question about reusing old beer bottles

[scott69]

A friend at work has a huge pile of old (1970s-1980s) quart size beer bottles that were dumped on his land long ago,there are both amber and green bottles.I brought home a few to see how they clean up,and they cleaned up fine,but some seem to be a little discolored from setting in the sun for so long.My question is-will they be ok to bottle in since the uv rays might have weakend the glass?They seem like they have thick glass,but I dont want exploding bottles!If they are ok I think I hit the motherload!Any help on this would be appreciated.Thanks

 

[copper]

Sounds like a great cache of booty, but personally I would give them a pass. But that's just me.

 

[Nickme23]

Next time you brew fill a handful of em and see if they hold. Or instead of risking some good beer just brew up a cheap nasty batch with some extract or priming sugar, and instead of fermenting, just mix your yeast starter in with the priming sugar, rack to the bottles, cap em and wait a couple weeks, if they hold then great! If the bust then you'll know they won't hold and this way you wouldn't have wasted any beer, just some yeast and sugar, plus you wouldn't have tied up a primary for a week or two just to test the bottles.

 

[scott69]

yeah,I am going to try some sugar and bakers yeast to see what happens on a few of them,I hope they are ok i brewed an ale last weekend counting on using these bottles since i used my last good bottles on the last batch.Anyone know the damage uv rays on glass?

 

[ChshreCat]

I'd be a little worried about the effect of the elements on them. Baking in the sun all summer and freezing over the winter, over and over for decades? Not sure if I'd trust 'em. They could be just fine though. No telling, really, unless you give 'em a try.

 

[cockybitz]

I don't think weathered windows weaken. Next time that you bottle just fill one and put somewhere where an explosion won't be tragic. I do that with every batch anyway, just to be on the safe side. I store it warmer than the rest.

 

[devilishprune]

yeah,I am going to try some sugar and bakers yeast to see what happens on a few of them,I hope they are ok i brewed an ale last weekend counting on using these bottles since i used my last good bottles on the last batch.Anyone know the damage uv rays on glass?

If you do this, you might want to make some measurements and see how many volumes of CO2 you're priming to. If you prime too high, then that amount of CO2 could make any bottle explode, and not just your old ones.

 

[scott69]

I made a small test batch with some DME and some leftover Nottingham brewing yeast, filled 1 bottle and capped,filled a 2nd bottle plugged with a fermentation lock so I can watch to see how high the ferm. rate is.Is there anything else I can do to check co2?

 

[ThreeDogsNE]

How much DME did you use, and in what volume? Usual bottle conditioning would use 1&1/4 cups (300 ml) of DME for a 5 gallon batch, or perhaps 1 & 2/3 cups (400ml) if you want higher carbonation. That's 300-400 ml/20 l of wort, or 15-20 ml/l, or roughly 3-4 teaspoons of DME per quart. If that's what you used, you should know in a few days if the bottle will hold the pressure. If you used higher concentrations than that, I would suggest removing the cap now, or else putting the bottle gently into a suitably protected setting. Exploding glass can make quite a mess, or worse yet, nasty wounds.

The temperature cycles of the seasons should be no big deal for the glass. I'd worry more about how they landed there in the first place. If they were thrown there and have microfractures, you could have a messy day. However, there are plenty of posts by guys who essential dumpster dive for their bottles. and the bottle by and large do fine for the.

 

[scott69]

thanks 3dogs,I used 3 teaspoons dme,put inside of a bucket w/lid in my ferm.closet(away from harm to anyone)so far so good!I am worried about small stress fractures or cracks I cant see because they were not laid to rest gently(lots of broken glass!)I think kegging is the way to go,maybe even bottle a few and party pig the rest!Thanks