell beer in bomber bottles?

There are plenty of HEB and SPECS in Houston.
Lots of bombers from local breweries. St. Arnold's (Houston) releases their seasonal brews in bombers and most are quite good. Had an Endeavor IPA yesterday and was very pleased. I have on occasion found Flanders flip tops at HEB as well for under $5 each.

 

[Squirrels]

I really like using New Glarus bottles. Super easy to remove the labels. I use a bench capper and just organize my bottles before bottling so I can make sure I use the same setting on my capper when bottling. I also really like my swing tops I've collected - with these see if you can cap them. It makes for a good backup when your swing-top needs a new gasket.

A great capper is the Colonna capper as it is easy to adjust, has both standard and European bells, and can cork (can anyone say belgians).

 

[Jackjama]

Ok i bottled two five gallon batches of beer today. I used a wing capper. The sierra nevada and sam adams worked great. The carta blanca and dos equis did not work at all. I also had twelve bomber bottles from the brew shop. They aloso worked ok.

I am guessing the other bottles would have worked fine with a bench capper. The wing capper i had could not get on some type of bottles.

 

[Flyway1]

I really like using New Glarus bottles. Super easy to remove the labels. I use a bench capper and just organize my bottles before bottling so I can make sure I use the same setting on my capper when bottling. I also really like my swing tops I've collected - with these see if you can cap them. It makes for a good backup when your swing-top needs a new gasket.

A great capper is the Colonna capper as it is easy to adjust, has both standard and European bells, and can cork (can anyone say belgians).

Good to read this, because I've been going to town on Staghorn and Laughing Fox lately, in my collection efforts! Thanks fellow 'sconny!

 

[BoomerSoonerBrewer]

I love Sierra Nevada bottles and bombers FTW.

 

[douglasbarbin]

Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, and Abita are all good IMO.

 

[Slowfro]

I've used a ton of Sam Adams bottles as their Light used to be my wife's favorite commercial beer. They use the same 12oz bottle as DFH, New Glarus, and about 65% of craft beer. I also have a ton of Sierra Nevada, and lately I've like the Red Hook bottle too. My clear favorite are 22oz though as they make the process so much faster.

 

[daksin]

I prefer the Sierra Nevada/Lagunitas stubbies, as the labels come off extremely easily and the glass has no molding (brands or images in the glass). I also will take any non-molded longneck, but avoid anything where the bottle can be identified after the label is removed (Sam Adams etc). Painted on labels are fine too, as they come off with no scrubbing after an overnight soak in star-san.

 

[Bithead]

I just did several cases of bottles. The BEST of the bunch were Hacker-Pschorr. Labels came off soooooooooo easy and no glue residue.

AND...Easier than Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada bottles.