Thickness of Glass Bottles

[alanywiseman.]

I was bottling up some beer when i took the time to examine the bottles i am using. I collect my bottles from friends and the local recycling center. At the base of 95% of the bottles were some number and symbols. The one that caught my eye had mm as units. Is this the thickness of the bottle? And does it relate to its strength?

I am raising this as I have seen a number of people are starting to use Koperberg bottles for their brews. When i looked at the couple i had they have a 45mm embossed on them where as bottles that used to contain German beers have ~60mm!!!

(started a new thread as I didnt want to hijack the Favorite beer bottle thread :thumb: )

 

[calumscott]

You sir, are clearly as much of a :ugeek: as me!

I too have spotted those numbers and wondered exactly the same. I can't quite get to the bottom of it, although there is definitely the diameter of the bottle which is probably very important for bottling plants.

Beyond that I was stumped.

I take the aproach that, I know which bottles I have and they are all 500ml and I've had no problems with any of them, I know what a heavy one and a light one feels like in the hand, if it feels light...

...yes, I weigh it! :ugeek:

If it is as heavy as or heavier than one of the freeminer ones from the co-op then I'm happy that there's enough glass to keep my beer and CO2 in place!

 

[alanywiseman.]

The reason i was asking is i bottled my Better Brew Pilsner (the Better Brews Brothers commission will be on its way :lol: ) and saw the koperberg bottle and worried it would go BOOM when primed with 1 tsp sugar (equivalent as i batch prime).

 

[Moley]

I take the aproach that, I know which bottles I have and they are all 500ml and I've had no problems with any of them, I know what a heavy one and a light one feels like in the hand, if it feels light...

...yes, I weigh it! :ugeek:

I know which bottles I have and they are all 568ml proper pints for beers, 660ml cider bottles which I use for juice wines and 750ml wine bottles.

However, we went to a party over Easter and I came back with a few Magner's empties, they seem to have changed to a much lighter weight bottle, i.e. thinner glass

 

[anthonyUK]

I haven't had any problems with Koppaberg bottles even with a TC that erupted out of the bottle on opening.
I did have a Sainsbury TTD IPA which is brewed by Marsdens bottle that broke. The glass was 0.5mm thick on one side and 3mm+ on the other which was an obvious manufacturing error.

45mm is nearly 2" so I'm guessing not thickness

 

[calumscott]

[quote="Moley"Magner's empties, they seem to have changed to a much lighter weight bottle, i.e. thinner glass [/quote]

Yeah, the trend is for lightweight bottles to save on transport weight and resource usage. Which is fine if you are force carbing a dead beer/cider - you know exactly what pressure you're going to get.

That's why I use the freeminer ones as my lightest weight benchmark; the bottles are quite light by comparison to others and the goldminer at the co-op is bottle conditioned so the bottles must be good for the pressure of live yeast at ale priming loads.

I haven't had any problems with Koppaberg bottles

I know some people (Moley! :) ) frown on 500ml bottles but these are 440s are they not? I wouldn't even stoop that low :lol:

 

[TheMumbler]

...The one that caught my eye had mm as units. Is this the thickness of the bottle? And does it relate to its strength?

I am raising this as I have seen a number of people are starting to use Koperberg bottles for their brews. When i looked at the couple i had they have a 45mm embossed on them where as bottles that used to contain German beers have ~60mm!!!

I thought along these lines when I started bottling and as was pointed out to me, 45-60mm is *way* too much for the thickness of the glass... Possibly diameter? I never found out what it, or the other symbols mean though. So let us know if you do.

I tend to assume that anything that had something fairly fizzy in it, or anything that is bottle conditioned should be fine. I have more trust in bottles that can be returned for a deposit (like Sam Smiths and some continental beers). However I have used all sorts and only ever had one go under pressure so far. I should really sort through and weigh mine as I have more than I am likely to fill with beer.

 

[alanywiseman.]

I am sure that a number of the numbers and symbols will be the machine and manufatures stamp so if there is a problem with some bottles they can trace it back to where it was made.

45mm is nearly 2" so I'm guessing not thickness

This is a sound point. I measure some bottles when i get home and see if it is the diameter :ugeek: (or just a sad sack!)

I know some people (Moley! :) ) frown on 500ml bottles but these are 440s are they not? I wouldn't even stoop that low :lol:

I try and avoid them but they are there as a back up. I am fine with 500ml, the way i see it is i just need to open another bottle to get that 68ml i lost out on

 

[Smod]

I just go by the weight.

I have found that over the years glass has gotten thinner and thus lighter.

What I have gone by is that the German recycled bottles (they do it better than we do) ten to have a "scuff" mark near the shoulder and weigh just over 400gms should be the standard . Older "real ales" in the traditional English bottles of 500ml were of similar weight and then went down to about 370gms :? about 3-4yrs ago then going further to approx 330gms :shock: for the same shape bottles.

Personally I would be just ok with 330gms, happy with 370gms and keep all the 400+gms like gold as they will disappear as hard to get hold of if recycled / thrown. Anything lower I would ditch / recycle as potentially unsafe for multiple use.
:thumb: :

 

[simonkidder]

Anyone ever used the ikea 1ltr flip top grolsh style bottles they do. They 302.135.52 is the item number. I've only used them so far for flat wines or brandy but I've considered bottling cider or fizzy wine

 

[zgoda]

Anyone ever used the ikea 1ltr flip top grolsh style bottles they do. They 302.135.52 is the item number. I've only used them so far for flat wines or brandy but I've considered bottling cider or fizzy wine

I compared these with normal 1 litre beer bottles and the IKEA bottles seems very thin when compared eg to Fulgor bottle.

http://www.winohobby.biz/index.php?prod ... od_id=1146

These are really great.

 

[anthonyUK]

Tkmaxx often have an expensive French lemonade in stock. The brand is La Mortuacienne and it is about £2.50 :shock:
But the bottles are 1l fliptops, pretty robust and only 50p more than an empty Ikea one. The lemonade is pretty good too.
They also sell this brand in Heals at £4!

 

[calumscott]

Personally I would be just ok with 330gms, happy with 370gms and keep all the 400+gms like gold as they will disappear as hard to get hold of if recycled / thrown. Anything lower I would ditch / recycle as potentially unsafe for multiple use.
:thumb: :

I'm sure the freeminer ones are lighter than this @ 300g. And I've got full teaspoon per 500ml lagers in them and I haven't had one go pop yet. I will, of course, report back if any do go bang!

They are a bit of a pain though because they are too tall for a standard 9 1/2" multitrip milk crate.

 

[alanywiseman.]

So i had a look to see if the figures with the mm units were bottle width last night. There not width but i think that are height. I should have worked out that they are not thickness.

As for lighter glas could it be due to improvment in glass manufacturing so the glass is tougher therefore can be thinner? :hmm:

I have been googling glas bottles the last 2 days and have very little information on modern bottles.

 

[calumscott]

I tried googling for spec's of bottles too but to no avail.

I've still got a contact or two in the catering equipment industry who might be able to point me in the right direction or pass on further contacts. I'll see what I can do.

 

[brizleciderarmy]

So i had a look to see if the figures with the mm units were bottle width last night. There not width but i think that are height. I should have worked out that they are not thickness.

As for lighter glas could it be due to improvment in glass manufacturing so the glass is tougher therefore can be thinner? :hmm:

I have been googling glas bottles the last 2 days and have very little information on modern bottles.

My guess and thats all it is is a guess is that the mm units represents the fill level from the top of the bottle. My reasoning being that all my Old Speckled Hen bottles say 54mm and while i dont have a full bottle, i would say the fill level is about 5 and half cm from the top.


I read somewhere that the braille type markings at the end signify the mould used during manufacture.