How many times can you reuse bottles?

[prjectmayhem]

I've been using the same 100 (or so) bottles for about 2 years now and am wondering how many more times I can reuse them before they become structurally compromised (ie-before they can't withstand carb pressures and becomes bombs). Each one has been used roughly 10 times but I am starting to get worried that they may be on their way out (unless yall can offer more info!) Thanks

 

[neo71665]

I have/use glass bottles well over 15 years old.

 

[Beernik]

I use mine until I bottle something in them that gets crusted on them. I've had some bottles for 7 years.

 

[hunter_le five]

I used the same set of ~50 bottles for about 3 years and they began to fail. I would go to pry the cap off of the bottle, and around 25% of the time the neck would snap clean off, with the cap still attached. I don't know if they had been over-pressurized, pressurized too many times, or if I was just manhandling the bottle capper too much. Anyway I just threw all of them out once I finished the batch.

I almost exclusively keg now so I can't speak for my new set of bottles, which have only been used once.

 

[duboman]

I've been using the Sam bottles over and over every year for I don't even know how many years and none have failed yet

 

[TAK]

I used the same set of ~50 bottles for about 3 years and they began to fail. I would go to pry the cap off of the bottle, and around 25% of the time the neck would snap clean off, with the cap still attached. I don't know if they had been over-pressurized, pressurized too many times, or if I was just manhandling the bottle capper too much. Anyway I just threw all of them out once I finished the batch.

I almost exclusively keg now so I can't speak for my new set of bottles, which have only been used once.

How did you sanitize the bottles? I know some people heat them gently in the oven to sterilize. This will hurt the stability of the glass over time. I wouldn't be surprised if heat from a dishwasher will slowly hurt the glass too.

 

[hunter_le five]

How did you sanitize the bottles? I know some people heat them gently in the oven to sterilize. This will hurt the stability of the glass over time. I wouldn't be surprised if heat from a dishwasher will slowly hurt the glass too.

Just PBW and star San in warm water. No excessive heat.

I'm guessing I was just over aggressive with the capper.

 

[Rivenin]

i have these and they're holding up rather fine.
a friend gave them to me... last time they were used was 1990

hard to tell in the pic, but they're roughly twice the thickness and a bit taller and weigh a bit extra. but they're holding up fine 23 years later.

 

[Slipgate]

You can reuse them until your lips wear down the opening.

 

[outside92129]

It's not the carb re/pressuring you should be worried about, but rather the wear and tear done by capping. Depending on your capper and/or bottles you could be good for decades.

 

[uatuba]

I'm no glass blower, but I'm fairly certain an oven or dishwasher will have zero effect on a glass bottle. If you heat them to 1000 degrees or so, it will start to deform and you can make nifty spoon rests out of them. Even so, a bottle will not noticeably "degrade" due to gradual temperature cycles.