PET Bottle Carbonation

[masskrug]

For my first batch I split 12 glass bombers and 15 PET bombers to see if I could tell a difference in taste. After 5 weeks in the bottle, there is little difference in taste. However, the PET bottles are lacking head, carbonation and lacing. Is this common? I assure you the caps were screwed on tightly, and these were brand new PET bottles. Should I just go all glass?

 

[501irishred]

I've never seen that to be a problem. Did you throughly clean, fully rinse, and sanitize the bottles? Any residue (dirt, oils, soap) can cause problems with head retention. This includes the glass your pouring the beer into...

EDIT - I primarily use glass bottles, but always include 1 or 2 PET bottles per batch so I can better keep up with carbonation levels without opening a bottle. I've always had the same carbonation / head retention / lacing regardless of bottle used.

 

[masskrug]

Edit: The key is squeezing all of the air out of the bottle as you cap it. I haven't had an issue since then and I bottle in plastic now as often as I can.

 

[unionrdr]

Having always used a bottling wand, then bulk priming since batch two or three, I've never had much of a problem with the Cooper's PET bottles. but even when you think the caps are screwed on tightly, you still have to go back over them & give them another part of a turn to seal well. That's about the only way I can think of why this is happening. Bottling wand always gives proper head space when filling bottles, regardless of size. So it must be in the capping?...