Bottles from bars?
We have a couple neighborhood bars, and I'm in need of bottles, so I was thinking about approaching the owners to see if they'd save bottles for me.
How does one clean these bottles? I'm a bit of a neat freak, and I've seen what people put in their empty bottles at bars. I figure I'll thow anything with non-beer contents into the recycling bin, but what is the best way to handle the rest? I want to sterilize them, not just sanitize. How to breweries that deal with returns handle this?
I used to just ask guys at work for their beer bottles. I was given over 100.
The method I used was to put a few tbsp of Straight A (or equivalent cleaner) into a 5 gallon bucket of water and let them sit for several minutes. Take a bottle brush and clean the inside. Repeat if necessary. After that, I had a bucket with 1 oz of Star San and 5 gallons water, I would then let the bottles sit in there for another few minutes. Let them dry afterwards.
Some bottles needed to be cleaned a few times, but most didn't.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you do NOT need to sterilize. Commercial breweries don't. This is an unnecessary step. Unless you are performing surgery, it is overkill. Straight A along with Star San does an excellent job cleaning. If you absolutely insist on it, put them in the dishwater.
Breweries don't deal with returned bottles. I don't know a whole lot about it, but at least in my state, glass bottles are broken down, sent to recycling plants, who I believe crush and melt them, then form new bottles. Someone told me that, so I'm not totally positive. But the nasty returned bottles don't go straight to the brewery.
Wow... I googled for the recycled bottles and found this... looks like I was right:
http://www.consrv.ca.gov/DOR/rre/kids/whrg.htm
I'm just a paranoid person 
with no dishwasher. I work at home, and most of hubby's co-workers don't drink. No one I know drinks, so the best way for me to get a number of bottles quickly is either buy 'em or get 'em from the bar. I'm going for economy!
Nobody you know drinks and nobody he works with does either? Wow... I don't think I have ever (well, since 21) worked at a place where *nobody* besides me drinks. Interesting.
I used to get bottles from coworkers with cigarette butts and all kinds of crap in them. Some of them I cleaned a few times, others I threw away if I couldn't get everything out. I still didn't sterilize.
But if you insist, here is a detailed page I found with some information you might find useful:
http://brewingtechniques.com/library/ba … aines.html
About the middle of the page discussed sterilization.
cubx wrote:
Nobody you know drinks and nobody he works with does either? Wow... I don't think I have ever (well, since 21) worked at a place where *nobody* besides me drinks. Interesting.
I didn't say *nobody* at his place of work drinks. I said MOST don't drink... although it's not really relevant to the question
Yes, we have a very small social circle, and we are the only ones who drink alcohol. I have no worries about friends drinking all my beer.
And that website is AWESOME!! Thanks for posting it.
Well, ok sorry, I interpreted "most" as basically none. Actually, to me that IS relevant because if he worked with people who drink, he could get beer bottles from them, vice you getting them from a bar.
But either way, as long as you have your source picked out, that's all good.
You might also check with your homebrew shop. My old shop used to get bottles from customers and would sell used cases of them for like $5.
Something I forgot to mention Maria... if you are unable to get bottles from a bar, or what have you, I would recommend buying 22 oz bottles from a homebrew shop. I don't recall the price, I know the 12 oz used to be $9 a 12 pack though. Anyway, bottling sucks to bad that I wish I would have bought those instead, but I keg now.
I was never able to fill 50+ 12 oz bottles in less than 3 hours. So if you have to resort to buying them, look into the 22 oz. The bottle cap should be the same.
I agree, bottling SUCKS. Hubby's all for making a kegerator but wants to see what homebrew tastes like first before committing to the expense and space (can't say as I blame him.) After bottling my first batch, I'm ready to start kegging TOMORROW.
If I use larger bottles, will the amount of priming sugar change? I've read that one uses less priming sugar in kegs, so I'm assuming the amount of sugar needed is in some way inversely proportional to the size of the container, at least to a degree.
I only had 12 oz bottles, but I always put 3/4 cup corn sugar into the bottling bucket, stirring it up, then bottled. I don't see why more than 3/4 cup would be necessary, regardless of bottle size.
As for priming a keg, never done it. Ever since my first kegging, I just siphon beer into it, crank up the co2 to about 30 psi, roll it around on the floor for 15 minutes (or longer), and tap it. In my mind, priming it is unnecessary because you are force carbonating.
I once read that after you switch to kegging, you will never bottle again. I agree.
Maria,
I regard to picking up bottles from other sources than your local homebrew store, consider that most commercial bottles are intended for one use and then dispose. The main difference is the thickness of the glass. Stay away from twist off tops all together. The glass is really thin and besides, your caps will not seat well and you'll be wasting good beer.
I have found that Sundance Amber Ale bottles work well for homebrewing as well as Dead Horse bottles from Moab brewery. (Besides, why not get some good tasting beer out of the deal if you're gonna buy bottles anyway) 