A question on bottles...

[Thumper]

Hi all,

I'm about to order my first kit and equipment. I did originally plan to use some cheap, Tescos-own bottled water in my first brew and re-use the bottles to hold the beer. I'd get a hose for the kitchen tap and some campden tablets for my next brew, but I'm on a budget and this seemed a good way to keep costs down this month. However, I read somewhere that bottles which hold still water are not designed to hold fizzy drinks. I had sort of assumed they were all the same, just churned out in their millions by a factory somewhere.

Anyway, am I better off getting some campden tablets and some if those brown PET bottles? Or is the above just nonsense?

Has anyone here re-used the bottles from Tescos bottled water?

Thanks in advance.

 

[willycoolj]

Hi all,

I'm about to order my first kit and equipment. I did originally plan to use some cheap, Tescos-own bottled water in my first brew and re-use the bottles to hold the beer. I'd get a hose for the kitchen tap and some campden tablets for my next brew, but I'm on a budget and this seemed a good way to keep costs down this month. However, I read somewhere that bottles which hold still water are not designed to hold fizzy drinks. I had sort of assumed they were all the same, just churned out in their millions by a factory somewhere.

Anyway, am I better off getting some campden tablets and some if those brown PET bottles? Or is the above just nonsense?

Has anyone here re-used the bottles from Tescos bottled water?

Thanks in advance.

I worked for a soft drink company, if they are ribbed bottles then no, if they are exactly identical to the sparkling water bottles then they are ok

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[willycoolj]

I have reused 500ml flavoured sparkling water bottles before, and used them 10 times at least, no problems, I use glass bottles now, I find the beer tastes better, I have used Cooper's pet bottles, but I recycle the glass ones now

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[Thumper]

Thanks both. The Tescos own stuff is in a 2l clear bottle, looks identical to the ones coke comes in. Hence my initial confusion!

I do intend to get a pressure barrel and some proper bottles at some point, but I'll already be spending about 70 quid on the kit and equipment, so given willycoolj's advice I'll stick with plan A for the moment.

 

[willycoolj]

Thanks both. The Tescos own stuff is in a 2l clear bottle, looks identical to the ones coke comes in. Hence my initial confusion!

I do intend to get a pressure barrel and some proper bottles at some point, but I'll already be spending about 70 quid on the kit and equipment, so given willycoolj's advice I'll stick with plan A for the moment.

I find 500ml bottles are easy to pour, if your using 2 litre bottles I would get a pitcher jug, then when ready to drink pour it all in the jug so you don't get problems with sediment, I would get some small bottles as well so you can try the odd one, you will know when it's ready then and your not opening a big 2litre bottle and wasting any

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[Chippy_Tea]

I edited my earlier post as you posted so here is the new version -


Depending on how tight your budget is you could ask your local pub if you can have some bottles out of their bin and get one of these -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KNOCK-ON-...hash=item27f166f8b4:m:mYjwYChLs3NawdDWtsvbV8A

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hd_3O1fQ9U[/ame]

 

[willycoolj]

Thanks both. The Tescos own stuff is in a 2l clear bottle, looks identical to the ones coke comes in. Hence my initial confusion!

I do intend to get a pressure barrel and some proper bottles at some point, but I'll already be spending about 70 quid on the kit and equipment, so given willycoolj's advice I'll stick with plan A for the moment.

I use these as well, better than plastic barrels, plus they don't take up much room, I have been using these for 6-8 months now, brilliant kegs, just put one in fridge 1-2 days before you want a beer

http://www.homebrewkent.co.uk/product/huber-mini-keg/

And I buy my spare bungs from Leyland homebrew, they do me 13 bungs plus delivery £10, I email them and they send me PayPal invoice

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[willycoolj]

Thanks both. The Tescos own stuff is in a 2l clear bottle, looks identical to the ones coke comes in. Hence my initial confusion!

I do intend to get a pressure barrel and some proper bottles at some point, but I'll already be spending about 70 quid on the kit and equipment, so given willycoolj's advice I'll stick with plan A for the moment.

Any bottle that holds a sparkling drink will work

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[Thumper]

Good shout, a couple of smaller "trial bottles" may be in order.

Chippy, I've looked into bottle cappers and glass bottles, and it's a route I'd like to go down, but will have to be a future thing.

 

[willycoolj]

Good shout, a couple of smaller "trial bottles" may be in order.

Chippy, I've looked into bottle cappers and glass bottles, and it's a route I'd like to go down, but will have to be a future thing.

I have used 500ml coke bottles, they work, anything is possible [emoji106]

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[chewie]

A 500ml bottle is just shy of a pint so if that's how you like to drink beer then it's the best way if you are going down the bottle route. Big 1.5 - 3.0 litre bottles are best if you are having a party and you want to pour 3-6 pints in one go. It's also worth keeping an eye on gumtree and Ebay for swing top bottles going cheap in your area as these make imo the best for ease of use and you don't need to keep a stock of caps to hand.

 

[Thumper]

We have a couple of 1l swing top bottles in the cupboard I was thinking of using (the Mrs has a habit of buying glassware she likes the look of without having a use for it).

They're clear glass, though; are they easy to get hold of in brown or green? I'd stockpile used Grolsch bottles, but I never drink the stuff.

 

[willycoolj]

Clear ones are ok, just don't leave in direct sunlight so they say, try the range or Wilkos

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[chub1]

We have a couple of 1l swing top bottles in the cupboard I was thinking of using (the Mrs has a habit of buying glassware she likes the look of without having a use for it).

They're clear glass, though; are they easy to get hold of in brown or green? I'd stockpile used Grolsch bottles, but I never drink the stuff.

Get ya bum down to Wilko's or browse ebay,24 plastic(PET) bottles with caps around a tenner or so,cheap as chips:thumb:

 

[Thumper]

Thats what I would have done this time if the still water bottles wouldn't have worked. I'd like to use glass long-term, I think.

 

[chewie]

We have a couple of 1l swing top bottles in the cupboard I was thinking of using (the Mrs has a habit of buying glassware she likes the look of without having a use for it).

They're clear glass, though; are they easy to get hold of in brown or green? I'd stockpile used Grolsch bottles, but I never drink the stuff.

I don't know where you are located but this kinda thing appears quite often on both ebay and gumtree
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-Flip-S...593865?hash=item4405f31909:g:yqgAAOSwuAVWycud or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/85-x-das-...818291?hash=item2f060a8f73:g:n3wAAOSwpONZT9dR

if its glass swing tops you want it can be well worth keeping an eye out.

 

[Leon103]

I do my starters in water bottles and they mis-shape and get ruined under the pressure. I have used a lemonade bottle and had no issue.

You can reuse glass bottles which you can get free from your local pub

 

[GDog]

I spent about £5 on Morrisons own brand fizzy water, emptied the contents onto the plants outside, and bottled my 15l Wheat Beer Kit straight into them.

The bottles are quite flimsy, and the caps have kinda compressed outwards if you know what I mean, with a dome on the top rather than flat. I stuck them in my garage out of the way after warm carbing, and none have blown.

I'm binning them after each use, I wouldn't recommend it- bought PET bottled, made for carbinated drinks are much better.. (I can;t be arsed with glass capping)

A

 

[Mevdog]

I've been using plastic water bottles for turbo ciders and so far they have all been fine albeit not massively carbonated. I've mostly used the Asda 17p chase springs bottles that are ribbed and not marked up as pet or the Asda Eden falls more expensive bottles that are marked as pet but also ribbed.
I need to bottle up a load of elderflower champagne and I'm hoping they will do the job but now I'm worried they'll all explode while I'm away! They all have a strong blue cap and if I squeeze them they are all pretty airtight and rigid, I can stand on them and they don't leak. Think they will be ok?

 

[chub1]

We have a couple of 1l swing top bottles in the cupboard I was thinking of using (the Mrs has a habit of buying glassware she likes the look of without having a use for it).

They're clear glass, though; are they easy to get hold of in brown or green? I'd stockpile used Grolsch bottles, but I never drink the stuff.

Think you should be wary of some of the swing top clear bottles.A lot of the cheaper ones are more for cordials and such like and might not take to being carbonated!.