Question About Swing Top Bottles, Plastic Bottles and Sanitizers

[nubrew]

Hi all,

Brand new to homebrew. I got my dad a brew house brew wort kit and equipment required for a extract brew for his birthday and we just finished getting the brew into the primary fermenter last night.

Couple of questions.

We've got 2 dozen 500ml plastic bottles , and a dozen 1L swing top/ez cap glass bottles which I bought new today. We have 23 litres of brew total.

My dad is a little worried about the swing top bottles I bought today , he says the seal isn't hermetic and that he thinks gas will escape. They are brand new, guy at the homebrew store told me they should be good. I am just wondering if they are safe to use and the beer will stay carb?

Also, will the plastic bottles hold the gas well?

And finally a question about sanitizer. I bought the starter brew kit from my local Homebrew store , it came with a "no rinse cleanser". We sanitized everything that came into contact with the brew . It's weird that it said "flush out hands, eyes, mouth if sanitizer comes in contact" on the container it was in, but then I watched YouTube videos that say the stuff is food grade. Obviously some sanitizer was left on the equipment we used during brewing last night, it should be still safe to consume right? I also got a bunch on my hands last night and didn't bother cleaning it off, nothing really happened, just a funny smell on my skin.

 

[BrewSavage]

I use swing top bottles all the time. I've never had one that didn't hold pressure.

 

[helibrewer]

Swing top are excellent, I would not use the plastic though.
Your sanitizer is fine, no worries about any left behind.

 

[Sadu]

If you are going to be drinking the beer within a few months like you would with a normal beer, swing tops are great. Less hassle on bottling day. I probably wouldn't store anything in them long term though, just in case.

The "no-rinse cleanser" you got is probably Sodium percarbonate as the active ingredient (it should say on the pack somewhere). The instructions might say something about gettting everything wet, leaving it 10 mins, then allowing to dry. Nothing wrong with this, and to be honest I normally skip the part about letting it dry because that sounds too hard.

This cleanser is great for your first brew but when it runs out (assuming you plan to do more brews, which you will) you should buy some Starsan for next time. This product gets rave reviews from everyone because it makes sanitising very quick and easy, and it works out very cheap since it is so concentrated.

 

[nubrew]

Swing top are excellent, I would not use the plastic though.
Your sanitizer is fine, no worries about any left behind.

Do you say that about plastic bottles because of scratching, and contamination happening in those scratches?

 

[helibrewer]

No, more concerned with getting a good seal at the cap and their ability to hold pressure.

 

[ThatITGuy]

I've been using the plastic bottles for a long time, I've never had a problem.. I made a habit to thoroughly rinse them as soon as I pour my pint though so I never worry about dried sediment or anything of that nature. If I could start over, I'd probably spend the extra money and get swing-top though, then I could pasteurize.

 

[AkTom]

I always use a few plastic soda bottles. When they get hard, you know they are carbed up, they may need a few more days, but they are carbed anyway. Also, they are nice to take to the beach or other places where glass or beer may not be appreciated. ;-)
Cheers

 

[dwhite60]

+1 for plastic bottles. Coopers sells a brewing kit with 725ml amber plastic bottles. I have a case of them I got free and they are awesome. Lids do not leak.

I do like that they get firm when carbonated. Easy to tell how far along the process is.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[ericbw]

I just found a plastic bottle from a batch 4+ years ago. Still sealed.

As for the sanitizer being food grade, even starsan and other sanitizers are bad to get in your eyes. Chili pepper are food grade, but keep them out of your eyes

 

[dwhite60]

For those who doubt the seal integrity of swing top bottles, this should eliminate all questions. I found this searching for "brewing bottle bombs".

All the Best,
D. White

 

[Horseflesh]

I just opened some swing top bottles of quadrupel after nearly 2 years and they were still fine.

Well, the beer was awful, it was an extract quad recipe that I made as a novice brewer... Toooo raisiny. But they beer was beautifully clear and well carbonated.

I used the same swing top bottles for all my beers for quite a while before switching to kegs and never had a problem. If you got bottles from your brew store, they are probably just as good.

 

[jbunton]

I prefer the swing tops as well, just did a brown ale and did a few plastic bottles.
Did a direct comparison of the swing tops 1L to plastic and there was a huge taste difference between the two. Both me and a friend agreed the plastic bottled brew didn't taste nearly as malty and had a bit of an off flavor. Just my 2c.

 

[Jwin]

Swing tops are great, and if they are new, you have a couple years before worrying about replacing the seals. The exploded one shown above wasn't an ez cap. Ez caps are even thicker. I had some under attenuated beer I bottled in 1l ez caps that, after 6 months, spewed over a foot in the air when opened. Diet coke mentos style. Not only do they hold pressure, but I bet standard bottles and plastic bottles would have blown up under those circumstances.
Welcome to the hobby. Read lots here and elsewhere and brew on.

 

[msayler]

I love my half-litre swing-top bottles, it makes for a great way to check for carbonation progression. I've never had a problem with the seals, and they do a perfect job of holding in the carbonation. The set of 24 Ez-Cap 'swingers' that I have are second-hand acquisitions from my dad, who left a number of them in the closed position for several years. I drank a perfectly carb'd cider from one tonight, and it was bottled in April.