Bottling my brew - wine bottles any good?

[phy9pas]

Hello,
First time brewer, long time drinker.
I'm going to be ready to bottle my beer at the end of the week so I've been collecting old pop bottles to use. I've been told that anything that used to store fizzy drinks will work. I was wondering though, will screw-top wine bottles be any good?

Cheers

Peter

 

[the_duck]

I don't think wine bottles are made to stand the pressure of the beer when it carbonates in the bottle, I think either the top will pop off or the glass will shatter.

 

[Wez]

as TD says - avoid using wine bottles :thumb:

Pop bottles (the PET type) are good, nice thick brown beer bottles are best IMO :thumb:

 

[podge1]

hi all
does anyone know if stubby beer bottles would work
my uncle brewed years ago and he said the glass was to thin
if this is so how come the lager in them when they were bought dosent fail

 

[derbyowl]

as TD says - avoid using wine bottles :thumb:

Pop bottles (the PET type) are good, nice thick brown beer bottles are best IMO :thumb:

Yep , PET bottles can take an amazing amount of pressure. Once I bottled too early and one expanded to around 3 times its size at the base. rmember to keep them out of sunlight

 

[tubby_shaw]

hi all
does anyone know if stubby beer bottles would work
my uncle brewed years ago and he said the glass was to thin
if this is so how come the lager in them when they were bought dosent fail

The problem with using stubby bottles is that they are filled with a force carbonated beverage (Can't bring myself to call that cr4p beer :nono: ) at a known pressure which is well below the failure pressure for the bottle.
As good as we may think we are as brewers, mistakes happen and a double dose of priming sugar in one of these bottles will cause excess pressure to build up which will lead to one of two things;
1, On opening you will end up with a face full of beer due to the high pressure inside. Funny :rofl:
2, The pressure will build to a level that the bottle will fail and explode :shock: Not funny potentially fatal.

My suggestion is to by some bottled ales, drink them :drink: and use them for your brews. Win win :party:

 

[BrewStew]

My suggestion is to by some bottled ales, drink them :drink: and use them for your brews. Win win :party:

or speak to your local pub and ask them to save their 1 pint magners bottles

 

[the_duck]

1, On opening you will end up with a face full of beer due to the high pressure inside.

I was using some Grolsch bottles before and over primed the buggers, the first one I opened shot the 'fliptop' lid of the bottle and it bounced off the cupboard and then the wall.

I opened the rest of the bottles sideways in the bath.

 

[trunky]

I opened the rest of the bottles sideways in the bath.

Wasn't that a bit uncomfortable?

 

[jamesb]

I opened the rest of the bottles sideways in the bath.

Wasn't that a bit uncomfortable?

Depends what he was using as an opener

 

[tubby_shaw]

I opened the rest of the bottles sideways in the bath.

Wasn't that a bit uncomfortable?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[tubby_shaw]

I opened the rest of the bottles sideways in the bath.

Wasn't that a bit uncomfortable?

Depends what he was using as an opener

:wha:
:shock:
:nono:
:lol:

 

[the_duck]

 

[petkula73]

Hi - Been reading this website with interest for a while but this is my first time to post...

Just read the thread and I have a question. I bottled some Woodfordes Wherry at the weekend for the first time (usually use a pressure barrel) using a heaped teaspoon of spray malt per litre (i.e. 23 spoons). I've bottled this in to mainly brew shop bought 500ml bottles, but also some Newcatle Brown bottles, some Batemans bottles, Old Peculiar bottles and a couple of German Dunkel bottles (all 500ml).

My question is - given the comments about thin glass bottles and the danger of explosion are these bottles strong enough and have I over primed them? Got the Wherry down to approx 1012 gravity before bottling so there didn't seem to be too much residual sugars left.

Also, I'd be grateful for any tips on bottling. The ones I did now all have a layer of sediment at the bottom. How do I avoid this? Should I transfer to a second FV and use finings to drop it bright before bottling? If I do this will I still get a secondary fermentation?

Finally, does anyone know where I could get my hands on some crates for 500ml bottles?

Many thanks

Nick

 

[tubby_shaw]

Those bottles you've listed will all be fine for homebrew use :thumb:
As for your priming rate I think that its a little on the high side for an ale and I would make sure the bottles are well chilled before you open them but I don't think there's a high risk of explosion

 

[petkula73]

Okay cheers.

I will try using half a teaspoon a litre next time.