Will ordinary 2ltr soda bottles do?

[SilverAnalyst]

So my first brew will be done with primary fermentation this weekend. It is a Geordy Larger. I don't have a pressure keg and I've been eyeing these 1ltr PET bottles to buy for the secondary fermentation.

I just wondered. Would ordinary 2ltr sodda bottles do if I sterilised them?

 

[Chrus]

PET plastic and beer dont really woke well together. Some sort of chemichal reaction takes place that funks up the beer. Or so im lead to believe.

 

[Castle Meadow Brewery]

Get a capper & some bottles. Obviously bottling takes longer than kegging, but I like to think of bottling as something you have to do when you start brewing. Like earning your stripes or taking your lumps or whatever cliché you want to use...
I keg myself but I bottled for a long time. Yes it's a P.I.T.A but theres something to say when you take that first ice cold bottle out of the fridge, put the opener to the lip of that cap, and PSSST. There's a small wisp of white vapor lingering around the neck and opening. What a sense of satisfaction when that beer pours out into the glass with a cascade of tiny sparkling bubbles, so crisp. mmmm....beer......

 

[the_bird]

PET is perfectly fine as a material.

The problem with soda bottles is that you aren't going to be able to seal them very well. I'd invest in a cheap capper, some bottle caps, and scrounge around for bottles; your buddies drink Sam Adams or anything else with a crown top?

 

[SilverAnalyst]

I have twenty Budweiser bottles left over from my last weekend of fun. I'm worried about those not being able to handle the pressure though.

 

[bradsul]

PET bottles work perfectly fine and they actually hold the pressure better than glass. I exclusively use 500ML PET 'long neck' style, amber bottles and I absolutely love them.

 

[grampska]

Another problem with soda bottles is that it's very hard to get the syrupy taste out of them. Look for generic seltzer/club soda to go on sale and by them cheap.

 

[SilverAnalyst]

Yeah, I may buy some 2ltr carbonated waters from Sainsbury's to use for my first batch. Thanks for all your suggestions guys.

 

[Bobby_M]

Don't forgot that you're going to have to consume the entire 2 liters of beer the same day. You can't recap and save for the next day, etc. That's why a lot of us consider 22oz bottles a nice compromise.

 

[SilverAnalyst]

Good point Bobby_M. Although 4 pints is not too much to drink in a day, I don't want to be forced to. I'll have to look and see what cheap bottles I can get in nice sizes.

 

[abracadabra]

You can get 16 oz. miller lite in brown PET bottles. My Local Home Brew Store (LHBS) wants $17.50 for a case of brown PET empties + $3.50 for the caps which he says are reuseable up to 3 or 4 times. I got a case of the Miller Lite from the package store for $25.

So I figure if the case of bottles and caps would cost me $21 I'm getting a case of Lite for $4. I can afford to give the stuff away at that price.

Any time I go to a party I take at least a 6 pack of Lite and tell people to save the bottles and caps.

Also there's a device call a carbonator ($12) that screws onto standard plastic bottle cap treads such as 1, 2, and 3 liter and any of the smaller sizes 8-20 oz. It's expensive for what you get IMHO but you can force carbonate and repressurize after you've opened a bottle if you have a bottle of CO2.
I bought 1 but I should have put the money toward buying a cornie keg.

But it kind of cool to take places where you can't take glass or Aluminum cans or cornie kegs.