Ugh. Bottle Bombs. Sierra Nevada Bottles Anyone?

[r_flagg]

Yes, the trick with SN bottles is not to soak them for too long. I don't know why, but their glue turns to rock if they soak overnight. I figured the opposite would be true, but I actually threw away the last twelver's worth of bottles after trying to clean just one for 10 minutes and still not even getting halfway done. 12 bottles x 20 minutes each = not worth it. Easiest in my opinion are Anchor, but I hate their bottles. Fat Tire's pretty easy to remove, and so are Widmer.

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Wow, I have no idea why I always have trouble with the SN labels. I have no trouble with other breweries at all, they all slide right off after a warm, overnight soak. I ALWAYS have to scrub the SN bottles afterward to get the excess glue off.

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Yes, the trick with SN bottles is not to soak them for too long.

Ah, I see. I have always soaked them overnight, which must be the problem. Learn something new from the forum everyday!

 

[TheWeeb]

The key is heat, use water as hot as possible (fill the bottle with hot water as well); 5 min, seems to "melt" the glue. I am using a dilute solution of CLR; have not tried Oxy yet.

 

[Idlehanz]

I love using SN bottles for most of the reasons stated. I can let them soak for anywhere from a few hours to a week and I've never had a problem cleaning them. The labels almost fall off, the glue comes off easy, and I like that they have no identifying marks on them. The other reason I love SN bottles is that I love SN beers and when I need some brew, I buy a sixer, and I have good beer and reusable bottles.

 

[NPB]

chiming in on an old thread here. Sierra Nevada bottles are the only bottles that have broken on me when capping or opening. I use the two handed wing style capper, I think people call it a "red Baron". Mine is older and all metal, no plastic.

I've probably broken a dozen or so SN bottles over the last year. I won't use them anymore, which sucks because I love the beer that comes in them.

 

[skidaddytn]

i have some sierra bottles that must be 2 years old used 5-6 times.... get a new capper... in my experience these have been solid... you know you need a bench capper for christmas ;-)

 

[bovineblitz]

chiming in on an old thread here. Sierra Nevada bottles are the only bottles that have broken on me when capping or opening. I use the two handed wing style capper, I think people call it a "red Baron". Mine is older and all metal, no plastic.

I've probably broken a dozen or so SN bottles over the last year. I won't use them anymore, which sucks because I love the beer that comes in them.

That's pretty funny cuz SN bottles are the only bottles that have never broken for me, lol.

 

[unionrdr]

The only time I ever broke an SN bottle was because I didn't seat the grippers on the neck before squeezing. I gorilla'd the capper & broke the neck of a filled bottle. DOOOOH! so from now on,I seat the grippers onto the neck of the bottle before squeezing. I talk about this in my bottling video. I also have some 40 SN stubbies I've been trying to give away as pick ups. No luck yet,& most are de-labeled. They come with half a bag of gold caps & a blow off jug. Free to a good home,since I collected up some other bottles I like better. Classifieds just don't work in this case.

 

[NPB]

Skidaddy is right, I need a new capper. But, it does work great on all other bottles. Something about the neck-to-lip height. Even when i'm careful, I'll break at least one out of every case. I'm glad they work for others though. I'll trade for the new redhook stubbies any day. What I really need for Christmas is a few corny kegs. That would be sweet!

 

[bovineblitz]

The only time I ever broke an SN bottle was because I didn't seat the grippers on the neck before squeezing. I gorilla'd the capper & broke the neck of a filled bottle. DOOOOH! so from now on,I seat the grippers onto the neck of the bottle before squeezing. I talk about this in my bottling video. I also have some 40 SN stubbies I've been trying to give away as pick ups. No luck yet,& most are de-labeled. They come with half a bag of gold caps & a blow off jug. Free to a good home,since I collected up some other bottles I like better. Classifieds just don't work in this case.

I'd take em if i were nearby, I"m trying to replace all my bottles with SN stubbies

 

[NOISEpollution]

The bottles aren't causing the bombs, you're over carbonating. Probably not enough for normal temperatures but at 102.... Yeah good luck.

If you want bottles with easy labels to take off, Dogfish Head is one of the easiest IMO. Soak them for an hour or two in hot water. The labels slide right off and you can rub the glue right off.

Someone mentioned Anchor bottles too. The labels come off easily but I've always had problems capping them. They'll cap but my capper always leaves a dent in the top for some reason. I never noticed any leakage but just to be safe I stopped using them.

Head out to your homebrew shop and pick up a couple cases of 22 oz bottles. Bottling with those takes much less time. Make sure you bottle a few 12 oz bottles though too for testing.

 

[BamaRooster]

Sounds like the beginning of a new beer book.

:rockin: