Favorite Bottle to Recycle?

[Dunerunner]

Bombers from Alaskan. Love the 22oz bottles and the labels float right off after only a few hours in hot water and PBW.

I agree also with Deschutes 12's, the scroll work at the base of the neck is great and the labels come right off, residual glue scrubs off with a green Scotch pad.

 

[nanofreak]

Those fort bottles look just like Cigar City bottles, and I just got access to 36 of them. Hoped a regular cap would fit them well.

Also, I like the 24 ounce SN bottles, like from the hop harvest series, etc.

 

[BeerWars]

I love Hoegaarden bottles. But since I am new to the hobby I have whatever I can get my hands on (Hoe, Sam Adams, Stella, Sierra Nevada, Red Hook, Miller Light twist-offs). I would love to get a standard bottle but I can't justify buying bottles when I have my friends saving all their empty bottles for me.

Although I would be using those Jolly Pumpkin bottles if I could find those around here.

 

[jmancuso]

+1 on the Sptaten Optimator/Franziskaner bottles, I really like the shape and they are about the perfect size. I also like the DFH 12 oz bottles, there is just something about them, how they kind of look like the new bottles from the LHBS but more refined.

 

[kingmatt]

DFH Fort.

Big, heavy, brown, and takes a regular cap.

EDIT: Also Orval, but they're teeny.

I bought out my local Whole Foods' supply of the Dogfish Head "Squall IPA" and it is the same bottle as the Fort. Have been using them to cellar beers and love them!

 

[camiller]

DFH Fort.

Big, heavy, brown, and takes a regular cap.

EDIT: Also Orval, but they're teeny.

Does that DFH bottle take a "regular" 26mm crown or the 29mm crown? I've been collecting the Boulevard Smokestack Series 750ml bottles that are corked from the brewery but will take the larger 29mm crown. Also my LHBS stocks the same bottles new.

http://www.blvdbeer.com/smokestack/

 

[SumnerH]

The Dogfish bottles take a regular 26mm cap. I've found a few other brands like that, but I can't remember what they are.

Lots of American champagne/sparkling cider 750ml bottles do likewise, though they're not often brown.

 

[ArcticBrewer]

I like these a lot as well. From a local craft brewery called Garrison. A lot of their beers are in normal commercial beer bottles, but their special brews come in these.

Garrison is pretty good, although there are better local breweries in my opinion.

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but must concur that Garrison (and most German import 500mL bottles) work fantastic for capping, my favourite volume and rarely get a bad seal with my cheapo wing capper. Less capping than all 12oz bottles but more practical than bombers

 

[ozzy1038]

New Belgium come right off. Sam Adams are good too. Schlenkerla are good as well.

 

[tcory77]

I think I was in this thread somewhere in the past, but will chime in now too.

Fullers bottles are awesome, built like tanks!!!!!

SN, Sam adams are long time staples.

I have been trying to get my hands on something a little different. The new red hook bottles are awesome, anchor steam bottles are cool. I would like to get the paint off of a bunch of redstripe bottles I own, but that is a different story.

New belgium bottles are cool, love the hoegardden bottles, and the short squatty belgium bottles (from various breweries) and nice.

I have recently got my hands on a few champagne type bottles like posted above that take 26mm caps and they are really cool. I plan on using them if we are invited over to a dinner party or something like that. Instead of bringing a bottle of wine for the hosts I will bring a bottle of home brew for them, if I think they like beer that is. I am going to make my own labels for them as well.

No need to buy bottles when there are so many options from commercial beers, plus you get the bonus of them already coming with beer in them!!!!

 

[solbes]

Hoegardden are cool, but I only have 12 Also they screw you out of 0.8 oz, not sure why.

Schells beer in MN has labels that fall right off in oxyclean. And they are completely blank and match the style you buy in the brewstores exactly. I like their bottles so much I bought two 12 packs of ther Winter Storm brew, a Weizen Dopplebock. Started out good. But I let 12 of them sit for awhile and they were almost undrinkable.

 

[BigRob]

Been collecting these 750ml Swing tops, labels suck to remove, but the bottles are sturdy. My buddy has dozens of them, bottled his first batch exclusively in them.

I also usually troll the thrift shops for Grolsch bottles and cheap glassware, I've scored a couple big 2L Swing Top growlers doing this as well. I haven't had any carb issues with Swing Tops so I'm a big fan of them.

 

[BobTheAverage]

There is a glass recycling place near my parents house. I live a couple hours away from them but when I am there I go and raid all of the empty bottles I can get my hands on. My first choice on the bottles are Guinness, Sam Adams and Hoegaarden. The Guinness labels can be cut off. The Sam Adams and Hoegaarden labels come off very easily when soaked in water.

There are usually four or five big tall recycling bins full of glass with probably a third of that beer bottles. I can get all I need without having to stoop to scrubbing the crap out of Heineken. Supposedly those come off in Oxyclean but lately I have had more bottles than I have beer. I haven't actually spent the $10 i would need for a big thing of Oxyclean.

 

[magnacasa]

I like the Guinness Extra Stout bottles. I guess it is just the old-time milk bottle shape, they also don't need quite as tall of a shelf in the fridge. I also have a couple of really old bottles from PBR and Stroh's that are the same shape (they came from the neighbor's garage after he died, they are probably at least 30 years old).

 

[tcory77]

solbes

Screw you out of 0.8 oz? really? i mean yes they are something like 11.2 or 11.4 oz bottles, but no one is getting screwed out of anything here. You are looking at it all wrong. You get an extra beer or 2 per batch......i mean really who can tell if it is a little short of 12 oz? Enjoy the cool bottle and great beer........that you brew!!!!! If not ship me your hoegardden bottles!!!!!!! Or fuller bottles for that matter!!!!!!!!!

 

[BGates14]

southern tier is probably the easiest to de-label. Sierra Nevada is definitely my favorite bottle size/style so far. I got an 18 pack of these brand new from the guy I bought my first set of equipment from and theyre awesome for saving at least one per batch of:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...cap-bottles-brown-1-liter-with-flip-tops.html

 

[solbes]

solbes

Screw you out of 0.8 oz? really? i mean yes they are something like 11.2 or 11.4 oz bottles, but no one is getting screwed out of anything here. You are looking at it all wrong. You get an extra beer or 2 per batch......i mean really who can tell if it is a little short of 12 oz? Enjoy the cool bottle and great beer........that you brew!!!!! If not ship me your hoegardden bottles!!!!!!! Or fuller bottles for that matter!!!!!!!!!

Ah, thats the problem with the internet, I was just being sarcastic. I actually enjoy Hoegardden quite a bit. Yeah I don't really get worked up over 0.8 oz, just seems like a nonstandard size. Fun to bottle Belgians in bottles from Belgium.

If I ever get tired of the Patersbier/Dubbels/Tripels, I might try my hand at a wit beer.

 

[GreenBoneBrew]

Since I still pretty new to brewing, I go with the labels that are easy to take off. Right now Dogfish has the best drinking to ease of de-labeling, both very easy.

 

[Krausen89]

I almost always use yuengling bottles. the screw off caps work surprisingly wellfor me. has any one ever tried them?

 

[DMartin]

I like Amstel Light and Heineken bottles, because I like the shape and the plastic labels come off easy. For clear bottles I would have to say Modelo even though they are a pain to de-label.

Guinness bottles are by far the sexiest, and the label is just shrunk plastic, no glue at all. The only issue there is removing the "widget," which can be done with a little patience and dexterity.

I should point out that I work at a bar, so I get to be picky about which bottles I want. If I didn't then I'd probably just use whatever I drink. Good bottles aren't worth paying for bad beer.

Stella Artois and Pilsner Urquell bottles are TERRIBLE and do not work with a handheld capper. Just saying.

 

[unionrdr]

The German paulaner bottles are by far the easiest for me. I soak bottles in PBW to clean & De-label them. I've had the Paulaner labels come off in 1 hour. Plus they're an amber-brown,with bearded monks embossed around the shoulder of the bottle.
But Sam Adams are easy too,as are DFH's. Franziskaner's are pretty easy as well.

 

[Jerryskid89]

I like these from Boulevard Brewing Co. It's hard to build a collection when they are only sold in 4 pack!

 

[Beerbeque]

95% of my bottles are Sierra Nevada. The 12 paks are so easy to move and stack.

 

[weirdboy]

A member of my homebrew club is a regional sales guy for Sierra Nevada. I personally don't like the bottles as much because they aren't "compatible" with other boxes or 6-pack carriers without some squeezing and cursing. And vice-versa...I can only put SN bottles in a SN 12-pack because the others are too tall. But, the labels do come off easily.

I personally like Deschutes as the bottles are average height and it's easy to remove the labels. But I actually haven't been bottling much lately, so my opinion probably isn't worth much.

 

[bengerman]

I use red hook's newer style stubby bottles.

 

[HopHead209]

2nd the red hooks, before brewing my own i was on a longhammer kick for about a year. I acumulated 300+.

 

[DMartin]

The restaurant I work for just added Loose Cannon IPA (from Heavy Seas in Baltimore) for the same price as BMC bottles. Needless to say, I'll be recycling a few cases.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

I like these a lot as well. From a local craft brewery called Garrison. A lot of their beers are in normal commercial beer bottles, but their special brews come in these.

Garrison is pretty good, although there are better local breweries in my opinion.

I'm working on collecting their 500ml bottles, but I prefer Propeller. Propeller Pilsner comes in a 500ml, but I'm not a big fan.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Grolsch and Fischer swingtops.....cheap and somewhat easy to find, and fit nicely in milkcrates

also use a few pry off bottles, but these are harder to come accross in my area. Use 500ml Picaroons bottles, as well as the Garrison bottles that were already posted above.

The labels on Picaroons are awful. That plastic coating. Blah. Like the bottles though.

 

[kaboom505]

750mL "Champagne" bottles from Gruet (great value sparkling wine from NM, traditional method so heavy and will take pressure) seem to take the same old crown cap that the usual 12oz beer bottles do.

"but dear wife - it's Sunday - we need empty bottles - have another mimosa..."