bottling with glass or plastic bottles

[TonyKZ1]

Hello all, a possibly quick(?) question. When do you decide to switch to only using glass 12oz bottles?

Thanks to people here, craigslist, BrewDemon, and eBay I've got several boxes (cases) of the Mr. Beer & BrewDemon 1 Liter plastic bottles. However, thanks to my supervisor and co-workers I've also got several cases of the 12oz glass bottles (mostly Samuel Adams).

When I've been bottling my 1G recipes I use 12oz bottles. When I bottle my 5G recipes I use 12-24 12oz bottles (makes for easy sharing and if they don't come back, no big loss) and the rest in the 1L plastic bottles (these take up less room storing while carbonating/conditioning and later in the refrigerator, plus each one is more or less equivalent to 3 12oz bottles).

I've had very few problems with the 1L bottles, mainly a few that never pressurized due to non-sealing leaking caps. Which I found and got rid of those type of caps.

Or maybe I just need to brew a lot more and use all the bottles I have available?

Just thinking out loud, Thanks,

[John Sand]

I started using glass 12oz bottles on my second batch. I don't remember why.

[ebbz]

Hello all, a possibly quick(?) question. When do you decide to switch to only using glass 12oz bottles?

Thanks to people here, craigslist, BrewDemon, and eBay I've got several boxes (cases) of the Mr. Beer & BrewDemon 1 Liter plastic bottles. However, thanks to my supervisor and co-workers I've also got several cases of the 12oz glass bottles (mostly Samuel Adams).

When I've been bottling my 1G recipes I use 12oz bottles. When I bottle my 5G recipes I use 12-24 12oz bottles (makes for easy sharing and if they don't come back, no big loss) and the rest in the 1L plastic bottles (these take up less room storing while carbonating/conditioning and later in the refrigerator, plus each one is more or less equivalent to 3 12oz bottles).

I've had very few problems with the 1L bottles, mainly a few that never pressurized due to non-sealing leaking caps. Which I found and got rid of those type of caps.

Or maybe I just need to brew a lot more and use all the bottles I have available?

Just thinking out loud, Thanks,

I started using glass bottles after my first batch mainly because I thought glass would last longer and the beer would remain fresher since plastic is somewhat air permeable. Glass also adds to a higher level of sophistication. I do try to collect and reuse larger bottles 22oz and 750ml because they do take up a little less space and, based on experience, the contents age better. I have many friends who enjoy brewski so I have no problem acquiring them. There is also more potential with plastic getting scratched and holding bacteria, which I know is most unlikely, The added expense is minimal once you have a capper as the caps are only a few clams per gross. I do not plan to ever use the PET bottles that I got with my original kits.

[RickBeer]

Depends on how much you brew, how much you drink, and how much inventory you want to have - coupled with how much you want to spend.

I started with 1 liter PETs, then bought two sets of 1/2 liter PETS. When I realized my production was going to overwhelm my bottle inventory (I like having 12 beers to pick from, and drink 2 - 6 beers a week), I added glass. PET bottles are expensive, glass bottles cost me $0.10 forgone deposit and 1.5 cents per cap, plus the cost of the bottler. So for me going to glass was a no brainer.

For most batches I do four 1 liter bottles, one 1/2 liter bottle and the rest glass. I sometimes do some 25 ounce PET bottles I acquired last year. For me it comes down to HOW I drink. 12 oz is one beer, 25 oz is too beers, 1 liter is 2 1/2 - 3 beers. Rarely do I drink a liter myself, so if someone else is having the same beer I may crack one. The PET bottles also allow you to keep the beer for 1-2 days open without issue. The 1/2 liter PET is to check for carbonation, i.e. if it's firm the batch is good. I also save them to compare batches but usually fail to remember to.

As to glass lasting longer, that's not my experience. I've had flat PETs due to old caps (recently bought new caps cheap and am replacing after 7 uses), but have had plenty of nearly two year old PETs that tasted fine.

[mashani]

A long time ago I used to bottle in glass.

Since I got back into brewing a second time, I've stuck with PETs.

So right now, I still bottle batches in 1L Pets and 740ML Coopers O2 barrier Pets. Which I use depends on ABV and how long I intend to keep the beer.

Except for defective caps (as in I used them too many times) I have had beer not lose carb even at 2 years in the bottle. Even beers I open one day and drink more of a second day, I don't lose enough carb to care about. Just put the cap back on right.

I carb some beers at rates that would explode cheap glass bottles (some types of Belgians), so would need to invest in good Belgian bottles and a corker if I was not using PETs for those.

And I have a hand condition that makes using a wing capper a nightmare at best, so I would need to invest in a high quality bench capper / bench capper / corker hybrid thing (as in it would be $pendy).

And I don't usually drink 12oz at a time anyways for the most part - I tend to brew most of my beers where I can drink a couple at least if I want to. So I'd likely be investing in 22+oz glass bottles if I was bottling in glass, because I have no desire to spend more time and effort cleaning and capping the things.

So, the only reason I would switch to or invest in glass bottles is to enter beer in competitions if I ever so desired.

I don't give a crap about a higher level of sophistication, if folks think it's cool or not, blah de blah blah... As long as my beer is good, I am happy.

[ebbz]

A long time ago I used to bottle in glass.

Since I got back into brewing a second time, I've stuck with PETs.

So right now, I still bottle batches in 1L Pets and 740ML Coopers O2 barrier Pets. Which I use depends on ABV and how long I intend to keep the beer.

Except for defective caps (as in I used them too many times) I have had beer not lose carb even at 2 years in the bottle. Even beers I open one day and drink more of a second day, I don't lose enough carb to care about. Just put the cap back on right.

I carb some beers at rates that would explode cheap glass bottles (some types of Belgians), so would need to invest in good Belgian bottles and a corker if I was not using PETs for those.

And I have a hand condition that makes using a wing capper a nightmare at best, so I would need to invest in a high quality bench capper / bench capper / corker hybrid thing (as in it would be $pendy).

And I don't usually drink 12oz at a time anyways for the most part - I tend to brew most of my beers where I can drink a couple at least if I want to. So I'd likely be investing in 22+oz glass bottles if I was bottling in glass, because I have no desire to spend more time and effort cleaning and capping the things.

So, the only reason I would switch to or invest in glass bottles is to enter beer in competitions if I ever so desired.

I don't give a crap about a higher level of sophistication, if folks think it's cool or not, blah de blah blah... As long as my beer is good, I am happy.

I got lucky and came across a vintage bottle capper (from the 1930's) at an antique store that cost me 18 clams. After a bit of elbow grease , it cleaned up nice and it's completely functional. All it really needs is a coat of paint now, but I decided to keep it original. Works like a charm except on shorter bottles which I use a wing capper for.

[alb]

I switched to glass about a year after I started. The bottoms of my PET bottles weren't level anymore and the openings of the PET bottles were a little too big for this, which is the slickest thing around for sanitizing bottles:

vinator.jpg (127.07 KiB) Viewed 1397 times

[Kealia]

Hello all, a possibly quick(?) question. When do you decide to switch to only using glass 12oz bottles?

I switched after my first couple of batches but only because I wanted them to look "better" and not so "scary" when I shared them with friends.
I got over that quickly but stuck with glass until I moved to kegging at the end of my first year (or so).


I saw do what you like and what works for you.

[berryman]

I, like most everyone else here started with the PET's from MB and I have a lot of them taking up space on my shelf. I don't have a problem putting or keeping beer in them and never had a problem with them. I just don't like the 1 litre size. A few years ago I did a beer exchange with a member who is no longer here and he sent me some beers in 12 oz PET's (very good beer BTW) and I thought now there is a good idea when shipping beer to others. I agree with Kealia though, I'd rather bring out a nice clean looking glass bottle when sharing with friends instead of a plastic looking thing, a better first impression and more presentable.
I use all glass now, majority being 12 oz but sometimes do a few 22 ozs'r.

[bpgreen]

I really don't remember when I started bottling in glass. I used repurposed soda PET bottles in addition to the Mr beer bottles. I had good luck getting the odor out of root beer bottles, so I had a number of amber bottles.

Then I started accumulating grolsch and Fischer flip top bottles, partly because I'd read they were less prone to becoming bombs and partly because they didn't require a capper. Then I started gathering regular bottles and got a capper.

Not long after that, I got tired of bottling and got a kegerator.

[mashani]

The Mr. Beer 1L PETs are ugly yes, but really the 740ML Coopers PETs with the black caps are not bad looking bottles. They have a nice shape. The O2 Barrier ones from Coopers site are thick walled and sturdy.