Good Beer Bottles To Use
- Thread starter Andy_Burbank
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Any bottle from Bell's will work well for you. Most of my bottles are from Bell's. Soak them in warm water for a half hour and then gently peal off the labels and hit them with a scrub brush to knock off residual adhesive. No oxyclean or other cleaner is needed. Just high quality H 2 O.
If Bell's are hard to come by, then Sam Adam's will work also if you can tolerate "Samuel Adams" molded into the glass.
If Bell's are hard to come by, then Sam Adam's will work also if you can tolerate "Samuel Adams" molded into the glass.
idahobrew
Well-Known Member
I've been known to buy 6-packs of cool bottles and dump the free beer that came with them.
Are you serious? I like the red hook bottles, good beer and nice solid retro bottles. Don't dump beer, I think that's against one of the ten commandments.
Ive entered many competitions all over the country and have used nothing but sam bottles. what competitions dont allow use of sam bottles?
I use mostly Anchor Stream bottles, because I seem to have a lot of them lying about. Only problem I ever had was when bottling my first batch, the neck cracked on one, but I think that was just because I suck at capping That said, I do prefer longnecks, but the Anchor bottles do have a good "handfeel".
That said, I do prefer longnecks, but the Anchor bottles do have a good "handfeel".
Pretty much most bottles will work. I've used clear bottles, brown bottles, green bottles, 22 oz bottles, Swing tops, whatever. I bottled last weekend using 35 clear Coke bottles and a dozen short Chimay bottles for that batch. I wanted those because I carbed them to 3.5+ volumes of CO2. If you use clear bottles just keep them covered or out of light unless you're going for a Corona style.
beerloaf
beerloaf
There's an article in the wiki that compares characteristics of beer bottles and talks about how to remove labels. Feel free to add your own comments. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Bottles
Beers from the British Isles and Europe tend to be easiest to delabel. They also tend to have relatively narrow necks, which makes it harder to use a bottle brush (something I no longer bother with - if it needs to be scrubbed on the inside, it gets pitched).
Yeah,the German bottles are very easy to de-label,as are sam adams. I also found recently that Paulaner salvator doppel bock no longer has the bearded monks embossed around the shoulder.
ultrastevep
Member
No one has mentioned Guinness bottles, they are my favorite as the labels are a plastic wrap that you simply score with a knife and they fall off.
I kinda like the Michelob bottles too,with that fused neck look from the ring at the base of the neck.
Sam Adams bottles have their logo stamped into the glass, you arent supposed to be able to use anything with a stamped logo from a manufacturer
ChaosStout
Well-Known Member
I will never use Oxyclean again. After a 24 hr soak I rinsed and scrubbed with my bottle brush and after they air dried, I had wicked scale build up. Tried washing over and over to no avail.
I even cut back the soak to an hour and while the scale wasn't AS bad it still showed up. I had 60 bottles that I thought were ruined so I just soaked them over night in a 5 gal bucket full of Starsan I had left over from a previous bottling day. After rinsing and scrubbing, the Starsan seemed to get rid of it so I didn't have to chuck my bottles. But who knows, I live in FL and we have hard water so I am sure that had something to do with it.
Now...sorry about that rant...
I have Never had that problem Must be your water when mixed with oxyclean does nasty things.
Hot oxy clean FTW!
gcdowd
Well-Known Member
AdamPag said:
A little off topic but I've been wanting to try their White IPA. That good huh?
jvp1
Well-Known Member
Mickey's has some nice bottles. They're short, can be screwed on/off, and there are short riddle/puzzles under each cap. Labels come right off without even a soak, and the beer isn't bad, either.
You do need a pair of needle nose pliers to pull the plastic widget out of the bottle.
Extra stout bottles are good.
OP
OP
Andy_Burbank
Well-Known Member
I have a bunch of bottles, don't think they'll work but here's what I have that I'm not sure on - blue moon (pop off but has ridges), corona, taurino, & pacifico
Hang Glider
Beer Drinker
Andy - stay away from clear glass unless the beer will live in the dark somewhere. There is a mixture of sunlight, hops, malt and yeast that combine to skunk your beer. - this is not an old-wives-tale - do some research if you need to.
Miller uses a specialized hop oil to avoid this, but most folks are just used to corona's taste...
Miller uses a specialized hop oil to avoid this, but most folks are just used to corona's taste...
ReverseApacheMaster
Well-Known Member
The only bottles I've ever had break while bottling were new belgium bottles. The glass seems particularly thin. I suspect they buy thin bottles to reduce the packaging/shipping and ecological costs of the bottles. I've taken all my 12oz NB bottles out of use for fear of losing good beer to thin bottles. I should probably find somebody locally who is willing to use them.
I find any brown bottle that are free and that I can get the labels off are the best ones to use.
Ask friends for their empties!
Ask friends for their empties!
tennesseean_87
Well-Known Member
I use mostly Anchor Stream bottles, because I seem to have a lot of them lying about. Only problem I ever had was when bottling my first batch, the neck cracked on one, but I think that was just because I suck at capping
I had several anchor bottles crack on my first batch. It could have been that I was new to capping, but only the anchor bottles cracked, so I got rid of them.
Scot_chale
Well-Known Member
my cousin uses the guinness bottles. one cut with a razor blade and the plastic comes right off. they're 11.2oz so you'll get more bottles out of your batch, which helps the ego boost. also, if you have any major retail liquor stores in the area, you can usually find it on sale for a reasonable price. 10.99/12pk was the special he cashed in on. furthermore, one hell of a session beer. it's just a good thing they got rid of those widgets. i can't imagine trying to get those things out.I will never use Oxyclean again. After a 24 hr soak I rinsed and scrubbed with my bottle brush and after they air dried, I had wicked scale build up. Tried washing over and over to no avail.
I even cut back the soak to an hour and while the scale wasn't AS bad it still showed up. I had 60 bottles that I thought were ruined so I just soaked them over night in a 5 gal bucket full of Starsan I had left over from a previous bottling day. After rinsing and scrubbing, the Starsan seemed to get rid of it so I didn't have to chuck my bottles. But who knows, I live in FL and we have hard water so I am sure that had something to do with it.
Now...sorry about that rant...
DustjunkieScott
Active Member
I hate bottling, but do so when I have something planned or one of my 6 kegs is not empty. That said, I have been going to Baja, Mexico a lot and have been bringing 40oz Tecate bottles back. They have a crimp on cap just like everything else. The coolest thing is I can bottle 5 gallons with just 16 bottles.
