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Newbies
we are just brewing our first batch with a Coopers kit. we are thinking of ordering more packages, and wonder about ordering more bottles. i have noticed that plastic bottles seem to be very unpopular and now am unsure what to do. any advice would be greatly appreciated. we're not sure how far we will take this, but we do like good micro beers, and hope this will be a successful hobby.
Well if you want to get into bottling with glass bottles, you are going to need bottles, caps and a capper. Bottles you can recycle from 22ounce bottles of beer you buy and drink, (or buy for around $12-14 for 12 at a local homebrew store) caps are a couple bucks for 100 and a capper is a one time expense of about $15-25 bucks for a standard capper. Personally I find it fun to use my capper to cap peoples drinks after they have opened them. 
Jarrod wrote:
Personally I find it fun to use my capper to cap peoples drinks after they have opened them.
That is a riot, I never thought of doing that! Cant wait to be the ahole this summer. Now that is entertainment.
Nick&Lori, welcome! Another way to collect bottles is easy, buy 4 cases of your favorite non-screwtop microbrew and pound them. If you are lushes like I am this will be quite easy, and a good excuse to get drunk.
The more reasonable way is to go to your local bottle return (if your state returns, MA does), and buy back a few cases of empties. I did this for grolsch bottles, and over the course of a couple months I was able to collect 8-10 cases of them. OK half I drank, but the other half I really did collect and buy back!
I agree with the "recycling" used bottles idea. Why buy empty bottles, when for a few more dollars you can get them "pre-filled" and have the enjoyment of emptying them?
And, let some of your similarly inclinded freinds know that a serious contibution of bottles will result in a ONE TIME, six pack of (12oz) homebrew. It's amazing how many you can rake in.
Preparing bottles - Some have pretty soluable glue, Bass for one. Put 'em in a hot sink with ammonia and the labels will fall off. Then into the dishwasher, minimal soap, a few drops. Maybe some Be-Bright, or another sanitizer
Go for 22oz'er if possible. Less cleaning, & how often do you have one beer?
My typical 5 gal. batch is 24 - 22oz & 8-10 12 oz.
Oh, yeah, welcome to the obession.
A better way to get some empties is to host a micro-brew tasting party. Get 6 friends to bring over a 6 pack a piece and you're almost there.
Getting bottles from the redemption center sort of sceeves me out for some reason. Even if I do clean and sanitize them. I just don't want to even handle them.
thirsty wrote:
....buy 4 cases of your favorite non-screwtop microbrew and pound them. If you are lushes like I am this will be quite easy, and a good excuse to get drunk.
Again, Thirsty...that is just F'ing awesome man!! I love your thinking..in fact I'm going to do a shot of Chivas 18 in your honor! Really, that was GD strong! whooooo! F Yeah!
I love plastic bottles. I got a case of half-liter PET bottles, and they're the best! I would only use one per batch, for some reason, but it was easy to tell when it was carbonated, because the bottle would get hard (hehehe)
If you keep the bottles after you drink them, then you don't always have to buy two full cases for each batch.
Welcome!
The guy across the street from me drinks nothing but Sierra Nevada, and Lucky for me, he drinks alot. I did 8 cases with nothing but these bottles, and the best part, these are absolutely the best bottles to take the label off of.
Aside from that I go to the Liquor store, and buy back empties. By the way Sam Adams light is the toughest bottle to get the label off of, that and anything Harpoon makes.
Brewski wrote:
Then into the dishwasher, minimal soap, a few drops. Maybe some Be-Bright, or another sanitizer
Make sure you leave out the rinse aid as this can effect your head retention. Or so I've been told, I have never washed bottles with it in but I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere, possibly jim palmers book. Anyway I always figured better safe than sorry.
Prost!
You guys are great. Thanks for all the input. A friend gave us a bottle capper and some (really old) bottles when they found out we were brewing. Our first batch is still in the "bubbling" stage but it's really exciting. We built the hot box and are constantly monitoring the temp. Since the kit came with the plastic bottles and caps, that's what we are using. Now to decide what to do with the 2nd batch, plastic or glass. I think eventually we'll do the glass thing for sure. I love all the ideas to get bottles. Have a great NY's, and DRINK MORE BEER!!
bruguru wrote:
and the best part, these are absolutely the best bottles to take the label off of.
.
I dont know, I think dogfish head will give SN a run for their money. You can pretty much talk the labels off of those bottles, the only ones I save- except belgian singles (I like sending these to comps with my belgians, submitting a nice tripel in a duvel bottle, start the judjing off on the right foot!)
Nick&Lori, I am sure your first batch will come out great, however sometimes a trend we see here is after the first batch comes lots of questions about things that could have ben avoided. It sounds like you know what you are doing and if you did enough research you will know to not trust the instructions that came with your kit. They usually say your primary fermentation is done after 7 days or airlock activity stops- not true! It MAY be done, but chances are not. Every yeast strain is different some finish out in 5 days, some take 2-3 weks or more. The only way to tell is if your final gravity has been reached and maintained. When you do think it is done, check your gravity, wait 3 days check again, if it is identical and falls to the anticipated FG, you should be fine. If there is any ferment left in your beer, you can get a sweet unbalanced finised product- not as good as it could have been. You also run the risk of bottle bombs- which are no joke.
Ask questions and brew great beer! Have fun!
The PET bottles that come with the Coopers kit are pretty good and they are designed specificly for Beer because they have a thin laminate in them that helps with Oxygen Ingress and CO2 loss also they are brown that helps minimize light strike in the beer .Coopers in Australia used to have some of the best refillable Glass bottles called Pickaxe Bottles bottles but those where discontinued by the Bottle Manufaurer .
Now most bottles that commercial beer is botllled in is not suitable for refilling because the glass is too usually too thin for the CO2 pressure that you might encounter in home brewing (bottle conditioning) and also they don't hold up well to recapping .So make sure you only use refillable thick glass bottles that you purchase from your local homebrew store .The reason Coopers went to PET is a Liability Issue because some home brewers have been injured by flying glass from shattered bottles that where over presuriesed from bottle conditioning. and yes Ive experienced exploding bottles at home and found glass embedded in the Wall !
To be honest I prefer to keg my beer and fill glass bottles when I need them from a picnic tap with a tube that goes to the bottom of the bottle and I also use the Carbonator for PET bottles.
The Carbonator http://www.liquidbread.com/
I use both PET which I also got with my Cooper's kit and glass Grolch style bottles which my local and favorite watering hole saved for me. I use the PET to give to friends (less chance of breakege) and the glass for home use. My daughter(Graphic Arts graduate) designed a label for me and had a few printed for me. they look great. I'm still new to this hobby (obsession) less than a year but I love to drink my own brew Looking forward to new recipes. I've done the kit from Cooper's an Australian lager i believe then my brew haus owner suggested I step up to Truebrew kits which I did and have now brewed their Octoberfest, Wheat, Red ale and have their Porter brewing now. Will venture into AG next . Wisn me luck!!
the PET bottles will work fine. i use mine for the quick turn around beers, the ones i brew to drink immediately. and i also feel better about letting people try my beer when i don't have the risk of loosing one of the expensive flip-tops i use otherwise. the plastic are super cheap so if i loose one liter bottle, it cost me five cents, so who cares?
i would not recommend them for something you would age or store for some time, like your bigger beers. i have never done it, so i can't speak from experience, but i am concerned about plastic odors or smells imparting to the beer over long periods of storage time. but if you brew a typical ale that will sit in the bottles for the time it takes to carbonate and consume, go for it.
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