Coopers Bottles? Good or Bad please help

[aamcle]

There is a debate about the bottles some people seem to be having trouble with them, I've found them easy to use and to keep the beer good for a long time. I've had beer in them for up to a year with out any issues and reused them until they delaminate.

I'd very much like to see how other members have got on with them, so please vote if enough of use join in we should get a clear idea of how reliable they are.

Many Thanks aamcle

 

[Linalmeemow]

Only used them a couple of times before I gathered enough glass bottles to retire them, but they were fine, no off flavours.

If you go to Germany it's reasonably common to find beer sold in PET bottles.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Absolutely no problems - I've re-used them without any issues.

 

[Ajhutch]

There is a debate about the bottles some people seem to be having trouble with them, I've found them easy to use and to keep the beer good for a long time. I've had beer in them for up to a year with out any issues and reused them until they delaminate.

I'd very much like to see how other members have got on with them, so please vote if enough of use join in we should get a clear idea of how reliable they are.

Many Thanks aamcle

I’m with you, I’ve had beers in them for a longish time and had no issues at all. I find the limiting factor on how often they get used is picking up knocks so they get misshapen, or being accidentally thrown away!

 

[Ciaran12s]

If they weren't about 20 quid for a batch worth I'd have bought more and not bothered with glass at all.

When I gathered about 100 glass bottles I had to bite the bullet and get a capper though.

 

[Poochops]

I've had 6 boxes of these in recirculating over the past few years and they've been great to be fair, an added bonus is that the crimped base seems to hold on to the sediment much better than glass does.
Most of mine have had more than 10 uses and I'm now phasing them out as I drink the beers bottled in them, the reason is that after so much use I'm noticing now that every now and again I'm getting an under carbed bottle which I'm putting down to wear and tear on the threads not forming a proper seal, plus I've now got shed loads of glass so i don't need to keep them anymore.
They're great though, I'd use them again and they don't leave any taste at all, if they did then so could any drink sold worldwide in plastic and that's not the case.

 

[nigelnorris]

Until recently Coopers PET bottles were all I used and the only reason I've started using glass occasionally is that it looks nicer; I bottle half into PET for myself and half goes into glass for when I have visitors. I have had some issues with PET bottles splitting when carbed so I guess they do have a limited number of reuses. Mind you I have sparkling wine that's been in them for over two years primed at 10g sugar per bottle so that's a fair amount of stress. The wine I put into Coopers PET bottles can go three years, and I've never noticed any issues even then.

 

[Ciaran12s]

Interesting about the under carbed. I've been putting it down to poor mixing at batch priming. I'm interested to see how carbonation compares on the glass bottles I've just filled.

 

[aamcle]

Please lets keep this going, there are loads of users.

aamcle

 

[GerritT]

Using cheap water bottles for a Bulldog cider, quite heavily primed. I keep the crates inside a bin liner, just in case. And to keep the missus off my back. But I trust them to stay whole. For beer I always use fliptops, apart from a few pet bottles, to test carbonation. Works well every time.

 

[AdeDunn]

Never tried them. I use the 500ml brown PET bottles from Home Brew Online as at £9.95 for 40 (plus shipping) they're an excellent price and do the job nicely, including for highly carbonated saisons.

 

[Thumper]

My only problem was that they're a stupid size. 740ml I think, just under a pint and a half. Why are they that size? What use is that to anyone? Got rid of them in favour of some 500ml PET bottles.

Never used them for a 6 month conditioning, but beer from them tasted fine.

 

[Ciaran12s]

The 740ml does seem daft but I quite like them now. It means fewer bottles and less time bottling. I pour them in to two pint glasses with nice big heads on each.

 

[Welsh123]

I have used the 500ml bottles for all my brews and they seem good ( you have to double check that they are screwed down tight ).

 

[BeerisGOD]

I bottled up today using all old pet bottles. Theyre light, go back nice in the boxes (reinforced tape) and cheap.
Being a clumsy sod i feel a lot more comfortable with them too.

 

[Slid]

I use the Coopers 500ml bottles that come in 24 boxes. Never any issues after the episode when one bottle in five had holes in the bottom.

Other than these bottles, I use 2L cider bottles for beer. I own 12x 500ml swing tops (Xmas present) but use them for very long storage (12 months) ales.

Despite some bad press, I think PET is good for 6 months at the very least. Drinking an ESB this afternoon that was bottled 26 August 2017.

 

[aamcle]

Come on all, lot of people use these :)


aamcle

 

[RichK]

Like others, I started with Coopers PET bottles. As a total newbie, you need a lot of bottles quickly & economically. However, I've now started getting the odd leakage during conditioning so have started moving over to swing top glass bottles.

 

[Norfolk79]

When I started brewing I started using them, and found them to be pretty good. Still use them now for the “overspill” which doesn’t fit in a keg.

I did find that some of them didn’t carbonate properly, think the threads on the lids wears down over time. Replacing them with new lids solved this.

 

[Thumper]

I did find that some of them didn’t carbonate properly, think the threads on the lids wears down over time. Replacing them with new lids solved this.

Hmm. I've switched to the 500ml brown pet bottles from homebrew online, anyone know if these have the same issue?

I suspect they probably will as they are essentially the same, but you never know your luck!