Bottles: will plastic work?

[troublemaker]

Newby Question:
So heres the deal, Mr.Beer comes with 6 or so plastic bottles (PET plastic). Does that mean i too can use plastic bottles (commercial plastic; coke bottles), until i get my hands on 50 or so glass pop tops?

 

[sirsloop]

You *can... but glass bottles are preferred. I dont know how well the plastic caps will hold up.

 

[c.n.budz]

yeah, just wash them out really well to get all the soda smell/taste out of them. IIRC, root beer is a really tough flavor to get rid of

 

[Jim Karr]

I've been using the Aquafina water bottles for a long time. Caps will bulge upward from carbonation pressure, but they won't pop off.

Use plastic bottles and RDWHAHB!

 

[bradsul]

I only use PET plastic 'long neck' bottles. I replace the caps every 2 or 3 uses and I've never had a problem. If you're going to re-use pop bottles I would check with your LHBS and see if they sell new caps for them.

I prefer them to glass because they won't break. I've also aged beers in them for over a year with no problems so don't worry about oxygen permeability.

 

[cnoyes]

I just used a 2-liter Coke bottle cause I didn't have enough empties on hand. Worked just fine. Just be sure to keep it out of the light (assuming it isn't brown).