Where to buy bottles from

[SteveH]

For glass bottles (and assuming you want to pay for them), this supplier has a good selection. I especially like the Steinie bottles

https://www.jarsandbottles.co.uk/bottles/beer-cider-bottles

For anyone else looking, I ordered 50 of the Steinie bottles 10 days ago and they've not yet turned up (also no communication re dispatch), so I wouldn't recommend this seller if you need bottles in a hurry

 

[AdeDunn]

For anyone else looking, I ordered 50 of the Steinie bottles 10 days ago and they've not yet turned up (also no communication re dispatch), so I wouldn't recommend this seller if you need bottles in a hurry

They're VERY slow, I finally got an email from them and DPD today, to tell me that the bottles I ordered on 21/09 are finally arriving on 5/10..... They're not prompt in the slightest. lol

 

[SteveH]

They're VERY slow, I finally got an email from them and DPD today, to tell me that the bottles I ordered on 21/09 are finally arriving on 5/10..... They're not prompt in the slightest. lol

<sigh> Thanks for the info - I ordered 23/9 so I guess I'll have to come up with another plan for bottling this weekend :hat:

 

[BlackRegent]

For anyone else looking, I ordered 50 of the Steinie bottles 10 days ago and they've not yet turned up (also no communication re dispatch), so I wouldn't recommend this seller if you need bottles in a hurry

In fairness to them, their listings do give a lead time of two weeks for delivery. The estimated delivery date is on the advert. It does seem a long time, but they are up front about it

 

[NormanHurst]

Another vote for Brew2Bottle. I use their swing top 500ml bottles. Initital outlay is higher but I save the £1 for the swear box incurred every time I tried to use a capper.

 

[Steven]

Another vote for Brew2Bottle. I use their swing top 500ml bottles. Initital outlay is higher but I save the £1 for the swear box incurred every time I tried to use a capper.

Yes swing tops are the way forward by far. I could see bottles breaking if I tried to cap them

 

[Edison]

Sorry to jump in, but does anybody know if the swing mechanism, or more specifically the white porcelain cap, can be bought separately? Following a shelf malfunction I had a few of these bounce off the brewery floor, it was only when i came to use them I found the little nubbin inside had broken off!

 

[Steven]

Sorry to jump in, but does anybody know if the swing mechanism, or more specifically the white porcelain cap, can be bought separately? Following a shelf malfunction I had a few of these bounce off the brewery floor, it was only when i came to use them I found the little nubbin inside had broken off!

Yes they are available from Amazon, Ebay and plenty of homebrew online shops

 

[BlackRegent]

Sorry to jump in, but does anybody know if the swing mechanism, or more specifically the white porcelain cap, can be bought separately?

Brew2botttle have them for a good price:

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/...6Crd472fAIprikYtDE-iTYCAzLZBMvWRoC-_EQAvD_BwE

 

[Edison]

Awesome- thank you!

 

[HoppingMad]

I've also used Brew2bottle, to buy additional swing-top bottles. They're the best price I can find and I much prefer swing-top to crown capping, as it saves time and money.

I do have a lot of old Magners Cider bottles as well though, which are good as they're brown and 1 pint in size, and I brew and drink in pints not 500ml. I was lucky enough that my two closest neighbours drink it, so I asked them to give them all to me instead. After several years, I accumalated several hundred bottles, although I recyclyed about 75% of them a few years back to make some space in the garage.

 

[Edison]

Swing tops are much better for a full batch IMHO, but if I’m giving some away I’ll put a few in with my custom crowns so I don’t have to worry about them not coming back! I think if I was to regularly bottle full batches though, I would crown and buy a good bench capper. I can easily accumulate a reasonable amount of standard brown bottles over time from bought beers.

 

[HoppingMad]

Good shout re bottling some with crown bottles, if giving them away, I hadn't thought of that! I've already lost a couple of swingtops through that very reason too!

 

[AdeDunn]

In fairness to them, their listings do give a lead time of two weeks for delivery. The estimated delivery date is on the advert. It does seem a long time, but they are up front about it

Aye, I ordered in plenty of time for them to arrive before I needed to bottle. In fact, the beer should just about be ready more or less when they get here.

I have a bench capper, and a wife who does the capping whilst I do the filling, so can't be bothered with swing tops. When we do get some, I save them for bottling mead in.

 

[Steven]

Swing tops are much better for a full batch IMHO, but if I’m giving some away I’ll put a few in with my custom crowns so I don’t have to worry about them not coming back! I think if I was to regularly bottle full batches though, I would crown and buy a good bench capper. I can easily accumulate a reasonable amount of standard brown bottles over time from bought beers.

Giving them away? Who doe's that?

 

[Steven]

I've also used Brew2bottle, to buy additional swing-top bottles. They're the best price I can find and I much prefer swing-top to crown capping, as it saves time and money.

Yes out of stock again though so patient waiting for them to come in

 

[SteveH]

In fairness to them, their listings do give a lead time of two weeks for delivery. The estimated delivery date is on the advert. It does seem a long time, but they are up front about it

Yeah fair enough - I misread the 7-10 days lead time to mean "about a week", but they turned up today (13 days, but only 9 working days so within the time stated on their site).

Do new bottles need cleaning, or is just sanitizing them enough?

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah fair enough - I misread the 7-10 days lead time to mean "about a week", but they turned up today (13 days, but only 9 working days so within the time stated on their site).

Do new bottles need cleaning, or is just sanitizing them enough?

Mine were delivered today too. Well packaged, and nice bottles. I honestly don't mind the longer lead time, especially as I was struggling to find 330mls steinies at a reasonable price. These came in at a decent price as shipping and caps were included. There is actually an option on there to pay for shipping and get them faster....





Oh, and I wash ALL of my bottles with VWP now before bottling. I used to wash with percarbonate, then sanitise with starsan on bottling day, but I had a few batches that tasted a little odd and gushed a little... So now it's the VWP, copious rinsing, cling film over the necks, then bottle.

 

[Cwrw666]

Just make sure you get amber/brown bottles. Both clear and green glass allow UV light from natural daylight and some artificial light into the beer and it will skunk it

On the plus side, filling green or clear bottles is very easy as you can actually see the level of beer in them. Some brown bottles are ok but the really dark ones are only good for making puddles of wasted beer on your kitchen floor.
I use green all the time. And yes I store them in the dark. In crates with a sheet of cardboard on the top to keep the light out. Not exactly difficult.

 

[chopps]

I got 40 x 500ml amber bottles from JazJar last week for about 25 quid. Arrived next day, free delivery, well packaged and no breakages. JazJar - Glass Jars, Beer Bottles and more!