Recycled Bottles!!

[tdavisii]

I got in to Homebrew about 4 monthes ago and saw how expensive bottles were. I went to the local recycle center and they have literally thousands of bottles all at no cost. Is there a problem using recyled bottles if you sanitize them????

 

[trinitone]

Just make sure they aren't twist off, clean and sanitize well and you should be good to go.

 

[Jim Karr]

99 percent of my bottles come from the recycling dumpster....and by the way, screw-off bottles is another one of those bleach/aluminum debates.

I've used them with all types of batches, never had a failure!

Free bottles is a good thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kleinbeer]

all my bottles are recycled and around 50% of them are twist tops ive never had a problem with the twist tops as long as youve got a good capper. Other mates also use twist bottles and i havent heard of them having any troubbles. Just make sure you clean and rinse them well before you sterilize

 

[Beermaker]

I recycle all my bottles. and I have my buddies save all their brown non-twist offs for me. Then I sterilize and use them. No problems. I also like to use clear Corona bottles for around here, or showing off clarity to friends.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

If you cap over a twist off, can you twist them off? Or do you need bottle opener?

FWIW, I tested a few twist offs with my bottle-conditioned apfelwein and didn't have any problem with carbonation, although the caps did seem to come off a little bit easier... I guess it would only concern me if I was doing a really long bottle conditioning, like for a barleywine or doppelbock or something like that.

 

[Pumbaa]

see my sig

 

[Onescalerguy]

We've never bought bottles either,only recycles.We started out only using non-screwtop but couldn't get enough so now we use twisties also and they work fine.
I've had some necks on the twisters break when capping but no big deal.
Cheers

 

[TurnipGreen]

Sorry to revive a super old thread.....but yesterday I took out the recycling and there on top of the brown bottles was a pile of 22 oz bottles. So I grabbed them. When I came home my wife saw me bringing a box out of the truck and asked what was in it. “Bottles from the trash.” She rolled here eyes and said “great, I married that guy that brings $h** home from the dump.”

Yup, I’m that guy. I wonder if I should tell her about the other junk in our house that came from the dump or alongside the road.

 

[mdscole]

That's hilarious. I haven't had the stones to take bottles out of the trash. I ended up buying Grolsch (full) from bevmo with their $10 off $50 coupons. End up around $1.57 a bottle.

I have bought used grolsch bottles from other guys. Some of them did need significant cleaning and new gaskets.

 

[TurnipGreen]

Oh, that’s not the first time i’ve gotten bottles from the trash. If we don’t start drinking more wine i’m gonna need to do a little diving for wine bottles too.

It’s been a while since I’ve payed attention though and I couldn’t pass up 22 oz bottles. Especially since I sent my parents home with a couple cases.

Big bottles are like gold in my backyard brewery. Funny though for wine it’s the opposite. Small bottles are what I try to hold on to.

 

[MaxStout]

You're being green, so that's commendable. And free bombers are always a good find and it's good to have extras. When you give away beer, the bottles may not always come back.

I'm a lot like you. Always finding something free, or at a garage sale, etc. I'm a terrible packrat, much to the chagrin of my wife.

 

[JohnSand]

I taught my wife to love tag sales, which I now occasionally regret.

My glass bottle collection started at the beverage center, where the manager sold empties to me for the 5c deposit that they had paid. He separates out swing tops for his customers that brew.