Reusing Biere D’or bottles

[mickybee]

Afternoon All,
Quick question. My Xmas beer is nearly ready to be bottled and with it looking at being about 10% I don’t really want to put it into 500ml bottles and I’d rather not keg it as I’d like to give some bottles out. I was wondering if anybody had ever reused the cheap Biere d’or bottles that are 250ml before? My worry is that I’ll try to cap a new crown on the bottle and it’ll just shatter.
So anyone had any experience reusing these bottles before?
Many thanks in advance.

 

[Twostage]

What makes you think it will shatter ? Its already been capped.

Why don't you try capping an empty ?

 

[MashBag]

What he said

Is your capping very aggressive then?

 

[mickybee]

Not that I’m aware of. I have a standard twin lever crown capper. I do remember a few years back trying to reuse a hobgoblin bottle though and it cracked on the neck as I was capping. Maybe more of an issue with the bottles with a thinner longer neck. Thanks for your replies.

 

[Bitter_Dave]

My experience of bottling in glass bottles is fairly limited (I use the plastic coopers bottles), but if the glass is not that thick it might not be wise to use them to bottle condition in them.

 

[klaus]

Not that I’m aware of. I have a standard twin lever crown capper. I do remember a few years back trying to reuse a hobgoblin bottle though and it cracked on the neck as I was capping. Maybe more of an issue with the bottles with a thinner longer neck. Thanks for your replies.

I remember this happening to me many years ago, 2-lever capper and Hobgoblin bottle.
Generally I found that capper to be a bit temperamental and needing some adjustment.
Eventually I got a bench capper which is much easier to use and reliable.
And never bought or used Hobgoblin bottles again!
I have used the little bottles for tasting, 0.25 or 0.33l and never had a problem, though I was always nervous about the thin wall. These days I only do 0.5l bottles (or sometimes 0.75l or 1l bottles if I come across them)

 

[jof]

I've used 275ml j2o type bottles successfully.
But I don't carbonate my beers too much to begin with.

 

[Sadfield]

Twin lever cappers are the problem in my experience. I've not broken a bottle with a bench capper.

 

[mickybee]

Thank you for all your replies. I have a bench capper as well so think I’ll go ahead and give it a go using the bench capper.

 

[MashBag]

Bang on. Bench capper is much better.

I personally hated my twin lever capper to be honest, "we" never completed a whole batch

 

[jof]

I have both lever & bench capper.
I end up using the bench capper placed on the floor as I don't have a massive work bench to bolt it to & it's not solid enough if I just g clamp it to a workmate.

I will still.occasionally use the lever capper when all I have left is the miss matched bottles of differing heights, as I find it quicker & more convenient than adjusting the bench capper height every 3 or 4 bottles.

 

[klaus]

Over the years I have adjusted my choice of bottle to make using the bench capper more efficient. Most of my capped bottles are now the German style 1/2 litre which are more or less the same height. Still have a variety of other size bottles but I sort them by size before capping. My favourites are the flip-tops of course which are a doddle to "cap". Bench capper is brilliant.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I thought about using them for a stronger beer when 500ml was too much, and discounted the idea for several reasons. They feel very thin glass, they're also green and so the beer is at risk of being skunked unkess you can keep them in the dark, and also the neck and rim didn't work well in my lever capper. They look good though but Belgian style 330ml bottles look even better and are much stronger