My source for free bottles

[jtvinny]

Well I scored some .5 l bottles last week (to include an undisclosed number of flippies ). All I had to do was give them an oxyclean bath and rinse.

I called the local German restaurant and asked what they did with their bottles- The response was that they have to recycle them now so I am free to raid the recycling bin whenever I want.

I am assuming that the 1/2 liter bottles are better than our 12 oz'ers, is that a safe assumption? I noticed that the Tucher bottles are somewhat heavier and darker than the rest. Give it a try!

 

[Evan!]

What do you mean, "better"? If, by "better", you mean the quality of the product will somehow change, I'd say no. But if, by "better", you mean that you can bottle more beer in each bottle, thus reducing the number of bottles you'll have to fill for each batch, thus saving you time, then yes, your assumption would be correct.

Good job on the find, though!

 

[jtvinny]

I realize that these won't make my beer any better, I was just wondering if the glass was thicker, if these were less likely to become bottle bombs. I do like that it takes fewer bottles and I usually think that 12 oz just isn't enough (I haven't brewed anything high gravity yet).

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Congrats on the find... !

Anyway, if you brew and bottle in the appropriate manner and you won't need to worry about a bottle-bomb. Don't bottle early!! Use a hydrometer!! In most cases, if a 12oz. is going to burst, so will these. They might be slightly thicker glass, which could help, but usually when a bottle bombs, the pressure is excessive due to bottling too early, using double the priming sugar necessary, etc. Then they'll bomb even the big bottle... Then they aren't 'better' b/c there is more glass flying around!

Bottling less though is definitely a plus!

 

[jtvinny]

[ Then they'll bomb even the big bottle... Then they aren't 'better' b/c there is more glass flying around! QUOTE]

That's true! I would much prefer to drop a 12oz bottle on the tile floor than a carboy so I guess bigger is not necessarily better in that case.

 

[cheezydemon]

As has been said, bottle bombs are not a real concern if you follow protocol.

The real question, is "are they thicker glass, and therefore less likely to crack when bottling"

I still get, on average, 1 total loss of a 12 ounce bottle per batch. Maybe re-use, and banging around causes invisible stress fractures that crunch under the capper.

I have yet to lose a 22 or 16 oz glass bottle though.