I’m back brewing after a long break due to family commitments. I’ve had all my brewing gear stored in the garage. I’ve bought a new brewing bucket as didn’t want to take any chances. My question is will I be ok using my collection of clear 500ml botttles that I’ve been hanging on to. They are mostly Spitfire (shepherd neame) bottles and I’ve used them about 3 times now. I’m guessing a good clean in the dishwasher then sterilise well and I’ll be good to go. I just didn’t know if bottles have an average use? Surely you can reuse a bottle until it chips or cracks?
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That's what I do, been re-using the same batch of bottles since I started brewing 8 years ago. Some have been chucked after chipping, mainly the clear ones which seem a bit brittle around the neck.
Just make sure your old bottles are fully cleaned out. People keep giving me bottles and I've a load stashed in bags in the garage, they usually come up good after a decent clean.
An Ankoù
Landlord.
I had the same experience, stored clean bottles in a shed for four years. Full of horrors and spiders when I came to need them again. I washed them out with bleach and a jet spray. Good as gold. They don't deteriorate, I remember when you had to pay a deposit on bottles and many of them showed visible signs of having been used tens, if not hundreds of times.
Same with milk bottles.
I think Spitfire bottles are clear, aren't they? You'll need to keep your beer out of the light, which can spoil the beer.
Same with milk bottles.
I think Spitfire bottles are clear, aren't they? You'll need to keep your beer out of the light, which can spoil the beer.
Just read this on google
The number of times an average glass milk bottle is reused (known as trippage) is actually around 15. And it can be as much as 50 times. Overall that makes re-usable milk bottles a more energy-efficient choice than disposable plastic. When a milk bottle becomes too scuffed or damaged to reuse, it's recycled.
The number of times an average glass milk bottle is reused (known as trippage) is actually around 15. And it can be as much as 50 times. Overall that makes re-usable milk bottles a more energy-efficient choice than disposable plastic. When a milk bottle becomes too scuffed or damaged to reuse, it's recycled.
An Ankoù
Landlord.
--And most of that damage and scuffing comes from them banging together in the machine they're washed in, I should imagine. Do you still get milk in bottles, by the way? We don't have milkmen here in Brittany. Can't move for cows, though!
I'm still using bottles I had in the mid 8os, and they've been used hundreds of times. I did have some old pint brown bottles that started crumbling when you uncapped them but I think they were even older.
Nothing wrong with clear bottles too - easier to fill, just keep them in the dark so the light doesn't `skunk' the beer. I've no idea what that is... I've recently moved to green bottles as some of my brown ones were so dark they were a pain to fill.
Re. the crumbly ones - it's a pain to have to filter your beer through a coffee filter in order to drink it...
Nothing wrong with clear bottles too - easier to fill, just keep them in the dark so the light doesn't `skunk' the beer. I've no idea what that is... I've recently moved to green bottles as some of my brown ones were so dark they were a pain to fill.
Re. the crumbly ones - it's a pain to have to filter your beer through a coffee filter in order to drink it...
An Ankoù
Landlord.
I keep reading about this skunking, too, but I've never experienced it. My favourite blonde beer, La Choulette blonde, comes in green bottles. A mate I left in Poole used to, and probably still, has a large collection of the old two-pint (flaggon) bottle with the screw in lid. He never uses anything else.
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