Where do you get your bottles?

[josh132]

Hi
I'm new to homebrewing and overlooked one very important thing when making my new beer. i am coming up to bottling now and just thought to myself...oh **** i don't actually have enough bottles :/ i need 40 and i only have about 7... so i was wondering, where do you go to get free bottles? as i am too poor to buy the remaining 33 glass bottes

Thanks for the help

Josh

 

[LewisA]

You could try your local pub? they are bound to have some :hmm:

 

[shearclass]

Glass Recycling bin?

To save money, i bought plastic litre bottles from my local home brew shop, £13.78 for 24 x 1 litre bottles. Glass bottles, 500ml, were about 50p each i think.

 

[Yorkslad]

Make sure you get bottles like what ale comes in, as your standard lager bottles are disposable and break when capping. They are not very pressure proof either. I get my old man to save all his ale bottles for me, so i have loads

 

[Moley]

Ask at your local pub if they mind you rummaging throught their recycling bin, try your local bottle bank or ask your neighbours if you may go through their recycling tubs on collection day, although in the last case they will probably expect some of your full bottles in return from time to time.

Try to get Magner's or Bulmer's cider bottles, they are proper pints, not 500ml, and the labels come off cleanly.

Alternatively, you can use any plastic bottles which have held fizzy drinks - 500ml cola bottles, litre ‘own brand’ tonic water / dry ginger bottles (around 40p full), or even 2 litre ‘value’ lemonade bottles (even cheaper).

 

[Baz Chaz]

Local restaurants are worth a shout as well, also any beer drinking mates. I get a supply from mates/neighbours and they get a bottle or two returned full :thumb:

 

[micmacmoc]

i gave my local a box and asked them to keep magners bottles, i got over100!

 

[Muddy Funker]

Glass Recycling bin?

To save money, i bought plastic litre bottles from my local home brew shop, £13.78 for 24 x 1 litre bottles. Glass bottles, 500ml, were about 50p each i think.

Exactly what I do, I bought 48 and have no problems re using the screw caps.
They don't leak (yet) and they hold huge pressure so no concern over bottle bombs if overprimed.

 

[Moley]

:wha: That's 57.4p for an empty bottle, which you could buy for 40p or less filled with ginger ale.

Illogical :ugeek:

 

[gtfreight]

You could go to Costco or Makro (if you have a card) and buy a box of 12 x 450ml swing top Grolsch for £18.51 inc VAT. The box even has dividers in it.

 

[josh132]

thanks everyone

 

[Beer Belly]

I scavenged real ale and cider bottles from parties over a 12 month period, also bought hoegaarden and saved these. I've invested in some 2 litre spring water bottles from tesco, think they were 12p each or something :geek:

 

[leedsbrew]

I asked friends at work and ended up having to take 2 trips to the tip with all the **** ones that I couldnt/wouldnt use. I then went down the local and asked them to save some for me!

Also got a couple of crates of swing tops from Skipton beer fest a few years ago! They are gonna last a life time!

 

[luckyeddie]

The grolsch ones are a good idea. My local brew shop even sells the replacement gaskets. I've had to educate my brother in law to grink grolsch so I get lots of freeby bottles - mind you, at the moment they have harvested yeast samples in them.

 

[robsan77]

I've just been to asda as I ws short bottling yesterday. Picked up a 2 litre lemonade for 18p. Also 6 x 330ml water bottles for 80pish. I thought these would be great for yeast samples.

 

[fran]

i am so dissapointed but relieved to hear about this
i just raided my mates bin in her pub and got loads of useless bottles wich will explode in the loft right above my 3 year old sons bed

thank god i joined here tonight lol

i have been saving bavaria bottles wich are 66cl does anyone know if these are useable also i got a few koppaberg cider bottles wich also seem to be thicker glass than your average lager bottles

thanks in advance

 

[Vindiv8]

i am so dissapointed but relieved to hear about this
i just raided my mates bin in her pub and got loads of useless bottles wich will explode in the loft right above my 3 year old sons bed

thank god i joined here tonight lol

i have been saving bavaria bottles wich are 66cl does anyone know if these are useable also i got a few koppaberg cider bottles wich also seem to be thicker glass than your average lager bottles

thanks in advance

I've got koppaberg bottles, they are fine. The bulk of my bottles arrr magners or bulmers. Easy to de label, full pint and look good

 

[mr_spin]

are the koppaberg bottles green?

 

[fran]

no they are brown but the bavaria bottles are green

 

[richc]

Green is better than clear but still doesn't really absorb the frequencies of light that can cause reactions with beer ingredients. If you store them in the dark you'll almost certainly be fine but brown is the safest colour.