Types of beer bottle

[Grad]

Hello fellow fermenters,
I have always used plastic PET bottles to bottle my cider or beer or whatever I'm fermenting but I've recently purchased some glass bottles to make the switch over. What I'm wondering is, are all pry off beer bottles safe to hold carbonation? I have a few different types I've bought, some Grolsch flip tops, some seemingly heavy duty pry off bottles, and then some lighter cheaper feeling bottles that are what I've usually got beers like corona or Budweiser in. It may be a stupid question, but are the cheaper feeling lighter bottles safe to bottle prime in? I don't wanna have bottle bombs.
Thanks in advance!

 

[grampamark]

The short answer is: Yes.

If it once held beer, use it.

 

[Lefou]

I save quite a few of my smaller 12oz bottles.
No twist-offs and brown glass are the only requirements.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I used to constantly worry about bottle bombs, so I spent $12 on a large sterilite brand storage tub with lid. It easily holds 5 cases of bottles, even more if I take them out of their boxes, and I keep them in there for 3 weeks after bottling and test for gushers before they graduate to my storage shelving for longer term storage. The container is plenty strong to contain flying glass and beer; in the meantime I've become more skilled at calculating priming sugar sugar and don't worry about bottle bombs as much.

 

[z-bob]

Hello fellow fermenters,
I have always used plastic PET bottles to bottle my cider or beer or whatever I'm fermenting but I've recently purchased some glass bottles to make the switch over. What I'm wondering is, are all pry off beer bottles safe to hold carbonation? I have a few different types I've bought, some Grolsch flip tops, some seemingly heavy duty pry off bottles, and then some lighter cheaper feeling bottles that are what I've usually got beers like corona or Budweiser in. It may be a stupid question, but are the cheaper feeling lighter bottles safe to bottle prime in? I don't wanna have bottle bombs.
Thanks in advance!

If it has a pry-off crown cap, it should be okay to carbonate normal beer and cider. But maybe not super-fizzy beers. (I can't remember what style is carbonated to about 4 volumes) Use the plastic bottles if you want to get crazy with the carbonation; the plastic pop bottles can handle a lot of pressure.

Your profile doesn't say where you're located. If you happen to be in southern Minnesota, I've got a case or two of Sierra Nevada bottles you can have.

BTW, clear and green bottles are fine *if* you keep them out of the light. I like to use clear (Newcastle) bottles for cider because they look good.

 

[flars]

End of the page is a chart NB has under the "Learn" tab on approximate CO2 pressures different types of bottles can hold.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/AdvancedBottleConditioning.pdf

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Bottle choice is a fun part of the hobby for me. I like the shorter bottles because they fit better in my fridge. I usually use several different types of bottles for every batch I do. Every bottle I use has a tall skirt to function well with my Red Baron capper. Breakdown:

Boulevard - Bottles look like mini wine bottles. Coolest looking bottle I have (I only have one). Con, too dark, hard to see what is going on with my homebrew. Also, a little tall.

Sam Adams - Used a ton of these after I got a capper. Look like a “normal” bottle. I only use pry off, no twist. I heard twist work and I’ve heard they don’t. I don’t want to risk it. Con, big bold Sam Adams stamp embossed in the glass. Also, the inner lip of these bottles tends to chip when I clean them with a bottle brush. For that reason I’ve retired most of my Sam Adams bottles. Too tall.

Redhook - Functionally the best bottles I have. Short, clean glass without branding. Only con, not so attractive.

Kona - Elegant bottle. Good height compromise. My favorite bottle to bottle with. Con, glass embossed with branding (albeit cool branding, I love Hawaii).

EZ-Cap Flip Top - These are the first bottles I used. They are super cool, iconically hombrew. Con, first batch, worked great. Second, a couple dead bottles from leaky seals. Third batch, all dead bottles. That soured me on these bottles when I finally figured out what happened. I may use them again after changing the seals, but am super gun shy. Also, pro or con depending on your prospective, 16oz. bottles give you a full pint, but my small batches allow only 12-16 16oz. bottles where I get 16-20 12oz. I would cap them, but the skirt is too tall for a Red Baron.

Bombers - Used one once as a test, the idea being half the bottle cleaning. Carbed the batch too much plus lots of Carapils equalled big heady beers with my 12oz. bottles, with the bomber it was a gusher. Haven’t used a bomber since. I think the larger volume carbed a little different. If you choose to use bombers consider using a small amount less priming sugar.

 

[RM-MN]

I save quite a few of my smaller 12oz bottles.
No twist-offs and brown glass are the only requirements.

I have inadvertently gotten a twist off bottle (maybe more) mixed in with my pop off bottles and forget to throw it out when I open it. It has always sealed for me. I still won't recommend those kind of bottle since new pop off bottles are available for purchase and can be reused indefinitely making their cost per batch negligible.

I also have some green and clear glass bottles in my mix. I love using the clear ones so I can see the color of the beer and how much sediment it may have. As long as I keep them out of the sunlight they are fine for beer. UV light is blocked by the brown bottles so they are a great choice as the UV will convert some of the hop oils and make them give off a skunk odor. Ciders, meads, and wines typically have no hops so the clear bottles are no problem for them.

 

[ESBrewer]

I started drinking just Orval and Fuller's for a while to get some bottles. Orval is thick and sturdy and smaller in size, good looking and there is not much label to be removed. Fuller's bottles are larger and of course the most suitable bottles for cloning their beer...

 

[JohnSand]

My best source of bottles was drinking craft and saving. But I started by going to the beer distributor and paying the 5c deposit to get recycled bottles. I do like darker, thicker bottles, but I've not had one burst.

 

[glenn514]

The ONLY time I've had bottle bombs is when I put too much sugar in as priming sugar before bottling. It was a batch of Bourbon Barrel Porter, and I was sad to have to dump it all out for safety sake. As another poster said...if it once held beer, use it! I do, however, avoid the screw-top bottles. I can't crimp the bottle cap tight enough to seal it.

glenn514

 

[chris000]

avoid: clear, green and screw off.
my preference are 500ml bottles (easy math) and a secure seal no matter the specific model. they differ in quality, but not a single issue that was related to the bottle itself.
hand filling/capping is very gentle on the bottles compared to some fill lines; just make sure your capper is in good shape

 

[Zimm9]

I had a clear glass Coke bottle in a box with some bottles my brother gave me. Decided to go ahead and use it this weekend. I'm not worried about light reaching it so my only real concern was if the mouth would work well with the cap. Seemed to be alright, though.