Can you bottle wine in beer bottles?

[GIusedtoBe]

With regular bottle caps? Just curious.

Thanks,
Al

 

[rod]

i bottled my mead that way.
i don't think it should hurt wine but wait for a wine expert to chime in.
maybe the cork allows the wine to breathe for long term storage?

 

[Yooper]

It's fine. Corks do "breathe" I guess, for super long term aging. I cork all my wines, but I really think it's more for the aesthetics than needing to be done that way. My wines will all be gone within two years after bottling, so I've never had anything around long enough to actually see how it ages!

I have done small "tester" amounts of wine in beer bottles and caps, and it's absolutely fine. It's not just as romantic as opening the foil around the top, using the corkscrew and decanting the wine.

 

[Petunia]

Hey, thanks for asking and thanks for the answer folks. I have been wondering about doing that too. I agree with you, YooperBrew, it isn't as nice but if it works it would be a nice way to have smaller amounts available.

Jennifer

 

[CBBaron]

I am experimenting with wine making but I didn't want to get and store a floor corker if I decided to stick with beer brewing. So I decided to bottle most of my batch in screw top bottles (so I can give away bottles of wine) and the rest in beer bottles (so I can sample small quantities as it ages). I am much less concerned about aesthetics than about functionality.
Craig Baker

 

[Dynachrome]

How about flip-tops, Fischer, Grolsch, etc?

 

[simbabrew]

Sure, I do it all the time. 12 oz. is a nice size for wine, open a bottle and have a couple glasses. And bottle caps are cheaper and easier than corks, and no need to lay the bottle on its side to keep the cork moist.

 

[waynetempro]

If your wine is dry, you should also fill it closer to the top when using bottle caps to avoid oxidation.

 

[Erik the Awful]

How about flip-tops, Fischer, Grolsch, etc?

I reuse wine and liquor bottles. If the wine bottles were corked instead of screw caps, I put flip tops on them. Sometimes you have to tweak the wire arms that hold the flip tops tighter, but I've had zero issues.

 

[lumpher]

It's ok to bottle wine the same way you bottle mead and beer. The most important thing is to keep the oxygen and bacteria out of it so you're not drinking cardboard or vinegar. Beer bottles, wine bottles, Grolsch, etc. all work fine.

 

[DuncB]

I've bottled plenty of wine in beer bottles and also champagne bottles all with crown caps.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

If they can put screw tops on it, I see no reason why you can't beer cap it.

 

[whoaru99]

I usually put some part of my wine batches into 1L flip tops. Have some at least 2 yrs, maybe more, and it's been fine. I did some nitrogen purge of the bottles before filling, and a top off blow down of the empty inch or two of the neck before closing.

 

[bwible]

I guess if I were on a deserted island and it was all I had. I put mead in beer bottles with a cap most of the time. I have put a few batches of mead in 375s with corks and shrinks.

Wine bottles should be easy enough to come by. If you go to any winery thats having an event and people are there buying bottles and drinking wine you can get all the free bottles you want. They are not allowed to re-use them. Far as a corker, yes the floor corker is an expense, especially if you don’t make wine regularly. Some hb shops might rent you one if you’re fortunate enough to still have a shop. If you belong to a club maybe someone in the club has one you could borrow. They sell smaller hand corkers that are cheaper but I do not recommend one of those.

As previously said, with wine it is more about aesthetics. Just like the Germans have traditions around beer for centuries, the French and the Italians have traditions around wine. If there was a better container or a better way to package wine I think they’d be doing it.

Some places sell the bag in a box kits for home winemakers. Or you can keg wine too. You push it with nitrogen instead of CO2.