PET Bottle pressure

[Hacksawbob]

Hi, Many years ago I bottled with smooth-walled pet bottles you used to get them for carbonated water. But these days they only seem to be sold with carbonated pop so it makes it uneconomical to buy them as a beer secondary. So I went for some 2L Ashbeck Tesco mineral water bottles (4x2L £1.75) which have some grooves in the sides, I'm not sure, but they feel a little flimsier, I've seen a few pressure tests on YT, but does anyone have real world experience of these grooved bottles vs the smoothed wall versions for secondary fermentation?

 

[Hacksawbob]

The bottles I went with... I have kinked the slightly so allow for expansion but I wonder if the grooves allow for additional internal pressure as a flex point with less material overall.

 

[FakeBiffa]

Personally I wouldn't use any bottles that haven't been designed for fizzy drinks. Tesco also do 4*2l of sparkling water for the same price which would be safer I think.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/309478537I'm fortunate in that Mrs Biffa and young Bifferage drink fizzy drinks. Sprite 2l bottles are best in my opinion.

 

[Hacksawbob]

I know, I cocked up. I thought these were the smooth type and bought them (they were in 4 packs covered in plastic and I was rushing in my defence). I had a window for bottling and went with what I had. I'll keep an eye on them at about 12 degrees for conditioning so any changes should be noticeable. Just wondering if any one else has used them so I can apply the right level of stress! :) no biggie though, I hope. if the weather warms up a bit this week I'll move them down to the shed.

 

[Graz]

Two issues that I can see.

Firstly those sorts of bottles are not designed to contain pressure so up to you if you take that risk or not.

Secondly they don't recommend that you refill those sorts of bottles as chemicals (BPA) can start leaching out of the plastic. PET bottles are more stable in that respect are safer as they leach less. You can't beat glass though at the end of the day for chemical stability.