Plastic coopers brown bottles , **** ?

[Milesey]

I've had a few cartons of these over the years and I'm gonna chuck them now

Never get cold enough and I often find the taste in them isn't up to scratch, getting the tips off about takes skin off me hands and need molegrips to take the damn things off

More than enough bottles now and swing tops so it's adiós to them

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I have a couple of cartons of these and I don't really use them or like them. That's possibly as I took up kegging, but I still do bottle the balance of a 23L batch but never think of using the plastic.
To provide balance, they are good for the following:

• posting beer mail/to competitions (I've only done the former)
• using with a carbonation cap to fill from keg
• checking carbonation when bottle priming (a couple of pet bottles per batch, for example)

All that said, if you don't do any of the above, then I can see why the may not be any good to you. Afterall, glass looks and feels better, for sure.
Also, one of the only parts I like about bottling is selecting the caps I want to use and having a nice neat box of shiny bottles with matching caps at the end of it. I'm honestly not sure why I like selecting the cap so much, but whenever I am shopping homebrew, I'll usually buy myself a bag of caps if I find some in a colour I don't have.
Anyway, that last part was totally off topic.

 

[BeerCat]

Never liked them either but some people use a few to know when their beer is carbonated. By feeling how hard the bottles become..

 

[Milesey]

Never liked them either but some people use a few to know when their beer is carbonated. By feeling how hard the bottles become..

They are good for that for sure

 

[JockyBrewer]

The PET bottles are great if you want to post beer as they're really resilient to being dropped and don't clink around if you have a few of them, unlike glass. I've been involved in shipping thousands of them at this point and I don't know of a box of PET bottles that has gone missing, whereas we've lost quite a few of glass, particularly larger boxes.

The main issue with the PET bottles seems to be with the lids. They need tightening properly by hand - when you're done bottling go back and tighten the caps again.

Also the liners in the caps aren't as good at oxygen scavenging as the crown caps I use. You can avoid this by squeezing out any air before capping - priming/carbonation will reinflate the bottle.

 

[moto748]

I'm running some PET swing-tops now. They seem OK, from the 'firmness' point of view, I've used them for several batches, but haven't tried any yet. Be interesting to see how well they seal (and continue to seal!). And I am just like Animated with the bottle tops! I still use glass for the vast majority,

 

[Clint]

I've never used them! But...I've received a few through the post in beer swaps and they've all been great! Both beer..and bottle.

 

[Begbie]

I only use the brown PET bottles - the same as shown below. I must have about 75 of them now and have probably used a lot of them 5 or more times without an issue. I don't need to tighten them too much either - not to the point where I get blisters from tightening 40-odd bottles or that they're difficult to open.

 

[Nicks90]

I bought my pet bottles used about 4 years ago and do 10 for each batch I've brewed since. As above they are good for testing if your beer is carb'd.
After literally dozens of times usage they are all still working perfectly. As above, squeeze all the air out before tightening the lid and jobs a good un

 

[nickjdavis]

I've been involved in a number of beer swaps and interclub competitions over the last nine months where beer has been exchanged in bulk and what has been oh so apparent is the variation in beer quality when a batch of beer has been provided in PET bottles (both of the Coopers type and the type pictured two posts up).

It has happened so often now that it cannot be a coincidence....some folks will receive a beer that is very drinkable with no obvious issues, others will receive exactly the same beer bottled at exactly the same time that has spoiled in some way. Its not down to the individuals storage of the beer as its been known for more than one person to have an issue. There may be times when poor (not well tightened) capping may be to blame but on other occasions bottles are received with well tightened caps.

The same issues are not observed at all with glass crown capped bottles.

The experiences have put enough doubt in my mind that I will no longer submit beer for comps in PET bottles and my only use of PET will be the three bottles I use in each batch to monitor carbonation in the bottle.

 

[MirtazaPaul]

Never liked them either but some people use a few to know when their beer is carbonated. By feeling how hard the bottles become..

I can confirm this is a useful process...have done it by accident myself by putting my surplus brew in fizzy drink bottles!

 

[An Ankoù]

Never used the Coopers, but I had a couple of cases of Young's PET brown bottles, the ones that take a crown cork. They're OK for ales, but I've you put anything more carbonated in them, the punt blows out into a dome and the bottle won't stand up any more. Impossible to push it back in even when empty. Furthermore, after a few uses, I get the impression that they're kind of laminated and the lamina are beginning to separate. I've still got two boxes of 24 each completely unused. if I want to use PETs. I use Perrier bottles.

 

[Slid]

Well, I love the Coopers 500ml Bottles and have been using the ones that came with the original Coopers Starter Kit (about 45 or so in 2013) plus quite a few 24 bottle cartons bought since then. Never have any issues with carbonation or spoilage. Always use cold or lukewarm water and always rinse each one immediately after pouring.

Only other containers are 2L bottles, usually brown, that once held cider. Can't fault them either. The re-use of these is definitely environmentally friendly as they have already been made, so why not re-use, as opposed to the false notion of "recycling", which uses even more energy.

 

[TrevTheBev]

I only started brewing again in February this year after an absence of 30+ years.
Not sure if I was going to get serious again, I wasn't going to spend a lot at first. So I have been using 1 litre PET bottles that my wife had Tonic Water/Soda Water and Sparkling Water in and they have been outstanding. Beer tastes great and when they have hardened, I know they have carbonated well. They have been used several times now and really, I can't see a reason NOT to use them. I must have about 70 in the garage now, all with different brews in them. I believe I am now getting serious ......

 

[Nicky P]

I've been using 96 of amber PET bottles and the original caps since last October (2020) so that's around 8 months now. 48 are Coopers, and 48 are Easybrew (from Brew2bottle) The bottles of both brands appear identical however the Easybrew cap does not have an insert. Each bottle has been used approximately 5 times - never had any issues at all. The oldest stored beer I have is currently 5 months, and those bottles still feel firm and well carbonated.

Here's something odd though, the other day after rinsing around 36 of them for re-use, I heard 2 loud cracks. My back was turned away from the bottles at that time, but when i came to filling the bottles I noticed that one of them had developed 2 deformities/dents. Putting two and two together (and perhaps making five!) I fancy the noise came from that bottle but can't be certain. I think I read somewhere that these bottles are laminated but I don't notice any kind of separation on that bottle.

 

[Slid]

I've been using 96 of amber PET bottles and the original caps since last October (2020) so that's around 8 months now. 48 are Coopers, and 48 are Easybrew (from Brew2bottle) The bottles of both brands appear identical however the Easybrew cap does not have an insert. Each bottle has been used approximately 5 times - never had any issues at all. The oldest stored beer I have is currently 5 months, and those bottles still feel firm and well carbonated.

Here's something odd though, the other day after rinsing around 36 of them for re-use, I heard 2 loud cracks. My back was turned away from the bottles at that time, but when i came to filling the bottles I noticed that one of them had developed 2 deformities/dents. Putting two and two together (and perhaps making five!) I fancy the noise came from that bottle but can't be certain. I think I read somewhere that these bottles are laminated but I don't notice any kind of separation on that bottle.

The crack could be the bottle deforming due to low pressure inside or reforming once the pressure inside increases with increasing temps.
Usual root cause is putting warm bottles in a cold garage and getting them out again.

 

[Begbie]

@Nicky P I've got a possible reason for the 'cracks'. Quite a few times, I've rinsed my bottles out straight after pouring beer from them, and put the lid back on. Due to the vacuum created with warm water having been in the bottle, then being emptied and sat in a cooler atmosphere, the bottles collapsed on themselves creating a loud crack and deforming the bottle. First time it happened, it gave me a fright!

Not sure if your experience was the same though.

 

[Hop_it]

My opinions on using PET bottles for homebrew packaging are well documented elsewhere on this forum, so I won't bother to repeat them here. However, I worked in the plastics industry for most of my working life, and I know quite a lot about the various processes for making plastic bottles.
PET bottles for carbonated drinks are normally made in a two stage process:

• First of all the PET polymer is injection moulded into "preforms" in multi-cavity moulding tools. They looks like a thick walled test tubes with a threaded top. They take up very little space (compared with a finished bottle) so are easy to store and to transport.
• The second stage is to blow the bottles. This is done by reheating the preforms to a point where the PET is softened and malleable, but not fully melted. The heated preforms are then transferred to the bottle moulds where they are stretched both axially and longitudinally using a mechanical plunger and high pressure air, The PET is now in direct contact with the inside of the moulds, and is rapidly cooled to fix the shape and dimensions before being ejected from the mould. see:

This final biaxial orientation process alters the properties of the PET. It makes the bottles very tough, and it also improves the gas barrier properties, particularly to CO2. The bottles are not actually laminated during production, but they are often coated to improve the oxygen barrier properties and shelf life when the intended use of the bottles is for packaging oxygen sensitive products. The application of barrier coatings is quite a costly process, so this is only done when necessary, e.g. mineral water bottle would not normally be coated.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I have a couple of cartons of these and I don't really use them or like them. That's possibly as I took up kegging, but I still do bottle the balance of a 23L batch but never think of using the plastic.
To provide balance, they are good for the following:

• posting beer mail/to competitions (I've only done the former)
• using with a carbonation cap to fill from keg
• checking carbonation when bottle priming (a couple of pet bottles per batch, for example)

All that said, if you don't do any of the above, then I can see why the may not be any good to you. Afterall, glass looks and feels better, for sure.
Also, one of the only parts I like about bottling is selecting the caps I want to use and having a nice neat box of shiny bottles with matching caps at the end of it. I'm honestly not sure why I like selecting the cap so much, but whenever I am shopping homebrew, I'll usually buy myself a bag of caps if I find some in a colour I don't have.
Anyway, that last part was totally off topic.

No less than 2 days after writing this, I was glad to have some PET bottles! I kegged my latest kit brew yesterday and the small keezer I made still had a keg nearing the end. As I am going away for a week tomorrow, I really wanted to get the fresh keg carbing at 11degrees while I am away. Out came the carbonation cap and about 6 pet bottles and 20 mins later the fresh keg was in the keezer, and I have some bottles to take with me in holiday. Good news all round.

 

[phildo79]

They serve a purpose. I never used them for ten years but after I started kegging and a few failed attempts at bottling from the keg, plastics were the answer. So much easier to do oxygen free fills, with the added bonus that the bottle won't break during transit. Personally, I will never go back to glass bottles.