Can I reuse store bought bottles?

[robdom3]

It's time to bottle my brew, and would you believe that my order of bottles won't get here in time (according to UPS they are grounded due to the snow storm). Can I just do to my local safeway buy beer and use those bottles (I have caps and a capper)?

 

[BBQnBEER]

I reuse all my bombers. Haven't had any problems.

 

[cheesehed007]

As long as they are not twist off.


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[Woody1911a1]

thing is , is that there's really no rush to bottle them . i'm assuming this is a kit and the instructions said to bottle after 2 weeks , when in reality it would be much better to wait 3 .

if not the case ...

 

[troy2000]

I remember reading somewhere that the majority of entries received at homebrew competitions are in reused commercial bottles....

The problem comes when you tackle twist-off bottles.

I've never tried it, but I suspect my antique Ebay-special bench capper would seal the caps on them just fine. But people who use wing cappers apparently break some of the twist-off bottlenecks, because they're flimsier than the pry-off bottles and a wing capper applies pressure from two directions.

If you want to play safe, buy beer that isn't in twist-off bottles. Sort through the craft beers and imports. Most beers that are twist-off will say so somewhere, either on the cap or on the label.

 

[kh54s10]

I assume a 5 gallon batch...?? Are you going to drink 50+ bottles in a few days, waste beer, even if it is swill, by dumping it out, or let your beer get better by waiting for a few days for the bottles that you already paid for???

You don't HAVE to bottle by any schedule. It is often better to wait longer. I have left beer in primary for around 6 weeks and those have turned out some of my best.

Wait for your bottles to arrive.

When you need more bottles, commercial bottles are fine if they are pry off caps. A good portion of my bottles are Sam Adams bottles.

 

[Spookgolds]

I used to reuse commercial bottles all the time, but since I am anal about peeling the labels and cleaning them, I found it is much easier and far less time consuming to just buy a case from my LHBS for $12.95 and reuse those as they come back in.

 

[troy2000]

I assume a 5 gallon batch...?? Are you going to drink 50+ bottles in a few days, waste beer, even if it is swill, by dumping it out, or let your beer get better by waiting for a few days for the bottles that you already paid for???

You don't HAVE to bottle by any schedule. It is often better to wait longer. I have left beer in primary for around 6 weeks and those have turned out some of my best.

Wait for your bottles to arrive.

When you need more bottles, commercial bottles are fine if they are pry off caps. A good portion of my bottles are Sam Adams bottles.

+1 on that; there's no reason to hold to a rigid schedule on bottling. Holding off a few days for the bottles to arrive isn't going to hurt his beer.

On the other hand, I know the feeling of looking at something and wanting to do it now....

My latest batch is the first one where I think I left it in primary too long; it has a cardboard taste almost like oxidation. But I'm an eternal optimist; I'll let it set in the bottles for a couple of months.

And it wasn't the time as much as it was the temperatures during that time. I was brewing a Belgian saison using Danstar Belle Saison yeast, and I was slow turning the temp down after fermentation was mostly done.

 

[MaxStout]

A couple things to do in this situation:

1. As others have mentioned, don't worry about bottling "on time." It won't hurt to keep your beer in the fermenter a while longer. This will give you more time to wait for your UPS shipment.

2. In the meantime, hedge your bet by buying some craft beer you like, and enjoying some brews during this time. Check for sale prices on cartons of something like Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, etc. Even when your bottles arrive, you will have extras on hand. You can never have too many bottles.

 

[robdom3]

This is my first time NOT using a Mr. Beer.... Finally upgraded my gear and Im trying to brew a Mens Room Red clone, so I was kind of following the instructions that the store gave me to a T.

Thanks for the bottling heads up!

 

[bboyeruga]

I buy a 6 pack of craft every time I go to the store. I put a couple in the fridge when I want to drink some and always have bottles. I've got two areas where I store my labels on bottles and my de-labeled bottles. When I'm running low on de-labeled bottles, I grab some buckets, some Oxyclean Free and hot water and soak about 15 labeled bottles in it overnight. Labels peel right off and no one can tell it's a reused bottle (except for sam adams which has their logo raised in the glass).

In the end, 2/3 of my beer gets drank by myself and my friends who don't care as long as the contents are good.

 

[Zepth]

I can't speak for other stores but at the LCBO (Liquor control board of Ontario) they sell single bottles in the fridge section. If you've got a keen eye you can tell by looking at the bottles carefully if it's a pry off or twist off. Options then include buying a selection of singles or a case of something that sounds interesting. Personally I prefer clear bottles. Much easier to stop the pour before you get any sediment (if that's the intention for that particular brew). As far as light penetration goes all my bottles live in boxes, in a closet. No light getting anywhere close to them.

A coworker I've shared some beer with has commented on my laziness to remove labels. He said that if it was fine with me he'd soak them and take them off before returning the empties. I told him I was going to cycle the entire inventory through him eventually.

 

[Leithoa]

I, as a rule, don't buy empty bottles. My batches also tend to be smaller(3G) than most peoples so it's not hard to get some empties in a hurry. Some options to consider:
A) If you're feeling generous have some buddies over to help you drink, or request they bring over/save pry-offs for you
B) Find a sympathetic bar to hold onto bottles for you. Many will if you promise to pick them up the next day(ie; Sat/Sun morning)
C) keep an eye on craigslist, or the HBT classifieds for people near you giving away empties
D) Bottle in soda bottles. Anything that held carbonation before can hold it again. Though you hear different 'best buy' time frames in my experience as long as you drink the beer within 2 months there's no change in quality. PS: a 2L is roughly 6 beers

 

[SeeAliceBrewery]

There is nothing that bothers me more than buying bottles....today I was forced to buy two cases of bottles for my soon to be upcoming bottling. I guess I feel good in the fact that I bought them for 10.99 a case...but I still feel it to be an oxymoron to purchase empty beer bottles! Hopefully my friends and I can drink up some Sam Adams to keep me supplied so this will be my last empty bottle purchase....

 

[Bordy]

An oxyclean soak overnight and a blast with a high pressure hose nozzle usually works great for me. I also have a bottle brush just in case. Labels come off easy and with one pass of a scrubber, so does the glue. I prefer 22s or 24s because it requires half the cleaning, and I also hardly ever drink one single beer.


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[danthebugman]

If you have a local recycling center, see if you can get bottles there. My local recycling center will let you have all you want. You just have to go pick them out and clean them (which isn't much work after a hot Oxyclean soak). I've never understood paying for empties.

 

[Scout001]

I use the Grolsch swingtops. Its a bit of an investment initially, but you catch a great buzz off a solid Lager emptying them, they are 15 oz, so you can leave the yeasty portion in them with zero guilt, and they are less work when bottling solo. Replacement O-Rings are bout the same as buying bottle caps. This is better advice I'm sure for somebody getting into the hobby, but it doesnt hurt grabbing a 4 pack every once in a while and building up a collection for JIC

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[Sbarnard80]

If you have a local recycling center, see if you can get bottles there. My local recycling center will let you have all you want. You just have to go pick them out and clean them (which isn't much work after a hot Oxyclean soak). I've never understood paying for empties.

Have also gotten some from recycling center, they work great of course after a nice long soak -over 24hours to ease the squirmy feeling I might otherwise feel.

 

[sammfol3y]

as long as you sterilize them well and keep them clean before bottling, sure you can reuse them

 

[uatuba]

I've got over 500 glass bottles and only purchased 24...when I first started. I also have 60 16 oz PET bottles as well as 24 22 oz PET bottles, but I rarely use those. I tried the kegging thing for a while, but I prefer bottling. It didn't dawn on me to reuse my Sam Adams bottles until after I had added another case of brand new bottles to my shopping cart on Northern Brewer and I was sipping some beer in a green bottle. I thought how cool it would be to use them to give away some wine I had made...


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[Reindeer]

I only use bottles that I recycle. I when I'm done drinking them I rinse them out good and put them upside down in an empty six pack holder. Gotta drink a lot of beer to have enough empties to bottle a batch, which isn't a problem for me.

When I'm ready to bottle I soak them in a bucket of PBW. Some brands the labels fall right off, others won't come off at all.

 

[Weizer]

I refuse to buy bottles. I drink a **** ton of commercial beer as it is. Unless the bottle had a sour beer in it, I clean it, and use it for homebrew. I've never had a single problem.

 

[knelson13A]

A good portion of my bottles are Sam Adams bottles.

Same here. I told a tailgating buddy at the start of football season that I was collecting bottles to reuse, and every game after that, he had at least a 12-pack of Sam Adams to drink, and I went home with the empties.

 

[petrolSpice]

I've found that it's cheaper to buy a 24pk of beer locally than buy 24pk of empty bottles plus shipping. After I drink one I rinse it out and place it upside down to dry. I'll also let them soak in a sink of hot water which makes the labels easy to peel off, then use a sponge or a scrub pad to remove the glue. Delabeling 1-2 bottles a day is much better than trying to do 50+ in one sittting.

 

[uatuba]

Oxiclean and PBW are scrub free for 99% of labels.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Yup, oxy free and PBW work great. Its not a ton of work. I use a round rubbermaid tub in our rather large bathtub. It can hold over 50 bottles. Fill it with hot water and oxy or pbw, soak overnight, rinse clean. Always some peskier labels which might require a quick once over with a bottle brush. I just delabeled and cleaned 48 bottles today. Took me less than an hour by the tub. I don't envision ever needing to buy (empty) bottles again. I prefer the ones that come with beer.

 

[Kampenken]

One more thought to add here on obtaining bottles. I am from PA, just back to brewing after a 13yr hiatus (where did the time go!), and back then I purchase return-ables from my local beer distributor (arcane PA laws here-longer story) for $1.50/case! And in those awesome super strong beer cases. Today PA no longer has returnable bottles (sigh) but I saved bottles ahead of time- re-use 'em, re-use 'em!!

 

[skipper1953]

I went to the local liquor store and bought several cases of returned bottles. I think I paid $1.25 a case for the bottles. I had to cull out some of the bottles because they were kind of rough looking. I took the culls back to the liquor store and traded them in for a $1.25 deposit.

I clean bottles on rainy Saturday afternoons. Oxy and PBW work wonders on most labels. I don't mind putting a bit of elbow grease into the process. I get lots of good sturdy bottles for a little over five cents each.

I buy plenty of full bottles, also.

 

[fearwig]

My latest batch is the first one where I think I left it in primary too long; it has a cardboard taste almost like oxidation. But I'm an eternal optimist; I'll let it set in the bottles for a couple of months.

Too long in primary shouldn't oxidize it unless something happens to it along the way--not six weeks, anyway. The supposed risk of primaries longer than a month or so is autolysis (cell death), though that's supposed to be soapy or even kind of septic smelling.

 

[MaxStout]

Hit up your local bartender and ask if you can grab the empties after a weekend is over. While you're in there, buy a few drinks to return the favor.

When I started homebrewing I bought 2 cases of new bottles from the LHBS, and afterwards, I swore I'd never do that again. Free bottles are the best.

 

[smileyak87]

My buddy just gave me 14 cases of mixed Sierra Nevada and Alaskan brewing bottles. I'm set for a while lol


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[MarathonMurse]

I just started brewing, having gotten a kit for Christmas, but found I was more than able to collect a batch worth of bottles while my first brew fermented.

I know there's a lot of Guinness hate, but it costs just as much as empties do, and the labels are plastic- no scrubbing necessary!

 

[flyerdx]

I use twist off bottles all the time and they seal fine. I use my kegs first for inside use, then i bottle using Grolsh fliptops or regular twist offs for taking out to the garage. they seal fine. I have a good capper and not the cheap wing one

 

[fearwig]

I just started brewing, having gotten a kit for Christmas, but found I was more than able to collect a batch worth of bottles while my first brew fermented.

I know there's a lot of Guinness hate, but it costs just as much as empties do, and the labels are plastic- no scrubbing necessary!

I don't know about regular guinness bottles, but the bombers have that goddamn thin lower lip that makes my capper slip! I owe a lot of crumpled caps to those little bastards.

But to answer OP, don't buy bottles from a LHBS or online. Empty beer bottles are free, or as free as beer.

I am curious about favored label removal methods, though. I see a lot of base solutions used, baking soda and PBW/Oxi, even caustic and ammonia--chlorine bleach doesn't help, I guess? I mean I assume I'd see lots of people recommending bleach if it worked. I always used straight water, and I've finally got my brew volumes up to where I need to do another five or six cases of bottles, so I'm hoping for an easy out. I suppose a weak caustic solution wouldn't be such a pain in the butt.

 

[freisste]

Oxyclean couldn't be easier. Labels literally fall off. Most of the time, anyway.

 

[smileyak87]

I agree with oxyclean. Makes the labels slide right off

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[uatuba]

I've only had one type to survive Oxiclean...Yazoo Brewing's Amber Ale labels (which sucks because they were stubbies which I need). They're plastic (not paper or foil) and might as well be superglued to the damn bottle. It can't be cheap for them, and it promotes waste as well as me thinking twice about buying their beer next time.

Most craft brew labels will be floating after a 24-hour soak.

 

[MaxStout]

A little Oxi in warm water overnight, and most labels slide right off. Most European beer labels come off really easily.

Some don't come off in water, e.g., Two Brothers. Those are plastic, like little bumper stickers. But if you warm the bottle by running hot water over it, the labels soften and peel right off in one piece, with little or no adhesive remaining.

 

[rowan57]

Soak in hot water overnight - any that don't come off easily (i.e. slip off) or with a little scrubbing to get rid of some glue get recycled, I don't need them that bad.

 

[CaptainArgo]

I used an overnight soak in water + baking soda (maybe 1/4 cup per gal) to get labels off. Half of the labels fell off, the other half peeled off easily. The leftover glue was easy to simply rub off by hand for the most part, or with a nylon scrubber for the tougher stuff, using pretty much zero elbow grease.

Using that method I successfully de-labeled and capped a selection of Widmer, Pacifico, Sierra Nevada, and Newcastle bottles