What are the best types of bottles? Where do you get them from? Share your opinions...

[Cheshire Cat]

I keep repeating but go to your local pub and ask for some empties as they get recycled and not returned. Then wash and remove the labels.

 

[labrewski]

Cider or Guinness bottles from the pub are best and a little thicker stronger than shop bought bottles

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Just buy silicone mat and make them yourself as it's cheaper than buying caps

I replaced all the rubber seals on the Grolsch bottles I have with silicone.
Every single bottle is flat. No carbonation whatsoever. I've now gone back to rubber seals.

Someone on the Coopers forum had silicone seals on flip top bottles. Not Grolsch though. He said he had no trouble with them.

Most bottles in Australia are twist tops. So I get any "proper" crown tops I can.
Preferably brown. But I put cider and lager in green, which I keep out of sunlight.
Also got a few clear Corona and some other brand that I put lager in.

 

[SheffieldBrew]

To combine the flip-top aspect as well as getting ones full of beer, plus the advantage of a crate to store them in you could look here https://www.my-food-online.net/drinks/beers/boxes?p=1

The beer is cheap, the postage is about the same as the beer but it doesn't work out wildly expensive especially if you were going to pay for flip-tops and/or a crate anyway.

Also, the Winterbok is lovely at this time of year

 

[hedgerowpete]

when i first started i used newcastle brown ale bottles, they are crown caps and clear glass, you get to see whats going on and easy to reseal with a cap crimper. the reason why we had those is myself and my dad drink newkie brown and as such had an ever increasing supply of bottles, 25 years later i am working in Retford near doncaster when a landlord i knew asked if i wanted any grolch bottles as he had an old friend with a garage of them, this old boy used to drink it and keep the bottles and every so often when he had 50 would sell them, i brought all of them off him for 12 months, getting hold of the crates to go with them was a nightmare, ebay bids but some silly weekends away with the wife just to be able to excuse the need to call in and collect a beer crate. if i never own another grolsh i would always stay with newkie brown glass bottles

 

[kelper]

Flip-tops are cheaper in the long run, look good and can be had cheaply enough. PET bottles are cheaper to post but have no class. We taste first with our eyes.

 

[Ashman]

I have a load of the Kilner 500ml bottles. Cheap online purchase but 6 bottles arrived smashed so got a part refund. They look nice but the silicone flip top seals are not great. They can also be capped. The better flip tops I have are the Aldi ones. I didn’t see them in store this year though.

 

[Pete9586]

40 x 500ml Amber Beer Glass Bottles with Crown Caps ( Pack of 6, 40 )
Cheapest i've found, £10 delivery for any amount.
120 bottles for £49.55 delivered.

 

[Mavroz]

Still don't understand why people pay for bottles.
They are (usually) free from most local pubs or eateries, just ask them if you can have a dig through their bottle bin, take them home, clean them up.
All mine came from these places, they were free and i must have around 400+ bottles, green ones, clear ones, brown ones.

 

[Spinningwoman]

To combine the flip-top aspect as well as getting ones full of beer, plus the advantage of a crate to store them in you could look here https://www.my-food-online.net/drinks/beers/boxes?p=1

The beer is cheap, the postage is about the same as the beer but it doesn't work out wildly expensive especially if you were going to pay for flip-tops and/or a crate anyway.

Also, the Winterbok is lovely at this time of year

I

I have about 4 boxes of "make your own" flip top bottles, and all the rest are Wychwood brown glass crown cap. They have standardised on one bottle throughout their range so I don't mind drinking their beer first. Must be used with a bench capper though.
All are 500ml which fills a pint glass well. Don't see the point in the 330ml bottles for homebrew.
I think the secret is to find a beer that you like in a bottle you want to keep. Then drink a lot of it.
It is still good to have a few pet bottles just to check carbonation.

Ive just found a source for 330ml fliptops which I’m really pleased about. I’m a small woman - 330ml is just right for me, whereas 500ml is almost a pint but not enough to share - OK if that’s all I’m doing but makes me a bit sleepy and disinclined to get anything else done.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I

Ive just found a source for 330ml fliptops which I’m really pleased about. I’m a small woman - 330ml is just right for me, whereas 500ml is almost a pint but not enough to share - OK if that’s all I’m doing but makes me a bit sleepy and disinclined to get anything else done.

I prefer 330's now it means I can have more variety in a session, and I can post 2 or 3 and it still comes in under the small post office parcel size/weight. Only downside is more bottling than if using 500/660's

 

[GerritT]

Still don't understand why people pay for bottles.
They are (usually) free from most local pubs or eateries, just ask them if you can have a dig through their bottle bin, take them home, clean them up.
All mine came from these places, they were free and i must have around 400+ bottles, green ones, clear ones, brown ones.

Fliptops are harder to come by, and new bottles are... new. No labels, no debris, and probably thicker.

 

[Mavroz]

New bottles are new until first use unless they are disposed of and replaced again with new?
Once old bottles are cleaned, no labels or debris.
Unsure how new bottles will be thicker than used bottles and what difference it would make??
Used bottles have already had beers and ciders in them, they are still going strong.

All mine have been free and do me a good service even though they have been pre used many times.